CA WORLD SERVICE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
BOARD-TO-BOARD MINUTES
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Phoenix, Arizona – CAWS 2011
Approved
Since this report is a confidential CA document, for members only, it may contain members‘ full names. This usage to facilitate communication within the fellowship was approved by the 1990 WS Conference. Such confidential use does not, of course, violate in any way our Tradition on anonymity in public communications media (press, radio, TV, etc.)
WSBT – WSOB Board to Board meeting
Friday, May 27th, 2011 – 130pm – 300pm
Phoenix, Arizona – CAWS 2011
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Kim S.: Welcome everybody, it’s a beautiful day, we can make the sunshine in here just like outside. With that.. .Let’s join hands, and a moment of silence, followed by the We version of the Serenity Prayer.
Kim S.: We are on the record, so please speak clearly, let’s start with introductions.
Peter De Rafaelle, World Service Trustee.
Randy Groen, Midwest Regional Trustee, WSBT Vice-Chair.
Joy Hutcheson, Pacific South Regional Trustee.
Kenny Williams, Atlantic South Regional Trustee.
Linda Francisco, Director of Operations, World Service Office.
John Bodkin, Managing Consultant, World Service Office, thank you for having me.
Barry Jacobs, World Service Office Board Treasurer.
Teresa Neighbors, World Service Office Board Vice Chair.
Robert Lyle, Atlantic North Regional Trustee.
Terry Marsden, Pacific North Regional Trustee.
Elizabeth Schmidt-Saldebar, Director at Large, World Service Office Board
Russell Sedman, European Regional Trustee.
Richard Schafer, Trustee at Large, WSBT Secretary.
Tom Phelan, World Service Office Board Chairperson.
Kim Sherwan, Midwest Regional Trustee, WSBT Chair.
Kim S.: If we could please take our cellphones off the table, out of respect for one another and the recorder it would be appreciated. Welcome everybody, I would like to first thank the Arizona area for hosting this great party, and the Southwest Region in putting on an awesome event, we love it. (round of applause) Thank God for the awesome weather and that we’re all here. I just want to note for the record that Richard Leve, the World Service Office Trustee is not with us due to a family emergency, and we do keep him in our thoughts and prayers. We’ve had an interesting quarterly, I’m sure you’ve all had bits and pieces of what’s occurred. We’ve had our challenges and taking an opportunity to speak on behalf of the WSBT, we are attempting to rally through that and be unified and work with the WSOB and our Fellowship to continue the business of CA. Welcome, I’m glad you’re here.
Tom P.: Tom Phelan, World Service Office Board Chairperson. I also want to thank the Arizona area and the Board of Trustee for the quarterly meeting and welcome Linda as our new Director of Operations (applause) and to this meeting, to this body, and to the whole process. I want to thank John for the work that he’s done and the contributions he’s made. John, we’re going to miss you (applause).
Kim S.: Richard Leve did post the reports from the WSOB and I presume our Board had an opportunity to read those. In addition to that, we ask now if there are any supplemental reports form any members of the WSOB. Tom?
Tom P.: Nothing from me.
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Barry J.: Nothing more than I have inventory as of May 24 on my drive and if anybody wants it,
I am glad to provide it to them after the meeting.
Kim S.: So noted, Joy is requesting that.
Linda F.: I would like you to know the commemorative chip is here. We have 1000 of them. It was produced; here is a sample of it if anyone wants to see it up close and personal.
Tom P.: We have a beautiful piece that will be included in the live auction.
Linda F.: We actually have the first chip, the prototype chip that will be in the live auction, I had the producer pull the first one and mark it separately for me.
Kim S.: I appreciate your efforts in getting that done for this event.
John B.: Nothing to add at this time.
Kim S.: Are there any additional items that we need to add for discussion? Has everyone had an opportunity to review the agenda? Did the WSOB receive the agenda?
Tom P.: I would like to add the information regarding the Wells Fargo Account.
Kim S.: We had a meeting with Jackie, so that will be included in new business, is that okay?
Tom P.: Yes, that’s fine. I see it.
Kim S.: Can the people that have electronic versions please share with the WSOB members? CAWS 2011.
Randy G.: We’re here; people are having a little bit of fun. I think financially we’re in pretty good shape, I do believe there will be another big push, like there usually is for fulfilling banquets and brunches. I haven’t heard how they did yesterday. Today and tomorrow are the days to do that locally. We start getting numbers and start reaching out to folks that have not yet signed up for those things. As far as room nights, I have not heard that any attrition has taken place to the point that we’re in any danger. The hotel is absolutely booked, we did have members come last night, tries to get rooms, and could not. There were people working on some alternative options for those people. That is all good news. I have not had anything but good comments. I, along with you all, thank the Arizona area for the job they did. So far, so good.
Barry J.: I tallied up yesterday, and we’re doing really nice, $19,000 for Thursday. Thank you Arizona for hosting.
Russell S.: CAWS 2012. The convention committee, busy and focused, a real turning point for them this weekend, when the curtain goes down, it comes up for us, it’s sort of exciting, we are looking forward to it. We’ve got some merchandise, which is going to be going on sale here. Jackie asked that I, for the record, thank you Arizona for running around and helping us with t-
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shirt prices. Thank you to the office for arranging that, it was a bit tight at times getting that stuff done. The boxes are here and that’s it. Registration forms are here and ready to go. The website is pretty much ready to come online, we’ll need some help with that and liaising with whoever need to be liaised with that, taken care of. I don’t really know where we are with that.
John B.: The website for the UK will go live just before the speaker meeting on Sunday night so people can register after exiting if they want to.
Russell S.: Very good. The newsletters will be ready to be distributed after the banquet. There are several members of the committee here that are probably going to be quite vocal during the banquet and enthusiastic, making a presentation. Its good, positive. There was, and it’s only just been confirmed to me, a bank holiday in England. The queen will be 50 years on the throne next year so she’s decided to move the bank holiday of the weekend of the convention to two weeks later. She didn’t ask us if that would be all right. One thing the steering committee are considering is that, I know force majeure is really other stuff, but is that considered to be contractually something we can go back to the hotel and talk about, knowing that we booked it knowing it was a public holiday through no fault of ours or the hotels, it’s been changed. Is that worth considering the bed nights and see if it’s worth having a look at that. I’m actually all right with it personally. I don’t think it’s going to make too much of an issue, the steering committee are going to have discussions about maybe moving the banquet from Sunday to Saturday, it’s really early in getting information, so there’s going to be some discussion about it, but Monday will not be a public holiday. There is some great memorabilia, pins, t-shirts, please help us get the registration flyers back to your regions.
Kim S.: Questions, comments for Russell?
John B.: Did Nick go to the hotel and ask them yet about changing the dates?
Russell S.: No, the day they went, last week, it only became common knowledge the day after they were at the hotel. And I believe the hotel brought it to our attention. They had just found out. We did not even know how to confirm that information. In my work diary for next year it’s got it in there as a bank holiday and convention, the queen just decided to change it.
John B.: Has the steering committee had a chance to discuss the potential impact of attendance?
Russell S.: Informally.
John B.: What were the informal straw-pollish…
Russell S.: There is not any serious concern. Not to say it is not worth speaking to the hotel about the bed count.
John B.: I hate to let the conversation drop there. My recommendation would be that this happens for you guys on a contingency such that you did ultimately have an impact, those dialogues were already open. Thank you.
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Kenny W.: CAWS 2013 is moving right along. The steering committee is in place, they’ve already met. The hotel has been selected; it is beachfront property, really nice beachfront resort that sits on the beach, the Westin Ft. Lauderdale. Fundraising has begun, I’m impressed with the fundraising so far, its right at 4 grand, the contract negotiations all but complete. I forwarded a copy to Peter D. We’re waiting right now, waiting to put the rest of the structure in place. That spreadsheet is filling out really fast; there are only a few positions left to fill, so right now, everything looks good. We are just waiting until 2012 is over and sitting on these committees actually we’re going to have a meeting with the chairperson, Randy D. We’re going to get together later on at the convention at the pass it on thing we’ll get a lot of information to share the pass along. I can’t wait to get involved in that today and tomorrow. We’re ready to rock and roll. That’s all I have right now.
Peter D.: I would like you to get hold of Randy so you, Randy, Tom and I could sit down and go through that contract.
Kenny W.: Ok, we’re all here, so it’s just a matter of making the time.
Peter D.: Thank you.
Kim S.: With respect to 2013, more than one person at this table has indicated their concerns about the timeline and timetable.
John B.: I was contacted by Randy very early on in my experience with you guys in September or October, wanting some information on what that timeline should look like, how to get started, what the calendar looks like. At that time, I forwarded him a lot of starting documentation, including a calendar. I also made the registration program available to his wife, who I believe is the registration chairperson. She has access to Reg Online, and has the ability to work with the committee and see what’s going on in terms of registration, also sent a memo recently to Kenny, who was concerned about funds in the region and collecting of fundraising and how that works. No direction that way at all, just the guidelines that are in the Conference Convention Guidelines, just highlighting those for Randy to answer the questions they had. I don’t know about concern, however, the office tried to address any communication that needed to be required.
Randy G.: Against that timeline, can you tell us what line items are lagging right now, or when things will get caught up to the suggested timeline?
Kenny W.: Well, yes and no. We’re waiting for the next steering committee meeting and we will have a lot more timelines in place. A lot of things, like I said, are contingent on the next steering committee meeting. I know that we started a year behind, so I think that is a concern right out of the box. I don’t have any doubt; I have all the confidence right now if I can help you out in addressing anybody has. If anybody has any input, we’re certainly going to need all of your help. Any of your concerns, I would really love to hear them, so I can take them to Randy, so I can take them to the steering committee, and we will address them.
Kim S.: Do you know when that next steering committee meeting is?
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Kenny W.: I don’t know the exact date, but it’s in two more months.
Kim S.: Before the conference.
Kenny W.: Yes.
Tom P.: We are before the power curve; our Board will deal with that directly and communicate through Randy to get the thing handled. I can see some issues with it already; it’s not a done contract.
John B.: I think it’s good to be real plain at meetings like this from a business standpoint, I think some of the concerns probably different ways that different regions do business. In the Atlantic South, particularly the Florida area, I’ve leamed ,just through my conversations with different people, the old 90/10 rule, where there are 10% of the people doing 90% of the work, it might even get a little dicier down there. There might be some real one and two man shows. I think I want to ask from a business standpoint, your estimation of the steering committee, are they full- staffed?
Kenny W.: The steering committee is full-staffed.
John B.: And then general committee chairs?
Kenny W.: I would say it’s about 60-70%
John B.: Do you have upcoming opportunities to do outreach in staffing the rest of those positions, where you, Randy, and the steering committee, for example, an assembly, a caucus, to make a call out for participation?
Kenny W.: Just a little caveat, I’m not saying bad or negative about .. .most of the work is actually coming out of Florida area. Quite naturally, there are some districts and area issues. One part feels like they should be involved with another part, initially there were some issues about people that were in positions and issues that they were going to run the show. Different types of personality and I’ve actually had conversations online with some of the people and addressed those concerns. So initially, even before we had a steering committee, all of the names were posted for the steering committee and nobody had even had a discussion about it, so that sent a red flag in that area, which didn’t help for the people suspicious anyway. After that, we had some conversations and rectified that problem and all the individuals actually went through the process according to the convention guidelines. So all the people that were not involved had the opportunity to submit their names and go through the process and we’re getting a lot more enthusiasm than we had at the beginning.
John B.: Do you have a theme and logo chair?
Kenny W.: We are working on a theme, right now it’s on the website, and we have a list of themes from the last steering committee that is being narrowed down. As it stands, right out of the gate, that’s my biggest concern, we’re a year behind. I have a lot of confidence, getting
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behind the eight ball and making it happen. There are some logistical thing that I know are probably going to have to happen from the standpoint of the contracts and I’m sure the office people, Tom, they’re going to step up and do what they need to do to help us out.
John B.: It sounds like there might have been not only you’re being behind the eight ball but a little bit of a unity thing going on right now. I see a trustee being very helpful in that regard. Best wishes to you, I hope the recruiting goes really well after this regional gathering, get the word out to everybody, I think they’ll go home with some excitement from this event.
Kenny W.: I’d just like to add that I’m new; I’m very new at this. I’ve never, this is here 2013, here it is, it’s your baby. I’m saying to the people that have had the experience, help me. Cause sometimes I’m not good at saying I need help. I won’t turn it down. If you’ve got suggestions or whatever, I’ll be leaning on you; you can call me, talk to me, or whatever.
Terry M.: I would even be willing to sit silent on a conference call, and just listen. I have a little experience.
Kim S.: I think Kenny knows he has a resource in almost every single member of the Board that’s either served or participated, and the collective WSBT as well.
Peter D.: Since there are roughly 23 months left before that convention, and you said there is going to be another phone call in two months, as they are already behind on their timeline, wouldn’t it be a better idea to have that call more frequently to get on the timeline and then extend it out. To wait two months when you are behind, does that make sense? Wouldn’t it make sense to get things up to date then get on a schedule?
Kenny W.: I will mention that this weekend. Thanks.
Joy H.: CAWS 2014, the wild, wild, wild west. We have a chair, he’s here. He is also currently the chair of CALA, the weekend before the conference. We’ve received four more resumes, two for vice-chair, one for hotel liaison, one for secretary, and one for special events, I think. I have put the word out and I will do it again at my caucus that the delegates need to go back to their areas and start promoting 2014 so we can fill the steering committee and the general committee.
I know my region has put a convention together within two years in 2004. I would like to make sure that the new trustee for the Pacific South Region comes in 2012 they won’t have to worry, everything will be set. They’re a little slow; there was some fighting over who got chair and who didn’t. It will work out, they will come together and we will put on a fabulous convention. The people who put the bid together are still wanting to put the convention at the Queen Mary; I have the same consensus going forward. That is for the entire region. Since we don’t do areas, we do a regional one, because we get the entire region involved as opposed to CALA putting it on or SGPV putting it on. We get people from everywhere.
Kim S.: Item 2, Copyright and Trademark Protection.
Peter D.: We have sent the check to the attorneys for the European trademark letters CA. It will take approximately a year before we get that and need to provide another check.
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Randy G.: We were asked a couple of times at the convention regarding trademark usage of the C and the A. My understanding was no, it needs to be the CA in the logo that says Hope, Faith and Courage, that is what we were told. Then we busted out with a commemorative chip that I just watched go around the table here that has trademark next to the CA by itself. Was that actually trademarked by itself?
Joy H.: Yes, the block letters CA.
Randy G.: The CA is different than this chip is a certain font with an in a certain place.
Tom P.: That’s trademarked.
Randy G.: It’s not recognized in our manual as trademarked use.
Joy H.: Who may use the name “COCAINE ANONYMOUS,” the block letters “CA”, the official COCAINE ANONYMOUS LOGO* then.. ..hereinafter future variations of the logo, it’s the block letters of CA.
Randy G.: And I don’t want to be difficult, but when we say that, that means CA in any font. Peter D.: Block.
Randy G.: What do you mean, block, like that? Inside of a circle that says Hope, Faith and Courage, I was told that was our logo.
Joy H.: This is the official logo.
Randy G.: On that chip, if you can show her the chip again, it does not have the circles, nor the words Hope, Faith and Courage. It does have the little ®, and CA.
Joy H.: The block letters CA.
John B.: Randy, I feel your confusion, and I’m empathetic. It is a bit strange. First of all, when CA was formed, and I don’t purport to be any authority, there are many of you with more years than me, the block letters CA were not protected and therefore no registered trademark or registered mark was required. The archive committee designed the specifications for this chip and in honoring the current policy in the manual and also the actual registration we have today for the block letters CA, decided it was most appropriate, and the Office Board agreed it would be fine to include the registered trademark next to the block letters CA today because we can protect them. I think that’s why in the past the old stuff didn’t have the registration because it wasn’t registered and today it is. Also, in it’s wisdom, included the specification of the Archive Committee and we did not presume to change that. The block letters are in fact protected; there is a certificate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Randy G.: As presented like that chip or in any form as block letters?
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John B.:I’m using it as a point of reference…
Randy G.: Because our memorabilia committee was told no way do you just do CA on anything, it has to say Hope, it has to say Faith, it has to say Courage.
John B.: Who told them that?
Randy G.: When it was brought, actually to here, we talked about it in our meetings when, because we wanted to move the ® inside and we wanted to know if we could just use that and we were told go to the manual and the manual has as our logo, cause that’s not a block letter CA, that’s a logo. When the CA is in an offset location, that’s a logo. I just wanted to bring that up because we put that in front of everybody today, they’re gonna ask tomorrow.
Peter D.: When I spoke to the attorney about C.A. as opposed to CA, he said if somebody was to come in and use C,A, for another organization, they cannot do that. They cannot use any form of CA with different font with any organization related to ours. If was CA advertising company they might get away with it. But C.A. Recovery Home cannot do that, it’s too close to our original mark, any business or like business or similar entity cannot use our trademark. That CA on that chip, it’s ours. The idea is what is protected. They cannot copy it. It is what is trademarked, it’s close enough, and they go by intent. Anything that says CA would be covered under our trademark, it would just be a legal battle we would have to go through. He said if it’s the same field, they would accept that, they would rule in our favor since we’ve trademarked the letters CA. If you want to change the font, it’s still CA.
Tom P.: One of the fundamental parts we’re required to have registered is defended. So we probably wouldn’t know until we had to defend it.
Randy G.: What I’m probably going to be asked to potentially defend is how the office got to do something that what the manual advised, at least their interpretation of the manual would not allow them to do.
Tom P./Joy H.: Mandated from the conference.
Randy G.:I’m good.
Tom P.: It was presented to the conference.
Teresa N.: I am thinking that the information we’re given is correct, we’ve adopted a logo, that is how they want that logo to appear, this is just a special item they’ve asked us to make based on what we used before we adopted the logo, which is what we wanted to use , so it is a little awkward. I don’t think…
Randy G.: I absolutely understand the intent, I understand the historical value, I think the chip by itself would have represented that historical value without the______ .
Teresa N.: I think we would be forfeiting our legal rights to CA if we_________ after we’ve obtained rights to it, and didn’t use the ®.
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Randy G.: I’m just not sure that ® legally represents a true copyright for that logo.
Peter D.: That ®, we do not have to put that ® on anything, that’s just our way of letting the general public know that it is registered. The letters CA are registered, maybe not in exactly that form, but the letters CA are registered. That particular style might not be, but the letters C and A are. We don’t have to put the ® on any of our stuff. It just shows people that it is registered so they don’t use and copy it.
Joy H.: We, as a board, require it. The WSBT and WSOB require the ® to be used on all memorabilia. Please let the record reflect that.
Peter D.: With Hope, Faith and Courage in inner and outer circles, then it says the block letters CA may only be used alone when they bear no resemblance to the inner circle type style of the official logo. It does not say anything about having an ® next to the CA. The ® to the outer other official logo includes the inner circle of the logo that contains the artistic text CA, the outer circle which contains Hope, Faith and Courage and the registered trademark symbol. It doesn’t say anything about just the letters CA.
Randy G.: No, it does, and it says the block letters CA may only be used alone when they bear no resemblance to the inner circle type of the official logo, which means…
Joy H.: It was a conference mandate, we cannot argue with that. We are arguing a dead horse again. I understand…
Kim S.: I am looking for what John sent me, it’s just CA next to each other. That’s on the office wall.
Joy H.: I understand that.
Randy G.: We just, we have conventions, people doing t-shirts, we’re going to say.
Joy H.: As it is a conference mandate, there is nothing we can do. They supersede every single one of us in this room.
Kim S.: Thank you all, I appreciate the discussion. More will be revealed. Item 3.
Tom P.: Our manual is not the law. When you look at the manual, that is not law. We put that registration mark to notify the public that we will defend this.
Randy G.: Can we put our registration mark by something we have not registered?
Tom P.: We have registered CA. Now, what you have in the manual, that’s not the law. Where it says we can only use it that way—the manual says we can (can’t?), that’s not the law.
Randy G.: Okay.
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Kim S.: Item #3, Drug Court, NADCP.
Richard S.: Cocaine Anonymous is attending Drug Court in Washington, DC. I read in Linda’s report that was submitted that the third person fee had been waived. I’ve been waiting for that communication; I got it in your report, thank you. I have communicated with Linda that I will be assisting her when she is doing the packing up and she is talking about creating a checklist for future Drug Courts, but I will go through mentally what I know we need and have used there previously. Also, the literature to be brought forth as a motion we will send to Drug Court as giveaways. Our book is primarily what we’ve brought; we will request books again as a promotional item. Linda has, through the office, handled the reservations, not only for space at Drug Court, the individual showing, but also for the hotel. We are on track. I believe Linda’s flight is scheduled?
Linda F.: Yes, my flight is scheduled; I am awaiting information for yours.
Richard S.: She has been waiting patiently while I schedule my family vacation. Drug Court happens to fall midway between my kid’s vacation to North Carolina. Now that I will be there it will actually save airfare. I will fly in and out ofNorth Carolina during my kid’s vacation; go to Drug Court, and return. So, it should work out well.
Tom P.: Is there a CA area in Washington, DC?
Robert L.: There is a small area. In the general area. A hotline, I will follow up on that.
Richard S.: Tom’s question is a great question, we sought that information initially because when CA goes to Drug Court we pool from the local area for volunteers, which is not only a great support to us, it also can give a boost to an area that your World Service is there, and it’s good representation to the local members of Drug Court that are attending that we have local representation. Robert will follow up with that.
Robert L.: Yes, I will be, and have been.
Elizabeth S.: Can you please tell me the dates again?
Richard S.: July 17-19.
Elizabeth S.: Thank you.
Linda F.: I have a question, as this is my first Drug Court. Do we order anything extra for the booth, extra tables, chairs, and carpeting?
Richard S.: They do not; it is all additional to the basic registration to the booth.
Linda F.: I know it’s an additional cost, I didn’t know if we did that to be more professional looking event, for our legs’ benefit, I didn’t know.
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Richard S.: It was a decision that was made on site last year, I think it’s great you’re bringing it here, because I didn’t think of it, so thank you. It makes a much nicer presentation to have the carpeting and the days we are standing on our feet it’s much nicer than standing on the concrete.
Linda F.: It’s not that expensive, I don’t think.
Richard S.: I believe its $300. The electricity can be beneficial for charging cell phones, allowing use of a laptop for playing the PSA; I had it looping last year, which was just something that came up as a thought. I felt it went well. Robert, what do you think?
Robert L.: I think it presented well.
Richard S.: The electricity is probably worth it; we will need it for that. We don’t need to do a big screen presentation, which some people are going to do. They were there last year, having large LCD’s play their announcements and advertisements, I think our laptop with the PSA gives a little added information to the people walking by the booth and may give some added information and may capture some attention.
Linda F.: My staff is already putting together packets with the pamphlets we provide, the same ones as last year. Is there anything additional we need?
Richard S.: We will request the Office Board allow us to bring a certain amount of books for giveaways, donations. A rack for literature, to display it. We can go into details, posters, the PI cards.
Linda F.: We can sit and chat. So, the carpet, the electricity. I will take that to the Office Board. Richard S.: I am definitely in favor of it, when you speak to it.
Robert L.: I am also in favor of it.
Russell S.: It’s great you’re planning the PSA and looping that, do you remember the PI PowerPoint which is a very informative fact file on PowerPoint which gives demographics and the amount of meetings, if that can be utilized in anyway, that’s what it was made for?
Richard S.: I think that’s a terrible idea, I thought of it and discounted it. That’s a great idea Russell. I hadn’t even recalled it, considered it; I think it is much better than the PSA.
Linda F.: We can bring two laptops.
Russell S.: It’s a great resource, we use it when we do presentations and you can talk to somebody, there’s a script running. It’s called PI PowerPoint. I think it’s on the website.
Kim S.: Robert, you are attending, that’s the plan right now?
Robert L.: That is my plan.
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Kim S.: Thank you all. Item #4, CA Helpline sites status. My understanding is that everything is on hold because there is a situation?
Tom P.: We are, we have this as an active item on our agenda, we are getting reports on it. We are talking about in the context that we rebuilding the website. How to accommodate it. It is an active item, and gets talked about at every Board meeting with our Webservant. He’s got it in mind; he’s talked to Richard Schafer about it.
Kim S.: When it’s talked about, defining the needs, it’s not so much what the purpose is, rather the needs in regard to the website.
Tom P. Yes.
Joy H.: It’s not about the Helpline site, more about the Webservant. We were, Randy and I, at the LCF guidelines, they are two years behind, from what I understand the updated version that was passed at the conference this last year was sent to the office and it hasn’t been updated yet. Can we make sure, Jeannette just resent them too.
Tom P.: I’m following your conversation on the LCF; I was waiting and unclear whether there was trustee approval of it. You were going to look at it.
Joy H.: Trevor told me he’d signed off on them.
Tom P.: They were signed off, and came in the first 30 days after the conference, it would be a good idea if we got it again.
Joy H.: She just sent it two days ago.
Tom P.: To the office?
Joy H.: Yes, she copied me on it.
Tom P.: Okay, we will be certain to take care of it.
Richard S.: To be clear, we discussed this briefly, but it’s the architecture of the website, and the change, what it was currently developed in is not a copy or move over, it is a redevelopment. It is going to take some input from both Boards in order to let the new Webservant grasp what was there even though he can see it on the forms. Basically, it needs to be recreated so it’s populated. That will be when it’s moved to the new architecture that is still being selected.
John B.: We just discussed two items, is that correct. We discussed Helpline, and the Helpdesk project, is that right? There is a name for that, the Helpdesk. What was sent to the office two days ago?
Tom P.: The LCF guidelines.
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John B.: Okay two different things. Thanks. So I’m not hearing things. Thanks. So I agree with Richard, I just wanted to make sure we weren’t letting LCF down on something they had sent that needed to be posted, reasonably quickly. On the other side of this as the Consulting Manager, as to what Richard said, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, I strongly urge you to look at the Helpdesk project and its redevelopment, particularly with the new technology platforms available to us as something you might wish to pay for. This is no volunteer commitment. I really think that this conference budgeting for that would be appropriate. We got what we got when we had the platform when it was developed before. What we found was that without looking at the overarching business plan for implementing that, was we had two different, what was required were two different and separate database architecture. They didn’t talk to each other. It created some challenges and some spit and duct tape type of things to get it rolling as evidenced. Then it was being hosted by and maintenance by a Webservant and I can tell you that’s a large project. As a person that comes from an IT and riding Richard’s coattails, it is a development project, I think a revisiting of a business requirements presentation around that is worthwhile, I don’t think it has to be completely reinvented by any means. Also a revisiting of the content that originally was supposed to be populated with because so much has changed since that time too, particularly because so much has changed of how that works. Look at it in terms of a possible development expense and possibly not even utilizing the Webservant but a real professional developer. Ryan gets it, don’t misunderstand. Thanks.
Kim S.: Thanks John. My apologies if I caused any confusion by putting those on the same agenda line, they did correspond in my mind.
John B.: It is my senility Kim…
Kim S.: Item #5, Ad hoc Committee Reflecting HFC 2, that’s a subcommittee.
Joy H.: I got some numbers regarding what the inventory currently is, there are 15,207 softbound HFC 2, and 9,818 hard cover, totalling 25,025 total books. From what I understand, Hazelden is not buying HFC 2, they are sticking with HFC and I did the math and cracked it down by case. There are a total of 543 cases in the office, 28 books per case. I do know that the UK were sold 1-1/2 pallets were shipped to the UK to a member of the UK Fellowship, and that still left us with 25,025 books. As an ad hoc committee is going to work on the publication timeline and get with the Office and bring back the information to this Board, we have sent emails through the Yahoo group to the HFC 2 subcommittee. I am sure when this convention is over with we will jump right back in and get you all a timeline when the book without How It Works will be ready for publication and sent out to the Fellowship. Do you know how many cases actually were on the pallet and a half that went to the UK?
Linda F.: It was 1,022 books.
Randy G.: Were they stickered?
Joy H.: Yes, they were stickered.
Kim S.: Item #6, 7th Tradition money from abroad, deposits.
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Tom P.: We continue to receive.
Russell S.: Sort of piggybacking on the back of the international bank account, and utilizing that to deposit.
Barry J.: Well, hang on a second. 7th tradition deposits are made to our general account. That has nothing to do with the opening of our account in neither the UK nor any other UK account. The areas that have nothing to do with convention should be forwarding 7th tradition monies to CAWSO, Inc. and be deposited into our general account. Please make no mistake. 7th tradition from an area has nothing to with a convention in that area. It’s two separate line items; it’s two separate things. So if they’re holding back because they’re waiting, please inform them, don’t wait. I’m willing to sign off on the $5.00 fee to deposit a UK check into that account and wait for the transfer as the treasurer, I’m willing to bring that up.
Russell S.: I wasn’t saying that we should utilize the account for that specifically. I just wanted to see if there was any easier way for moving money overseas.
Barry J.: Again, two totally separate things.
Russell S.: The message is, don’t send us checks for £20 because it costs us that to change it.
Barry J.: I understand that, we would rather it be a larger lump sum, yes, it does cost us approximately $5.00 to deposit a foreign fund into that account, but what I am saying to these Boards is two totally separate things, the opening up of a foreign account for CAWSO is not happening. The opening up of a foreign account for CAW 2012 for the CAWS convention is happening, that is my, what I am told.
Randy G.: That was not my understanding. The reason and for the utilization for the convention account for that, I thought our guidelines were very specific that would be a CAWSO, Inc. account.
Barry J.: For the convention, I was under the guise…
Randy G.: Upon the completion of the convention, we would not…
Barry J.: This Board can tell me what to do with it. Until then, specifically I was told for convention.
Randy G.: It is an international bank account for CAWSO, Inc. and an interpretation for its utilization to be immediately for that convention it would not preclude us from considering opportunities to do business smarter…
Kim S.: I’m sorry; we are totally off the actual agenda item. This item is with respect to a better means of moving 7th Tradition money from international to domestic. This no longer includes discussion regarding CAWS 2012. This does come up later in the agenda.
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John B.: How we say things and share about this sets the tone for productivity. What a great idea Russ. I think that’s something we should really look at, providing other mechanisms, like how the online area pays us through PayPal, it’s not something we like to put out there, and make available, there are some fees there too. It would certainly would be difficult to consider opening an account in every country that contributes to us, it does require some more discussion and we’re already very challenged obviously by the task of putting the bank account for the CAWS convention together. What I did like about the sharing going back and forth between Randy and Barry was the idea of opportunity if we have firmly established a banking relationship in the UK for Sterling going forward next year, because according to our guidelines, we have to maintain a dedicated convention account, but beyond that, repurposing it is precisely the role of principal financial planning and the identifying opportunities like this and expanding on them, I think that sounds kind of neat. Definitely, Russell, that sound like exactly what we need to capitalize on, that banking relationship, it’s outstanding. The thought came to mind, can we open other accounts while we’re at it. It’s so simple. Thanks.
Tom P.: Thanks John. I’d like to add, we have a request from a member of the Fellowship regarding, it’s not an international member; it has to do with making 7th Tradition deposits easier. What I will do is add this item, in its general form, to our working agenda, so we may address it regularly. To this point we have not addressed it regularly. We have some resources, specifically in the world of banking, maybe in some other areas as well. PayPal, Zoom, some other areas.
Linda F.: Barry, why would we have to open an account if there is a Wells Fargo over there, couldn’t they just deposit the money in our account?
Barry J.: For your information, Wells Fargo, or Wachovia London is a total independent entity of, it’s fully owned by Wells Fargo Corporation, however, banking is country specific.
Tom P.: CAWSO, Inc. would still own the account.
Barry J.: CAWSO, Inc., this Board, in any combination asked me to change the guidelines and have the account and not be a dedicated account for the convention, then I’ll be glad to do what you ask me to do. As of right now, the account that we are in process of opening is a dedicated account for this convention, this is what I presented to Wells Fargo, Wachovia, this is what I was told about here. 7th Tradition funds, my suggestion should possibly go through the UK area maybe they could hold on since they have accounts there and forward it in a larger sum of money with a excel spreadsheet or a breakdown of whose making that and that way we get one monthly 7th Tradition forward from the UK area, which would be my suggestion, from any area actually, that way we get one check, we get one deposit. It goes in, we can account for it internally from where it comes from. A suggestion.
Tom P.: Linda, what Barry didn’t mention was that in the Convention guidelines it actually addresses a trust account, this is what it’s called. Not any legal nomenclature, in our manual it’s called a trust account in terms of the convention.
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Linda F.: Thank you. Tom and I have talked, this has been on the agenda, I am glad to see it will be moved onto our agenda.
Kim S.: Item #7, Status of the WSO, obviously we have a new Director of Operations, again welcome. This was more or less discussed with respect to further updates, Linda and I discussed, this had not been addressed, she has been compiling all of the information she has and cross- referencing the policy currently in place regarding employees holding service positions locally.
In all fairness, Linda would you like to address this?
Linda F.: I am happy to defer this to Tom, you and I have had this conversation. We have a couple of employees that have service responsibilities in their local meetings and areas.
Tom P.: This is a relatively new item for us. We have not dealt with it in the past. Usually our employees have had service positions. This is the first time we’ve had it brought to us by the Trustee Board as a concern. We’ve had employees who’ve chaired conventions, Karen had regular commitments. To be honest, as a Board we’ve not addressed this.
John B.: Karen was a delegate.
Tom P.: This is a new concern; we have never discussed it at our Board level.
Kim S.: It was on the last Board-to-Board in March.
Tom P.: It was, more with respect to our Accounting consultant being the treasurer; I was unaware there was more.
Linda F.: Sheila holds some offices at CALA, I believe, she is…
Joy H.: She is the activities chair; she does their list, their newsletter. It goes on the Yahoo group. Tom P.: We will put this on our agenda.
John B.: Did something happen? Is there a concern?
Kim S.: It’s not about anybody, it’s with respect to potential conflict ofinterest, or scrutiny with relation to the office and doing service work.
John B.: I appreciate the clarification, as we’re being recorded, I don’t want it to be about Sheila, rather the overarching principle.
Kim S.: Item #8, French Translations, HFC 2.
Tom P.: We made a motion to the Trustees to print 300 copies and never heard anything back. Our printing was contingent on Trustee approval of our motion.
Kim S.: I believe it was out of this Board-to-Board.
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Tom P.: We had a Board action where we approved it to go to print; we sent it contingent on Trustee approval. We were waiting for that.
Kim S.: I don’t think that exact verbiage has ever come through, I’ve had several conversations with both John and Linda, as well as yourself, can you bring us up to date with the copyright?
Linda F.: Let me tell you as much as I know. We have worked diligently. John worked through the translation of the ______ we needed. We have applied for registration number with the Canadian Office of Intellectual Property, and we have paid for our registration, they accepted our money. We got a letter back that said we needed an author. We are in communication, playing phone tag. We’ve called this person at least three times [French name, unintelligible] and have not been able to make contact. We are attempting to communicate and registered the book once without an author, what do we need to do to register it again. We have the book ready to print as soon as we receive the registration number.
Kim S.: I understand that, I believe I expressed this to the WSBT. Moving forward, is everyone aware there was a motion affirmed on this Board regarding.. .’’Have the CAWSO cease printing of all French language pamphlets and books, HFC and HFC 2 until the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions area corrected to mirror the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Cocaine Anonymous as set down in our bylaws.” Was the outcome of that motion? The outcome of the vote was May 13.
John B.: Short of our more formal communications, just to clarify, all I can tell you is we are aware this might have been a conversation. This was a significant conversation warranting our attention, commensurately and coincidentally, we had a little trouble getting our registration number for the French book. I think what’s going on is God has placed a comma in the process and now a motion has occurred at the WSBT on the 13th of May. Giving the benefit of the doubt, we had a meeting on the 12th, your motion happened on the 13th, Richard’s mom’s health being what it is, unfortunately, we didn’t get the outcome yet, because we haven’t had a more formal meeting since then. It’s a plausible reason. Thanks for sharing it now.
Kim S.: The original motion did indicate what you did ask me. We don’t want to sell it. That has been stricken from the original motion. So right now, as a matter of record, the motion that was approved was to cease printing of all French language pamphlets, books, HFC, and HFC 2 until the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions are corrected to mirror the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Cocaine Anonymous as set down in our bylaws.
Tom P.: We have not brought that to our Board.
Joy H.: Do you want to know what the issue is?
Elizabeth S.: Can you please send us that? So we can see what it is? With Richard Leve being unavailable, it might help to have it sooner than later.
Kim S.: Yes, of course.
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Russell S.: Not an issue, it’s a number of issues. The 12th Step is substance specific; the 5th Tradition is substance specific, all of the steps start with we, which is cool for the first step. We only use we on the first.
Joy H.: It is Cocaine Addicts Anonymous.
Randy G.: When translated back, it is Cocaine Addicts Anonymous.
Kim S.: Can I just send that to you, and you can disburse it to your group?
Elizabeth S.: I believe we can find a solution and it will probably be very specific.
Kim S.: In our discussions, I shared that, currently, there was a motion that was going in one direction, then went another, we discussed the situation, and like John said, it may have been a God thing.
John B.: I am kind of with Elizabeth on this one. As long as the issues are specifically identified, the opportunity to have this translation company work with us to present something back should be a relatively simple turnaround time. Or at least a very they’re identify linguistic issues that prevent it from being corrected.
Russell S.: Are we still going to, because we are going to change the steps that many of them have recovered by? We’re still going to go down the road of drafting the letter from the WSBT?
Randy G.: I think we have to.
Tom P.: The policy that we use when we do translations, is we present it to the professional translator. They give it back to us and they provide it to the local group, who originated the translation and as their thoughts on it.
Elizabeth S.: I think one of the things that is kind of a wonderful learning tool we’ve gained from this is we didn’t have a translation process before, we didn’t have the opportunity for local committees to put in translations, send it to a company, get responses back, return it to a local area, send it to our office and translation committee and make a final approval. I believe that this is a good point. I do not know who you are going to talk to about it; I think there is already a translation policy. Now that we have that policy, it is something you can stand behind and say, we have this translation policy, and after seeing the translations, it was substance specific, all the steps are we, you can stand behind that, we need to change it to align ourselves with the translation protocol. I agree that the turnaround time is weeks. This is a great and exciting time for translations.
John B.: In the meantime, inventory seems sustainable. If we felt we were close or lacking, we would let you know, and for now, I think we are okay.
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Kim S.: We did get a report from Richard Leve, I think there is only one piece, it happens to be the Guide to the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions that is low. Item #9, Translation Process, Elizabeth, you just touched on it; I think we have that process in place. Did you want to add anything?
Elizabeth S.: If you read my report, I just want to add for all of us that are sitting around the table it is a very exciting time for our program and carrying the message in an international way. You will know we have resubmitted out to local areas, and received back, Farsi, Russell called me; I had a nice chance to chat with, a very enthusiastic fellow from the Iranian Fellowship. We sent it back to Kurt, they are reviewing it. They will hand it back to us. These are not letters, rather, characters, so we cannot read them. So they have to read them and explain what it is and we finalize them. Theirs will be complete, approved pieces at the World Service level. We’re working with Polish now, that’s very exciting. We are in receipt of Swedish chapters of HFC 2.1 think it’s one of things being a part of being of service in this Fellowship, something to talk about, because it’s really amazing. Maybe I’m speaking to the choir, this is a wonderful and great piece to create enthusiasm and unity within your regions that also talks about what World Services does and why you might want to send your money over there. Just a thought.
Kim S.: This truly speaks to the growth of Cocaine Anonymous Internationally. Very exciting.
Russell S.: The feedback I’ve gotten from Sweden, Holland, and Iran has been thank you for allowing us to participate. It was not just about them submitting stuff, and just changes being made. They received redlined documents with suggestions, it was clearly explained to them, they were asked, please considered them.. .they’ve enjoyed being included in the process. I would like to…Sweden is Swedish, Holland is Dutch, German is German. It’s a little different, sometimes there are sometimes confusing.
Elizabeth S.: Did I do that?
Russell S.: Yes.
Elizabeth S.: I’m so sorry.. .Please apologize to them.
Kim S.: Item #10 European Fulfillment Facility.
Russell S.: We spoke about this at the last quarterly, Linda has joined us, and she sent me some figures over. We’ve spoken since, after the heat of this convention we’re going to be tidying up those figure and trying to separate the shipping from sales costs, we are on that. I will have an update the next quarterly.
Kim S.: Great, thank you. Next item, #11, Expense and Reimbursement concerns, this will come up in new business. New Business Item 2011.05.02, Meeting with Jackie. She came in; we had an informal discussion with her regarding where they’re at, what it was like, and where they’re going. One topic item is the 2012 accounting procedures, specifically the current account that some new light was shed on for us; our understanding was it is a club and association account. This is per the England signing process. It is what they are considering a petty cash account. There is no Wells Fargo specifically in the UK; it’s called Wells Fargo, London. We discussed a
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possible modification or setting a policy for financial guidelines moving forward. There was discussion about HSBC being a potential online situation where it would be managed by the CAWSO.
Tom P.: We have an HSBC account, which is an American account. When you say HSBC online.
Barry J.: .. .the boards together, a long time ago, approximately a year and a half ago, we attempted to open an account at HSBC US, we deposited $500 in, we still have it, we will empty that out as quickly as possible once this is totally open. We found that wasn’t going to work. What they’re discussing is the HSBC account that is now a club account in the UK that will become of what I understand.. .1 wanted to put that on the record.
Tom P.: They’re going to grant the right for us to view it online.
Joy H.: Yes.
John B.: If there was any concern early on of the creation of a petty cash account, $500 was distributed in the form of a check to that committee approximately two years ago. That check was returned to us uncashed yesterday. They did have a draft delivered to them over there within the financial guidelines of the conference convention guidelines. The HSBC account that was opened in the states, I was there on the date you did it, it was nine months ago.
Tom P.: We opened it a year and a half ago, because Willie was on it, we took him off it.
Kim S.: That covers some of the accounting, we have more. The bank holiday is a concern. Good news, they have reduced their budget by $20,000 with a net gain of roughly $72,000+, this is an internal budget item, and very similar to what Wisconsin did. One thing Jackie brought to us was the greeting card they have with the Union Jack on it, it is the opinion of the WSBT this is a tradition violation, they are requesting, because they have their remaining stock, they understand and have ceased continuing printing and reordering; and have asked to sell that on Monday morning. Last, falling under this, the WSBT has been working on some emergency guidelines regarding petty cash. Those are some items. These are not yet completed; we are still crafting the guidelines.
John B.: Are these interim, are these immediate?
Kim S.: Yes, there was a meeting with Jackie, Joy, Russell and Barry. There was a set of bullet points they compiled. The WSBT went through them point by point and we revised and revisited them. We’ve restated them. Does everybody that has a laptop have that up?
Elizabeth S.: I know that some of these items were presented to the WSOB, I don’t recall but I think we had made decisions not to do some of them, it feels like that decision was not acceptable so they were brought to the Trustees.
Tom P.: What the Trustees are doing…
Elizabeth S.: I’m not talking about the banking.
Tom P.: This particular issue.
Joy H.: Are you talking about the card Elizabeth S.: Yes.
Joy H.: We agree.
Tom P.: We put that to the Trustees.
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Elizabeth S.: Okay, very good. I thought we felt like it wasn’t… Very good.
Russell S.: It also clarifies that deposits can be made into this account.
Joy H.: We’re making a temporary operating account.
Tom P.: We are basically putting guidelines in….
Joy H.: Exactly, because once that trust is opened in an international banking institution out there that has CAWSO, Inc.’s tax id number on it, they need to operate. They’re forking money out of their pockets and when they all know that they weren’t because we didn’t know what type of account it was and we were all worried so we were trying to put some guidelines in that would safeguard them and all of us.
Tom P.: Would you want to send it to us for approval for incorporation into the
accounting policies and procedures that the office is currently using?
Kim S.: Yes, that is what I would like to do.
John B.: Russ, not only as the UK fellowship been creative and energetic and enthusiastic about funding and finances, I think it’s been nothing short of scrappy, that’s the word I like to use to keep things moving along. Clearly these dynamics though have only really developed in the last year or so since the Fabric Event when money started to move. Once of the thing though, I wondered if your new policy and procedure has addressed, which I haven’t seen, is an interim policy for banking and ultimately something that will be picked up. Does it discuss the possibility of the stricter adherence to spending requests or guidelines such as they’re outlined in the World Service Manual. I’m asking that because we’ve also had some misunderstandings about how to disburse payments from a spending request.
Joy H.: Bullet 1. The CAWS 2012 HSBC Account Emergency Account should be utilized as a local operating account for the 2012 Convention until CAWSO opens an international account that would allow adherence to the Conference approved guidelines.. .did we put all approved processes existing in the conference approved guidelines need to be followed for distribution of any funds out of this account, bullet 3.
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Elizabeth S.: A couple of quick questions. On bullet 5, it says view-only access; I’m assuming everyone has view-only access.
Joy H.: Except for the three signers.
Elizabeth S.: I think there should be some clarity in that.
Randy G.: The conversation with Russell was that we weren’t sure was one, whether the bank in London, because here in the states we can have view-only access, my district’s account has three signers on checks, three other individuals on finance committee have view-only. So we are going to go back to find and verify whether CAWSO, Inc. back in California can have that same access. The reason it’s not full-blown internet access is that would reduce the two-signer requirements and people could move money and those kind of things, we don’t want it full blown access, we want it to be view-only.
Elizabeth S.: I am asking that, because CAWSO, Inc., there are quite a lot of us. It perhaps should be more specific as to who at CAWSO, Inc. The treasurer and the Chair, the DOO? I don’t need access, for example. Bullet 6, If any signers die, is that what you mean?
Joy H.: Yes.
Tom P.: If anything happens to any of them, CAWSO cannot access the money.
Elizabeth S.: So if Peter, Randy, and Joy are on that account. Joy dies in an airplane crash (awww).
Barry J.: This is a temporary account that will revert to a petty cash account with the limitations once an international account is opened, which should be extremely soon.
Randy G.: When the 2012 CAWSO International Account, this gets closed.
Tom P.: They need two accounts; this is their second account. They will have two. We will have a trust account, this will be petty cash.
Joy H.: I agree with Randy. This is not owned by CAWSO, Inc.
Tom P.: Technically we can do it this way, Colorado did it this way.
Kim S.: Item 2011.05.03, Internal Changes to WSBT Policy Regarding Mileage and Fuel. We will forward that to the WSOB. Next item is 2011.05.06, Budgeting Issues and Expenses, getting not one Trustee to the US, but nine Trustees to England.
Tom P.: That is in your budget. We thought about that.
Joy H.: It isn’t, but what we came up with will save World Services a cost of $6,000.
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Tom P.: In Finance Committee, we talked about the cost of the Trustees. It was included in the line item for that quarterly meeting.
Kim S.: The current budget may be inadequate.
Tom P.: That’s very possible; we used numbers that were different than they are right now. Russell S.: You’ve got free breakfast.
Tom P.: [unintelligible]
Kim S.: We will move that up, however, for updates in the future. Ratification of Director at Large. If you don’t already know, the WSBT has ratified Bob Campbell as Director at Large. Tom, assuming he doesn’t already know, will you please notify him.
Tom P.: I did.
Kim S.: 2011.05.10, Request from Marijuana Anonymous in the UK, we did craft a response, we understand that this crosses both boards since it’s owned by CAWSO, Inc. We will send it out, and will copy you on the response. Are there any other agenda items? With that, I will entertain a motion.
Tom P.: Motion to adjourn.
Joy H.: Second.
Kim S.: All those in favor by unanimous consent? Anyone opposed? Motion passes, thank you everyone, Keep coming back!
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