Acting Chair’s Report 13 June 23

On 8 May, the Chair contacted me about grievances she had received against her.  She recused herself from the May board meeting and asked me to investigate per the Decorum section of the existing guidelines.  The Board agreed to form a Board Ad Hoc Committee for the exploration of those grievances.  The duration of the committee was a month.  We met 18 times and investigated thoroughly.  We concluded that the chair should resign.   When written resignation following the executive session of the board on 5 June 2023 at the conclusion of the process was not received, on 9 June 2023, we unanimously voted to remove her.

Concurrently with the Ad Hoc Grievance process, as Ad Hoc Guidelines Chair, I tasked a discrete subcommittee to develop a Grievance Process, called the Open Door Policy, for similar events in the future.  It was delivered to the Board by 1 June 2023 and, once it goes through the Guidelines Committee for approval it will be available for approval to the assembly, as will all the guidelines updated and developed by that committee since September 2022.

We notified Jane on the 10th of June 2023 of our decision to remove her, and the members of OIAA on 11th June 2023 with the following notification confirmed and signed by the full OIAA board:

It is with the deepest regret that the OIAA Board has found it necessary to unanimously request the resignation of the OIAA Chair, Jane G. We do not take this action lightly. After several grievances were made concerning the OIAA Chair, a grievance process was developed, and an ad hoc Grievance committee of the Board was formed.  This ad hoc committee interviewed those lodging the grievances and provided the OIAA Chair the ability to tell her side of the story on several occasions which she declined.

The ad hoc Grievance committee found several disturbing patterns of behavior that were not in line with our Steps, Traditions and Concepts. Specifically, through her behaviors and conduct, the OIAA Chair has:

• • 1. Consistently participated in the creation of conflict and disunity;
  • 2. Overstepped and/or misused a position of authority, fostering a spirit of governance rather than trusted leadership;
  • 3. Unduly influenced and/or impacted the autonomy of OIAA committees

It was for these reasons that on June 5th in Executive session, the Board requested the resignation of the OIAA Chair, Jane G. Jane verbally agreed to resign and was asked to provide an email to the Secretary to officially resign. Several additional requests for her to provide a resignation email went unanswered.  The Board met again in Executive session on June 9th and voted unanimously to remove Jane G. as the OIAA Chair in accordance with Section 4.04 of the approved Bylaws which states that an Officer may be removed for cause by a 2/3 vote of the Board.

We know that Jane has a deep, abiding love and passion for AA and OIAA and that there was no malicious intent on her part.  She has made numerous contributions to the organization and helped OIAA to transition into a real-time organization.  Her contributions will be gratefully remembered. (Email to Fellowship, 11 June 23)

On 9 June 2023, a motion was made seconded and passed to forward me to the position of Acting Chair until elections in December.  We are seeking service resumes and will appoint a Vice-Chair at our July board meeting, also for election in December.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan R, Acting Chair OIAA