Agenda
Monthly Teleconference

Saturday, December 8, 2012

11:00 PST

Access number:  712-432-0075, Pin 427266#.  Press *6 to mute or un-mute.  Please notify the secretary with changes, additions, or motions for this meeting.

 

A.Call to Order: 

Please be sure that any background noises in your area are eliminated since the sounds make it difficult for participants to hear.  When speaking, please say your name first.  This will help us record your name with your input.  Thank you.

  Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities

B.Roll Call:

  1. Board Members Present:
  2. Establish Quorum
  3. Introduce Committee Chairpersons
  4. Introduction of Guests:  WelcomeAfter the introductions, we respectfully ask that guests hold their comments until the end of our meeting.  To allow all of the visitors to have a chance to share, we will limit guest comments to 3 to 5 minutes.  If someone needs to talk further, they may do so after the close of the meeting.  Only board members may talk while we have discussions. 

C.Minutes:  Motion to approve the November 2012 Teleconference Minutes. (Joan)

D.Monthly Reports (5 minutes each

  1. ACA WSO Literature Committee, Larry A.
  2. ACA WSO Office Report, DiAnne A.
  3. ACA WSO Outreach Committee, Phyllis R.
  4. Website/Database Report, Scott R.
  5. Hospitals & Institutions Committee, Joan B.
  6. European Activity Report, Anja H.
  7. Executive Committee Report
  8. 2013 ABC Report, Jesper

E.Old business:  None

F.New Business:

Motion #1:  To give the staff in the California office a raise at this time and to give each of them a Christmas bonus.  (Phyllis)

Background:  Since our staff has not had a raise in over a year, it’s time to make that decision.  Let us make what we feel would be appropriate for an hourly raise.  Scott has found out due to research that we are paying our staff slightly below the going rates in this area of California.  Also, I’d like permission to give each of them a Christmas bonus in appreciation and celebration of their commitment and work for the fellowship.

Motion #2:  To ratify the decision of the ACA WSO Board of Trustees to delist (712)-432-8808 phone line and its meetings from the meeting list.  (Larry)

Background:  We received numerous complaints over the span of many months from members who were banned by the line's owner.  Also the line's owner announces that it is "Our ACA 24 hour Line" giving the impression that it is an official ACA WSO operated line.  The Board of Trustees verified these complaints.

 The Board of Trustees found that the line is violating numerous traditions thus affecting other groups and ACA as a whole.  As these were grievous violations that affected ACA as a whole, the Board was left with no choice but to make the difficult decision of delisting the entire line.

 The ACA WSO Board of Trustees sent a letter to the points of contact and fully detailed the reasons for the delisting. They were also afforded an opportunity to seek reinstatement if they are able to address and resolve the concerns.  Meeting members were invited to continue to meet or reconvene on another line, provided, of course, that the line conforms to the 12 Traditions. 

Motion #3 :  To approve a pilot "seeding" program of delivering books abroad to the UK Intergroup where they will buy a bulk shipment of books that will be sent directly from our printer thus reducing their shipping costs.  They will pay some of the cost of the entire shipment up front and the balance in due course.  The Signal Hill Office Staff will coordinate and oversee the entire process.  (Larry)

Background:  The shipping costs for overseas shipments are very high, about $35 per book.  For years, ACAs from abroad have asked if there was any way ACA WSO could find a less expensive shipping resolution.  

 We priced the cost of bulk shipping from the printer and the Signal Hill office, and the shipping cost was cheapest out of the printer's site (about $8/book) and would not bring additional overhead costs to ACA WSO's budget and would not increase the workload significantly for the office staff.

 The nascent group or intergroups do not have financial resources to pay for a full shipment up front, but can and should be able to become fully self-supporting after the first order if they price the books at a slight gain.  As this is a pilot "seeding" program, ACA WSO expects that the UK Intergroup will make sure to grow this seedling into a mighty oak and become fully self-supporting as soon as possible. 

 The cost & risk to ACA WSO is relatively small and the program is unlikely to fail.  The initial outlay for ACA WSO will be nearly covered with the deposit, leaving only a fraction of our initial outlay amount due.

 The benefit to ACA WSO is that we will be incentivizing the formation and/or maintenance of an international ACA intergroup who may establish a "revolving book fund" which will expand ACA's reach to the adult children, allow international ACA intergroups to coordinate regional activities like H&I and PI, increase the likelihood of more meetings being established, and yield more positive revenue for ACA WSO either through more books sales or 7th Tradition donations.The benefit for the UK intergroup is a substantial shipping cost savings to UK members, and possibly more meetings will be opened helping them to carry the message to the adult child who still suffers.

 Motion #4:  To place the remaining 55 numbered Hard Cover fellowship texts and the remaining 28 numbered Soft Cover fellowship texts on the website to be sold for their original price of $25.00. (Joan)

 Background:  There is no mention of them on the website, so people do not know they are for sale.  There is no reason for them to just sit in the warehouse.

Motion #5:  I move that we direct the office to sell the van that was purchased for transporting mail to the post office. (Phyllis)

Background: It is not being used and when the UPS is put into action, we would no longer need to have it.

Motion #6:  I make a motion to combine and create packages of materials: 
The board should consider having two combinations of orders:  
#1    Three  related items:  One fellowship text, one workbook, and one New Meeting 3 ring binder. It would be called ‘Introductory Package’.  This would be offered at a discount price less than the total to give people an incentive.  The regular price is $35 for individual purchase and the discount purchase price for the package would be $30.  It will be a featured item on the shopping cart.

  1. The tri-folds will be sold in packets of 20 at a cost of $3.There will be no combinations of topics of the tri-folds.
    The minimum purchase order will be $30, up from $10, which matches number one.
    These would all have to include the shipping and handling costs.   (Phyllis)

Guest Comments:

Announcements:

Adjournment:

Close  with  the  Serenity  Prayer

 Submitted by Joan B., ACA WSO Secretary