CCAA Chairman Vicki B. called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. led with the Serenity Prayer.
Amanda read the 12 Concepts in English; Jose read the 12 Concepts in Spanish.
Eligibility rules for voting were read by the Secretary and the roll call taken:
ROLL CALL: DCMs/Alternates 21
DCMCs/Alternates 3
Committee Chairs/Alts 12
Central Office Liaisons 1
CCAA Officers 6
Past Delegates 2
Total 45
We also had Robert and Alan our Sound Dudes, and 5 guests; We also had one translator with us today.
Districts without representation were 5, 12, 20, 27, 32, 50, 53, and
59. We hope to see you at our next Area Committee Meeting in Santa
Barbara on April 21, 2002 at 9:00 A.M.
The November 18, 2001 Area Committee Meeting minutes were submitted for approval. A motion was made to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded and passed.
Registrar – Stephanie S.: I’ll have a new roster out shortly. I want to wait until I hear from several districts that have reserved new District numbers. All of the Districts have done such a wonderful job stepping up to the plate for this District renumbering project. Remember, it is just a number; and it will make our record keeping a little easier. What a concept, make record keeping easier!!
There are several Districts that do not have DCMs. My assumption is that the Districts are not holding meetings. It would probably be a good idea to change their numbers for them. The Districts are 50, 53, and 59. If there is a GSR present from one of these Districts, maybe he or she can come and talk with me about this.
If you gave me any information/changes at the last Area Assembly, please do me a favor a resubmit that information, in my moving I seem to have misplaced some things and I would really appreciate your duplicating whatever you gave me so I can update the records.
As you may remember, I’ve moved to Palmdale. I’m now id District 07, and that District has made me feel very welcome. Thank you, Eddie D., Peggy D. and District 7. It is a pleasure to be in your District.
My house is decorated with boxes, floor to ceiling. One of those boxes is important to Area 93. It is the information from New York for updating their directory. Yes. It is time, once again, for the annual update for the meeting directory that General Service Puts out. I’ll be sending the DCMs the information for their Districts. DCMCs, if you want me to send the information and forms to you rather than your DCMs, please let me know. Come back to the Registration table, call me, or email me. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll send the forms directly to your DCMs.
By the way, my email address has not changed if you use the “official” email that you see on Area 93 letterhead and the roster, which is registrar@aaarea93.org. Let’s get those District numbers changed. It really isn’t a big deal. It just makes life easier for those of us who keep the records. We are almost there; lets get it done. Thank you for allowing me to be of service.
Treasurer – Debbie B.: For those of you that do not know, I returned last night fromI returned last night from a beautiful trip to Ixtapa Mexico. It was great. But that also means that there are about 50 contributions not processed yet and I may not be too wide awake in answering questions. So go easy on me this morning.
The January contributions reports are in their folders and I have copies for all the committee chairs and officers. DCMs, please remember to make copies of these for your District meetings and ask the GSRs to review them and thank their Groups.
For the Districts that made cash contributions at the January 20, 2002 Assembly, those contributions will not appear on the January reports. Let me explain the process with cash contributions; they are given to Jim W. and the GSR receives a receipt at the Assembly., Jim then makes the bank deposit and mails me the receipts. I then have to process them and prints out a computer-generated receipt, which then enters those deposits into the computer and therefore the report. So those contributions will show on the next month report. The bank balance as of 2-16-02 is $<deleted>.
I have brought a copy of the budgets for each committee for 2002. Please review them and contact me with any questions. Hopefully, we’ll be hearing of some exciting projects for this second year of Area 93.
Thank you for your continued trust and support.
Chairperson – Vicki B.:
One of the things I wanted to talk about, we had some discussion at our last
Assembly regarding the wording of the new guidelines that we voted on. The
wording being “Chairman” vs. “Chairperson”. We have had a lot of
discussion between Archives, Guidelines & Policies and out Past Delegate and
came to the realization that this is basically a clerical error. All the
Guidelines & Policies say “Chairperson” and the way it will be printed
will be “Chairperson”. Unless there is any objection with this, this
is the way it will go forth. Seeing no objections, that is the way it will
be done.
The only other thing I want to talk about, I attended the 4-Area DCM Sharing
Session in Oceanside and it was great. I am really glad that you guys
decided the officers could attend. It was good information for everybody
and we had 6 DCMs, 1 DCMC, 2 GSRs, 3 Officers, and a Central Office
Liaison. I thought that was pretty good representation from this
Area. Next year we may be lucky enough to host that event so I hoped there
would be more participation but it was really good. One of the best things
I got out of this, as I was sitting at one of the tables, some questions took me
right back to when I was a new GSR and when I was coming into my first Assembly
and I had no clue what was going on. I could actually remember some of the
feelings that I was having at that time. I recall the new GSR orientation,
Marita gave that orientation, and she was absolutely wonderful. It gave me
so much information from going through that. The instruction, a little
heads up of what we do here. This is when I found out that this is where I
belonged. This was the stuff I can do. This is how I can be of
service to the fellowship. It was a really neat feeling going to the DCM
Sharing Session and go back and remember some of those feelings. So I
really want to thank you guys for letting us be there this time.
Alternate Delegate - Jeanine R.: Good morning. My name is Jeanine R. and I’m an alcoholic. My home group is the Freedom Group in Lompoc. I have the honor and privilege to serve as your Alternate Delegate.
Steve and I have been preparing for the Pre-Conference Assembly and Workshop, which will be held on March 16 and 17 in Oxnard. We are trying something a little bit different this time. We have asked the Standing Committees to discuss the topics that will be discussed during the Conference Committee Meetings and to inform us of their conclusions at the report-back portion of the Assembly. We have distributed several of the Conference Agenda topics to the GSRs and DCMs for discussion at the Group level. There will be round-table discussions during the workshop following 3 of the panels that have presentations on the Conference Agenda items. After report-backs from the round-tables, we will be asking the GSRs to give their Groups’ Conscience before opening the microphone to anybody else. There are copies of the agenda for the Workshops on the back table. After Saturday’s workshop, District 29 will be hosting a Speaker Meeting and BBQ for anyone who is interested. There will be a donation requested of $7.00 for the BBQ and Jim C., our Regional Trustee will be the guest speaker. We would love to see as many people attend as possible. Please encourage your GSRs, alternate GSRs, Committee Members and any other interested parties to please come and join us.
As liaison to the Southern California H&I Intergroup Committee, I received a request from an inmate in the California City Prison. He wanted to have a meeting in Spanish started. The request was passed on to the Committee. I am thrilled to report that there is now a meeting offered in Spanish once a week at that prison and in less than 2 months after having received the request.
It’s wonderful to be of service. Thanks for the opportunity.
Nelson R., DCMC – Spanish Speaking Districts: Spanish-speaking Districts continue to meet the last Sunday of every month. We are also visiting the Districts in a rotating fashion. At one of our reunions I was asked to discuss with the Area the need to buy more radios. I have also been asked that we discuss the right to vote by the Secretary and Treasurer of the D.U.H. at the Area level since they were DCMs at one time. They have also given me the authorization to bid for the November Area Assembly. I look forward to seeing everybody at PRAASA.
Mary Ann L., DCMC – Gold Coast Districts 12, 29, 32, & 31: We currently do not have DCMs for District 12 and 32, but that’s my goad within the next few months. The Gold Coast continues to plan for the Pre-Conference Assembly. Those attending the Assembly are invited to a Pre-Conference Assembly BBQ, March 16th at 6:30 P.M. The speaker meeting will be held at 8:00 P.M. at the Phoenix Meeting Hall. See the flyer on the handout table. There is a requested donation of $7.00 for the BBQ. At the December 2001 meeting we revisited our budget. In 2001 we spent $600.00 for literature and $1300.00 for advertising in the newspapers. Our DCMs will be funded for PRAASA. This has never happened in the Gold Coast Districts as far as I know.
Jack L., DCM – District 1: Under the direction of our Alternate DCM David W., we have established a geographical grid plan of 12 GSRs to approach all meetings in our District and therefore encourage increase GSR participation. We have also scheduled another AA Night at the Movies for May 11, 2002.
Simon, DCM – District 2: The Districts most recent activities include visiting 2 Groups a week. We meet every Thurday. One week we meet in a study group, one week is an internal meeting, one week is for information and the last week is to discuss some pertinent points. I have the pleasure of notifying you that about 5 weeks ago, we have a new Group join us from Delano. The name of the Gorups is Nueva Ilusion. As part of our functions we have visited the Group twice and everything seems to be fine as of this moment. We have agreed to have a study group for the DCMs and GSRs every first Friday of the month and we seem to learn something new each time. We are looking forward to PRAASA.
Jose E., DCM – District 3: Greeting to everyone our District continues to visit and motivate the Groups twice a week. We are looking forward to attending PRAASA although there are only a few of us going, we are going. We had our first internal meeting for the 2nd Annual Spanish Foro and on February 17 we will have our first meeting with the subcommittees of the District. Since we are the hosting District for this event, we will keep you informed. Our CPC Committee and Public Information Committee have started working on an event that happens each year which is a Public Information Session for the professionals since so many alcoholics end up with these people before the Group.
Alberto E., DCM – District 4: Our District just elected a subcommittee for the 2nd Annual Foro which will be held in November. The exact date has not been set yet. We are meeting with the organizing committee, which is District 3. We are happy to inform you that we have just rented our own place and the rent will be $500.00 per month on a month to month basis. The address is 12601 San Fernando Road in Sylmar. Suite E. Our meeting there will be Wednesdays instead of Sundays. On the 2nd Wednesday of the month we will have our report meeting, the 4th will be agenda items and the 1st and 3rd will be our study meetings. La Vina Committee will be meeting the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. The PI Committee will be meeting the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. Two things that we need to bring to your attention…Our La Vina Chairperson and Group Liaisons are not very happy the way GSO is handling their requests. He even sent the money in advance to have La Vina sent to him on time. Something GSO requested from him. He went to the San Fernando Valley Office and the person there told him that he could get the Vinas from him in one week if he ordered through them. So we need the Delegate or someone in charge to do something about this issue. The other thing is about the videos for our Audio-Visual Committee. Most of the GSRs that I represent were not happy to hear that the Area could not get us a set of tapes. They mentioned the fact that three of the largest Groups contribute a minimum of $40.00 a month to the Area. They did not feel that it was right to ask these meetings to withhold the contributions for one month to buy the set of videos because the Groups may get the wrong message. Therefore they have asked me to bring this issue to you and if you can, solve it. Take it to the floor in a regular Area meeting.
Armando L., GSR – District 5: The reason I am giving a report is because our DCM was invited to participate in a Group Anniversary and I don’t know what happened to the Alternate DCM. I just wanted to tell everybody that our District was glad we had them host the last Assembly. Currently the DCM and GSRs are visiting Groups 3-times a week. They are still working on the Assembly expenses and I do not have much information about that. Thank you for letting me of service.
Sylvano – District 6: On February 15, 2002 we had our District Meting. We continue to visit 2 Groups each week and have 2 District meetings each month. The DCM has sent 45 “memory books” for Area 7 and Area 9. Our DCM was unable to attend due to an emergency. These memory books are from the 1st Annual Foro from last year and had not been given to the Areas.
John T., DCM - District 10: For the past several months we have been working diligently to help Groups in our Districts and neighboring Districts to become healthy Groups with GSR representation. I am happy to report that in January, most GSRs from Kern Country Districts showed up for a GSR Sharing Session and in all there were 14 GSRs in attendance from 5 Districts and we continue to work with any GSR desiring help or guidance.
Jay R., DCM - District 11: District 11 (the BAG District of Burbank, Atwater and Glendale) is in the process of getting its own checking account since Groups in the District have been making out checks to the District and we have been unable to cash them. The purpose of establishing a treasury is fundamentally because we want to ensure that future DCMs will have the funding to go to PRAASA.
Scott McK., DCM – District 16: Elections for the new DCMC were held on January 7 and Diana A. was elected DCMC. I was elected Alternate DCMC. The subcommittee was formed for development and draft of guidelines & policies for the combined districts. 11, 16, & 27. Work will begin at the April District meeting.
Eric S, DCM – District 21: I am the new DCM for District 21 and dwe are just now going to get up and running. Thank you.
Theresa D., DCM – District 22: Committee Reports – Archives: Shirlee B. Gave a report about Area Archives, History and importance of Archives. There was discussion about whether to donate Archives to the Area for keeping and maintenance. We have a couple of volunteers for the District 22 Archives, pending further discussion at the next meeting. The Archives Committee is to create a letter/article for NNL regarding donation of Archives to the area. Registration: Bob S. met w/past registrar for transfer of information. Is currently updating information. Central office Liaison (Position open)An office manager is needed for 8-10 hours per week. Treasurer needed for Central Office as well. H & I: Patrice P. report they meet the 3rd Tuesday of the month at Pioneer Group, 6:30pm. GSR SHARING: Nothing was brought up. Web Site: Bill R. needs a web master to share duties of updating the web site. DCM REPORT: I attended the 5 Area DCM Sharing Session and was again sparked with renewed spiritual information in Oceanside.(hence, my absence) Enthusiasm is the word. Please be aware that PRAASA is coming up and is in Fresno. Flyers and registration forms are available. And the two day assembly is coming up as well to discuss the following topics: “Sharing The Steps, Traditions and Concepts”: - Service Opportunities-there is a position to be the Central Office Liaison for the District. Interested, my phone number is located herein. Any questions, comments or suggestions for District 22, feel free to contact me.
Rhonna W., DCM – District 23: We are currently having a large number of participants, 20 or 25 people. This was an ongoing struggle so we are quite pleased. We are reviewing our District guidelines which is one of the projects we are working on. We are also putting the final touches on our project to put placards on taxi cabs throughout Santa Barbara. I am looking forward to going to PRAASA and this year because of our prudent reserve is so great that we are actually going to fund me for RAASA less food. We also have our treasurer going, our literature chair is going and John is going.
Tom S., DCM – District 24: Actions this period include: The Fellowship Brunch committee is preparing for the event to be held in April. The Grapevine committee is distributing sample GV's and LaVina's to the public library, the hospital, treatment centers, and doctor's offices as well as pitching the magazines at meetings. The Archives committee is building an inventory database.
The CPC/PI committee is providing literature to the Probation Department and public library and public service announcements to the local cable provider. The Registration committee is updating group information. We are preparing a bid to host the September Assembly. We are discussing ways to meet the needs of deaf alcoholics.
John M., DCM – District 25: Our PI Committee has been very active, giving a panel presentation to juveniles referred by Drug Court and preparing PSA announcements. But I would like to emphasize the success we have had with the Directories in Motels Project. With only about 20 hours of effort we managed to place directories in almost all the motels and hotels in our district. We already have people showing up at meetings and saying that wouldn’t have come if they hadn’t found a directory in the hotel lobby. We have created the positions of LCM, which will be elected to serve each of our major towns as needed. We elected our first LCM, Spence. We are working with District 22 to give our archives to the area. For our part we are willing to donate the archives. If District 22 agrees, then we will offer our joint archives to the area. We are gearing up for the Area visit in May. You have gorgeous speaker the night before, Bertie D, a barbecue for lunch, the women’s groups are making pies and a nearby casino will be in full swing. But our biggest problem is district renumbering. Relatively few people have adopted the new number 25, most of the members are using the old number 52, So it may not be district 25 that will be greeting you in Solvang May, you find yourself visiting district 52 instead
Art G., DCM – District 31: We have passed out Group conscience handouts at several meetings. A real active GSR has been pitching that same thing at various meetings that he is responsible for. I have solicited GSRs at those same meetings and worker bees for the March Area Assembly at Gold Coast. Our CPC Committee is attending networking meetings at St. Johns Hospital in Oxnard to get leads for CPC and PI work. I attended a meeting for the Coalition for Prevention of Family Violence offering our services. On February 27 we will be manning an information table at Oxnard College for Black History Month and on February 28 we will have two panels participating at a Health Class at Ventura College. We have been working with Project Understanding in Ventura, which is a homeless helping agency. About six months ago we got a volunteer, which was requested from us, to be liaison to the various alcoholics who might inquire about AA. We have been cleared to have a meeting there this week.
Vicki asked Alberto to talk to Steve during the break regarding the video tape. She advised Nelson that the issue of the radios would be taken to the Finance Committee first to check on whether funds were available and then the item would be placed on the agenda for a vote at the Assembly.
Vicki announced that Marita H. had been recommended by the Archives Committee to serve as the Area Archivist. The Officers have given their approval and Marita was presented to the Assembly as the new Archivist. Marita will start her service at the end of March when she is finished with school.
Break --
Delegate’s Report – Steve H.: Good Morning! My name is Steve H. and I am an alcoholic – proud to serve Alcoholics Anonymous and Area 93 as the Panel 51 delegate to the General Service Conference.
And speaking of the upcoming General Service Conference, I would like to tell you a little about my trip to New York two weeks ago.
As you know, I was elected to serve as Chairperson of the Conference Committee on trustees at last year’s Conference. And one of the duties of a delegate Committee chair is to attend the February Quarterly General Service Board meeting where our trustees finalize the Conference agenda. During this five-day weekend, the delegate chairs are given an orientation to help prepare them for their duties at the Conference and they are asked to participate in their corresponding trustees’ committee meeting. The chairs are also invited to attend as many of the other trustees’ meetings as they can and to attend the final General service Board meeting Sunday morning.
During my visits to the trustees’ meetings, I learned a little about myself – or at least something about the difference between my way of doing business and how the trustees do the business of AA. What happened was this.One of the agenda topics for last year’s Conference was ways to reduce excess money in our reserve fund without lowering literature prices. We discussed it at our Pre-Conference Assembly and it was discussed at length on the Conference floor. The result was that the Conference decided to adopt what was called a “floating cap” plan. The idea was that we give the trustees a couple years to come up with a reserve reduction proposal and put it into action. In other words, we trust our trusted servants to take care of it for us.
Sounded like a good idea to me. I figured AA would give it 6 to 10 years to see how it worked because that just seemed logical. So, you can imagine my surprise when I read the trustees’ Finance Committee’s agenda and found that an area had requested that we toss out the floating cap plan and use a modified literature-price-reduction approach instead. (If I had been in charge of opening the Committee’s mail, I’m afraid I would have simply dealt with that suggestion myself and thrown the letter away.) I was even more surprised when the Committee started seriously discussing the idea.
At first, most of them felt like I did: give the floating cap plan some time to work. However, one of the members pointed out that almost half of the people discussing it at this year’s Conference would be discussing it for the first time. So if the proposal made it to the Conference floor, it would have the benefit of three separate delegate panels’ viewpoints. And something might come from that discussion that would be even better. The Committee gave that some thought then voted to forward the proposal to the Conference Finance Committee. And I got to see how these more experienced guardians of AA allowed the principal of the group conscience to guide their decision.
And once again I know why God didn’t appoint me President of AA. Now on to some of the other things I learned at the Board Weekend.
Area 93 Request for a Sponsorship Video
I will have the official Literature Committee response to share with you at our March Area Assembly, but I do want to pass on the news that our request was declined - partly because the publications department has a full schedule for next year and partly because some of the Committee members felt that an official video on the subject might be an unwanted step toward codifying sponsorship. The Committee’s secretary, Valerie O., contacted me last Tuesday to personally thank Area 93 for their suggestion – particularly the way it was passed through the district, the committee, and on through the area to the Conference.Regarding the Big Book
· The first printing of the new 4th Edition of the Big Book included 400,000 hard cover, 150,000 soft cover, and 15,000 large print copies. The second and third printings of 200,000 hard cover copies are complete and a fourth printing has been ordered.
· Approximately 77,000 free copies of the 4th Edition were sent to the groups, conference members, and others.
·
AAWS is planning to make the 4th Edition available in
electronic format. Sometime in the near future, you will have your choice of the
book as 14 cassettes for $60.00, 16 CDs for $85.00, CD Roms for $60.00, and an
undisclosed number of floppies for $20.00.
Other Publications
· For those who have a hard time telling which edition of the Service Manual is the most recent, AAWS will now publish the new editions with a cover to match the color of that year’s Final Conference Report.
· The Spanish edition of the Archives Workbook and the pamphlet “AA for the Older Alcoholic” should be available by this April.
Archives
· The Archives audio preservation project is on schedule with over 500 CD Roms of early reel-to-reel tapes and more recent cassette tapes already completed.
Grapevine & La Vina
· A collection of past Grapevine articles titled “ Pathways to Service” is ready for distribution on CD Rom. This will be the first in a series of five anthologies to be distributed in a computer-based searchable format.
·
The Grapevine web site will soon include the Grapevine Workbook.
Finances
· Alcoholics Anonymous World Services (AAWS) reported a gross income of approximately $10,600,000 for 2001. $4,700,000 or 44% of this was from contributions while the rest was from literature sales and other income. Our expenses totaled approximately $10,200,000 so our net income was about $400,000. We had budgeted to break even or loose a little last year but the unbudgeted 4th Edition sales plus some unspent expenses put us into the plus column. This money will be added to the Reserve Fund which now stands at approximately $10,400 or 11.5 months of operating expenses. AAWS plans to reduce the Reserve to an amount equivalent to 9 to 10 month’s operating expenses over the next few years.
· The Grapevine reported a 2001 gross income of about $1,400,000 based on 115,000 average monthly subscriptions and miscellaneous product sales. Its expenses were about $1,500,000 for a loss of about $100,000 due primarily to lower subscription sales. The Grapevine plans to recover some of their increased postage expenses by raising subscription costs from $15.00 to $18.00 per year sometime during 2002.
· La Vina’s 2001 income was approximately $70,000 based on 8,600 average monthly subscriptions. Publishing expenses were also about $70,000, but additional administrative and one-time restructuring costs created a loss for the year of about $120,000.
And, finally,
Conference Growth
· For those of you who are providing an opinion on future conference growth, please remember the deadline for sending your thoughts to me is March 1st. If you do not have the background information and would like to participate in the process, please see me after the meeting.
Now I see why the delegates who’ve attended the February board weekend say it changed their lives. In particular, I now better understand how this whole process of trusting others works. It isn’t just about letting someone else handle the problem of too much money in the reserve fund or making the 4th Edition available in electronic format.
Rather, it’s about preserving the core principals of the AA program by continually giving careful thought to seemingly minor issues. And if this is necessary for AA’s survival, then it’s necessary for my survival too.
Report on 4-Area DCM Sharing Session – Ken S.: I was honored to serve on the planning committee for the 4-Area Sharing Session held on February 9th in Oceanside. I would like to thank Jeanine R., Phil B., Rhonna W. and Bruce N. for representing Area 93 as table monitors and reporting Secretaries.
The session was held at the North Country Alano Club in Oceanside and was hosted by Area 8, District 2 and was a very nice facility. Central California had 12 representatives in attendance, which was a great turnout when you consider a minimum driving time of two and half hours. Overall I counted approximately 80 people in attendance
The topics discussed were, What are the qualities of a good DCM and other trusted servants? Do GSRs need education? If so, how much and how soon? How do we keep GSR interested and active? What are the duties of a DCM and other District officers? Do Districts need service committees? How should they be financed? As a DCM, how can you incorporate the Traditions into your General Service work? As a DCM, how can you incorporate the Concepts into your General Service work? DCMs – what do you want to tell you Area Committee?
When I get a synopsis of the table reports for these topics and recap of expenses, I will make them available either by email or at the next Committee Meeting. If you have any suggestions for new topics or formats, please let me know and I will forward them along to the planning committee for next year.
Pacific Regional Forum Ad Hoc Committee Report – Robert H.: Robert advised that out of the 4 hotels that had been contacted, only one had responded with a bid – that was from the Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. Several of the members are working on other hotel prospects but to date, have heard nothing. It seems to him that Marriott is very responsive and they would love to have AA there. Currently, the Warner Center Marriott hosts the NA National Conference and know what it is that AA needs for this type of conference. Robert advised that he can bring additional information to Steve at PRAASA since he plans on being there. Steve said that he would like the Area Committee to make a choice on a site the sooner the better. Robert advised that the Marriott is located in Woodland Hills and is freeway close. There was discussion regarding distance from airports – including shuttles and fly-a-ways from Van Nuys. It was agreed that we should wait until the March Assembly Ageneda for more information on possible sites before we make a recommendation. By simple majority, it will be placed on the March Assembly for discussion.
There was a motion for approval of the agenda. A Motion was made and seconded. The motion was passed.
Susan C. stated that at the last Area Assembly the Board was supposed to met and come back to us about voting count vs. Vicki advised that the whole voting thing was going to be discussed under item #2 in old business.
Seeing that no one wished to change their vote, the motion carried.
The agenda was approved as set forth.
OLD BUSINESS
Assembly Program – Presented by Mary Ann L.: EFFECT OF PROP 36 ON AA -- On January 2001, Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000, came into effect, which allows for drug treatment program for certain nonviolent drug possession in lieu of jail time for the first and second offense. Each county head to implement this program independently. Question has this had any significant effect on AA and has AA addressed this as a new opportunity to help the suffering alcoholic?
· The Gold Coast asked this questions of the membership. Should we have an information meeting with a structured format. After discussing the matter, it was decided that we would investigate the newcomers meeting. Some were meeting the needs of the newcomer and some were not.
· After speaking to the manager of the Ventura County Central Office, it was determined that there were enough AA meetings that we didn’t need another. (Ventura County now has 410 meetings/groups. Last year there were 360. In addition, the calls received at Central Office had increased from 800-900 to over 1000 during the year.
· Calls were made to treatment centers and out-patient centers asking whether they had any increased numbers. It was found that the Ventura County Drug and Alcohol Centers were handling all of these referrals. The offender has to attend 2 sessions a week and perform a drug test weekly. It was stated by one of the other outpatient programs that they thought it was an underfunded program that offered too little.
· Calls were made to treatment centers and out patient centers asking whether they had any increased numbers It was found out that in the Ventura County Drug and Alcohol Center was handling all of these referrals. The offender has to attend 2 sessions a week and perform a drug test weekly. It was stated by one of the other out patient programs that they thought was an underfunded program which offered too little
· This may be regarded as an outside issue and that we in AA should not be concerned with these issues, however, it does come under the purview o the Treatment Committees. The question is – are we reaching these alcoholics? Should we interface with those responsible for the implementation of this program to let them know that the hand of AA is there.
· The fact that we are asking this questions and discussion the issue may be only what is needed and, by doing that it reminds us that we have give opportunity to reach out to those who may need our help.
· New Comer packet, format for newcomer meetings, etc.
There was some caution discussed about our becoming “officers of the court’ when it comes to signing courts cards etc. It was basically understood that while the times have changed, the message continues to be the same. We are continuing to allow the court to send “drunks” to AA. It was the consensus of the Committee that we did not need to do anything differently. We need to just be here for the alcoholic who still suffers. Those in the rooms need to be there to show them the ropes. It was agreed that we did not need to put on a special program at the Assembly (the GSRs and the Assembly) on what to do with the newcomer walking into the rooms of AA. Some discussion included the need to keep the professional informed about what AA is and what it is not.
A motion was made to put a presentation from the CPC Committee on the agenda for the next Area Assembly with regard to this matter. The motion was seconded and the vote taken. It was unanimously agreed that the presentation was not necessary at this time.
Speaking from the defeated side – Mary Ann L. stated that the operative words were “proposition 46”. Perhaps if it was not tied to the proposition it would make a difference. Steve advised that he believed this would be a good program and should be considered. After further discussion, a simple majority was taken with 22 in favor and 13 against it was agreed that we would place this on the agenda as a “program” at one of our next Area Assemblies.
Voting eligibility issues were tabled at our last Assembly. Vicki opened the discussion concerning this matter so that we could have everyone properly informed prior to the voting at the next Area Assembly as this was an important matter to be discussed at the Group and District level.
Stephanie advised that she had put together a list wherein she indicates the name of each member and the service position that person has and gave some examples. The Officers have a copy of this list. What I need to know is who votes? Does the person with two positions – if for instance a person is a GSR and an Alternate DCMC, and the DCMC is not present at the Assembly. Does that person have two votes since he is the Alternate DCMC and the GSR? And how does he vote and how do I count him in our count for the Area Assembly.
Rhonna asked for clarification. If a Sub Committee Chair is also a DCM, and they attend this or the Assembly, did you state that the Alternate DCM would carry the vote of the DCM? Does the DCM carry the vote of the Sub Committee Chair. Or exactly how does that work, cause it does effect a lot of people in this room.
Vicki stated that there is no clarification at this point because this is the problem they are trying to address at this time.
Beady had a question at the Area Assembly in that how do we know how many people here are voting?
She was advised that Stephanie does have a count of those present and able to vote. Beady asked then if when something is a simple majority, is a simple majority of the number of people who can vote or the amount of people who did vote. She was advised it was the number of people who did vote.
Nelson advised that he had been requested by the Officers of the combined Districts who are also past DCMs have asked to be given a vote at the Area Assembly. Regarding the item we are discussing right now, I am in favor. I think that if they are here, they deserve to vote.
Bertie stated that when she got here 8 years ago, I wanted to be all things to all people. I wanted to vote for everything I wanted to vote twice and three times. And as I have grown in this Assembly, I have something to be very important. Those of us who are serving here in whatever capacity you are serving, you are being of service to Alcoholics Anonymous and to our fellowship. And I know that today. See before, I wanted you to see me – see my hand in the air – see what I was and what I was doing for you. And today, when I saw the flyer with my name on it, I want to be anonymous but I want to be of service. When I became a GSR, I knew that I carried the conscience of my Group what they wanted, not what I wanted and those were the important people to me. When I became alternate DCM, I also became an alternate chair for a committee. I was not a chair for a committee so I really didn’t have any vote. But my DCM was not very active so I was there to be the voice of my District. But I guarantee you this, that if I was chairman of my committee, my first obligation was to my District. To those AA’s that I served in that District. Those were first and foremost. Today we have alternate DCMs that are Alternate DCMCs or DCMs that are Sub Committee Chairs, and we have way to many people spread to thin and we are not thinking about the alcoholics we are suppose to be serving. And now we want to vote because we have titles. And this is not the place of titles. What’s really important here is that the people that are in a District that serve as a Secretary or serve as a Treasurer are serving their District in that capacity because they want to be of service, not because they are going to vote at an Area. The people that are here as sub Committee Chairs are being of service to that committee because we are starting a new Area we are trying to get our committees in place and we are trying to figure out how we are going to do this thing. We recognize that the Sub Committee Chairs are working hard. When I read the role call I state what the voting eligibility rules are. If you are an alternate DCM or alternate Chair, and your DCM or Alternate is not here, you have the right to vote. We don’t all have to be the ones that vote. Let those that have entrusted do the voting. Sub Committee chairs can discuss with the Chair know what the conscience of your Committee is and let the Chair do the voting. If we continue to sit here all year trying to decide who is going to vote, we are never going to get anything done in our Committees
Lothar stated that the Sub Committee Chairs work hard and should be recognized by being given the vote. I feel that not having a vote changes the outcome of a decision at this level. The guidelines also state that all CCAA past Delegates have a vote and we don’t have any yet. That’s just a question. When we come here and do the work and do assignments we should have a right to vote.
Joe expressed that this actually had a striking resemblance to the questions about the growth of the conference. How many people does it take to make a voting decision. We are here to communicate to the conference and to the delegate. Do we have enough people to do that? I think we do have the right amount of people to do that…we have the right amount of people to take care of business. I think we do. Let’s go back to the basics of what is takes to take care of AA. Let’s take care of the basics. Not for my own motives and not for my own title. In our structure I believe it’s about the basics necessary to convey the message.
There was discussion concerning the subcommittees and the reasoning behind decision. In other words, when that committee became large enough, it would become a committee. Showing it’s worth, it becomes a committee.
Debbie expressed that the vote of the GSR is the most important. Beyond the LCMs and the sub-chair issue is that we have a lot of duplicate positions and with duplicate positions, there seems to be something suffering. The Group is suffering; The District is suffering. Somewhere we are losing what we are supposed to be representing. If I am a DCM, I represent my District and I listen to my GSRs and I bring that back to the Area Committee. Then I bring the Area Committee back to the GSRs and listen to them again. But we are getting it upside down…if it’s a big deal to vote here – and it is most definitely an honor and a privilege to vote here – but if it’s such a big deal to vote here we are exalting the Area and dismissing the Groups and we have got back aswards.
Marita expressed that this body had told someone that they had no vote so they had no voice. Then we let someone who had no voice – vote, then come up and voice an opinion. We’ve gotta use the same rules for everybody here, that’s who we are. The second thing I want to point out is the fact that when that committee was set up, the newsletter committee was a committee of one. The audio-visual committee was a committee of two. So it seemed silly to create an entire committee or two committees for three people. So the Area created them as subcommittees of a committee and the thought was that when they grew, to become a full committee size, they could become a separate committee. Kind of like an adhoc committee. If it shows its worth to the Area then an adhoc committee usually becomes a standing committee after a year. So that was the original theory. The other thing since we are talking about voting eligibility, I just have to throw this out because it’s something I learned from another Area. In San Diego they do a lot of really interesting things in their Area and one of them is they have to have a quorum in order to have a vote. And their quorum consists of more GRSs voting than Officers, Committee Chairs and DCMs. Do you know how that would affect Assemblies if before a vote we made sure we had more GSRs in a room than Officerss. I think that might be awesome idea. It would shorten our Assemblies or make sure that we were doing things that the GSRs wanted. So as long as we are talking about eligibility I thought I would throw that out on the table when they go back to their Groups, ask them what they think about having a quorum where there are more GSRs than Area Officers.
Vicki clarified that right now we are having open discussion, prior when I told Dave he could not speak was because we were having the minority opinion heard and he did not vote against it. He was not speaking from the defeated side – that is the difference from what I was doing then and now – right now it is open discussion.
Susan explained that what brought it home to her was what was the total population. When we voted earlier today, was there 45 people or whatever the total population in the room is – is it eligible to vote. And out of the vote, whichever way it went on the Marriott or whatever we were voting on, was there 48 votes that voted or was there 45 votes that voted. One of the other issues that comes up here which I can compare to maybe mixing a couple breeds – like maybe a wolf and a dog – that aren’t suppose to be normally mixed but its what we would call a designer animal. Now you have an animal that wants to be a singular animal mated with an animal that wants to be in a Group. And you have an animal that loves water versus an animal that doesn’t love water. Now you have a schizophrenic animal. I think what we have here is maybe a schizophrenic Group because we have some people that are able to vote at this Committee on some level but not able to vote at another level. I’m standing here and I was a Committee of one for over a year and I got a vote. But there are subcommittees of three, four, and five that did not get a vote. As much as I am in favor of everyone here being able to speak and able to vote…these are some of the issues we are weighing. My end result is always, how does this affect Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole. How are we doing the work of what our Groups and the people who either elected us or asked us to serve if we were appointed – how are we doing what our goal was as a whole and it goes back to who should be able to vote? How many are in the room? I am more than in favor of self-policing but the end result is that we should be able to add up those numbers and they add up to at least the people that were able and eligible to vote. For example, if we were to flip flop the agenda and put the business at the top of the meeting, people would want to stick around for those committee meetings. If we did most of the business here, then that business would get out of the way quickly. What we have is people who are Area Officers deciding what’s going to get done anyway because everybody else is bored and leaves and so we might as well have done it here in the first place since these are the only people we are polling. When in reality what Marita says has good value. Perhaps we really should be doing what Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole wants because it’s a Group conscience for this Area as to what we do. So perhaps the business should be going at the top when we have those people ready and able to vote.
Steve stated that the unfortunately this was a situation where there were to hard and fast rules. Fortunately that’s probably why we survive, because there aren’t any hard and fast rules. What Bertie had to say was really the whole crux of this – in all of our discussions we have to decide if we are really addressing the issue of “are we helping people to recover from alcoholism?” You know we have a Concept for this – it’s Concept 4. It says, “Throughout our Conference structure we out to maintain at all responsible levels a traditional right of participation. Taking care that each classification or group of our world servants (just say our Area servants) shall be allowed a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each much discharge.” And its says here “Bill warned us against the possibility of new Delegates or Trustees trying to weaken our modify or toss out our right of participation. What he is arguing for here is the right of the Trustees, our Directors, and our Staff members of the General Service Office to have a voting right at the Conference. There is also something at the Conference which insures, just by the number of Delegates, that we have two-thirds of the voting members in any Conference. This way we do have direct representation from the Groups in addition to allowing a voting voice to the Trustees, Directs and Staff members. So if it were all very clear, if everybody had a title of Delegate, or Trustee, Director, or Staff member – then this would be very clear -- everybody gets to vote. Our problem is two-fold. We don’t have such clear cut lines and we don’t have enough people participating at this time so we don’t have this problem. Ideally – one person – one job and that’s it. What I am trying to keep in mind here as I listen to people talk, is what is really important here. Like Bertie says -- hopefully there is more of me that has my Group and the suffering alcoholic at heart than there is of me that is looking for the right to stick my hand up. And I think that’s true. If you stick around long enough you’re here for the alcoholic rather than for yourself. I also think about what is really important about being able to participate. You know when you think about it – it’s not about being able to stick my hand up. You know when I am at an Area Assembly voting, I am one of perhaps 150 people who are voting on a certain issue. So mine is 1 – 150th of this final decision. What is much more important, I have found, are those people who come up because they have a right to participate and have said something to a certain issue that has made sense to other people. That has helped them see things in a different light. So I really see it being the considered statement at the microphone that is way more important than an individual vote. That doesn’t necessarily make our decision a hundred percent clear, but at least for me it puts it in perspective. If I’ve got a right to participate then I think that is much more important than a right to vote.
John who is also Co-Chair of the Newsletter stated that last month at the Area Assembly I looked at the fact that I didn’t have a right to vote and this and that…well I looked at the Service Manual and I thought about it a little bit – I’ve been in General Service a little while – and I realized that the GSR is the most important position in this room. This is an upside down Committee. My Group is my primary purpose for being here. True that I am Co-Chair for Newsletter but the thing is that my primary responsibility is to represent my Group. Now if I had a vote at the Area Committee Meetings, I would be giving my Group an unfair advantage of other GSRs that don’t have an Officer here. Its just unfortunate for our Area that there are not enough people involved in General Service so I could be a Co-Chair for the Newsletter and somebody else could be GSR for my Group cause there just aren’t enough people at my Group standing up and saying “yes, I want to take over this position.” That’s the quagmire we have with the way things are laid out right now. I believe in that one vote – one representation type of process and I don’t think I should be carrying two or three different positions in General Service. I wish that our Group and other Groups would step forward and put more people in service.
John M. is concerned that we are talking about LCMs and Committee Chairs in the same thing. I think these are two or three different topics and they should be discussed separately. As far as Committee Chairs and Subcommittee Chairs are concerned, what I have found as Web Master was that there was basically a conflict inside myself in terms of my duties both as DCM and Web Master. So I looked at that and I realized that I was not doing my duties as DCM because I was doing so much work in the Web Master position. My thought is that basically one should be a Web Master or a DCM. So I have resigned my position as Web Master, and I have no excuse not to do my duties as DCM properly. As far as the roles are concerned, was that the Web Master acting like a Committee Chair.. The Web Master was invited to the Committee Meetings, the Web Master interacted with the other Committees as an independent body and I see that the Sub-Committee Chairs should be Committee Chairs. Thus we would be dealing with the vote situation.
Stepahnie stated she happens to know the Standing Committee Chair who has a vote here and he is also a GSR for his meeting. What do we do about that? Do we police ourselves. I’m just presenting a problem. I don’t know the solution. When we have dual commitments and both are able to vote, there is a problem
Jay R. stated he is kind of like Scott. He is Alternate Chair for Literature and DCM for his District. Like Bertie was saying, I think my responsibility is to my District. I think that a Sub-Committee Chair is capable of standing alone as a Committee and the only reason we do this is for convenience. Putting Committees together and having Sub-Committees. So I think that Lothar may have a vote that’s different from John’s. They have two different Sub-Committees and we need to get the input and be inclusive rather than exclusive at the Committee level, at the Assembly level and our District levels. I think the whole problem about registration is if a person is a GSR and an Alternate DCM and they show up at an Assembly, the vote would go to the most important – which is the GSR. We just stick to the one person – one vote principle.
Vicki stated that when we started Area 93, we formed the standing Committees that we felt were necessary and Sub Committee Chairs were added in as a later thought. When all the Committee Chairs were appointed to their positions, they were talked to and they were asked and none of them were DCMs or held any other position. That was part of the requirement for being a Committee Chair. One later on was added that did because we could not find anybody else to fill the position. This is some of the problem that we are having right now. So we never had any intentions of dual commitment problems happening, but we’ve never had Sub Committee Chairs either. It might be unfortunate right now that the Sub Committee Chairs vote and the LCMs are tied together, but that is what the motion is and that is how it is being presented to the Assembly. We are here for information so you can take it back to the Groups so they can vote their conscience.
Bill R. advised that he also a member of another Group that is larger than Alcoholics Anonymous and we have a convention each year. At the registration as we sign in, everyone who is entitled to vote is given a little paddle. There are a lot of people who can vote in two different places, but you can only have one paddle. One person – one vote. Something like that could work well at the Assembly besides paddles are easy to count cause they can be seen easily.
Steve said that as John has suggested, we really have three different issues here. Two of them can be discussed pretty directly and voted on – that has to do with the Sub Committee Chairs and LCMs. I think that we as an Area Committee really have got the right to split this up into two different subjects if we chose to for the Area Assembly. So what I would suggest is that we go ahead and discuss and vote on each of those two issues at the Area Assembly. I would also like to put out a suggestion that maybe we would consider someone give a pro and a con for each of those two subjects. Just take volunteers today and those people will give 3-minute presentations at the Area Assembly so the people can get kind of a clear idea of what's on each side of the voting issue for each of these positions and perhaps will speed up the process of discussion at the Assembly. In regard to the voting eligibility, that I think is a little bit tougher. I think a lot of this has to do with the practicalities of not having enough people participating. But I think that it is important enough that we need to have somewhat of a format for discussing and deciding this. I don’t know that we necessarily need to come to a decision as a hard and fast rule, but I think it would certainly help us to come to some kind of an agreement as to how we judge who votes, when. Somebody else is going to have to come up with a better idea for getting that out to discuss it, but I would like to see us divide the other two subjects. The Sub Committee Chair and the LCM vote.
John M. said he had forgotten to talk about LCMs. Our District has 3 major towns and right now we happen to have an alternate DCM in one town, a DCM in another town, but nothing in the 3rd town. So our District has created the position of LCM and the general idea is that we will fill the LCMs as needed in each of the towns. This is working out very effectively because our LCM is covering the town in which neither the alternate DCM or the DCM is. John suggested that someone make a motion that we have a separate discussion on LCMs at the Area Assembly.
Stephanie stated that at the last PRAASA she talked to the Registrar for the Area in Arizona. The State of Arizona is one whole Area. What they do at there Area is they have colored cards. Each Assembly is a different color. If you are eligible to vote you hold up your colored card. She asked how they got past the idea of how long it took to pass out the cards to those eligible to vote. He stated he had a list on a lap top where he could look up the name and if your name was there, you were eligible to vote and you got a card. That’s one solution I want to put out there.
Vicki stated that an issue has been brought up here which is on the Agenda for March. It is a guideline change. The way it was written out was that the Sub Committee Chairs and LCMs right to vote was lumped together. Now we are having discussion on whether or not we can separate that as two separate issues.
Joe V. stated that the discussion here was good and that if this Committee wanted to look at this issue as two separate issues, it would have to be a new business issue. However, if at the Assembly the maker of the motion would amend the motion, to clean it up, and if everyone agreed, it would accomplish what we wanted to do here. Personally, I don’t think you can just take out what happened at one Assembly and table it to the next one.
Vicki asked if there was anyone with discussion concerning the LCMs right to vote.
Bertie stated that John just brought up the LCM at his District. He stated that basically the Alternate DCM is handling one city, the DCM handling another city, and then an appointed LCM is handling another city. I would think that would be just like an alternate. If you give the LCM the vote, then I suppose you need to give the Alternate DCM a vote as well because they are both doing the same job. What you are actually looking at is something similar to a combined District where there is a DCMC and then several DCMs from different Districts working together.
Lisa M wanted to clarity a little bit about District 25, what John was eluding to is that we have an area in our District that has no GSR representation. We have one person that’s willing to go the various Groups in that area to bring information from the District to those Groups and gather it together to bring it back. So instead of being a GSR for one Group the LCM acts as a GSR to several Groups. That’s the difference the Alternate DCM and the LCM position we created. John was addressing the fact that these Groups don’t have a lot of representation from the District and the LCM is willing to go to these Groups to get an informed system going between the Groups and the District. We are hoping that the LCM generates enough interest to get GSRs to participate and then the LCM position would not be necessary.
Steve advised that the Service Manual gives us perfect latitude to decide what we would like to do. Under Local Committee Member, a large District could divide itself into smaller Districts often called Sub Districts or Local Districts, each electing a Local Committee Member. Depending on Area practice, these LCMs may or may not be voting members of the Area Committee and may or may not hold regular meetings with the GSRs they serve. My personal feeling is that once you have a Local Committee Member who is really in the position of handling a certain number of Groups, is that this person does really function as a DCM would and that District is really functioning as a combined District would. The situation that Lisa describes though, I don’t think is one of those situations where the LCM should have a vote. If this is a person who is really acting as an envoy from a District to a number of Groups, is that person cannot be voting a combined Group conscience. In other words, one Group – one vote. We would have to be very careful about that. I think there is a difference about whether they are representing a number of Groups or just one Group.
Rhonna asked for clarification on what would be the definition of a voting LCM is? Like what you were just saying in that it doesn’t really apply if they are being GSR representatives to inform a couple of Groups, obviously they are not completely functioning as a LCM taking care of a local area. So my questions is can we set the definition at all. Yes you can have a voting privilege if you fall under this category?
Steve stated that as a logical approach to this would be that if you are an LCM, you are not a GSR for another Group and you run meetings with a number of GSRs and that just as the DCM has a vote, so would the LCM.
Rhonna stated then as long as the LCM is a GSR the LCM has no vote. And as far as Sub Committee Chairs, they should not have a vote.
Armando stated that this is always something he had been thinking about. A Local Committee Member from my District would be nice if he had a chance to vote at the Area level. The reason we don’t see them here because they don’t have the right to vote. Our DCMs don’t have computers to get all the information out to our District level. So if we give them the right to vote, we might have them here to give their opinions.
Alan D. from District 22 is on an adhoc committee that is grappling with this at the moment and we have been discussing it for about 6 months. We have gotten to that point at the District level with Groups that don’t have GSRs. How to have a person who can come up with a way – just like Vicki stated – as a liaison between the District Committee and the Groups in the absence of a GSR and taking information in both directions. The issue of voting is moot because you are trying to get participation and information represented at the District level of the Group. The reason that you are in this situation is that you have lack of participation just like I see here. You don’t have enough members but the information I what you are after. The issue of whomever is the LCM being limited by the vote. What he is doing is combing each of the Group’s conscience into one conscience and then should have the right to vote the combined conscience of those Groups without GSR participation.
Nelson stated that Bertie woke him up. The reason I said that I changed my mind was because I was being selfish and thinking of my Officers of the Combined Districts. What I hear about the LCMs, I don’t think they should have a vote at the Area Assembly because when the District names the LCM that person is going to work with the DCM. Bring all the information from whatever city he is coming from to the DCM. We already have one DCM to vote as a trusted servant. If we read the 2nd Tradition, that’s what it says. When we raise our hand to vote, we name someone who is going to be a leader, we also give him the vote. We can’t bring everybody here to the Area Assembly like this is a plaza where we are selling chickens and everything. What am I doing here? Am I here because of my position or I am trying to do what the 5th Tradition says. As for the Sub Committee Chairs, no one told him they were combined (laughter). I need to think about this. Edgardo is also a GSR as well as the Chair of the Registration. He should vote as a GSR. We don’t need colored cards…we are honest here. If I have the right to vote, I raise my hand, if I don’t then I don’t. Someday if I work hard and I have a position and become a DCM or something else, then I can vote.
Dave stated that the Sub Committee Chairs probably belong to a Group and that Group should have a GSR and that GSR should have a DCM. I feel the same way about the LCMs. Why double representation. That’s my opinion.
Ken, DCM from District 28 stated he is a member of a combined District, Gold Coast, and so we have 4 Districts in a combined District. I look at the LCM issue as a developmental or a step between a large District decides to split and grow, they need almost a sub committee or an assistant to the DCM to help control the size of the growth. And if that particular District is growing and has enough activity within each local District, that District should eventually split off and become a District on its own and then that could become a combined District. I don’t think that the LCM should necessarily have a vote at the Assembly because it is part of the structure of the District, not of the Assembly or the Area that the LCM has created. The DCM is part of the actual District and has autonomy within his District. The LCM really works for the DCM in the District. They should not have an independent vote until the District becomes large enough to become a true DCM rather than an LCM.
Eddie D. agreed with Ken but I hear a lot of people with two jobs. Many years ago, I was asked to be Grapevine Chairman for this Area and I was alternate DCM of my District. I had to give up the job as alternate DCM. I had one job. A couple of years later I was a GSR and I was asked to be Chair of the Finance Committee for SCAA. I gave up that job as GSR because I took the position as Chair of the Finance Committee. I hear people in this meeting today tell me that they are Chairman of Committee or Sub Committees and they are also GSRs. This is what I believe and this is what I have read, one job for one person, one home group for one person. You are depriving someone else of being of service to AA.
Vicki stated this motion is on the Agenda for March’s Assembly. You have a lot of information to take back to your Groups. What I need to ask now is do we need a motion to have the maker of the original motion to split the two at the Assembly – not here – but at the Assembly. This motion will be made at the Assembly.
NEW BUSINESS
Four legged friends at Assemblies – After much discussion, A motion was made by Eddie D. that no dogs except seeing-eye dogs be allowed at AA functions. Clarification was made and the motion was restated that No animals except for Medical Assistance dogs be allowed at Area Functions. There was a second and seeing no discussion the motion was passed. No one from the minority wished to speak. Because there are a lot of people that do not know this, we need to make sure that our flyers indicate this.
Suggestions for Area Assembly Programs – Vicki asked if anyone had suggestions for types of programs they would like to see at the Assembly. Some Suggestions were: Get better maps; Concept presentations – Someone do a presentation on a chapter out of the Service Manual, ways to conduct less noisy Assemblies – separated rooms – Mobile Partitions – Prep Committee for Area Assemblies – Doubling the Budget for Area Assemblies (have them at schools); Tradition Presentations; Tradition Roundtables; Working on the Sound Equipment; Video Presentation of Traditions.
Budget Setting Meeting - There was discussion concerning Guidelines. Previous history, as per our Delegate was that the Budget is normally submitted to the second to the last Assembly of the year so that the DCMs and GSRs can take it back to their Groups and then vote on it at the last Assembly of the year. It was agreed that our Guidelines are still not caught up as of this time with the additional Assembly and our being so new, it would not be to the benefit of the Assembly. Being that the overriding principle in this matter is to have the budget presented in a timely fashion, a motion was made by Debbie B. that the Budget Setting Meeting take place in July after the Area Committee Meeting so that the budget can be presented at the second to last Assembly in 2002. The motion was seconded by Marita. The motion passed unanimously.
Susan C. made a motion that the section on the annual budget be changed in the Guidelines to read that the budget for the next calendar year be submitted with copies at the second to last Assembly and is to be voted on at the last Assembly, The motion was seconded. The motion passed. No one from the defeated side wished to speak.
GOOD & WELFARE
Amanda invited anyone who would like to join them for a Christmas day “feed” which will serve about 100 or 150 people. They are also accepting food donations. This will be at the 1001 34th Street – Alano Club in Bakersfield. We eat at noon.
Ken is looking for a couple of volunteers for the 4-Area DCM Sharing Session in February. We will need table monitors (2) and recorders (2). Please let him know and he will give you more information.
Debbie apologized for not bringing the boxes for your completed forms. Just hand them back to her and she will take care of it.
Deadline for the 93 News Winter Edition is December 31. Please be sure to submit your articles.
Motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Seconded. Meeting was adjourned.
Meeting closed with the Responsibility Pledge.
Respectfully submitted,
Bertie D. Thanks to our Sound Dude Robert
Area 93 Secretary