OIAA Board Meeting Minutes 10 January 2023 – Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous

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OIAA Board Meeting Minutes 10 January 2023

OIAA Board Meeting Minutes 10 January 2023

Attendees:
Jeff B., Secretary
Jane G., Chair
Mark M., Technology Chair
Susan R., Vice Chair
Brian R., Treasurer

Jane G., Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:07 pm EDT (2:07 p.m. PT). The meeting opened with the Serenity prayer.

The Board minutes from the 12/13/22 Board meeting were sent out but most Board members did not have an opportunity to review them. Motion was made by Susan R. to postpone the approval of the minutes of the 12/13/22 Board meeting until next month. The motion was seconded by Mark M and passed unanimously. Jeff also noted that the amended minutes from last month were also sent out.

 

Should we change the format of the combined board and committees meeting?

  • Jane raised the issue about whether to continue the Board meeting with the committee chairs in the same manner as the the December Board meeting over concerns about the length of the meeting.
  • The Board discussed the matter:
    • Brian mentioned that it was long but that the reason for having the Committee chairs there was so that they could participate and feel that they could voice any issue or concerns. He suggested that we don’t have them present their written reports but instead could focus on any concerns
    • Mark suggested that we have stricter timings and give each committee 5 minutes to present whatever they want
    • Jane said that her concern was that the Board members are aware of what goes on in each committee.   She discussed the example of the Safety committee and making sure that we understand the process of on-boarding a group. She suggested that the Board can bring in a committee to discuss a specific concern or issue.
  • Jane raised the issue of whether we need to have the PAC committee present their process for onboarding groups to the Board. This led to a discussion of whether enough is being done to onboard and train new group, especially with relation to meeting safety. The consensus was that there was not enough people to do this on a one-off basis but that group sessions could be held. The Technology committee is looking at the possibility of holding these types of sessions.

 

Assemblies for 2023

  • The next Assembly is scheduled for March 18th and a script will be needed for the Assembly. Jane asked what the focus of the Assembly will be.
  • Jeff stated that the Guidelines committee would probably not be finished with their work in time for the March Assembly but that they would probably be ready by June. One suggestion that he offered was the have some number of the Committees make a presentation about their committee and ask for volunteers. He also suggested that we could have a presentation on the Final Conference agenda items for the 73rd General Service Conference in April.

 

  • Mark mentioned that the new website will be completed in early March but that the launch could done at the Assembly
  • Brian suggested that a walkthrough of the organization’s Financials at each Assembly would be a standard part of each Assembly with the final Assembly of the year being a review of the proposed budget for the next year.
  • Jane suggested that an Ask-It-Basket could be made available to allow attendees to ask questions
  • Jane stated that she will assemble a few individuals to help with the detailed script of the Assembly using the Election Assembly script as a starting point
  • Jeff stated that he would put together a preliminary agenda based on the suggestions made by everyone.
  • Susan stated that she thought the Assembly should be at most 1.5 hours and the rest of the Board was in agreement

 

Safety Workshops

  • Jane discussed the status of the Safety workshops that were being done by Steph. There has been no work done yet on preparing for a planned 2/11 Safety workshop and it’s late in the game to prepare a flyer, plan for the workshop and notify the membership.
  • In the meantime, Mark has scheduled a Safety workshop for this coming Saturday and he is prepared with an agenda. The urgency of holding this Safety workshop is to deal with the issue of the 61 groups who de-listed in December largely due to Zoom bombers.
  • After further discussion, the Board felt that a Safety workshop on 2/11 was not feasible and that a new Chair for developing Safety workshops would need to be found.

 

Meeting with OIAA and the GSO International Desk

  • Jane suggested that we initiate a meeting with the International Desk at GSO to discuss the International Literature Fund (ILF). Currently, OIAA has excess funds available and is considering contributing some of those funds to the ILF
  • Susan expressed concern that supporting the ILF does not seem be the focus on OIAA’s mission which is stated in the Bylaws.
  • Brian provided some context for the Board with our money situation. He stated that we went from “a sleepy little organization” to sitting on a great deal of money. The question that he has come to is whether we should be making any distributions at all outside the US because of tax and money laundering issues.
  • Susan reiterated that she felt our purpose should be to connect with other Intergroups in the US/Canada and aboard, staying out of General Service. She also questioned whether we are considered a registered Intergroup.
  • Jeff mentioned that there is an organization that we belong to called ICOAA that is an organization of the Intergroups in the US and Canada. The ICOAA members meet with the GSO and the Grapevine at an annual Conference which was attended virtually by Gwen and Barry in 2021 and by Jeff in person in Colorado in September, 2022.
  • Jeff also mentioned that the ICOAA has a Communications committee that meets with GSO on a quarterly basis to discuss Intergroup issues which he stated is where we need to put our efforts

 

Making Contributions with Excess Funds

  • Brian stated there have been discussions at the Finance committee meetings and there was much concern over making distributions. He said that there have been more arguments and disagreements over this issue than any other since he has been involved.
  • Brain felt that he would like to have the perspective of the Committee chairs on this topic and felt that this was the exactly the type of issue to discuss at a Board meeting where the Committee chairs attend.

 

Leadership Development Program

  • Gwen, Past OIAA Chair, has volunteered to coordinate the development of this program. Susan agreed to help with this as well

 

Get Into Action (GIA) committee and the Use of the OIAA Logo

  • Jane discussed the issue with the GIA committee using the OIAA logo on their flyer. The GIA committee discussed this and stated that they should have said that the groups associated with GIA are members of OIAA to avoid the implication that GIA is part of OIAA.
  • Jane mentioned that the upcoming town hall, which will be the 6th or 7th town hall, is for the purpose of growing your online groups with 19 presentations from 11 online groups like reaching out to newcomers and how they create their service positions.
  • Jane asked the Board if they would be willing to approve the funds for translation for the town hall. Jane explained that the GIA committee started with Jane’s Three Legacy Study group and grew into a committee as several other online groups like the Back Porch International and Global Eyeopener joined.
  • Mark asked whether the GIA committee could be brought into OIAA as another committee as their mission is aligned with ours. Jane and Jeff responded that they felt that the committee would be willing to do so.
  • Jane asked the Board whether they would like Jane and Jeff to invite the GIA committee to become a committee of OIAA. Mark stated that he has watched the GIA committee for the past year and wondered why they were not part of OIAA. Brian commented that he was onboard with inviting the committee to be part of OIAA which would require approval from an Assembly.
  • Jane requested the money for translation for the GIA town hall with $240 for ASL translation and $120 for Spanish translation from the Board. Jeff made a motion to allocate the $360 for the translation for the GIA town hall. The motion was seconded by Brian and approved unanimously by the Board.

 

Activating the OIAA Convention Committee

  • Jeff pointed out that the International Convention will take place in 2025 and the planning will take some time so 2 years
  • Brian stated that this is the right time to stand up this committee as the planning will take some time
  • Jane stated that we will need a good chair for this committee. Jeff suggested that Terry N. from the Global Eyeopener might be a good choice and that he could reach out to her.
  • Jeff mentioned that GSO puts aside hotel rooms for hospitality rooms which are given for free to different AA entities (Areas, Intergroups, etc.) and we should request one.

 

The Board meeting adjourned at 6:28 pm EST and was closed with the Declaration of Unity.

 

Motions Summary

The following motions were voted on and approved by the Board at this meeting:

  1. Motion was made by Susan R. to postpone the approval of the minutes of the 12/13/22 Board meeting until next month. The motion was seconded by Mark M and passed unanimously.
  2. Jeff made a motion to allocate the $360 for the translation for the GIA town hall. The motion was seconded by Brian and approved unanimously by the Board.

 

Humbly submitted,

Jeff Bernknopf

OIAA Secretary

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