Adult Children of Alcoholics--World Service Organization

Agenda

Monthly Teleconference

Saturday, November 9, 2013

2:00 p.m. EST

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.

          1) Open with the Serenity Prayer

          2) Concept Eleven: While the Trustees hold final responsibility for ACA's World Service administration, they should always have the assistance of the best possible standing committees, corporate trustees, executives, staffs, and consultants. Therefore the composition of these underlying committees and service boards, the personal qualifications of their members, the manner of their induction into service, the systems of their rotation, the way in which they are related to each other, the special rights and duties of our executives, staffs and consultants, together with a proper basis for the financial compensation of these special workers, will always be matters for serious care and concern.

B. Roll Call of Board Members:

          1) 1) Larry A.,Chair; Joan B.,Vice Chair; Mary Jo L., Treasurer; Karen R, Secretary; Leanne S., Trustee; Vonnie G., Trustee; Allen C., Trustee

C. Establish Quorum

D. Guests Introductions: At this point we would like to invite all of our guests to introduce themselves by first name only and perhaps telling us where you are calling from and the number of times you have attended our monthly teleconference meetings. Guests, please introduce yourselves:         

          After the introductions: We respectfully ask that guests hold their comments until the end of our meeting. To allow that all of our guests have a chance to share, we will limit guest comments to 3-5 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. We ask everyone to press *6 if you are not speaking.

E. Minutes: Motion to approve the October , 2013 Teleconference Minutes as posted on the website. (Karen)

F. Committee Reports: I will ask the Committee Chairperson to give their reports. (5 minutes each)

1. ACA WSO Treasurer, Mary Jo L.

          2. ACA WSO Literature Committee, Larry A

                    a.  Meditation Book, Mary Jo

                    b. Spanish Groups and Spanish Translations Liaison, Ines

                    c. Standardization of Conference Approved Literature, Leanne

          3. ACA WSO Distribution Office, Kristina

          4. ACA WSO Outreach Committee, Vonnie G

          5. Hospitals & Institutions Committee, Joan B

          6. ACA Website/Database Committee, Scott R

          7. European Committee, Majbrit M

          8. Social Media Working Group (no report)

          9. 2014 ABC Committee, Joan B.

          10. Executive Committee, Larry A.        

G. Old Business:

          1. To create a budget and also establish an annual budget review process for when year-end numbers become available; (Original issue from May 2013)

          2.The floor is open for nominations for the positions as trustees to the ACA WSO Board. Thus far, we have 2 nominees: 1) Majbrit M, from Denmark who has service experience on the European Committee, has attended at least 7 WSO teleconference meetings, and who was of great assistance and support for the ACA's first International ABC; and, 2) Ines Z, from New York who has service experience as a liaison and translator for Spanish speaking groups, has assisted in the Spanish translations of the Workbook as well as the BRB and with various items via the Outreach Committee.

         a. We also at this time would like to ask the nominees if they will accept these nominations and be willing to serve on the ACA WSO Board?

          b. Are there any more nominations to be put forward at this time?                                                                                

H. New Business:         

Motion #1: To validate on the record the Board's specific concurrence that authorized the Chair to sign an agreement between ACA WSO, Inc, NAWS, Inc and Centauria that will allow Centauria to use NAWS (Narcotics Anonymous World Service) custom programming to create the new ACA website. (Larry)

Background: We've searched many potential web designers and websites for the purpose of redesigning our site to prepare for the continued growth of the ACA fellowship. We've decided not to reinvent the wheel and to go with a company with experience in the unique needs of an organization that also must make efforts in anonymity while making a website that is accessible for public and membership information. Please note that by the terms of the agreement, our homepage must look different than NAWS, Inc.

Motion #2: To install a conference line that will be made available to telephone meetings to use that will provide the same vital opportunity for anonymity for a phone caller as for someone who attends a meeting in person. (Vonnie)

Background: As telephone meetings are arranged now, each conference line is owned by the person who started the account. The owner can view a dashboard that displays all caller's names, phone numbers and call duration. The owner also receives an email every time someone dials into the number. The owner can use the dashboard via computer to control live meetings by dropping or blocking callers, etc. Due to the lack of anonymity that this existing system creates on telephone meetings and the unequal power that this gives to one person over others and the increase in complaints, meetings will now have the option to move to a line where the dashboard, reports and personal information will not be made available to anyone. If approved, the website's telephone meeting list will clearly define which meetings are on the dashboard-free line and which meetings are NOT on the dashboard-free lines. The ACA website will include a disclaimer on the meeting list explaining the differences between the two types of lines.

Motion #3: That the Board authorize the purchase of additional metal shelving at a cost of about $520 for the warehouse in Signal Hill, CA.

Background: The staff has informed us that the shelving will be used to store UPS and USPS Priority mailing supplies, will free up 1-2 pallet positions, giving us additional floor space to receive the pending shipments of workbooks and the upcoming Meditation Book.

Motion #4: To approve the expenditure of approximately $8,500 for travel and expenses for all ACA WSO Board members to attend a face-to-face meeting in January 2014 to conduct a strategic planning session. (Leanne)

Background: In other 12-Step programs, service boards have face-to-face meetings approximately 4-6 times a year. The ACA WSO Board of Trustees do not have any face-to-face meetings. Even though our current Board meets monthly via teleconference and communicates between teleconferences via emails and phone calls, the first time we ever met face-to-face was at the ABC in Copenhagen. Whereas the purpose of the ABC is to bring unity and consistency to ACA and to establish guidelines for service and communication links within ACA (OPPM XIX), the purpose of this face-to-face meeting would be to gather in fellowship for strategic planning, development and establishing guidelines for implementing a 3-5 year plan to address current and future needs and goals for our growing ACA Fellowship.

Guest Comments:

Announcements: The next ACA WSO Board Teleconference is scheduled for December 14, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. EST. We also will be having the 2014 Annual Business Conference being the last weekend of April (25-27, 2014) in Chicago, IL.

Adjournment:

Close with the Serenity Prayer

Respectfully Submitted,

Karen Ragan, ACA WSO Secretary