Agenda
Monthly Teleconference
August 8, 2015
2:00 p.m. EST
Monthly Teleconference
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) Tradition Eight: Adult Children of Alcoholics should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
B. Roll Call of Board Members: Larry A., Chair, and Literature Committee Chairperson; Mary Jo L., Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair; Majbrit M., European Committee Chair and Vice Chair; Ines Z, Secretary, Spanish Liaison and Spanish Translations Committee Chair, and Martin C, Finance Committee member.
C. Establish Quorum
D. Guests Introductions: Guests, while this has never been an issue with this Board, as an example to anyone who manages or attends ACA phone bridge meetings, we wish to make you aware that this conference line is used to manage and record our WSO teleconferences. A caller's phone number and name appears on a dashboard visible only to the WSO Webmaster and the WSO Board. If you do not wish to disclose your information, feel free to use your phone settings to block your caller ID, or you can also attend this teleconference using your computer. Instructions for this are on our website Repository under "Teleconference Agendas."
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: Non-Board members are welcome to listen to the Teleconference but are requested to remain silent unless called upon to participate. We respectfully ask that guests hold their comments until the end of our meeting. We ask everyone to press *6 if you are not speaking. If someone needs to talk further, they may do so at the close of the meeting.
E. Minutes: Motion to table the approval of the July 11, 2015Teleconference Minutes. (Ines)
A special worker is in the process of being trained to perform the task of typing the recorded minutes. Training should be completed before the next TC.
F. Committee Reports: I will ask the Committee Chairperson to give their reports. (Generally we provide 5 minutes for each report but would ask that reports be curtailed to 2 to 3 minutes given the amount of motions to be discussed and voted on during the meeting.)
- ACA WSO Finance Committee, (Treasurer, Mary Jo L.)
- ACA WSO Literature Committee, Larry A
- Spanish Translations Update (Ines)
- ComLine (Phyllis)
- ACA WSO Distribution Office
- ACA (MPS) Members and Public Service Committee, Denise
- Hospitals & Institutions Committee, Joan B
- Intergroup Liaison Committee, Martin C.
- ACA Website/Database Committee, Larry
- European Committee, Majbrit M
- OPPM Review Committee, Joan
- 2016 ABC Committee, Larry
- Executive Committee,
G. Old Business: No old business.
H. New Business:
Motions for August 2015 TC1.
1. Motion: Request for concurrence to reactive the Survey Monkey account to use for the 2016 ABC. The cost is $26/month. (Mary Jo)
Background: The website is not able to accommodate the earlier deadline for the call for 2016 ABC Proposals, so Survey Monkey is the most efficient alternative.
2. Motion: That the Board meet near Signal Hill, California, for a three-day strategic planning meeting from November 12th through the 15th, and that those Board members who are able to stay longer may do so to work with the Special Workers and organize the archives at the Distribution Center. (Mary Jo)
Background: The Board meets for one multi-day strategic planning session per year. This year we have collectively decided to meet near the Distribution Center in California which will allow all Board members to have the opportunity to become more familiar with the Special Workers and WSO DC business operations.
3. Motion: The Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to print 2,000 copies of Laundry List Workbooks (LLWB) at a cost of $7,568 and sell at a price of $12. The LLWB will be included in the 10% Bulk Discount and Intergroup 30% Discount and book seeding project orders. (Larry)
Background: This book was presented to the ABC in 2015, was placed on the site for commentary for 90 days. The comments were adopted and the LLWB was edited by three proofreaders, two copyeditors, and a partridge in a pear tree. It is ready to be rolled out.
4. Motion: The Board send complimentary copies of the Laundry List Workbook (LLWB) to all the contributors/editors/proofreaders, of which there are 12, and each Board member for a total of 17 complimentary copies. (Larry)
Background: As a gesture of good will and in appreciation for all their contributions, we have traditionally favored our volunteers with a complimentary copy of any publication that they have significantly contributed to.
5. Motion: The Board authorize the payment $280 for the US Copyright application for the Laundry List Workbook (LLWB). (Larry)
Background: To preserve the WSO's copyright, the application for a copyright must be filed with the US Copyright office.
6. Motion: Specific Concurrence to authorize payment for an additional 25 hours of work on X-Cart for programmatic fixes. (Larry)
Background: Due to the additional work involved in resolving the x-cart issues and meeting directory issues and given that we have asked for additional training sessions and additional upgrades, the programmers have already exceeded their 22 hours for the month and need at most 25 more hours for the balance of the work that must be done to complete these tasks.
7. Motion: That the Board validate on the record the Board's Specific Concurrence to spend $2,053 on upgrades to the x-cart and email account. (Larry)
Background: The programmers suggested that we only upgrade the x-cart every generation, e.g from versions 6.2 to version 7.2. This 7.4.3 version upgrade to the x-cart is a full generation ahead of the one we are currently using. In addition the other upgrades have been requested by the staff or suggested by the programmers to increase efficiency and ensure e-mail functionality, respectively.
8. Motion: Specific Concurrence: To approve the additional expenditure of $135 for X-Cart (previously approved by Specific Concurrence by Majbrit, Ines and Larry at a cost of $215) (Larry)
Background: We had discussed the email problem and Specifically Concurred (Majbrit, Ines and Larry) to spend $215 for a fix. Subsequently Alexey proposed to two additional fixes and Scott proposed a fourth. Eric suggested an alternate email service, but Alexey said it would not resolve the issue. After conferring with Eric, Alexey and Scott, the final recommendation by Scott and Alexey is to go with Scott's fourth option, and to incrementally roll the third option offered by Alexey to make sure our e-mails are not being either blocked or sent to spam. The original cost of this fix was $215. The cost of this improved fix is $350 or $135 more.
9. Motion: To validate on the record the Board's concurrence to paying the necessary expenses incurred by Will C, the Secretary of the European Committee, to attend the European Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 28-30 August 2015. (Martin)
Background. The 2nd "European Meeting" is being hosted by the Finnish ACA in August: it will include a business meeting led by Majbrit M, the board member and chair of European Committee. Martin C will also attend as a Board member and European Committee member. We want to have face to face discussions as we usually only meet by Skype. Will C is our secretary, and will be a valuable participator at our business meeting, including taking the minutes. It will be a good opportunity to get to know each other as we take the committee's business forward. The expenses will include flights from Munich Germany, a 2 night hotel stay, in the same hotel as Majbrit and Martin and whose discounted rate has been negotiated by the hosts, and other reasonable expenses.
10. Motion: Specific concurrence to obtain available Archives
Background:WSO has received archival information from some members of the fellowship in the past, but we are aware that many more individuals may have relevant information. This is a project that can be assigned to a special worker. (Mary Jo)
11. Motion: To select John M. as Chair of the MPS Committee. (Larry)
Background: John M. of Goleta, CA has asked to be considered as the Chair of the MPS Committee, a position that has been vacant since the ABC in Austin, TX.
12. Motion: Concurrence to formalize the DC Oversight Committee (Mary Jo)
- Mary Jo - Operations and Financial oversight
- Majbrit - Operations oversight
- Ines - HR oversight
Background: Members of the Board have always provided oversight of the Distribution Center. That oversight took on more significance in the past couple of years as the Fellowship has grown. In creating this committee, we will have more defined roles for Board members on the committee, including operations, financial and HR oversight.
Executive Approvals:
Approval for 1,200 hard cover Mediation Books.
Approval for Chip Reorder
Approval for an order of tri-folds and inserts for New Meeting Binders.
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Guest Comments: 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.
Announcements: Proposals may be submitted for the 2016 ABC.
The next ACA WSO Board Teleconference is scheduled September 12, 2015at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Is there a motion and 2nd to adjourn the meeting?
Close with the Serenity Prayer
