OIAA Board Meeting Minutes 13 December 2022

Attendees:
Jan BB., PAC Chair
Jeff B., Alt. Secretary
Amy B., Unity Chair-Elect
Paula D., CPC Chair
Dave W, Unity Alternate Chair
Jane G., Vice Chair
Jon H., PI Chair
Gwen Mc., OIAA Chair
Mary M., Steppers Chair
Barry M., Secretary
Mark M., Technology Chair
Brian R., Treasurer
Spencer W., Finance Chair

Gwen M., Chair, called the meeting to order at p.m. EDT (p.m. PT). The meeting opened with the Serenity prayer.

The Board minutes from the 11/8/22 Board meeting were reviewed. Mark commented that the minutes not only mentioned not waiting to approve a chair but that the Board go into Executive session and vote in that chair.  This was not reflected in the minutes but an amendment will be made.  Motion was made by Mark M. to approve the minutes of the 11/8/22 Board meeting as amended and was seconded by Jane G.  The minutes were approved unanimously.

Chair’s Report: Gwen Mc.

• Gwen Mc. reminisced about her tenure as OIAA Chair.  She mentioned that it was awesome to “be surrounded by people who believe in the mission and who were dedicated to the idea that a platform for Fellowship could be built.” She also stated that she sees so much opportunity looking ahead and she then thanked a number of individuals.

Secretary’s Report – Barry M. / Jeff B.

• Barry thanked everyone for his time in service to OIAA and that it has been a privilege to serve
• Jeff thanked Barry for his service, especially with the restoration of our 501c3 status, and Gwen for her inspirational service
• Jeff stated that he will meet with Barry to deal with any follow-ons from the 1023 form filing and to put in place several other statements such as a whistleblower statement that the organization will need to have in place

Treasure’s Report – Brian R. /Spencer W.

• Barry first thanked Gwen and Barry for their service and that OIAA was not in a good spot when the assumed their positions with the organization
• Barry stated that we’ll need to decide what to do about the distribution of our monies over prudent reserve.  In our 1023 filing, we stated that we will not be making any distributions to any international entities.  There are many regulatory issues with making such distributions and it would not be prudent to make any such distributions.
• Brian raised the issue for discussion of whether we should be making any distributions at all as the contributions to OIAA were made for these monies to be used for the organization.  We will need to keep in mind that we included a distribution approach in the Budget that was approved by the Assembly.  Brian further stated that we will need to communicate to the Membership that we don’t currently need contributions and that we need to consider some mechanism for investing these monies in OIAA.
  • Mark stated that as this change would affect the monies of the organization the groups would need to be informed
  • Jeff asked about the fact that we have made international distributions in the past.  Brian stated that the risk was minimal and we technically weren’t a 501c3 at the time
  • Jeff stated that he is supportive of finding ways to utilize our monies within OIAA but that he is not opposed to passing on funds to other entities if we cannot.  However, he voiced concerns over passing monies to GSO based on some of their actions and attitudes regarding online groups.  He also mentioned that other entities to support might be local Intergroups in the US and Canada
  • Barry pointed out that the 1023 form is about distributions to any entity, not just international entities.  This will need to be looked at.

Old business: 

• • Board appointments for the open positions
    • Finance chair. There seems to be confusion over whether the Finance chair is part of the Board.  There was a request from a member, Amelia, that we not fill this position.
      • Brian stated that we don’t need to wait to get a Finance committee chair which is a separate issue from whether they should be a member of the Board
      • Brian brought up the need for ad hoc trustees on the Board. We could have Officers and Committee chairs on the Board along with several At Large trustees.
      • Jeff mentioned that we made the Technology chair and the Finance chair Officers of the Board because these two positions have fiduciary responsibilities
      • Jane stated that while a concern has been raised about this issue, the Bylaws have been approved with these two individuals as Officers.
    • Vice chair: Typically, voted in by the membership but no one stood for the position so that becomes a Board appointment
      • Both Jane and Gwen settled on Susan R. as an excellent candidate for this position
      • Jane presented Susan Rd.’s resume.  Jane and Susan served at the 66th General Service Conference together with Jane.  Susan has a long service resume as a DCM,  Area Chair and Area Delegate.

• Jane G. motioned that Susan R. be appointed as the Vice Chair for the organization and Jeff B. seconded the nomination.  Susan was approved unanimously.

New Business:

• Committee Participation at Board meeting
  • While the Committee chairs do not have a vote at the Board meetings having them attend allows for synergy between the Board and the Committees
  • The Committee chairs are invited to attend Board meetings every other month
  • Our Bylaws state that Committee chairs are required to make a report at least once annually
• Committee Charters
  • The Guideline committee will be developing a format for the Committee charters
  • The Finance committee has developed a conversation-based format for their charter
  • Jane suggested that the Guidelines ad hoc review the Bylaws and come up with a suggested format
• The development of a Confidential List with everyone’s phone numbers and addresses was suggested.  Jeff volunteered to coordinate this effort.
• Scheduling the next Assembly.
  • Jeff suggested that there is a lot going on currently in January and February and suggested that we hold our Assemblies in the 3rd month of each quarter and perhaps choose the 3rd Saturday of the month for this event.  That would mean that we would have Assemblies in March, June, September and December if we wish to hold 4 Assemblies a year.  The March Assembly would then be held on March 18th.
  • Jan stated that this would be good for the international community
  • Gwen checked the calendar and there were no large AA events on the calendar
  • Mark M. made a motion that was seconded by Jane to hold the OIAA Assemblies on the 3rd week of the 3rd month of each quarter.  The motion passed unanimously.
  • The dates for the Assemblies this year would be 3/18, 6/19, 9/16 and 12/16. As the date of 9/16 would be in conflict with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hassanah, the September Assembly will be moved up to 9/9/

Committee Reports

• Steppers – Mary M. / Gary
  • Mary has been in this position for 1 year after serving as the alternate for 2 years.  She has one more year to serve
  • The Steppers committee tries to answer urgent requests with most of the requests coming from the US/Canada. The committee receives between 350 and 400 request per month.  There are currently 10 active members.
  • The committee tries to send 2 to 3 replies per request to each person.
  • Mary reported that they received the first request from Doha.  Carlos provided some resources for these individuals.
• PAC – Jan BB
  • PAC processes groups for listing now but the future is uncertain
  • From 10/1 to 10/31, there were 56 new meetings and there were 49 new meetings from 11/1 to 11/30, It seems that the number of new meetings has slowed down
  • Complaints have been reduced due to the work of the Technology committee and the inclusion of tips on the website
  • PAC denied 1 listing for a treatment center and 1 individual tried to list NA meetings
  • Jan has a new member, Louise, for the committee from Ireland with 40 years of sobriety. Jan will be doing some training with her.
• CPC – Paula D.
  • Has been trying to contact local Intergroup to see if they have any needs but has not received any responses yet
  • Would like to develop a video discussing the difference between open and closed meetings.  Other videos might be possible as well.
• Jon H. – PI
  • PI committee received in 174 requests in October and 175 in November
  • The committee’s policy is to respond in the language of the request.  10 responses were in Spanish and 3 in French.
  • The committee met last Saturday to discuss their guidelines and will draft a version once there is a template. The committee reviewed the guidelines provided by GSO but found that many of them are geared towards in-person PI committees
  • Jon commented on the need for an online Area.  He felt that more information was received when he was an GSR as opposed to an IGR.
  • Jeff mentioned to Jon that there are 3 online Districts that are coordinating doing PI and CPC work with the online groups in their Distracts.  These Districts have PI and CPC chairs that you might want to contact.  Jeff said that he would send Jon and Paula the contact info for the DCMs in those Districts.
• Unity – Dave W.
  • Unity committee elected Amy B. as our Chair for the next rotation starting in January and are awaiting approval from the Board
  • The Committee has a Partner project underway that will allow other entities (GSOs and Intergroups) to have an area on our website
  • The Events project will provide a series of sharing workshops with other AA entities
  • The Committee is working on a survey of questions for the groups on participating in general service
  • The Committee is working on their annual report to the Membership
  • Amy introduced herself and her service resume was presented.  She has 34 years of sobriety and has been an IGR in OIAA for the past year. She has also served as a GSR, DCM and CPC Chair in Area 47 Central NY.
• Technology Report – Mark M.
  • The committee has been busy and is an international committee with members in Switzerland and New Zealand
  • Added 100 meetings in October and November with 44 being removed
  • Updated News section to let groups know they can ask for help with bombers
  • A number of updates to the website have been made with a lot of time being spent
  • Committee has been working with Mindfront on:
    • A redesign of the website
    • Rebuilding of the meeting directory
    • Google Workspace for each committee
  • There will be a number of changes in the next 2-to-3-month including:
    • Utilizing Google Meet rather than Zoom
    • Integrated calendaring
    • A Google Workspace for each committee
  • There will be training sessions over the next couple of months
  • Mark mentioned that a Board page is being added under the website under the Inside OIAA heading. This page will contain the Board agendas, the Board meetings and the list of the Board members.

Gwen passed the gavel to the incoming chair-elect, Jane.  Jane thanked Gwen for her leadership over the past few years and mentioned a number of her achievements.

The Board meeting with the Committee chairs concluded with the Declaration of Unity at 7:40pm.

The committee chairs left the meeting and the Board met in Executive session to discuss the approval of Amy B. as the chair of the Unity committee. Jeff B. made a motion to approve the selection of Amy B. as the Unity committee chair and Jane G. seconded the motion.  The Board voted unanimously to approve Amy B. as the Unity committee chair.

The Board meeting adjourned at session EDT 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 Mark M. to approve the minutes of the 11/8/22 Board meeting as amended and was seconded by Jane G.  The minutes were approved unanimously.
2. Jane G. motioned that Susan R. be appointed as the Vice Chair for the organization and Jeff B. seconded the nomination.  Susan was approved unanimously.
3. Mark M. made a motion that was seconded by Jane to hold the OIAA Assemblies on the 3rd week of the 3rd month of each quarter.  The motion passed unanimously
4. Jeff B. made a motion to approve the selection of Amy B. as the Unity committee chair and Jane G. seconded the motion.  The Board voted unanimously to approve Amy B. as the Unity committee chair.

Humbly submitted,

Jeff Bernknopf
OIAA Secretary