ACA WSO TELECONFERENCE MINUTES
January 10, 2015
A. Called to Order: The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of ACA WSO was called to order at 2:03 p.m. EST by Larry A., Chairman, and opened with The Serenity Prayer.
Tradition One was read by the Chairman.
B. Roll Call of Board Members: Larry A., Chair and Literature Committee Chairman; Joan B., Vice Chairman and Hospitals and Institutions Committee Chair; Mary Jo L, Treasurer; Karen R, Secretary; Vonnie G., MPS Chair and Trustee; Majbrit M., European Committee Chair and Trustee; Martin C, Finance Committee Member, Chairman of the Intergroup Liaison Committee and Trustee. Allen C., Literature Committee member and Trusteee was not present on the call, and Ines Z, Spanish Liaison and Spanish Translations Committee Chair and Trustee was not present.
C. Quorum established
D. Guest Introductions: Guests who chose to introduce themselves at this time included (number of TC meetings attended shown in parenthesis if known: Will, Munich, Germany (1); Scott and Phyllis, AZ (former board members, numerous calls); Marietta, CT (9); Robin, TX (Literature Committee Production Asst. 6-7 times); John, CA (12); Marti, MT (10); Sue, OH (1); Jude, VA, MPS committee member); Mona, Chicago (4 years); Amy, CA (1); Wayne, Canada (4)
E. Approval of Minutes: A motion was made and 2nd , and the minutes of the December 13, 2014 teleconference meeting were approved as posted. (Karen)
F. Committee Reports:
1. ACA WSO Treasurer, (Mary Jo L.): Discussed balance sheets which includes costs of website; Reminds us of Promise 6 and its applications regarding the prudent reserve and to financial planning and vision for the ACA fellowship's growth. Considerations are being discussed regarding hiring more staff and expansion of the warehouse. The full report may be found on the Repository.
2.Literature Committee, (Larry A.): The audio book is being finalized; John has submitted final drafts regarding intergroup guidelines and project is in vetting stage; Phyllis has volunteered to be of assistance to get the ComLine re-launched and is asking for submissions on Steps, Traditions and Concepts 4-5-6 and hopes for first publication to be April 1st; Robin is assisting with that as well and considers a "printed" version to possibly be issued quarterly. Full report may be found on the Repository.
3. Distribution Office Report, (Sam): Reports that employee handbooks have been passed out to staff, preparation for use of x-cart on the new website continues, and office is now using the new dimensional shipping rates per UPS. Full report may be found on the Repository.
4. ACA Members and Public Service (MPS) Committee, Vonnie G.: Continues to provide service and guidance for USA and Non-USA members; helps out with cost on shipping and handling cost wherever possible; questions come in regarding Intergroup and subcommittee work; Expressed appreciation for teamwork and for volunteers; Continues to receive questions of various recovery aspects; A fellow board member expressed appreciation to Vonnie with efforts in MPS as she is often the "first face" of ACAs making contact with the Board. Full report can be found on the Repository.
5. Hospitals and Institutions Committee (Joan B.) Orders are being sent out across the country to meet needs of various correctional facilities; there are guidelines available through H & I for taking ACA meetings into correctional facilities; a good way to do 12th Step work. Full report may be found on the Repository.
6. Intergroup Liaison Committee (Martin C.) Report included a call to membership to be sure and go to the website and update group and/or Intergroup registration information as is required to remain on the active list of group referral. There have been discussions about what services the committee for Intergroups may be able to provide. Full report may be found on the Repository.
7. Website/Database (Larry): Scott reports that the "old" website is functioning well; Larry reports progress on the launch of the new website, hopefully Feb 1, 2015. Full report will be available on the Repository.
8. European Activity Report, (Majbrit M): Reports excitement of the volunteers that have come forward to assist with the European committee; is "connecting dots" all over Europe and feels encouraged about the progress in being able to soon start the monthly European teleconference for ACA; Full report may be found on the Repository.
9. OPPM Review Committee, (Karen): Reports that Joan and Mary Jo have found creative ways to do side-by-side comparisons of the OPPM; Received some input from John, who previously worked on establishing a format for Intergroup Guidelines, who made suggestions on how some of the differences of service work descriptions may be resolved. Another conference meeting is scheduled for later this month.
10. 2015 ABC Committee, (Mary Jo): Location for the 2015 ABC is set to be held in Austin, TX, hosted by the Lonestar Intergroup, the last weekend in April; Items for ballot approval will be sent out soon; Martin reminded of the need to assure the issue of possibly changing some wording in the 11th Tradition be communicated to the fellowship; the full report may be found on the Repository.
11. Executive Committee Report: (Joan): Reports Board approval for sending the Christmas gift basket to the WSO Office to show appreciation for their hard work; reports authorization for the signing of the contract for the 2015 ABC location in Austin, TX. Full report may be found on the Repository.
G. Old Business: (none)
H. New Business:
Motion #1: To approve Austin, Texas, as the site of the 2015 ABC, to be hosted by the Lone Star ACA Intergroup.
The motion as read was 2nd and passed unanimously.
Motion 2: To combine duplicate proposals submitted for the ABC Ballot for the sake of clarity and brevity.
The motion as read was 2nd and passed unanimously.
Motion #3: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to add an extra day to their stay after the ABC to work on the Strategic Plan.
The motion was 2nd, further discussed and passed: 5 ayes, 0 nays, 2 abstentions
Motion #4: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to offer the 5x7 hard cover, meditation book for $12.
The motion as read was 2nd and passed unanimously.
Motion #5: To validate on the record the Board's specific concurrence to send complimentary copies of the resized meditation book to current Board members, our webmaster, the contributors (writers, editors and artistic), staff and accountant for a total of between 40-45 copies.
The motion was 2nd, further discussed and passed: 5 ayes, 0 nays, 2 abstentions
Motion #6: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to pay $300 for laying out the Laundry Lists and Their Flip Sides.
The motion as read was 2nd and passed unanimously.
Motion #7: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to give the Office Manager a monthly spending limit of $200 for miscellaneous office expenditures. Completed Purchase Orders and receipts for everything will be required to be submitted to the Treasurer and Accountant for checks and balances.
The motion as read was 2nd and passed unanimously.
Motion 8: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence that the previous fiscal year's official financials be reported at each Annual Business Conference, along with a short summary of the first quarter of the current year's financials.
The motion was 2nd, further discussed and The Chairman requested that the minutes show for the record the part of the discussion that the Treasurer is to ask the accountant what the cost is of having last year's financials listed along side this year's highlighting any changes as to how monies are being categorized or allocated. As stated, the motion passed unanimously.
*Motion #9: That the Board replace the previous seed-funding program with a new program facilitated by the Distribution Center (DC) in Signal Hill. The seed-funding program is intended to help non-U.S. Intergroups or groups of meetings make their first purchase of books, and once sold, become a self-sustaining effort on their part. Because this literature will be shipped from the DC, the minimum book order is 20, but the order can also include any of the items we sell. This first order will be discounted 20% with an added 20% discount of the most economical shipping rate. For this first order only, the additional accommodation is that it may be paid for in installments, with 1/3 of the cost as a down payment and the { first installment being enough to cover WSO's cost as determined by the Distribution Center, with the} remainder due as the books are sold.
Motion #9: That the Board replace the previous seed-funding program with a new program facilitated by the Distribution Center (DC) in Signal Hill. The seed-funding program is intended to help non-U.S. Intergroups or groups of meetings make their first purchase of books, and once sold, become a self-sustaining effort on their part. Because this literature will be shipped from the DC, the minimum book order is 20, but the order can also include any of the items we sell. This first order will be discounted 20% with an added 20% discount of the most economical shipping rate. For this first order only, the additional accommodation is that it may be paid for in installments, and the first installment being enough to cover WSO's cost as determined by the Distribution Center, with the remainder due as the books are sold.
The motion was 2nd, and further discussed. One amendment was made and withdrawn; Another amendment was made and the final motion states as amended with strikethrough of "with 1/3 of the cost as a down payment" being replaced with the words, "and the first installment being enough to cover WSO's cost as determined by the Distribution Center, with the"
As stated with amendment, this motion passed with 6 ayes, 0 nays and 1 abstention.
The floor was then opened for guest comments. Precious Susie from PA expressed thanks for the books donated to help with carrying the ACA message to local prisons;
Scott and several other guests (Marty, Wayne, Dennis) commends the Board for their service in covering some hard topics with good discussion. Wayne also announced Step-Study meetings beginning in his area. Dennis stated difficulty in locating some of the WSO meeting's minutes on the Repository; Scott was able to help him locate them and Majbrit was able to invite Dennis to participate on the upcoming European Teleconference.
John, from Santa Barbara and Bonnie from TX related concerns about discrepancies in the descriptions of an intergroup rep's duties as described in the BRB and the OPPM and asked who to contact , with John offering access to his contributions at OPPM.mudie.info
It was announced that the next ACA WSO Board Teleconference meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. EST. It was announced that the ABC will be held the last weekend in April in Austin, TX. We should see a new home page on the internet on February 1, 2015
Adjournment: The motion to adjourn was made and 2nd. The meeting was adjourned at 4:33 p.m. EST and closed with the Serenity Prayer.
Minutes respectfully submitted by; Karen Ragan, ACA/WSO Board of Trustees, Secretary
