Board to Board meeting for WSBT and WSOB
August 25, 2008
Four Points Sheraton, Los Angeles, CA
Opened with the we version of the Serenity Prayer at 7:40pm
In Attendance:
Kim Sherwan MWRT WST
Lawrence Matlock ASRT
John Bodkin WSOB Chair
Trevor Scheilbe PNRT WSBT Secretary
Taffy Wallace
Bobbie Harmon TAL Acting SWRT/ Vice chair
Nicholas Lynn ERT
Patty Flannigan Paid Director of
Resource and Project Development
Bruce Watson ANRT
Carl Warlick PSRT Chair of WSBT
Tom Phalen WSOB Treasurer
Earl Henderson WSOT
Hayward Hunt WST
Theresa Neighbors WSOB Secretary
Kathy Jo Rango WSOB Vice Chair
Richard Leve WSOB Director at large
Willie Bailey WSOB Director at Large
1. Opening remarks by WSBT Chair & WSOB Chair
John Bodkin: Thank you everyone for being here. I am glad everyone made it safely.
Carl Warlick: I want to thank all of you for being here on time. Taffy welcome to your first board to board. To the rest of you from the WSBT and John I want to thank all of you for your hard work and service this year. I know there was a couple periods that were a little rocky. You guys have done a fantastic job looking over the budgets and with the convention. My brother John, thank you for the conversations that you and I have had. You have two mavericks so we were going to follow the rules. Me and John talked when we needed to. It wasn’t every week, but when we needed to talk we did. I thank you so much for all your hard work.
2. Supplemental reports, if any, from WSOB and questions from WSBT:
John: There are none that I am aware of.
Carl: There are no questions for any.
Earl: Very nice reports.
John: Did any of the directors, paid or otherwise, bring supplemental reports or support materials for tonight’s conversations? Are they passed out? Tom you have some and Patty you passed out some?
3. Items for Discussion:
1. CAWS 2009-
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John: Our reports have been brief for CAWS 2009; they have been reasonably good about their regular monthly reporting. I don’t know if we have their last set of minutes. Perhaps you have them.
Patty: Their last meeting was just a week ago.
Bobbie: On the 17th was their last meeting. It was brought to our attention about pre-convention memorabilia, to bring it here. The conversation started in June all of sudden we go into rush mode, the shirt got here, the logo has been changed. We still have the theme, One with the sprit of Recovery, but it says Denver Enthusiasm Agency and on the back it says DEA. The trustees have unanimously said that that shirt should not be sold. I called Beth to see if they knew about it. They found out what the shirts were going to look like yesterday. Does the general convention committee know, where was the spending committee in all this. Beth said she had this conversation and that we are being totally left out of the loop. They are buying stuff and then submitting for reimbursement for their fundraisers. I think she thought she could handle this without pulling Patty in.
Patty: I had two hour conversation with the treasurer last week.
Bobbie: Spending team, there is no activity they are not being brought into the loop. Dan S. will be brought here with the other 24 and he is memorabilia. He has got two phone calls saying you can’t sell them and you need to speak to your treasurer.
Carl: When you saying they are buying them, how are they buying them?
Bobbie: This particular item Dan ordered it, paid for it, and then submitted for reimbursement. I think this is the 2nd or 3rd time they did it that way.
John: We feel it is very creative, but here are the things that went wrong in the process. We are just lovingly and gently saying this is why it didn’t work out and I have to believe with the best of intention to follow the decision that some of those shirts are just going to find there way around. We are not policing wardrobes; we are just saying they cannot be sold.
Bobbie: I guess at this point the conference committee, you know how they have those tables set up and you would hope those items are not placed out. We are going to do it in such a loving way. We will let him know the reasons. This is CAWS’s property and you cannot change it. Also you are affiliating us with a federal government agency. We would appreciate it if the money you spent, to just eat it.
Willie: My question was going to be because when a member fronted the money for shirts that were not approved, that reimbursement won’t be going to the member.
Bobbie: I believe that was our general understanding of it.
Patty: How does the motion read, what did you all say?
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Bobbie: We actually didn’t motion, we did a general consensus. But if you need us to do a motion we will do that.
Patty: I would like that, because we do not get to play with our artwork. It is outside of the scope, we make sure that the logo is messed up. The WSOB does not have a place to say that the DEA is inappropriate. You would need to write a referral to convention committee that we do need to take a look at the artwork. I would like that.
Earl: It sounds like we are treating the symptoms to a condition here and we really need to go to the cause here. We need to have a “come to Jesus” meeting with Denver. Let’s have a real clear understanding about our spending committees, steering committees, how the group conscious needs to be happening in all of these decisions prior to running out buying t-shirts that someone thought was a good idea. In terms of the logo, that came to us for approval. We approved a logo did we ever approve a change to that?
Patty: No
Earl: I believe there is an issue with that.
Hayward: Are we supposed to approve any spending, they are supposed to send a copy of what they are going to put on the back of the T-shirt and on the front.
Patty: They send us how many. That is my job.
Hayward: They never did?
John: No.
Richard- My question is did Dan act on his own or was he told to go get them and just did it out of pocket. I am looking at Dan’s side. If you tell me to go do something and I put the money out and then we find out the group is wrong why should I be stuck for the mistake. If he did it on his own then he is stuck with it. If he was told to then he should be reimbursed by that fellowship or by the board here.
Patty: We actually approved the registration form with the logo on it. I would like us to have more control over the artwork. Currently we don’t have any control over the artwork. The only time we take control is like in a general way that we are saying oversight. It is my responsibility to go to the committee and say that it was outside of order. You said that you want them to come you. I need to be with you when you tell them that they spent outside of spending. Just like Kim and I have been going to Milwaukee. I am the one who has to tell them.
Bobbie: They had a meeting and he gave a verbal report saying that we ordered these shirts and he kinda described them. My question is did someone make a motion to accept his verbal report? That didn’t happen. So no he was not given permission.
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Carl: Patty, what you said was you have no control over the logo, but you have control over spending. At no point was the spending committee involved in this.
Tom: Did they submit anything for the Mr. Brown T-shirts?
Patty: No they didn’t have the bank account, they were functioning with their big funding that is outside and I already have a referral in. There is the big committee money that they raised money and they can spend out of that. I have Terry who will back us up on that because there is a loophole.
Tom: They raised the money with the sale of the Mr. Brown shirts and then they can use that to buy more shirts without having to do spending committee.
Trevor: The thing to remember is, that although the purchase of the shirts wasn’t proper what’s on the back of them certainly isn’t proper. To walk in the meeting and your new to see that you’re walking out the door and you’re not coming back. It is a pretty slippery slope to be advertising the DEA, even though we all think it is a little joke. What does it do to the fellowship as a whole? I think that is equally as important as why they violated the spending policy.
Hayward: You said we don’t have control over the logo, so they can change it anytime they want?
Patty: We take control. I make them turn it in and you guys see and that is why you think you have control, but we don’t. Let’s say it went through spending and it had the logo on it and then it got here with DEA on it, we could shoot it down then.
Carl: That puts us all in unity on it then.
John: I think that it is important to take the outcome from tonight’s meeting, go back to the logo idea. For the logo it has created a lot of unity between us and a lot of laughs. Needless to say and it was disappointing when the shirt came a bit altered also. We hope that they use it appropriately in the future.
Patty: We as the WSOB would almost never let someone be out of pocket if the committee had the funding. We would say the committee made the mistake and we would charge their budget and take those shirts and pay for them. Our board would pay for those shirts. Take that penalty rather than a member taking the penalty on the cash. When you are making your motion please give us some discretion on that so that we can determine if that would be a better solution.
Bobbie: Beth was saying that they would take the hit and we kind of didn’t understand that statement.
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Patty: Yes we are going to take that from their money, are not going to let them spend that money and they are now going to have shortage. We need possession.
Kathy Jo: Do we have a number of registrations for 2009?
Taffy: I think there is about six. There were four from convention and we got two this week.
2. CAWS 2010
John: Will they be represented at this event?
Kim: Yes, they have a budget that they will be presenting. They have fundraising t-shirts here with them, it was approved. Farfromusin’ is the theme.
Patty: I think they are getting the hang of it. Quin sent it over to us and I said Hi Sharon and they said Sharon is out of town. There was not enough information. They waited until Sharon came back and made sure they got all the information. I think they are getting their lesson in a way.
Kim: They had some questions about the spending request, that they felt weren’t answered to their liking. They instructed me to follow up on that. I did not have original copies of those spending requests. That has all been worked out.
Richard: They gave a good gesture of sending cheese curds and sausages from Wisconsin as a peace treaty to the office board.
John: We have sensed a real resurgence of cooperation. Thank you for the hard work that went into that.
3. CAWS 2011
Bobbie: They do have the steering team in place and they have had one steering team meeting. They choose 3 guys from Phoenix and 2 girls from Tucson.
John: Does that mean the executive steering committee is chosen. We have not received word officially.
Bobbie: It is official and they are deciding locations. Where and when so that they can start their committee meetings. They may have met again this month already.
Patty: They did talk to Tom and to Terry and forwarded a projected budget. I refused this because they do not have a hotel, you can’t give me a budget until you have a hotel.
b. NADCP Conference – update
- Preparation
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- Who, what, where?
Patty: We have done the follow-up letters and we have the database updated. We have communicated with some of them, because they asked. We were a little more specific this year on what do you need and what are you doing. I am studying part of their referrals and what the case studies are. So that we can figure out what kinds of funding we can send out for that. We need to have funding for the follow up, for continuing communications with them. I am trying to find a target market for them so I can make that up. I don’t really know completely. The UK has their drug court now. They have moved forward in some of their other situations. So when we do something we want to make sure that we are in both corners. This was an international event. They are sending people from other countries to see how the US does it. Lucky for us, the convention was in Utah, I was in the plane with the people for the drug court that were coming from Utah for that. Russell was on the plane with the other people. Those people I am starting to get a little bit of a relationship with. One of my long term goals when I have a TAL, would be how to get the local people to have a take a way table. How does world fund that? We send you the stuff, but you have to make sure it is on the table at the local one. I am excited about serving on PI this year so I can get the runners on the ground to help me carry that message.
Carl: Where will it be next year?
Patty: Anaheim.
Carl: In the future it will be yourself and the TAL. Say the TAL is from the NY area, would it be more feasible for the regional trustee here to help you find that.
Patty: I think the TAL and I would have to be something that we create a conscience on. It is on the 10th of June. I would like to know that there is a chance that the new TAL, I would like to know who they are so we can meet with them as soon as possible. Before the conference ends, so that we can steal them. So that in November they are not confused.
Bobbie: TAL is going to have a folder for them. You know the thing that Cynthia started for us, it will be there for that person. I will show them all that information. You see in there that it says you have to talk to Patty like yesterday.
John: Every year we do this better and better, so thank you for that. We achieved major exposure. I made a commitment on behalf of the world service office that we would be diligent about…. Now that we have the two director model. Can we work with you as a board to support a plan for an incremental or a timed type of follow up with mailings or e-mailings. So that we remain communicative throughout the year instead of once a year.
Carl: We have a time line already that Jay, myself, and Cynthia worked on already in Seattle. It is the same one that Theresa and I and Bobbie did in DC it was absolutely perfect.
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John: My hope is that she has the support of our board, because Taffy has may have not worked with that time line to achieve those goals. It may take the WSOB pitching in.
Patty: We are writing a newsletter much like the AA to the professionals, their newsletter that goes out quarterly.
Bobbie: that is why we keep it on the agenda so that it can be talked about every three months. Although it did have a little rocky start as the years have come through and I want you to know this year. We got there we had a certain number of books and by the end of the first day we were out of them. This year was great, the office did everything they were supposed to make sure that we had everything we needed.
Patty: As we are aging and becoming more experienced in it, what we did that no one else recorded was that we are now aware that they work in teams under the judges. We are not actually going for whoever is just there. I want to know who is in charge of your department, who am I going to? I am addressing stuff to the judge, even though on some of those I did not talk to the judges.
Carl: Thank you so much. **** (RECORDING ENDED)******
c. Euro office/ hub status (Nick)
Nick: We looked into the possibility of a HUB but discovered that the cost made it prohibitive. We have decided to proceed with an office but not a HUB at this time.
Bobby: When will we be able to consider this?
Patty: our 7th will triple in the next 12-14 years.
Tom: This is actually not a 7th tradition issue, but rather a cost of sales. If our fellowship grows, we will not only be able to but need to consider this seriously. Our current office cannot continue to support the storage of literature as sales increase and so we will naturally need other space.
Visit to UK
Hayward: Patty and Tom will be visiting the UK soon and can look into options while they are there. What else will you be doing while you are there?
Patty: We were invited by the UK. We will be promoting “CA-as-a-whole” and letting them know that they are very much a part of the whole fellowship. We will be performing customer service. We will also be looking into hotels, should they be chosen for 2012. Also, will look into possibility of a fulfillments center and locations for their office—discussing space requirements and sales.
d. The outcome of annual ratification of the WSOB (Earl)
Earl: All Directors have been ratified.
e. DRPD and DOO annual and 90 Day appraisals respectively (potential executive session here) (Earl)
John: Patty’s review has been delivered. All WSOB directors participated.
Taffy’s 90-day has not been completed. Plan is that her 90-day will be just with John. Her annual will involve the entire WSOB.
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Neither paid Director is up for merit increase at this time.
John apologizes to Taffy for the delay and thanks her for her patience.
f. Director vacancies and recruiting of directors(Earl)
Earl: encourages spreading the word & bringing guests to WSOB meetings. Possibly could post on PACSOUTH group. Secretarial skills are desired.
John: Thanks to all outgoing Directors. Will miss you and your experience. This goes to both Boards. Encourages spreading the word here at Conference—good place to locate possible candidates.
g. Travel reimbursements (presently 0.17 per mile) (All)
Kim: would like to see us increase this.
Patty: once we set a policy, which is needed for the IRS, we will be able to do this. Volunteers do not get same consideration as paid employees, according to the government. According to the government: volunteers should be writing off their volunteer-related expenses.
Kim: would like to see the WSOB come back with such a policy.
Tom: expressed concern re: funds—is a 7th tradition issue.
Patty: we need to be self-supporting & we want our people to travel. We need to make this happen. The question is what can we afford.
John: This is important. I sense a sense of urgency about this. The issue is: do we have the money? If it is a policy that we need then we need to create an ad-hoc committee to do this. I have not heard a time-line.
Richard: Who are we talking about? Trustees? WSOB? Over 100 miles?
Carl: We are talking about Trustees at this time. There’s another that will deal with all the others coming later.
Bobby: I’m confused. We keep talking about a policy. What we usually do is just move some things around in the budget so that the money is there. It needs to be addressed in this budget.
Tom: You’re preaching to the choir. And at the same time, there’s reality. Trustees need to consider their budget very seriously. I think this is a philodophical argument. Let’s consider what we are paying our paid employees. They are being paid at 50-60% less than other non-profit organizations and they are expected to work on equipment that does not function. We need to make these adjustments, but our fellowship needs to step up.
Carl: We charge the WSOB to put a policy together & get it back to us so we can see how to proceed from here.
h. LCF issues (Bruce)
4. Close/Serenity Prayer
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For all attached attached documents and reports see pdf: 2008-08-25-WSBT-WSOB-B2B-Minutes.pdf