2006 Business Meetings
January
January 2006
GROW BUSINESS MEETING: January, 2006
Quarterly Reports
Trusted Servant Positions (filled): SC Member at Large, SC Member at Large, Weekly Leader "List Keeper" and Archivist.
Business
1/6/06 MINUTES
Agenda item 1: We are near consensus on this. Most people who responded feel that the Binhost archive feature addresses the Archive Committee's concerns regarding up-to-date, accessible and secure archives. Gigi has volunteered to organize the pre-Binhost archives.
Agenda item 2: Regarding collecting documents of interest about the history of GROW: While Jean L. thought these might be of some interest, mostly to those who were part of the process at the time, Sally S. voiced her opinion that such a history of the group would be appreciated by many members of the group.
Agenda item 3: Treasurer Reports are still under discussion with no concensus reached yet. The breadth of opinions, as Cheryl T. stated, seem to range from keeping all records for all time or just keeping the quarterly Treasurer Reports. The current Treasurer, Annette, reports that she currently has all previous bank statements in her possession.
Agenda item 4: Consensus reached on the following item: To decrease the number of times the second check signer needs to change, thereby saving inconvenience and expense, the current Treasurer term will be shortened to July so that the Secretary and Treasurer will rotate at the same time.
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy K.
ADDENDUM BY WEBKEEPER: The Secretary reported that Mage B.and Jean L. have volunteered for the Steering Committee Members at Large positions.
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1/10/06 MINUTES (for period 1/6-1/9) Trusted Servants: The Secretary announced that Jean L. and Mage B. have stepped up into the Steering Committee Members-at-Large positions. She will post soon regarding all Trusted Servant positions.
1) Archives: Accessibility & Security - Discussion
The Chair reported that among those who had responded there appeared to be consensus that the Binhost archive feature addresses the concerns brought up in the Archive Committee Report. Gigi has volunteered to organize the earlier the pre-Binhost Archives. She asked:
Does everyone agree that the Binhost Archive feature addresses the concerns brought up in the Archive Committe Report?
Does anyone feel we need to discuss this further?
Does anyone object to Gigi organizing the pre-Binhost Archives?
Karen asked for clarification. She referenced last meeting's decision to turn off the binhost archive feature for GROW, and stated that she wanted to go on record as being opposed to turning off the archives because there is no good reason to do so. Karen pointed out conflicting decisions and questioned the authenticity of the group conscience regarding binhost.
Both Karen and Cheryl provided records of key points in recent Archives discussions and Cheryl suggested that we review our current Archive Guidelines, and be reminded by our listkeepers exactly what binhost can and can't do for us. She further stated that, with Karen's concerns, we did not have consensus, and would, therefore, continue the discussion.
Karen then asked the Archive Committee to provide a clear answer about why we are discussing archives accessibility and security when we aren't supposed to be archiving anything; and why we have decided to turn off the binhost archives.
Gigi, our archivist, responded that the discussion from October 2005 to turn off the archives refers to the main list shares because we had determined that individual shares to GROW are not appropriate to save. The questions from the Archive Committe report were written in July 2005, before we agreed to turn off the GROW binhost archives.
Laura wrote that binhost archives should not be turned off. Annette suggested that we are trying to "over guideline" the work of our Archivist and referred us back to our Archives Guidelines for direction. Gigi explained that she wanted to index archive items so that they could be referred to easily, and was finding it a daunting task without specific guidance. Most members participating in the discussion expressed frustration and confusion.
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2) Archives: Additional documents - Checking for Consensus
The Chair wrote that Annette had pointed out that our Archives Procedures already provide for items such as the two referenced in the October 2005 Archive Committee Report. She asked if there were any objections to her drafting a founders' history. Gigi volunteered to contact The Grapvine about getting permission to post the story "Oreos and a T-shirt" on our g-r-o-w.com Archives section. Cheryl asked if there were any objections.
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3) Treasurer Records - Discussion
The Chair reported that there was no clear consensus on this item yet. Several respondents feel that the quarterly treasurer's report is all we need to maintain. At least one member recommends saving bank statements and receipts, but does not specify how long such items should be saved. Cheryl posted relevant direction from the Treasurer's job description and continued the discussion for another 4 days to see if we can agree on something between keeping all bank statements and canceled group checks/receipts for eternity, and maintaining only quarterly reports? Annette proposed that we save records for 7 years.
4) Second Signee on Checking account - Checking for Consensus
The Chair noted that six participants reponded and no one disagreed with the proposal to decrease the number of times the second check signer needs to change, thereby saving inconvenience and expense, the current Treasurer term will be shortened to July so that the Secretary and Treasurer will rotate at the same time.
The Chair asked if there are any objections.
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy K., Secretary
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1/14/06 MINUTES (for period 1/10-13)
Trusted Servants: The Secretary announced that Lori will continue to fill the position of Weekly Lead Listkeeper until February 1, when Jennifer will take over the job. Gigi resigned as Archivist for personal reasons.
The Treasurer submitted her quarterly report to the Business Meeting.
-Business
1) Archives: Accessibility and Security - Discussion The Chair offered a revised draft of Archives Guidelines for four days of discussion. She stated that any items appearing to have a consensus would be incorporated into a final draft.
Most of the discussion revolved around the binhost archives. Karen, Nancy and Laura all offered clarification for why they felt the archive feature should not be turned. Comments included:
--Binhost archives are valuable for the Listkeepers in the event of computer and/or server glitches.
--Members returning from an absence can refer to the binhost archives to catch up.
--Some members can't receive email at work but can read the posts online.
--Someone who wants to reply or follow up on something can refresh their memory by reviewing the archives.
--Listkeepers rely on the archives to give clues to problems and how best to communicate with tech support.
Regarding concerns about privacy and security:
Binhost archives are accessible to GROW members only by password unique to each member. Former or non-members cannot access the archives.
The ultimate in privacy and security would mean not sending email at all, but requiring everyone to read GROW shares on a secure server.
Eleven participants reponded, with two clearly agreeing with the draft stating the binhost archive feature would be turned off and eight who feel the feature should be left on. One individual didn't address the issue specifically. In addition, Jean expressed concern that items maintained by the Archivist and published on g-r-o-w.com could go further back than two years in order to show the changes in our group over the years, but stated she was not concrete in her thinking.
Agenda Item 3.3 Treasurer Records
The chair asked if there were objections to the following:
GROW will maintain bank records for a period of seven years. GROW checking
accounts are opened with Treasurer's Social Security number. If a Treasurer
was to be audited by IRS and these accounts were discovered, she would
need records to prove it was not taxable income to her. Records older than
seven years will be destroyed.
Eight out of the eight who responded stated they had no objections
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1/18/96 MINUTES (for period 1/14-1/17)
On the Trusted Servant position of Archivist: We have had one volunteer. This position remains open for volunteers through Sunday, January 22.
The four days were spent discussing the Archives Guidelines draft submitted by Cheryl T. Shirley made a motion to adopt the guidelines as presented, which was seconded by Jean L. and Deanna. Discussion included whether to include sobriety length guidelines for the Archivist position, and whether to specify binhost as our host/server. It seemed to be agreed that the sobriety guidelines for Archivist should be included, and that specifying binhost in the current version is best; if and when the time comes when we change hosts, we can amend the guidelines as needed.
January 18 to 21, voting on the motion to accept the guidelines as presented wil l take place.
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy K.
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1/22/06 MINUTES (for period 1/18-1/21) The Trusted Servant position of Archivist has had one volunteer; it is open until 7 p.m. today EST for anyone else who might want to volunteer; after that time, I will announce our present volunteer if no one else has stepped up.
On the Archive Guidelines, there were 13 yes votes with one qualified yes regarding the inclusion of sobriety guidelines being placed in this text rather than appearing only in the Trusted Servant position description. Therefore, at this time the guidelines are considered approved except for items 5 and 6, which are regarding the length of sobriety and GROW membership suggestions for the positions of Archivist and Co-Archivist. We will continue for another four days to allow the points raised by the qualified yes vote to be completely made and understood, and hopefully at that point will be able to proceed with a final version of the Guidelines as approved by the members of the Business Meeting list.
Respectfully (if a bit tardily) submitted,
Cathy K., Secretary
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1/23/05
1) Archives: Accessibility & Security - Re-Vote
See Agenda Item 1.7
The Business Meeting attendees unanimously voted not to include the former items 5 and 6 of the GROW Archive Guidelines, detailing sobriety and GROW membership requirements for the positions of Archivist and Co-Archivist. Thus, the guidelines as presented below are now officially approved and accepted.
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy K., Secretary
GROW ARCHIVE GUIDELINES - January 2006
1) The Archives are established to maintain a history of Grateful
Recovering Online Women (GROW) in order to provide for an accurate
rendering of the experience of GROW from its inception for the benefit
of future GROW members and A.A. as a whole. We also recognize that
archives serve a technical purpose in an online environment.
2) GROW shares are automatically archived on the binhost server, and available to subscribed GROW members with a unique password which is disabled when the member is unsubscribed from GROW.
3) GROW-BUS shares are automatically archived on the binhost server, and available only to GROW-BUS list members during business meetings.
4) GROW and GROW-BUS archives are never publicly available. They are understood to be the property of the email list and will be deleted from the binhost server if or when the GROW email lists discontinue services with the binhost provider.
5) Archives maintained by the Archivist and posted in the password
protected members' only section of g-r-o-w.com will include:
a) A history written by the founders of GROW.
b) A listing of trusted servant job guidelines, and current trusted
servants and terms.
c) Quarterly reports for the most recent 2 years from Treasurer,
Listkeeper, Secretary, OIAA, GSR and Steering Committee Secretary.
d) All Group Conscience decisions
e) Current letter and format templates used by or for Greeter-Welcomer,
Listkeeper, email list provider, meeting format, 12 Step Chair, Topic
Leader Chair, Sponsor Listkeeper, FYI, E-Mail Etiquette, etc.
f) Business meeting agendas and minutes for the most recent 2 years.
6) The GROW Archivist will maintain in her posession electronic back-up of those items listed in Section 5a through 5f.
7)The GROW Archivist is authorized to destroy pre-binhost personal shares in her posession. She is further authorized to save, at her discretion, specific pre-binhost GROW email that could alter and/or further define GROW history with the understanding that these shares would never be made public.
8) The GROW Archivist shall ensure that any non-binhost archived documents protect the individual anonymity, and shall work with the web keeper to ensure these documents are appropriately displayed on g-r-o-w.com.
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1/27/06: Wrap-up & Adjournment
Greetings!
The voting and re-voting is complete, the Minutes are posted (thanks, Cathy!) and it is time to adjourn the January 2006 business meeting. It's been a long haul, not just this month, but over the past few years in dealing with the archives issues. We've hit some bumps, done some backtracking, and taken some detours along the way. We've been, in turns, bored, frustrated, irritated and confused
.Whatever has happened along the way, I hope everyone here feels feel good about the process and the outcome. Thanks to this group's tireless dedication we have arrived at a guiding document that should serve us long and well.
During this meeting, in addition to adopting archive guidelines, we also: Agreed that we want a summary of founders' history and, with permission from Grapevine Magazine, a copy of the story "Oreos and a T-shirt" posted on our g-r-o-w.com Archives section. Agreed that GROW will maintain bank records for a period of 7 years. and that records older than 7 years will be destroyed. Agreed that the current Treasurer term will be shortened to July so that the Secretary and Treasurer will rotate at the same time.
At the next business meeting (April 2006) we will review the Archivist and Co-Archivist job descriptions for consistency with the archive guidelines and with each other. In particular we will review the following items:
5) The Archivist is a nonrotating historian, serving on the Steering Committee as a non-participating recipient of SC correspondence. Five years of sobriety is suggested for this position.
6) A rotating Co-Archivist assists and backs up the non-rotating Archivist. The Co-Archivist is a one year term with a suggested length of sobriety of 3 years and a suggested length of GROW membership of 3 months.--------------------
Much thanks to Cathy for her work as Secretary, and to everyone here
for patience, tenacity and dedication to GROW.
Now, let's all hold hands, say a quick prayer of gratitude, and dance
our way out of this meeting room.
We are adjourned!
Cheryl T.
Business Meeting Chair
April
GROW BUSINESS MEETING: APRIL, 2006
Quarterly Reports
Trusted Servant Positions to fill: Birthday Listkeeper, Business Meeting Chair, Greeter, Greeter Back-up, Listkeeper Backup, Sponsor Listkeeper, 12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper Backup
Business
1) Archives: Job Descriptions In January we agreed to discuss the Archivist and Co-Archivist job descriptions for consistency with each other, and with the January 2006 Revised Archive Guidelines.
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MINUTES: April 6, 2006
For period April 2 - 5, 2006
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Cheryl T. noted that Cathy, Secretary, was having computer problems that would prevent her from carrying out her duties temporarily.
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Annette, Treasurer, reported that GROW had $219 in contributions in January, February and March. Expenses for Binhost list service, and Eso Soft web service, plus our GSO and OIAA contributions totaled 219.50, leaving a prudent reserve of $100.00.
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Cheryl T. announced the following new trusted servants: Birthday Listkeeper, Susan G.; Business Meeting Chair: Bronwyn; Greeter, Doreen; Back-up Greeter: Kris E.; Listkeeper: Laura B.; Back-up Listkeeper: Jean L.; 12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper: Shirley; 12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper: 12-Step Volunteer Back-up: Kellie D. All positions have been filled except for Sponsor Listkeeper.
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Item 1: Archivist and Co-Archivist Job Descriptions
In January we completed the revision of GROW Archives Guidelines and agreed that we would review the Archivist and Co-Arcivist job descriptions at this business meeting. Cheryl T., Chair, posted the current job descriptions, as well as the Archives Guidelines. She opened discussion with the reminder that our task was to review the job descriptions for consistency with each other and with the guidelines.
Of the nine members who participated in discussion, seven felt that both job descriptions were fine as written. Cheryl T., speaking as Archivist, said she felt that the archivist position should suggest a minimum length of GROW membership at least equal to the Co-Archivist position. She felt that the Archivist job description should be revised to reflect the Archivist's tasks consistent with the changes in the Archives Guidelines, and noted that (Item L) should be deleted. Karen agreed. Annette agreed with eliminating Item L and suggested a one year membership for the Archivist because it would give any incoming Archivist a better sense of the group, and indicate the probability they would be around for a while.
Agenda Item 1A.1 - Job Descriptions
Several of us think the Archivist job description should specify a length of GROW membership, and two of us suggested that the job description be revised to reflect the new Archives Guidelines. A review of the guidelines suggests to me, anyway, that the Archivist positions are much simplified from what they were when the job descriptions were originally written.
I would like to propose the following draft, which incorporates Annette's suggestion of one-year GROW membership, more accurately reflects the new guidelines, and eliminates redundancy. Other than the job-specific criteria, this could also apply to the Co-Archivist job description.
SUGGESTED REVISED ARCHIVIST JOB DESCRIPTION
-Non-rotating term
-5 years sobriety
-1 year GROW membership
-Must be member of Business List
-Be a non-voting member of the Steering Committee
-Read all email from GROW meeting list, all email from GROW Business List, and all Steering Committee correspondence daily.
-Serve as focal person for GROW Archives, working with the Co-archivist, Steering Committee and Webkeeper to ensure that pertinent group history is preserved and that archives are accessable to GROW members in keeping with the GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Ensure that any publicly-presented material appropriately protects the anonymity of anyone mentioned.
-Maintain an electronic copy of pre-binhost archives as determined by GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Be able to access and research GROW and GROW-BUS archives on binhost as appropropriate.
-Upon retirement, provide successor with all necessary information, including job guidelines, letter templates, and active lists; and serve as a mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
-The following are helpful to this position:
Organized
Good E-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, etc.
Reliable Server
Good communication skills
Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
Good service sponsor
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Discussion is open through April 9.
With this post, I happily hand the gavel to Bronwyn, who will continue the April meeting as our new Chair.
Cheryl T., PAST Chair!
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MINUTES: April 10, 2006
For period April 6 - 9, 2006
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Cheryl T. announced that Crystal W. had volunteered for the Sponsor Volunteer position. All trusted servant jobs have been filled.
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Item 1.2: Archivist and Co-Archivist Job Descriptions
Cheryl T. suggested that a review of the new Archive Guidelines indicates that the Archivist and Co-Archivist positions are much simplified from what they were when the job descriptions were originally written. She proposed a revision to the Archivist position and stated that, except for the job specific criteria (term, length of sobriety, and length of GROW membership) the Archivist position could read the same.
This is the revision Cheryl suggested.
-Non-rotating term
-5 years sobriety
-1 year GROW membership
-Must be member of Business List
-Be a non-voting member of the Steering Committee
-Read all email from GROW meeting list, all email from GROW Business List, and all Steering Committee correspondence daily.
-Serve as focal person for GROW Archives, working with the Co-archivist, Steering Committee and Webkeeper to ensure that pertinent group history is preserved and that archives are accessable to GROW members in keeping with the GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Ensure that any publicly-presented material appropriately protects the anonymity of anyone mentioned.
-Maintain an electronic copy of pre-binhost archives as determined by GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Be able to access and research GROW and GROW-BUS archives on binhost as appropropriate.
-Upon retirement, provide successor with all necessary information, including job guidelines, letter templates, and active lists; and serve as a mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
-The following are helpful to this position:
Organized
Good E-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, etc.
Reliable Server
Good communication skills
Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
Good service sponsor
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The discussion was open until 5:00 p.m. pdt, April 9. Two members responded, both saying that they supported the proposed revisions.
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Cheryl T. passed the gavel to Bronwyn, the new Business Meeting Chair.
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AGENDA UPDATE - April 12, 2006
>=============================================
-Quarterly Reports (posted separately)
-Trusted Servants (all positions filled)
-Business
1) Archives: Job Descriptions - Head nod to confirm consensus (see separate
email) on Archivist Job Description with further discussion on the
Co-Archivist Job Description.
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Bronwyn,
Business Meeting Chair
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MINUTES: April 14, 2006
For period April 10 - 13, 2006
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Bronwyn asked for head nods to confirm consensus on the revised Archivist job description. Twelve members responded in support.
Karen asked for clarification on whether or not the same job descrption applied to the co-archivist. Cheryl T. specified that her head nod was for the Archivist job description only and requested that the Co-Archivist job description be discussed on separately.
With 12 head nods, Bronwyn announced that the Archivist Job Description was accepted as follows.
ARCHIVIST JOB DESCRIPTION (revised 4/12/06)
-Non-rotating term
-5 years sobriety
-1 year GROW membership
-Must be member of Business List
-Be a non-voting member of the Steering Committee
-Read all email from GROW meeting list, all email from GROW Business List,
and all Steering Committee correspondence daily.
-Serve as focal person for GROW Archives, working with the Co-archivist,
Steering Committee and Webkeeper to ensure that pertinent group history is
preserved and that archives are accessable to GROW members in keeping with
the GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Ensure that any publicly-presented material appropriately protects the
anonymity of anyone mentioned.
-Maintain an electronic copy of pre-binhost archives as determined by GROW
Archives Guidelines.
-Be able to access and research GROW and GROW-BUS archives on binhost as appropropriate.
-Upon retirement, provide successor with all necessary information,
including job guidelines, letter templates, and active lists; and serve as a
mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
-The following are helpful to this position:
Organized
Good E-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, etc.
Reliable Server
Good communication skills
Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
Good service sponsor
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The question of what is expected of the Co-Archivist was discussed separately.
Susan G. explained that as current Co-Archivist, she serves as back-up to the Archivist, and, until the recent revision to the Archive Guidelines she saved all shares to her computer. She now saves business, quarterly reports and group conscience decisions. She is not involved with maintaining letter format templates or posting anything to the GROW website.
Jean suggested that the Co-Archivist save exactly the same things as the Archivist in order to have a backup. Cheryl wrote that now that binhost does our archiving, the Archivist saves only specific items. The webkeeper posts those items on g-r-o-w.com, which is located on a different server hosted by a different provider. Additionally, these files are saved on the Archivist's computer and backed up on an external hard drive. If something happens to the Webkeeper, Laura, as backup can access the data on EsoSoft. Susan, as Co-Archivist can access the binhost files. The most vulnerable archives are pre-binhost, which the current Archivist has on disk.
Gigi questioned whether or not the co-archivist position was necessary and suggested phasing it out at the end of the current term.
There were also concerns about what would happen if we left binhost. Karen explained that if we can copy and save the archives as local text files, and upon termination of our account, our archives would be deleted from binhost's server.
Cheryl offered the following draft for discussion.
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C0- ARCHIVIST JOB DESCRIPTION
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-1 year term
-3 years sobriety
-3 months GROW membership
-Must be member of Business List
-Be a member of the Steering Committee
-Provide support and back-up to the Archivist.
-Read all email from GROW meeting list, all email from GROW Business List,
and all Steering Committee correspondence daily.
-Maintain in her possession a an electronic back-up of pre-binhost archives as determined by GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Be able to access and research GROW and GROW-BUS archives on binhost as appropropriate.
-At the end of the term, provide successor with job guidelines and pre-binhost archives; and serve as a mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
The following are helpful to this position:
> Organized
> Good E-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, etc.
> Reliable Server
> Good communication skills
> Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
> Good service sponsor
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AGENDA UPDATE - April 14, 2006
>=============================================
-Quarterly Reports (posted separately)
-Trusted Servants (all positions filled)
-Business
1) Archives: Job Descriptions -
Archivist Job Decription - Accepted
Co-Archivist Job Description - Continue discussion through to April 17 5pm
US PDT - see separate email.
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Bronwyn,
Business Meeting Chair
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MINUTES: April 18, 2006
For period April 14 - 17, 2006
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Bronwyn asked if there were any objections to the revised co-archivist job description (posted below).
Eight members responded affirmatively. No objections were voiced.
C0- ARCHIVIST JOB DESCRIPTION
-1 year term
-3 years sobriety
-3 months GROW membership
-Must be member of Business List
-Be a member of the Steering Committee
-Provide support and back-up to the Archivist.
-Read all email from GROW meeting list, all email from GROW Business List,
and all Steering Committee correspondence daily.
-Maintain in her possession a an electronic back-up of pre-binhost archives as determined by GROW Archives Guidelines.
-Be able to access and research GROW and GROW-BUS archives on binhost as
appropropriate.
-At the end of the term, provide successor with job guidelines and pre-binhost archives; and serve as a mentor for a period of time to ensure continuity of service.
The following are helpful to this position:
> Organized
> Good E-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Netscape, etc.
> Reliable Server
> Good communication skills
> Be able to cut, copy, paste, and save to a folder
> Good service sponsor
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MINUTES: April 26, 2006
For period April 18 - 26, 2006
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We did not receive an Agenda Update following the minutes posted on April 18. When Cheryl T. was unable to contact Bronwyn by email or telephone, she offered to continue the meeting. We pray that this lack of communication from Bronwyn is simply a temporary technical glitch.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cathy K. wrote that she will complete her full term as Secretary, and expects to have her home computer back online in early May.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A member asked what the requirements are for leading a meeting. The Steering Committee agreed that no prior decision had been made and that it should be taken to the group. With the April 23 Agenda Update, Cheryl, acting in Bronwyn's place as Chair, noted that the Co-Archivist Job Description was approved by consensus.
She asked for discussion re: the length of sobriety and length of GROW membership for weekly meeting leaders. Jean wrote that she thought it should be three and three (a minimum of three months GROW membership and a minimum of three months sobriety. Of the nine members who responded after Jean, all agreed with her suggestion. There were no objections.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned on April 26
July
================================
GROW BUSINESS MEETING: July 6, 2005
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Quarterly Reports
Trusted Servants: All positions have been filled
Business
[1] Changes to wording and duties of Secretary and Chair For a better and more efficient Secretary/Business Chair it is proposed we change in the Secretary's list:
Current wording: Keep minutes of all business meetings and report to the GROW and GROW BUS every four days during business meeting months.
Proposed wording: Keep minutes of all business meetings and report to the GROW
And to consider changing one of the job duties in the Business Chair's list:
Current wording: Coordinate business report with Secretary
Proposed wording: Coordinate business report with Secretary and report
summary to the Business List every 4 days during the meeting.
[2] Archives
A few comments from the Archives Committee
Backup for Archivist while she is on holiday July 23 - August Although we will be re-visiting this agenda topic in our OCTOBER Business Meeting with a full report from the Archives Committee then.
Minutes: Posted to GROW July 10, 2005
Chair opened the business meeting.
We've had postings from trusted servants about how things have gone in the past quarter. We have discussed small proposed changes to the Business Chair and Secretary's job descriptions.
Agenda Update: Posted July 10
We have a pretty much a consensus on this item with one question being raised about whether this change of wording will in fact change the duties of the Secretary and Business Meeting Chair.
The concern is that the secretary's minutes will not be posted to both GROW list and GROW-BUS list and by not doing this we are making a protocol error and confusing the positions.
The Chair proposes to leave the discussion open for a further 3 days - but as this was started last night (very very early a.m. my time) - the discussion will be closed at Tuesday 12 July 5pm EDT (I am working on California time)
Agenda Update: Posted July 13
[3] Changes to Archivist/Co-Archivist Job Descriptions
It is suggested for that changes are made to the wording of the Archivist/Co-Archivist poistions.
Archivist current wording: 5 years sobriety; Proposed wording: 5 years of continuous sobriety and membership in Alcoholics Anonymous
Co-Archivist Current wording: 3 years sobriety; Proposed wording: 3 years of continuous sobriety and membership in Alcoholics Anonymous"
If you have concerns, questions, or other issues that you feel should be discussed during this meeting, please let me know. Thank you
Minutes Posted to GROW: July 19
Discussion of the small proposed changes to the Secretary and Business Chair positions have been tabled until October as there is still active discussion on the topic. (See webkeeper's notes: agenda item 1)
We are now discussing a few items regarding the archives.(See webkeeper's notes: agenda item 3)
Agenda Update Posted July 21
Discussion is now open on Agenda Item 3 until 24th July 5pm EDT
Minutes: Posted July 27
The following is a summary of the past period from our business meeting.
Agenda item #2 - who is backup archivist when the archivist is away from her computer? The meeting reached a consensus that the co-archivist backs up the archivist.
Agenda item #3 - report from the Archives Committee with some suggested changes. Very little discussion; the Business Chair is seeking a sense of the meeting as to where we go from her
Adjournment: Posted July 31
Hi Everyone
In our Business Meeting for this quarter we have dealt with 3 Agenda Items as follows:-
[1] Changes to wording and duties of Secretary and Chair This item has been tabled for discussion in the October Meeting
[2] Archives
We had 2 points to cover and this is how we resolved them:-
1.Co-Archivist will take over from Archivist while she's on holiday.
2. Discussion revolved around the principal of 'keep it simple' and the group is waiting for the Archive Committee full report in October. In the October meeting we will be looking at the role of archives in detail.
[3] Changes to Archivist/Co-Archivist Job Descriptions
Everyone agreed once again on the principle of 'Keep It Simple' and leave
the wording alone as we rely on the honesty of the person applying for the
position....
The word "continuous" is considered unnecessary and the words "membership of AA" redundant.
Remember, our listkeepers will unsub everyone from GROW Business after we adjourn, and only Steering Committee members are automatically subbed for the next meeting. All other participants, including Trusted Serants not on the Steering Committee, must request to the business list each quarter. Thanks to each and every one of you for being here to speak for GROW. We are adjourned.
Clarifying comments re: Agenda Item 1 (added by Webkeeper for future reference):
The suggestion was to change the wording of the Secretary and Chair job descriptions so that the Secretary sends Minutes to GROW and the Chair sends an Agenda Summary to GROW-BUS. The suggestion was made by the outgoing Secretary to accurately reflect current practice and for a better and more efficient Secretary/Business Chair.
Several members expressed the concerns about not sending minutes to GROW-BUS. There were also concerns by several members concerning the content of the Minutes, as summarized by Annette's questions:
"What happens if the minutes sent to the meeting list are inaccurate or incomplete? Don't mean to muddy the waters here, but to give an example, the summary sent out today (the 10th) says the business list has discussed small proposed changes to the Chair and Secretary's job description, but doesn't state the proposed changes. For the purpose of clarity and archiving, shouldn't that be in the minutes?"
Members agreed that our language be consistent with our actions, as expressed by Gigi. "If the Secretary posts summaries to the main list, that action must be reflected in the job description. If the Biz Chair posts agenda updates to the biz list, it must be mentioned in her job description. Custom and language should match. These comments were then followed by a suggestion to further change the Secretary and Chair job descriptions to specifying that the Chair submit agenda updates.
Cheryl T. suggested that the Chair does not need to be assigned the task of specifically posting agenda updates as it is already covered in the Chair's job description (keep discussions focused on agenda, keep track of and review all discussions; be responsible for keeping the issues clear). She explained how the duties of Secretary and Chair had evolved over a period of four terms, and that the agenda update was something she had done over many terms as Chair to help keep issues clear and discussions focused. She clarified that the agenda update was not the same as the Minutes, in content or in purpose. Cheryl also explained that she unintentionally stopped sending minutes to GROW-BUS when filling in as both Chair and Secretary, and the new Secretary had simply followed suit.
Cheryl suggested that if we could all agree that Minutes should be posted to both GROW and GROW-BUS the job descriptions do not need to change. The Chair and the Secretary simply need to do what their job descriptions have said all along.
There appeared to be consensus for this suggestion. However, there was confusion between this suggestion and a post from the Chair that was posted shortly thereafter, and so the decision was made to table the discussion to the October meeting.
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Clarifying comments re: Agenda Item 3 (added by Webkeeper for future reference):
The suggestion was to change the Archivist job description to specify "5 years of continuous sobriety and membership in Alcoholics Anonymous" and the Co-Archivist to specify "3 years of continuous sobriety and membership in Alcoholics Anonymous"
Two members asked for the reasoning behind the suggestion and clarification regarding the membership in A.A. Timi responded for the archives committee, with the correction that since A.A. membership is covered in another part of the job description, there's no need to state anything about it in this item, afterall. She In general, she further explained, the archive committee is seeking clarity and specificity. Excerpt: "We're not suggesting policing or dictating anything...Being specific by adding the word 'continuous' is only that, being specific. That's honesty, too. It can help members be honest and have a clear understanding."
Karen expressed the opinion that keeping members honest isn't our job. "Anyone who would claim total intermittent sobriety periods is following the dictates of a conscience that is not going to be influenced by a TS description. We have to trust what our members tell us because we have no way to confirm or disprove any of it. Jean pointed to the 9th Tradition, and further offered that group founders felt each job should have a suggested term of sobriety so that some jobs could be performed by newer members in sobriety but that the more involved jobs would have longer term sobriety. Nowhere was it stated that these terms were to be *continuous or to be served as members of Alcoholics Anonymous*.
There was strong consensus in support of these opinions.
October
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GROW BUSINESS MEETING AGENDA: October 2006
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AGENDA OCT. 2 - 5 (submitted by Gigi)
Item 1: Greeter & Back-up Greeter Job Descriptions
It has been suggested that our Greeter and Back-up Greeter read the GROW
main list mail *daily*. We have been subscribing new members who are either
still drinking or in very early sobriety. Greeters are responsible for
keeping in contact with new members for a short period of time; see excerpt
from Greeter job description below.
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Greeter
Receive inquiries requesting information about GROW from Listkeeper.
Send initial response to potential new member.
Keep track of inquiries.
Respond to questions from new members regarding the group.
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Additionally, I know it has been discussed in past meetings that Greeters
and 12-Step Volunteer Listkeepers be in touch with each other so that our
members who are shaky in their sobriety can be given some additional private
help.
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12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper
Receive letters from Listkeeper or Greeter of new members who need immediate
support and forward these to 12 Step Committee.
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Should we include the word "daily" in the Greeter job description, with regard to reading GROW mail?
Should we include a sentence (in the Greeter job description) to the effect that the Greeter send an e-mail to the 12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper about women who need extra support?
Item 1 is open for discussion. We will assess the direction of our discussion on October 5. Our first 4-day segment ends on October 6 with minutes to GROW and and update to the Business List.
MINUTES - OCT. 2 - 5 (submitted by Doreen)
The following agender item has reached consensus as group conscience for GROW.
The position as Greeter/Backup Greeter will include the following duties:
1. Greeter is required to read e-mail on a daily basis.
2. Greeter is required to e-mail the 12 Step Volunteer in reference to women
in need of extra support.
The additional duties added to the Greeter/Back-up Greeter positions will be revised on www.g-r-o-w.com
The Treasurers Quarterly Report was submitted by Lori on 10/5/06 The Secretary's Quarterly Report was submitted by Doreen G. on 10/6/06 The remaining term of Greeter has been filled Jean L.The Following Trusted Service Positions remain open.
Back-Up Greeter: 1 year sobriety. Term is a 6 month replacement.
Birthday Listkeeper : 6 months sobriety . Term is 6 months.****
PENDING****
GSR/OIAA ALT. Rep : 2 years sobriety. Term is 2 years.
Sponsor Listkeeper : 1 year sobriety. Term is 6 months
12-Step Volunteer Listkeeper : 1 year sobriety. Term is 6 months
Backup 12-Step Listkeeper : 1 year sobriety. Term is 6 months
Steering Committee Members At Large - There are 2 openings for this position. 1 year sobriety Term is 1 year.
AGENDA OCT. 6 - 9 (submitted by Gigi)
Item 2: Weekly Leader Requirements
Item 3: Paypal for 7th Tradition
MINUTES Oct. 6 - 9 (submitted by Doreen)
Agenda Item 2.2- Weekly Leader Requirements. We are presently in the discussion phase at this time. We have not yet reached a formal group consensus.
***Additional clarification from webkeeper: Most of the members who have responded to this item support 90 days of sobriety and 30 days as a member of GROW. Three of those who responded feel that there should be no sobriety or membership requirements.
Agenda Item 3 - The use of PayPal to contribute to GROW - Tradition 7
We are presently in the discussion phase at this time as well so far there is not a group consensus.
***Additional clarification from webkeeper: One member is opposed to PayPal. Everyone else who responded either supports PayPal, or is willing to consider it as an option after more information is received. A request was made to ask a committee including a Listkeeper, the Treasurer, and the person who brought forth the idea to research the specifics related to GROW.
The following Trusted Service positions have been filled :
Birthday Listkeeper : Carol D.
Greeter : Jean L
Back Up Greeter : Colleen
Sponsor Listkeeper : Jennifer
1.Steering Committee Member At Large : Kris E
2.Steering Committee Member At Large : Judi N
The following Trusted Service positions remain open:
CO-Archivist - Open to complete term 7/06 3 years Sobriety
GSR Rep./OIAA Alternate Back up - 2 year term ... 2 years Sobriety
12 Step Volunteer Listkeeper - 6 month term .... 1 year Sobriety
Back up 12 Step Volunteer - 6 month term ... 1 year Sobriety
AGENDA Oct. 10 -13 (submitted by Gigi)
Item 2.2: Weekly Leader Requirements
Although we have majority opinion, we do not have consensus.
As stated in our GROW guidelines for conducting business,
1. The group makes every effort to reach agreement (consensus) on the issue
by simply talking to each other. By consensus we mean:
a. everyone is in agreement or is willing to support the issue; or
b. everyone disagrees and is not willing to support the issue; or
c. everyone agrees to disagree.
Our discussion has not yet reached any of these points. We will continue to
discuss changing the requirement for leading a meeting for the next segment
of this meeting.
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Item 3: Paypal
I see majority opinion on this item in one respect: We are substantially agreed that Paypal is a good option for making 7th Tradition contributions to GROW. One member had personal dislike for the Paypal system, but there are other options for 7th Tradition contributions that she is able to use. I will consider this consensus.I agree with the suggestion that was made by Cher to form a committee to investigate this further and bring it to our January 2007 business meeting. Would it be to our advantage to have Paypal payments made to each individual treasurer, or should we establish GROW as a payee, and whatever else seems pertinent to that committee.
I will post this item for head nods in our next segment, and ask for volunteers for the committee.
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Trusted Servants
Doreen will update us on the status of our Trusted Servants.
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Quarterly Reports
We received and posted reports from the Treasurer, Listkeeper and Alternate,
and Steering Committee Recording Secretary in this segment. We are still
missing a report from our GSR.
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Minutes Oct. 10-13 (submitted by Doreen)
(Labeled in email as 10/11/06 - 10/14-06) Agenda Item 2.2- Weekly Leader Requirements. We are presently in the discussion phase at this time and coming to a formal group consensus.Agenda
Item 3 -
The use of PayPal to contribute to GROW - Tradition 7
We are presently in the discussion phase at this time as well so far there is not a group consensus. It seems that although most members are in agreement that PayPal would be beneficial, it has been decided to set up a committee to investigate how PayPal works. The committee will bring their information to the January Business Meeting.
We still have four open Trusted Service positions to be filled at this time.
The following Trusted Service positions remain open:
CO-Archivist - Open to complete term 7/06 3 years Sobriety
GSR Rep./OIAA Alternate Back up - 2 year term ... 2 years Sobriety
12 Step Volunteer Listkeeper - 6 month term .... 1 year Sobriety
Back up 12 Step Volunteer - 6 month term ... 1 year Sobriety
AGENDA Oct 14 - 17 (submitted by Gigi)
Item 2.3, Weekly Leader Requirements
We do not have consensus on this item, and we will need to begin the formal voting process. Here is what will happen and the time frame:
A Motion and Second (4 days, or until a motion is made and seconded)
Discussion (4 days)
Vote(4 days)
Minority Discussion (4 days, or until all minority votes have spoken, whichever comes first)
Revote, if requested by a Majority Voter (4 days for Request and Revote)
Do we have a motion? Remember, the motion must closely resemble the collective thoughts of the group's discussion.
Item 3.3, Paypal
From discussion during Segment 3, it is clear that we do not have consensus on adding Paypal as a way to make 7th Tradition contributions to GROW. I will appoint a committee to study this option: our Treasurer Lori, our Listkeeper Laura, and the suggester of this item Melanie.
This committee will bring a report to our January business meeting about Paypal options for GROW 7th Tradition contributions. .
Item 4.2, Leader Protocol
Discussion of this topic has reminded us that we have members all over the world, and that Sunday hours are therefore quite different for many of us. Most of us agree that any time on Sunday is good for sending out the lead for the week. Most of us are in favor of having a backup person to give a lead on Monday if no lead is sent on Sunday. Our Weekly Lead Listkeeper may like to have a list of available leaders ready to write if no lead goes out on Sunday.
Minutes Oct. 14 - 17 (submitted by Doreen)
AGENDA Oct 18 - 21 (submitted by Gigi)
Item 2.4, Weekly Leader Requirements The motion has been made by Cher and seconded by Deanna:
"Members have 90 days of sobriety and 30 days of GROW membership to lead weekly meetings."
If you agree with this motion, vote YES. If you disagree with this motion, vote NO.
You may vote publicly by sending your choice on this list, or privately by sending your choice to Doreen, our Secretary. Doreen will count the votes.
The Guidelines describe the procedure, and we are at this point:
"At the end of the four-day discussion period, the Chair calls for a vote. Four days are allowed for voting, which can be done either publicly on the list, or privately by sending votes to the Secretary. The Secretary counts the votes."
Item 4.3, Leader Protocol
During our Segment 4, this statement was sent to this list for objection:
"Discussion of this topic has reminded us that we have members all over the
world, and that Sunday hours are therefore quite different for many of us.
Most of us agree that any time on Sunday is good for sending out the lead
for the week. Most of us are in favor of having a backup person to give a
lead on Monday if no lead is sent on Sunday. Our Weekly Lead Listkeeper may
like to have a list of available leaders ready to write if no lead goes out
on Sunday."
There were no objections during Segment 4.
I now request consensus on this statement by head nods. Please send them to this list publicly.
Minutes Oct. 18 - 21 (submitted by Doreen)
Our voting and head nod results are in on Agenda Items 2 and 4. The results are:
Agenda Item 2 is: 13 to 1 in favor of the Lead Requirements being 90 days sober and 1 month membership in GROW.
Agenda Item 4: It is the group's consensus that we all agree that any time on Sunday is good for sending out the lead for the week and are in favor of having a backup person to give a lead on Monday if no lead is sent out on Sunday.
All of the open Trusted Service positions have been filled at this time.
Birthday Listkeeper : Carol D. 10/06 - 4/07
CO-Archivist - Laura to complete term 7/06 - 7/07
Greeter : Jean L to complete term to 4/07
Back Up Greeter : Colleen 10/06 - 4/07
GSR Rep./OIAA Alternate Back up - Annette 10/06 -10/08
12 Step Volunteer Listkeeper - Susan G. 10/06 - 4/06
Back up 12 Step Volunteer - Deanna ... 10/06 - 4/06
Sponsor Listkeeper : Jennifer 10/6 - 4/07
1.Steering Committee Member At Large : Kris E 10/06 - 10/07
2.Steering Committee Member At Large : Judi N 10/06 - 10/07
Agenda Oct 22- 25 (submitted by Gigi)
We have concluded our formal vote on this motion, made and seconded on October 18:
"Members have 90 days of sobriety and 30 days of GROW membership to lead weekly meetings."
This is not considered a "sensitive issue."
Our Secretary has reported the results of our vote. We have minority opinion during this segment of our meeting, which lasts from October 22 - 25, 2006.
Minority voter, this segment is for you. If a majority voter wishes to change her vote, it must be expressed to this group by October 25, 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
Should a re-vote be required, there is enough time to complete it in Segment 7, which runs from October 26 - 30. Such a vote would stand, as per our Guidelines, below.
If no majority voter changes her mind, the current vote stands as our group conscience.
Minutes Oct. 22 - 25 (submitted by Doreen)
ADJOURNMENT OCT. 25
We have come to the end of Segment 6 of this business meeting. Minority opinion has been voiced, and no majority voters have changed their minds.
Therefore, the motion created as a result of Agenda Item 2 passes.
The motion is: "Members have 90 days of sobriety and 30 days of GROW
membership to lead weekly meetings."
This was the last item on our agenda. We may therefore close this business
meeting.
Adjourned.