2014 Group Conscience Decisions
This is a summary of the group conscience decisions made in 2014.
AprilOctober
April 2014
- Changes to Greeter Letter #2:
- The following second sentence in the fifth paragraph of the Greeter Letter #2 form letter is outdated and will be deleted: "Digests may need to be downloaded and read in a word processor, depending upon your email program."
- Insert the following sentences after the third paragraph of the Greeter Letter #2 form letter: "Please do not use the "Reply to All' option when you respond privately to another member's post to GROW, as your personal message will also be directed to the GROW list and it will bounce to the Listkeepers.
For those using phones and tablets, be aware that the default reply option is often "Reply to All", and double-check that you are not using "Reply to All."
- Changes to Weekly Topic Leader Message:
- Delete the following passage from the paragraph that ends with " .. replacement leader:" "If you are willing to fill in for someone on a last-minute basis, please let me know. I'd like to have a list of people, if a weekly leader cannot be available for the time slot they have volunteered for, that I can ask to jump in if necessary."
- Insert the following sentence at the end of the third paragraph beginning with "Here is your opportunity to lead a weekly meeting, ...": "The requirements to lead a meeting are 90 days of continuous sobriety and a member of GROW for more than 30 days."
- Insert after the first paragraph: "Here is the calendar of our upcoming leaders scheduled to chair. A big GROW thank you to all who are committed to growing in service.
Month:
Date, Name
Date, Name
Date, Name
Date, Name" - Replace the second sentence of the paragraph beginning with "If you would like to volunteer, ..." with the following: "Here are the available dates:
Month day
Month day
Month day
Month day
Month day - Revise second sentence of the the paragraph beginning "We try to give thoughtful attention ..." to read: "If the date requested is already filled, you will be offered another available date. Around Wednesday or Thursday of the week before you're set to chair, I'll contact you and pass on the meeting format."
- Revise the last sentence of the same paragraph to read: Thank you for your participation and thank you for letting me be of service.
- The Weekly Topic Leader Listkeeper will send the 1-month schedule of meeting chair dates and corresponding Weekly Leaders to the group on a monthly basis (in addition to posting regular weekly reminders of the meeting topics). This will be included in the Weekly Topic Leader Listkeeper's job description.
- Changes to Secretary's job description:
- Add the following bullet to the Secretary's job description: "Conduct a Group Inventory every 2 years (in even-numbered years) between the Business Meetings of April and October by sending out the 12 Questions on our website. 3 questions will be sent to the group each week over a 4-week period. Each week's responses will be summarized, posted back to the group, and the results discussed and reviewed by members at the next Business Meeting to determine if action needs to be taken. These will be posted in addition to the Weekly Topics."
- On January 26, 2007, Group Conscience approved the following addition to the Secretary's Job Description as it relates to the Treasurer: "Receive copies of email messages sent to Treasury PayPal email account; have access to the GROW PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com." The bullet will be added to the Secretary's Job Description as was decided seven years ago but wasn't inserted in the Job Description at that time.
- Replace the existing Treasurer's job description with the following revised job description:
- 2 year term
- 2 years sobriety
- Must be a member of Business List.
- At least one year as a member of GROW.
- Serve on Steering Committee.
- Maintain a checking account in the name of the Treasurer.
- Ensure that the Secretary has access to the account so it may be accessed in the event of an emergency.
- Set up a PayPal account; share this password with the Secretary.
- Send weekly passing-the-basket announcement to the group, using the 7th Tradition Announcement Template as approved by group conscience. Be sure to include your postal mailing address for mail-in contributions.
- Deposit collections in a timely manner.
- Pay all group expenses per the distribution below and maintain a prudent reserve of $79.50 (6 months group expenses):
- 20% OIAA (OIAA, c/o Mike Lee, 4925 Greenville Ave., Suite 200, Dallas, Texas 7506).
- 80% to GSO (The General Service Office, Grand Central Station, PO Box 459, New York, NY 10164-0423; Group Service # 633230).
- $12.00 monthly to OSO-AA (PayPal: dean.collins@insightplanners.com).
- Send the OIAA and GSO contributions Quarterly.
- Submit semi-annual reports (prior to each business meeting).
- Submit a Treasurer's report to the Steering Committee each month.
- Make copies of deposits, canceled checks and bank statements to Secretary monthly. This can be done by sending copies or providing online access to the account.
- Maintain records of contributions and disbursements, including canceled group checks and bank statements. (Records to be kept for most recent 7 years, per group conscience 1/9/06).
- The treasurer shall pay (if needed) a monthly service fee on the GROW checking account.
- For duties and requirements common to all Trusted Servant positions, see Trusted.
- Click here for the wording of
Treasurer
October 2014
- The GROW list serve use HTML for our group emails, and all pertinent references on our web site be changed to reflect this.
- All Group Conscience Decisions have a one-year "no revisit" period. The following statement will be placed on the Business Meeting Chair's Job Description: "Review all incoming proposals to ensure that they have not been finalized/approved within 1 year. If the proposal was finalized/approved during the last Business Meeting, inform the member of the 1-year Group Conscience revisit decision and table the item to the next Business Meeting."
- Name the Webkeeper (Webkeeper Backup by default) as backup and password holder instead of the Secretary on our accounts. The word 'Secretary' in the Treasurer's Job Description will be replaced with 'Webkeeper/Webkeeper Backup'.
- Under the first item in the GROW Business Meeting Guidelines for meeting Proposals, add a sentence to the last paragraph that asks members preparing proposals to review similar group conscience decisions that have been made in the past. The approved sentence is: "They should also review past group conscience decisions related to the proposal (see www.g-r-o-w.com/members/groupc/gctopics/gc_index.htm).
- Under the first item in the GROW Business meeting guidelines for meeting proposals, replace bullet a. to eliminate the requirement to anticipate the outcome, which has been confusing. New language: A clear brief statement that summarizes the proposal;
- Under the first item in the GROW Business meeting guidelines for meeting proposals, replace bullet b. to eliminate the description of how the proposal will be implemented and to ask the proposer to explain why action needs to be taken. This reflects how proposals have actually been presented. New language: A rationale that describes why the group conscience decision is needed;
- Under the first item in the GROW Business meeting guidelines for meeting proposals, add a sentence to bullet c. acknowledging that business meeting discussions may necessitate changes in the proposed language and allows those changes to be made by the Trusted Servant who will implement the decision. New sentence added to end of bullet c.: This language may need to be modified by the Trusted Servant responsible for the area to reflect the group's discussions.
- Change our voting procedures from 'Consensus' to 'Two-thirds Majority' Rule.
- Contributions to OIAA will be terminated and all previous un-cashed checks will be voided.
- The following are the revised GROW Guidelines for conducting business:
- Proposals to be considered during GROW business meetings should include the following:
- A clear brief statement that summarizes the proposal;
- A rationale that describes why the group conscience decision is needed, and
- Specific language to be presented for discussion and voting in the business meeting (including, as appropriate, language for a job description, form letter, or GROW policy or guideline). This language may need to be modified by the Trusted Servant responsible for the area to reflect the group's discussions.
Before submitting a proposal, meeting participants are encouraged to consult with the Business Chair, Secretary, or Steering Committee members to formulate their proposals if they need help. They should also review past Group Conscience Decisions related to the proposal (see http://www.g-r-o-w.com/members/groupc/gctopics/gc_index.htm).
- We allow a minimum of 4 days for discussion, more when warranted.
- At the end of the 4-day discussion period, the Chair calls for a vote. 4 days are allowed for voting, which can be done either publicly on the list, or privately by sending votes to the Chair. The Chair counts the votes.
- The voting is done by: I agree or I disagree.
- At the end of the voting period, the Chair announces the results of the vote. The group holds to a 2/3 majority to pass or fail any group conscience decision.
- Following the announcement of results, the Chair will ask if the minority wants 4 days to discuss their minority opinion.
- If yes, then 4 days of discussion will begin.
At the end of the 4 days of discussion, the Chair will ask if anyone who originally voted for the Proposal (a majority voter) has been persuaded by this discussion to change her opinion. If yes, the Chair then calls for another 4-day voting period. The outcome of the second vote is the determining vote. As in the first vote, the 2/3 majority vote will be observed.
If no majority voters have been persuaded to change their opinion, there will not be another vote. - If the minority does not want 4 days to express their opinion, there will be no further discussion and there will not be another vote.
- At the end of the voting period, the Business Chair announces the final results of the vote.
- Note: If any item on the agenda has not reached a 2/3 majority vote by the 17th day of the business meeting, the item is tabled and held over to the next scheduled business meeting.