Saturday and Sunday
July 10, 11 2010
Sheraton IAH
15700 John F. Kennedy Blvd * Houston, Texas 77032
I am responsible. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help,
I want the hand of A.A. always to be there.
And for that: I am responsible.
NOTICE
OF
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
TO
SOUTHEAST TEXAS AREA
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL
District 10 proposes the following amendment to the Southeast Texas Area Polices and Procedures Manual and that the item be included on the agenda of the July 10-11, 2010 Quarterly Meeting of the Southeast Texas Area Assembly.
Amend the Third Edition of the “South East Texas Area (SETA) Policies and Procedures Manual” to mandate that each Agenda topic requiring approval of eligible voting members be submitted in writing to the Area Chairperson at least 45 days before the date of the next Assembly; and,
That each Agenda topic, and pertinent background, be distributed to all eligible voting members at least 30 days before the next Assembly to assure that the Agenda topic is afforded the benefit of a fully informed group conscience, in accord with Tradition Two.
67 QUARTERLY ASSEMBLY
Area Committee Meeting Minutes
Saturday April 10, 2010
I. Open – Tandy B. – opened the meeting with a moment of silence and the Serenity Prayer.
II. Preamble - Deborah D.
III. Roll Call- John O’.
IV. Minutes - January Area Committee Minutes- Alt. Secretary Samantha C.
No corrections.
V. Treasurer Report- Report not given (ZBM delayed with car trouble) short message by Ronald C.- Alt. Treasurer.
VI. Delegate Comments- Betsy G. –Good morning! I am glad to be here with your guys this morning. I hope you will enjoy participating in the round table discussions this afternoon. The facilitators and recorders have all received copies of the background materials related to their topics, and are ready to go. I pared down the amount of topics for each table to cover this year, based on feedback that the groups were having trouble fitting all topics in within the time limits. I hope all of you will participate. One of the “hot topics” on the agenda is the matter of using full faces and actors depicting members of AA in our videos. This Area submitted a proposed Conference Agenda item on this in 2009, and it has finally made it to the Conference. The agenda item on La Viña which came out of this Area will also be on the agenda, as will be the agenda item on the Self-Support pamphlet. Although it was not supported by the Area, District 81 made some revisions to it, based on comments from the mike, and submitted it anyway. It will be on the Finance Committee’s agenda. I brought copies of the Final Conference Agenda in English and Spanish which were emailed out to the Area Committee previously. Please pick up a copy if you need one. Since receiving the materials, I have visited several of the service committee to discuss their particular topics with them. I have not yet been to CPC, and hope to drop by there today. CPC is my committee assignment at the Conference, and unfortunately, no agenda items were submitted. So, we will be reviewing the CPC binder, the workbook, and also past conference agenda items to determine if they are still applicable. Information from GSB, AAWS & Grapevine: The Contributions Online project is on schedule. I will be seeing a demonstration of the web site at the Conference, and I hope it will address my concerns regarding outside contributions.
Regional Directories are supposed to be printed this year. There was controversy last year when the new General Manager made the decision to halt publication for financial reasons. Group updates should be mailed or faxed to GSO by 4/23/10, but it is definitely easier to get with our Registrar, John today or tomorrow to update your records. The deadline for updates through John is 5/7/10.
Finances:
General Service Office: Contributions fell short of budget this year ($6,296,710), and were slightly less than last year, by $166,000. Expenses were less than budgeted by about $150,000, and were about $450,000 less than last year. So, the office is doing its part to keep costs under control. The good news is that we increased our percentage of groups contributing to GSO from 42.42% in 2007 and 46.14% in 2008 to 49.23% for 2009. The total dollar amount contributed from our Area was about $67,400.00.
VII. Alt. Delegate Comments- Bonita W.- see Sunday’s report
VIII. 2010 SETA Convention Report- given by Ronnie B.
IX. 2011 SETA Convention Report- Randee B.-
Ad Hoc Committee Updates:
Ad Hoc Committee on SETA Convention Guidelines-no report
Ad Hoc Committee on SETA Archives Repository- Marvin W.-
Discussion- ZBM- Explain ‘all-inclusive.’ Marvin- Property insurance, rent, utilities, maintenance, tax. Bonita- Wants sense of Area Committee. Patrick C. - Wants to bring to Area Committee the up-front costs including furniture, shelving, etc. Ad Hoc Committee has been corresponding with Archives Committee concerning implementation plan. Jackie V. - Where are 600sqft and 1000sqft locations. Marvin- Went for multi-office building in Northwest Houston. Don B. - To get sense of Area we will need more detailed information on costs. Term of lease, etc. Marvin- Committee needs a level of authorization to go to negotiation- will require a 3-5 year lease- the longer the lease, the better the rate. Kris- Will we have the funding for this, 3 years in the future? Will this financial responsibility fall on the Archives Committee? ZBM- rent the Area currently pays is $1000/yr for all Area Committees to meet. Marvin- 600sqft has nice layout will require minimal, if any, build-outs. Next office over is 500sqft conference room owned by property and available to any tenant. 1000sqft- we can do a meeting room. Financial Obligation will end up in Archives Committee budget. Tandy asked for sense of Area Committee- Committee is unanimously in favor.
Workshops:
Workshop- GSC Agenda Items
Workshop- 2011 Hotel Search
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
ELECTIONS – (to be handled on Sunday)
Election of Liaison to Spanish Intergroup
Election of Literature Chair
Election of Information Technology Chair
Election of State Convention Attendance Promotion (SCAP) Chair
SETA Record Retention Guidelines- Tandy- Area Committee had positively responded to guidelines, just a few corrections to be made. Committee decided to present amended guidelines to assembly tomorrow.
NEW BUSINESS
2011 Budget Proposal
Don B. - budget workshop to be held in July and voting will be in July assembly meeting.
2011 Hotel Search Proposal
Deborah D. - workshop this afternoon to discuss in more detail. Purpose of Alt. Chair is to get bids for upcoming assembly schedule. Reviewed over 10 hotels, committee agreed on 3. Sheraton, Park Inn (old Clarion), Marriott- Hobby.
Request to amend SETA Policies and Procedures Manual
Tandy B. - printed in minutes from January- “A request has been received to amend the Southeast Texas Area Policies and Procedures Manual and that the item is included on the agenda of the April 10, 11, 2010 Quarterly Meeting of the Southeast Texas Area Assembly. The proposed amendment was resubmitted with the correction: Page 4- The Area Assembly. Item 7 presently reads: 7. Past Delegates of the Southeast Texas Area. The proposed change to Item 7 to read: 7. Past Delegates of the Southeast Texas Area and Past Delegates from other Areas who have relocated to Area 67 and have lived in the Area for Two or more Years.” Question- Bonita- Why are we making this amendment? Why is a vote more important than a voice? Betsy- This was submitted by Harold P., past Delegate from Alaska. Moved into our area, active in area service. Tandy called for a vote of Committee to send into assembly with recommendation- 24 in favor, 4 opposed, 1 abstention.
Area Committee Job Descriptions Reviews
Deborah D. - final job descriptions to be voted on by full assembly on Sunday. Email sent out in January and February on feedback on committee member’s job descriptions. 50% replied. Asking the other 50% to come to the mic with any changes. Deborah asking to add to all committee members that prepare budgets that they attend the annual budget meeting. Sense of Committee- in favor of adding that to all job descriptions. Secretary Job description- suggesting adding that must have at least 1yr of service at the area level. ZBM pointed out that would include a change to policies and procedures. Change not added. Alt. Chair- description currently states “work with DCM’s to change host districts quarterly.” Requesting we add “have the host district prepare supply inventory, room count, sign in to vote sheets, traditions and concepts starting with tradition/concept 1 all the way to tradition/concept 12 which would take 4 years to complete.” In favor of change. Area Alternate Delegate- changed to the following order- general description, position and responsibilities, qualifications. Changed bullets to numbers. Several other changes. Discussed in detail the changes Bonita made. Treasurer- review of treasurer’s job description ought to include a responsibility to help raise awareness of the entities of group and member of the seventh tradition. ZBM asking is this how the Area plans on updating job descriptions now and in the future. Does not recall being done like this before. Betsy- Beginning in July 2000, Assembly went through inventory process. Area Chair appointed ad hoc to review job descriptions. Updates given at each assembly through 2002. Ad hoc presented guidelines to Assembly following a Saturday afternoon workshop. At July 2004 assembly- regular July reviews of job descriptions following policies and procedures. 2008- Gathering sense of Area Committee- each chairperson would review job descriptions and turn in changes. ZBM- Does that mean we should continue to send in to be posted? Intergroup Liaison- no changes, Registrar- no change, CFC- no change, PI- no change, CPC- no change, Chair- no change, Finance- no change, DCM- no change, Newsletter- no change. Jackie- Grapevine- change- 6th bullet- oversees the sending of meeting notices to DCM’s and GVR’s. Currently sending to GVR’s, alt. GVR’s, and visitors to committee meetings. Sees no point in sending to DCM’s. Deborah- sending to DCM’s helps inform districts and groups without GVR’s. So Grapevine- no change. Literature- no change. Delegate- no change. Job descriptions will be corrected with changes discussed today for Assembly to vote on tomorrow. Further discussion on extensive changes to Alternate Delegate job description. Jackie V. - Wants Gratitude Dinner to stay as ‘Area Gratitude Dinner,’ not ‘District Gratitude Dinner.’ Substantial unanimity in favor of ‘Area Gratitude Dinner.’ Charlie- Asking for a request of written changes to Alternate Delegate job description. Bonita- Withdrawal of changes as not to bog down Assembly.
SETA Mailing Permit Compliance
Tandy B. - March 4, 2010- Houston post office rejected the first mailing of our January assembly minutes because the envelopes were not labeled properly with the SETA non-profit mailing permit. The envelope did not have a return address label therefore the envelope had to be re-labeled. The options were to re-label with a full name return address or include ‘or current resident’ with addressee’s address. In either case, the anonymity of addressee would be or potentially would be violated. After review with Registrar, decision was made to use ‘or current resident’ label. This label would allow required mail out to GSR and groups. Members began to contact Chair concerning anonymity. One concern included written request the Area address reasoning behind change. March 10, 2010- Chair received email from Newsletter Chair with more detail and clearer understanding of why mail was rejected. This is what area has been told- contact at post office explained to maintain our non-profit mailing status regulation requires we either put return receipt requested or another approved statement on the envelope, which would then have to have a return address including full name of organization that is on file with the post office. This is ‘Southeast Texas Area of Alcoholics Anonymous’- we cannot use shortened versions. Our only other option was to include ‘or current resident’ with addressee which violates anonymity. Tandy has asked panel to form solution to this problem- Tandy, Ron C., Barbara M., John O., and Bonita W. This panel to discuss options this afternoon. Things to think about- request to have name changed to DBA or AKA, name on letter from organization requesting name change, use email to those members willing to participate, consider distribution to DCM’s and they be responsible to get info to GSR’s and groups in their districts, or use class a mail to distribute future mail outs.
Area 67 QUARTERLY ASSEMBLY
Workshop Reports, District Reports, Area Standing Committee and Intergroup Liaison Reports
Saturday January 9, 2010
New GSR Workshop: Leader: Gary S. Recorder: Robin C.
Gary opened the meeting at 9:25am with the serenity prayer. After the new GSR’s introduced themselves and their home groups, Gary began the workshop with the PowerPoint slideshow on new GSR responsibilities. Gary gave each attendee a pamphlet, ‘GSR General Service Representative,’ and spoke briefly on the importance of a GSR being an effective communicator between the home group, district, and area.
Advanced GSR Workshop: Leader: Isadore D.: Recorder: Travis M.
There were 21 in attendance from 8 districts. Isadore D. was the presenter, past District 52 DCM and CPC/PI member. The topic was GSR’s carrying information back to groups, regardless of their reaction. .
Hispanic GSR Meeting: Leader: Victor R.: Recorder: Herbert A.
Ricardo from District 63 presented Concept 9 and Jose from District 65 presented Concept 5. Workshop began at 9:20am with the third legacy and continued with presenters for Concepts 9 and 5. All in attendance enjoyed the Concept presentations. The basket was passed and $31 collected. The meeting ended at 10:15am with the Responsibility Declaration.
GSR Sharing Session/Ask It Basket
Leader: Deborah D. Recorder: Joan Panel Members: Mike D. (past Delegate), Patrick C. (past PI Chair), and Rick L. (current DCM District 20) Around 50 people in attendance. We met for 45 minutes with excellent questions such as GSR responsibilities, what do I take from this weekend back to my group. Question: How do we understand the internet media? Answer: Use the Service Manual to answer your questions. The discussion was good and informative.