Welcome - Larry: Tradition Ten: Adult Children of Alcoholics has no opinion on outside issues; hence the ACA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Attendees: Larry A, Mary Jo, Ines and Majbrit – Quorum was established.
I need to make this announcement and it comes from Trustee, Martin: I have decided that for the sake of my emotional sobriety, I am resigning from all WSO service with immediate effective October 2015. That includes the Board of Trustees, the Finance Committee, the Intergroup Committee, and European Committee.
Guest Introductions: Precious in PA (dozen times), Paula (Golden, Co) dozen times, Hasse (Copenhagen, Denmark) 2nd time, John (Santa Barbara) 23rd time, Paul (CT) 11th time, Laura (CA1162) Dana Point, Patty (CO) WSO Rep for Intergroup in Colorado 3rd time, Denise (VA) WSO Special worker, Mona (Chicago) been attending since January 8th, Jade (Anchorage, Alaska) my first time attending and I’m representing AK20 from Anchorage, Marietta (CT) 17th meeting, David (England), Jim (Delray Beach, Florida) 1st time, Tracy (New York) Group 017 11th time, Matt (Pittsburgh, WI) represent West Great Lakes Group as Secretary 6th meeting, Wayne (Toronto, Canada), Jeffrey (Prague), Jude ACA member representing Telephone Meetings (Virginia Beach), Peg (Huntsville, Alabama) 2nd meeting, Robin (TX), Bonnie (San Antonio) 17th teleconference,
Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes of the September 12, 2015 ACA WSO Teleconference Meetings. (Ines) The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
C o m m i t t e e R e p o r t s
Finance Committee- Mary Jo: The balance sheet is posted on the Repository and there are no significant changes to it. The Profit and Loss statement is also posted and it shows an overall net increase in income of just under $10,000 about $9800. There is a tab on the report in the Repository that shows donations received in September. If anyone has any issues of something being reported incorrectly, please let me know. An email is provided.
Literature Committee – Larry and Special Worker Robin: The full report may befound in the repository. John noted that he was working on the final revision of the Intergroup guidelines and has basically completed it and is now preparing it for transmission hopes to have it finished in a week. Larry reported that the ComLine was posted and has been put into the shopping cart and it’s free.
Spanish Translations-Ines- Ines reported that the committee is still in the process of working on translations.
ACA WSO Distribution Center-Mary Jo: Mary Jo noted that Gloria, our special worker, has uploaded the reports on Sales. We currently have 1,483 active meetings and 48 active Intergroups.
Member and Public Service - Chair, John: As Martin C. has tendered his resignation, I wish to thank him for his past service on this committee. I invite more members to join this committee and would like to hold a phone meeting. He thanked Bonnie for her service. He also noted that he posted his report to the repository but apparently it’s not visible and he thanked Denise for drawing it to his attention. He then turned it over to Special Worker, Denise.
Special Worker, Denise: From Sept 1st thru Sept 30 of 2015 we received 564
Emails, 654 emails were sent out and we received 111 Vonage voicemails. The International connections made were Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, China, Greece, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom and Zambia. In regards to teamwork, she thanked the WSO and all involved in helping to provide the most helpful information to all the Adult Children who reach out to us for assistance as it is definitely a collective effort. She noted that the most common emails from the Fellowship were about finding Meetings, Meeting changes, how to start new Meetings and Literature information. Most voicemails were about finding Meetings, Meeting changes and ordering information.
Hospitals & Institutions -Bonnie: She reported that they’ve continued to send out Big Red books and workbooks to inmates who request them. They responded to a number of emails received through forwarded from MPS. The projects that are pending are Survey of Intergroups, H & I needs and experience. They’re also working on a letter to professionals to introduce the program and working up a set of suggestions for conducting panel meetings for professionals and patients in short term facilities. She noted that she could be contacted through the “Contact Us” feature on the ACA Website if anyone is interested in learning more about H & I.
Intergroup Liaison-Martin: The report was tabled as Martin C. stepped down from the Board.
Website and Database Committee Report- Larry: The full report is posted the repository. Larry reported that overall, September 2015 activity was generally the same as the previous month. Overall inquiries were 48,574, down slightly of 1.4%; Number of new inquiries was 51.5%; Inquiries using mobile devices is 43%. The higher overall bounce rate which is the percentage of single page visitors, i.e., those who left the entry page or visited the site without further interaction with the site was 63% up from 60% last month. Special note the bounce rate is still considered good by most in the Industry. The most visited pages after the home page were the Literature; Laundry List page; find a Meeting; and the Problem. Same top three as last month. While most of the visitors are from the United States, we are also getting a substantial amount of visitors from other countries; 131 different countries in total. The top 5 are the United States at 81.5%, Russia at 4.5%, Canada at 3.5%, United Kingdom at 2.5% and Australia at 1%. Problems continue to be addressed with the Meeting update process. Gloria and Centuria are continuing to identify and resolve the problems that are encountered. There are various problems reported with shopping cart. Mary Jo and Centuria are continuing to identify and resolve problems as identified. A new policy was proposed for requesting official WSO email accounts. Also the ACA events page was moved to the Repository to simplify the updating process. And finally the Website updates needed to support the 2016 ABC Proposals and registrations are still pending.
European Committee – Majbrit: She noted that overall this month she’d been in contact with UK, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Russia, Greenland, Denmark and Chez Republic. She had long phone calls with three Denmark, Latvia, Sweden and Chez Republic. She noted that she always welcomes talk with fellow travellers thru Skype so if anyone wants to call, or has a question, please contact her at [email protected]. Additionally, the Danes have placed their second order of literature, Big Red Books, Workbooks, Meditation Books in both Danish and English. Please see the minutes of our Skype Meeting on the Repository.
OPPM Review Committee - Ines: The committee has been meeting on a weekly basis to review the OPPM to bring it up to date on current practices. She noted that the board is now using the Website and the Repository to post most of the information. Once the committee has completed its review, it will be send to the Board for their review.
2016 ABC Liaison Report – Larry: The Board has selected Del Rey Beach as the site and the Duncan Center as the location for the ABC and the AWC. The registration packet has been loaded onto the Fellowship alerts and it’s also going to be mailed out between now and April 22nd. The committee is starting to start to explore the possibility of live streaming and any other technological needs or issues that may be involved with the ABC. In addition, of course, the AWC the ACA World Convention will be held on the 23rd thru the 24th and we are discussing with the host group the possibility of speakers and themes. For information, please contact [email protected] or you can find all the information under Fellowship Alerts; the first two items on the Fellowship Alerts have the registration forms and the hosting invitation.
Executive Committee – Majbrit: The Executive Committee has approved the purchase of 100 Workbooks used for H & I. It’s not a larger quantity than ordered in the past; the purchase of approximately $2,600 in chips and medallions, these quantities are less than previously approved; and approved to send 30 books for BBI in October for West Great Lakes Intergroup for the Social Workers Conference they have been invited to participate in.
No Old Business
New Business:
- Motion: That the registration deadline for the ABC and AWC be March 11, 2016 (Larry)
Background: The venue of the ABC AWC requires a head count and the hotels nearby are holding rooms for overflow up to 45 days out. By setting this deadline in February, the WSO would not be obligated to pay for unreserved rooms and will give the WSO to prepare adequate number of materials and purchase beverages and snacks for the ABC AWC. Also since reservations may be made by regular mail, the time will allow for regular mail to be received ahead of the cut off time.
Mary Jo Abstains – The motion passes.
2. Motion: That the Board validate on the record their Specific Concurrence to hire a transcription service to type the minutes of the Board's working sessions at a rate of about $1/minute. (Larry)
Motion passes unanimously.
This concludes our Agenda. Thank you all very much.
Any guest comments or questions?
Summary of guest comments: Guest comments focused primarily on definition problems with Intergroup Registrations and Books sent to Inmates and clarification for walk-ins for 2016 ABC
Announcements: Larry -The deadline to submit proposals has passed. On December 2nd, 2015, the WSO will send the proposals, analyses and translations to all the registered groups and intergroups for their group’s conscience votes. The groups will have about three months to review and vote on the proposals
The next ACA WSO Board Teleconference is scheduled November 14, 2015at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting? 2nd to the motion?
Ines - Motions to adjourn
Mary Jo - Second the motion
Are there any questions or comments about the motion to adjourn the meeting?
Motion carried unanimously.
Closed the Meeting with the Serenity Prayer
