World Service Office Board of Directors Meeting
August 22,1995
Proposed Minutes
MEETING was called to order at 7:10 PM
SERENITY PRAYER led by Scott S.
TRADITION TWELVE was read by Jeff S.
CONCEPT TWELVE was read by K.D. M.
ROLL CALL
- Scott Stevenson, Chairperson
- Jeff Schachter, Vice Chair
- Barry Goldstein, Treasurer
- Chuck McCollum, Secretary
- Susan Turnbull, Director
- K.D. McCann, WSO Manager
- Brian North, WSO Trustee
- Bob Campbell, WS Trustee
- Leo Arter, Pacific South Regional Trustee
QUORUM was met
VISITORS:
- Ed G.
- Lenny S.
Motion: To suspend the rules in order to quickly discuss Per Diem advances for upcoming conference (requested by Office Assistant.) Seconded. PASSED.
Motion: To approve minutes of August 10 with corrections. Seconded. PASSED.
OFFICER’S REPORTS
Chairperson: * Budget not yet complete- hope to complete by Saturday, 8/26, for review and comments by Treasurer. Will coordinate with WSO Trustee to have it into his hands ASAP. « Has prepared an outline of the WSO report to CAWSC as well as the report to WSBT. • Indiana Property Tax Issue: Have not had access to an inventory until just prior to this meeting. • Payroll Tax Issue: Completed an analysis for review by Treasurer. * Financials: Are being reviewed; they will be available in the next day or so for release; as per discussion with Treasurer in Salt Lake, they will not go out until they have been thoroughly scrutinized. * Letters: All letters referenced In previous Chair Reports have boon completed. Scott still needs to coordinate with our Atlanta Convention Committee Chair for proposed rules, regulations & procedures re financial reporting.
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Treasurer: According to our current cash flow statement, we have $108,841.58~$102,577.13 of which is in reserves. We are only one month behind in our contributions to the storybook fund, and two months behind on the WSO reserve; we are slowly making up our shortfall. 7th tradition numbers will be available to the Finance Committee at the Conference. Barry warned the board against becoming to excited about the large numbers indicated on the cash flow statements; much of what we have in reserve is designated for, among other things, storybook printings- French and otherwise~and we have yet to decide, along with the Finance Committee, what we think would be a “prudent operating reserve” for WSO.
It was brought to our attention that this will be Barry’s last meeting as Treasurer of our board. Expressed his gratitude to the board for making his two year term a pleasure, tie assures us that, when the time is right, he “will be back.” The board’s gratitude was returned to Barry for the two years of superlative service.
Vice Chair; Spoke with Lise Payette of Res Publica re. printing of French-translated Storybook. She sent a fax of 08/18/95 containing prices per various quantities (in French-Canadian Dollars). Lise is very pleased with our book, and with Genvieve’s suggestions. Jeff will contact Sylvie N. at conference on projected quantities. According to Sylvie, the printing will be soft-cover. Res Publica has completed their end of the Translation of our storybook. Sylvie will bring the final installment with her to the conference so that we may get it to Genvieve.
TRUSTEE REPORTS
WSO Trustee: Spoke with Sylvie N. in Montreal; she will be at Conference (content covered in Vice-Chair’s report.)
WS.Tnjstee: Bob went to Denver; it was an “extremely healthy group inventory.” A lot was aired; much of that air was cleared and many complaints are being answered. It was a good trip.
This is Bob’s last meeting as our World Service Trustee. Bob expressed great pride in the WSO board; we are grateful to Bob for his service and guidance over the years. On behalf of the Board and the Fellowship, we express our deepest thanks.
P.S. Regional Trustee: All’s well in the Pacific South Region!
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Conference: (Susan T.) Ail is done save the copiers (see old business). Computers done; agenda done,. Signatories on the Master Account are Susan, KD, and Randall. It was discussed that perhaps our Treasurer and Chairperson should also be signatory, since Randall’s attendance may be spurious at best. Breakfast meeting is set; Unity lunch is set (chicken & pasta,
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salad & dessert – $15.00). The is a meeting Wednesday night, August 30, featuring the three outgoing Trustees. The Chairs of the committees need to be made aware of the Thursday Breakfast meeting. Susan will follow through.
It was brought to the board’s attention that, according to conference rules & regulations, the conference agenda is supposed to be made available to us sixty (60) days prior to the conference; Also, (and more pertinent to the procedures of this board), ail financial statements are supposed to be available for review sixty (60) days before the conference. It was suggested that, in the future, the year-end and 1 st quarter statements go out in the June Delegate Mailing and that, only as an adjunct to that information, would the period ending June 30 be circulated at the conference.
OFFICE REPORT – Lenny Schachter
Office Report read and incorporated into these minutes. Notable discussions:]
- Illinois donation. Should we use this PSA-earmarked money for duplication of existing PSA’s? Probably not without the strong backing of the conference P.l. Committee. We will refer this subject to the P.l. Committee.
- Chuck will bring Trustee-approved new P.l. Workbooks to Lenny ASAP for duplication and insertion into Delegate Notebooks.
- September 8 will be Lenny’s last day as Office Assistant. Many thanks to Lenny for an outstanding job during our time of need.
Motion: To flip-flop old and new business. Seconded. PASSED.
NEW BUSINESS
– Office reports
Scott read us his report to Trustees, which will be incorporated into these minutes. Notable discussions:
- Added that we are engaged in a desperate search for a new Office Assistant.
- Prisoner Book Fund. Perhaps we should make a general announcement regarding this, but stay away from creating a “Reserve.” We have budgeted $500.00 for Prisoner Storybooks.
- Indiana Property Tax. We will insert that we are in the process of trying to obtain an exemption, but v/e will also expressly state the possible amount we could be liable for. The current assessment is roughly $4,400.00. We will further investigate paper trail to and from Roger Brown and Co. regarding this issue. We will also call Donnelley, looking for guidance and possible local Tax person as a trouble-shooter.
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- Scott will try to have this report to Brian by Thursday, Aug. 24.
Scott also read us his outline for the report to WSC. Notable discussions:
- Estimate of Storybook sales; averaging 400 units/month.
- Group registration; Scott will come up with an estimate of number of current meetings world-wide, making sure that everyone understands that the estimate comes only from registration cards. Bring group registration cards up to podium and point out where they are.
- Scott will pull 800 number bills to illustrate upward trend in business. We have had almost 1300 calls from June 4 through July 3, representing a huge number of different U.S. area codes as well as Canada.
- Scott will announce that we have, together with the Conference P.l. Committee, completed the new television PSA, “Escape Cocaine.” We will make sure there is a copy available for viewing.
- Make sure we change “Convention Reserve” to “Conference Reserve.”
- Question: What happens to interest earned in the reserve banks account? Does it go into general fund, or reserve fund-and howto allocate it? Referred to WSC Finance Committee.
- Some soft literature has been translated into Spanish and will be available soon.
- Bring stickers (designating H & I softcover storybooks) up to podium and explain how they are to be used. Also explain the price adjustments made between hard & soft cover books with regard to H & J.
- Scott will cover new office search and results
Scott will fax drafts of Trustee and Conference reports to Trustees.
-WSOB Affirmation
The Board of Directors has voted and affirmed each and every member for : another year.
OLD BUSINESS
-Copy Machines for Conference:
Lenny obtained a bid from Perfect Copy Products for our copier needs at the conference. They offered us three machines (the third being there to pick up the slack if the other two break down) and two cases of toner. If we keep our total copies to under 25,000, the price will not increase at ail (over 25,000 will be billed at $.02 per copy). The bid also includes on-call service over the weekend. He is still waiting for a response to our request for a bid from our i current vendor.
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Motion: To accept Perfect Copy Products bid for our conference copier service provided that we do not obtain a better deal from Digital Business Automation (our current vendor). Seconded. PASSED with one abstention.
-Indiana Property tax – TABL ED
-Storybook – TABLED
-Software problem – TABLED
-New Office equipment – TABLED
-New Employee
We will discuss with Senior Staff member this week re placing ads. It was discussed that we may need to raise the salary range for Office Assistant.
Motion: To increase starting salary range for Office Assistant to between $9.00 end $11.00/hour. Seconded PASSED.
It is the consensus of this board that the Senior Staff member will approach our current Office Assistant with an appropriate proposal–at her discretion-based on our new starting wage range.
-Temp help
It was discussed that, in order to bring the office up to date, the Office Manager may need the services of a temp.
Motion: To authorize Senior Staff Member to hire temp help up to 30 hrs/week on a week to week basis. Seconded. PASSED.
-Employee review
Performance review forms were passed out to the Board. They wiil be completed and faxed to the Chair within the coming week.
Motion: To adjourn at 9:47 p.m. Seconded. PASSED.
MEETING ADJOURNED at 9:47 PM.
CLOSING PRAYER led by Bob & Barry
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