Apr 7, 2024 – WSBT Q2 Conference Call Minutes

WSBT Q2 Conference Call Minutes

April 7, 2024, 8am to 12pm PDT, Virtual

Richard opened the meeting with a Moment of silence followed by the “WE” version of the Serenity Prayer.

Roll Call – All Trustees are present.

• Richard B., ANRT
• Chris M., ASRT
• Stuart J., ERT
• Johan T. MERT
• Clay P., MWRT / WSBT Chair
• Ruby C., PNRT/WSBT Secretary
• Aurora L., PSRT
• Barry H., SWRT/WSBT Vice Chair
• Gary P., TAL 1
• Robert B., WSOT
• Joni E., WST/WSBT Assistant Secretary

Chairs Opening Remarks – Clay P.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued perseverance at the business that comes before us. We seem to be handling everything well. Remember to be checking your Trustee email daily to see if motions are being debated or voted on by the Board, so that we can handle matters in a timely manner.

CAWS Convention reports & updates.

• CAWS 2024 Holland (Johan) – Workshop approval – The schedule hasn’t been approved by the WSBT yet. Will be in online business.
  • Aurora – asking when a schedule of event will be posted so can make other plans while there.
  • Johan – will ask about that.
  • Robert – WSOB hasn’t seen much for check requests coming in, which is a bit unusual.
  • Remind them it takes time to get things approved. Johan – will do.
  • Clay – How is registration looking. Robert – We are looking really good.
  • Gary – Would a referral to WS Convention Committee about getting the schedule out by a certain timeframe before the Convention start date? This is an issue every year. Robert – Not necessarily in favor of that as somethings don’t get set until days before the start date. Things needs to be fluid, plus these 4 days are for attending the Convention.

• CAWS 2025 Arizona (Barry) – Nothing new since our last meeting. Committee meeting this afternoon.
• CAWS 2026 Florida (Chris) – Contract approval is done. Doing good, first deposit paid to the hotel.

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CAWS 2027 Washington (Ruby) – Hotel Contract is imminent and will require a quick turnaround.

Standing Business

a. Project Chart (Barry) – Project Chart is updated and there are 2 items on the chart that may not be projects.

• Regional Restructuring – Johan, Lead – Need to get a meeting scheduled.
• Book Development & Approval – Barry, Lead – Might have something for SR-14.
• Fair Use Policy – Joni, Lead – Ruby will reformat the document soon. Does this need to be in the WSM? General consensus is Yes. Joni also wants to put something in the NewsGram.
•  Global Fulfillment – Stuart, Lead – Lots of work done on this project recently. Will be bringing a motion in New Business.
•  Suite of Documents – Joni, Lead – Ongoing, no new docs at this time.
•  Review of Orientation Documents – Barry, Lead – Have reviewed all docs. Have six docs ready to be approved by this WSBT. Are there any docs from WSOB that the WSBT needs to be reviewed?
  •  Johan – It is my recollection that WSOB is supposed to review their own docs to be ready to upload.
  • Barry – Would the WSBT reach out to the WSOB for their docs? How will this work?
  • Joni – There are questions about exactly what policies/procedures need to be uploaded.
  •  Barry – I thought we were looking for ‘internal guidelines’ like the various  WSC Committees have.
  • Robert – These would be the WSOB policy/procedure docs, not the WSO operational procedures that outline how to enter items into Quickbooks, etc.
•  C.A. Shares on youtube with the logo – Has the referral been sent to IT yet? Not yet
•  Cease and Desist with Amazon – closed
• 12 Concepts – closed
• TNC Contract Criteria – Joni will be Lead – This is to look at contracts vs guarantee of service, also to review the dollar amount that triggers items coming to TNC.
• Codify WSC Committee Guidelines cover page and naming conventions for the website – Robert and Stuart – WSO has created a naming convention for the website.
• Change WST Requirements in the WSM – Robert and Joni – Looking at all the places where WST is listed in the WSM. WST requirements is still

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geographically based, which will change when the WSO location moves to AZ. Will be ready before SR-14.

Aurora – What about the ‘safeguarding’ issue? Is that going to become a project? Gary – It is already on the WSBT LTP project list.

b. Correspondence (Joni) –

Motion to approve the response to correspondence Q1-01 2024-01-24. Seconded. Passes unanimously.

• Aurora – has response for Ginger ready, will bring to new business. Note – this will be put on the LTP project chart

• WI Area – Clay is almost finished with the response.

c. Referral Tracker (Joni) – review update outstanding referrals. (after the break at 10A)

• WSBT 2019-07 – Full name usage at Conference – Referral came to WSBT from Conference Committee. Response to referral has already been approved. Clay will take care of transferring the Referral back to the WSC Conference Committee.
• WSBT 2022-04 – Remove gender-specific terms when referring to God – Referral came to WSBT from LCF. Response of ‘No action taken’ has already been approved. Clay will take care of transferring the Referral back to WSC LCF Committee.
• WSBT 2023-01 – Handling recordings – Referral came to WSBT from IT. Referral response has already been approved. Clay will take care of transferring this back tot he WSC IT Committee.
• WSBT 2023-05 – Regional Restructuring – This came to WSBT from S&B.
• WSBT 2023-06 – Change WSM p 70 about WSOB – Was sent back to
• WSBT 2023-07 – This was sent to WSBT from S&B in error. This needs to be sent back to WSC S&B. Joni will get this sent back to the Referral
• WSBT 2023-08 – Change WSM p 71-72 about WSOB – Approved a response of ‘No action taken’ at Q1.

Note – The ‘response’ we approved in Q1 for changes to WSM p 72-75 is for the Referral we didn’t receive. This needs to be submitted to S&B as a referral. Would have been Referral WSBT 2023-07, but S&B sent us the wrong Referral.

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• WSBT 2023-09 – Regional Restructuring – Received from S&B. Still open, will be open for a year or two more.
• WSBT 2023-10 – Keep fellowship informed – Need to get a meeting set up to work on this.
• WSBT 2023-11 – WSBT in person meetings – Response was submitted, changes were needed, updated response come soon.
• WSBT 2023-12 – WSBT more transparent – Actively working on response o WSBT 2023-13 – Robert – Closed.

Note – Need to start referring to the Formsite number for Referrals.

d. WSBT Long Term Planning (Gary)

• Book development – Barry, ongoing
• Alternating years for Conference/Conventions – Chris, created a pro vs con list for both Conference and Convention, just not feasible at this time for Convention as we have no other way to generate that amount of funds. For Conference, there are too many things that have to be done on an annual basis. There is a possibility of alternating years with a virtual Conference one year, then an in-person Conference the next year.
• Response will be brought to online business or at Quarterly.
• Safeguarding Traditions – Aurora volunteered as Lead – look into a safeguarding doc like AA has and about reviewing the 12 Traditions Inventory doc.
• Wiki site, updating/maintaining – Aurora will be Lead, Ruby and Barry will help.

e. International Structure & Development (Johan) – looking at the Global Fulfillment

f. Status of World Service Office (Robert) – Focused on the move. Just Here To Help contract has been completed. The new Office Manager is doing a great job. Insurance has been renewed. New Directors-at-Large (DAL) are in place and bringing good experience to the Board.

• Clay – Why haven’t the Minutes gone out in a special mailing yet?
• Robert – Will check on this.
• Ruby – Was the tax extension done?
• Robert – Pretty sure this was done, but will confirm.
• Gary – The WSBT minutes are in the Box and will go out in the next mailing. Clay – They will be sent out by the WSO in a mailing as well.

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g. Trustee Election Committee (Johan) – Election for MWRT – Had a meeting. Will get with the WS Conference Committee to arrange meeting space, room assignments, etc. No interviews will take place at the World Convention in Holland. One person removed themselves from the MWR Slate, so now have 3 candidates. Names for the Trustee Slate are due to Johan/Chris by May 15. Gary – When do we stop accepting a 1 person slate?

Johan – This needs to be discuss. It is in the WSM that needs to be 2 or more. Richard – Does it really benefit C.A. if we don’t accept the 1 person that is submitted? It is hard to get people who want to do service on this level. Robert – Torn on this one. What happens if there are 2 candidates and one removes their name, do we not accept that slate as it is now only 1 person? This needs to be reviewed further.

Stuart – To have only one candidate, if that is the only interview that happens as there is only one opening, how does the TEC members have any comparison? Chris – These are suggested guidelines. It is not our job to tell the Regions what to do. We can only bring forward what the Regions bring to the slate.

Aurora – This is about educating the Regions.

Gary – By the TEC not rejecting a 1 person slate, we are going against the WSM. This really needs to be looked at as a succession planning process. This practice of the Regions only putting forward 1 person slates will continue until the TEC puts a stop to it.

Stuart – Need something ‘formal’ from the WSBT to go out to the Areas.

Johan – This needs to be discussed in a Quarterly, but this comes down to the group conscious of the Region. Updates to the WSM may be needed.

h. Financial Overview (Robert) – 2023 was a great year for the Fellowship. 2024 figures do not accurately reflect 2024 Convention expenses as WSO has not received the expected check requests yet. Overall, we are in a good position. Received a $26,000 donation recently.

Aurora – Did more donations get coded/designated for Gratitude Month? The amount reported here last time seemed low.

Robert – I feel confident that all donations marked for Gratitude Month were accurately documented for that line item. Some donations might have come in for Gratitude Month, but if they were not labeled for that by the sender, the donation would just go on to the regular 7^th Tradition line item.

Aurora – When will the two new books be available for sale, as those will help with WSO income?

Robert – Not entirely certain, will have to check.

Old Business Items

1. Recordings/uploads of members shares/pod cast (Joni/Gary/Johan)

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a. Has referral to IT been completed? Will happen soon. There was confusion on who would actually submit the referral.

2. Moving Office WSBT (Joni and Robert) – Things are progressing nicely. There is a local sub-committee that is looking for locations. In this real estate moment, once a location has been found, the review and turn-around has to happen quickly so we don’t lose the opportunity. Discussion on how to fast-track the contract review will be done when it gets to that point.

 There are a couple legal implications we will need to look at in the areas of global distribution.

3. 5 Orientation Documents for Review and Approval (Barry/Johan/Ruby)

a. 7, 10, 13, 16, and 17 –

Motion to change the current WSBT online voting process in regard to the 18 orientation documents to 2 days to review and 2 days to vote. Seconded.

Barry – trying to get this so we don’t take 6 days per document (6 days x 18 docs= 108 days).

Johan – Suggest letting Barry, Ruby, and myself decide how to group the documents to come to the floor. Everyone is ok with that.

Motion passes unanimously.

4. Tradition 11 change (Joni/Ruby) – Joni – There will be an WS Structure & Bylaws meeting next week. Have asked the Office for a count of ballots that have come in but haven’t received that info yet.

5. WSOB Referrals (Johan) – Motion to approve the response for referral WSBT 2023-06 and this will be sent to the WSC S&B Committee. Seconded. Passes with substantial unanimity.

6. Past-due WSC Committee Guidelines – H&I and PI still need to submit their Guidelines reflecting changes from the 2023 Conference.

7. WST election process

New Business Items

1. Proposed WSBT Travel Policy – Suggested changes to submitting expense reports from 30 days to 60 days. Suggestion to change ‘international travel’ to a milage distance. Will be revised and brought back at a later time.
2. WSOB CRM Consultant (Review Documents Prior to call) –

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Motion – To proceed with the CRM Consultancy. Seconded.

Essentially, this would be for this company to research/suggest three software programs to be considered for usage by WSOB. Clay – What line item would this expense go against?

Robert – Might use the line item for the website rebuild or it could be the line item for professional fees/expenses.

Motion passes with substantial unanimity.

3. OSA and PSR Representation – Aurora – She has significant concerns that members of the OSA are being double represented. The OSA brought candidates forward for the Slate and the candidates are both from Canada. That would significantly increase the PSRT expenses if one of these became the PSRT as the Trustee is expected to visit all the Areas in the Region. How would someone from outside of the PSR really represent the PSR? The OSA used to have a requirement that at least one of their Delegates had to be a resident in the PSR, but they changed that 2-3 years ago. I have concerns about how this is really supposed to work in the best interest of the Region. Gary – I think this goes into the restructuring of the Regions.

Johan – I understand what you are concerned about.

Stuart – Just seems strange to have candidates who don’t live in the Region.

Ruby – There has always been a loose geographic anchor to PSR due to the WSO location and the first server used for OSA was in the PSR. Will that change when WSO moves to SWR?

Barry – Language is a bit outdated, how would this work if the OSA was an Area without a Region?

Aurora – OSA consistently states they do not belong to a geographic Region, so maybe they will have to forgo having the opportunity to submit Trustee candidates in the PSR. Eligible candidates would submit their resume through the geographic Area they belong to.

Johan – This will be a high priority topic for IS&D.

4. A. Service Manual – Gary – I don’t think it is appropriate to have this for sale on our website through the Conference Registration page. It is not C.A. literature. This is a Tradition issue as this is not Conference approved literature.

Barry – I look at this as a ‘service’ that is being offered by the Conference Committee as it is an item that is highly sought after during Conference time. Robert – WSOB has no control over the Conference Registration site. All we could do is no longer link to the registration site. I don’t think that is what we want to see happen.

5. Global Distribution motion

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Motion to accept the following language and the attached documents to be sent to the WSOB for further implementation. . .

The WSBT has researched the possibility for a manufacturer to supply direct to the fellowship to make the distribution model more effective. This is our recommendation.

We recommend manufacturer (Great Central Plastic) to manufacture and distribute sobriety keyrings within Europe. We have researched and vetted the three quotes received including a quote from Holland. As per the quoted numbers they favour the recommended one.

Also, we believe it is good practice to start with just the keyrings, in English using UK and Ireland as a starting point. Going forward we can expand to more languages and other items, such as printing of books.

Please see attached. (Three quotes will be attached to the email sent to the WSOB).

Seconded.

Motion passes unanimous.

Any Other Business

1. Motion to approve the two pieces of artwork for the 2026 CAWS Convention. Seconded. Passed unanimously. 
2. The Power of PI pamphlet has a Tradition violation and will not be approved. Barry will craft some language for sending this back to the LCF Committee.
3. Robert – When calls come into the WSO from facilities, should those go to the WSC H&I Committee or to the Regional Trustee? Robert will get some more clarity from the Office Manager on what types of requests are coming in.

Dates and Times for Conference Calls and Quarterlies 2023-2024

• WSBT Conference Call June 8, 2024, tentative date for call 8am – 2pm PDT (4pm UK, 5pm Sweden)

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• 2024 – WSBT Q2 Meeting July 8-10, 2024– Convention July 11-15, 2024 (TEC interviews to be included?)
• 2023– Q3 – Conference (Dallas) Q3 August 23-25, 2024, TEC August 26-27, 2024, Conference August 28-September 1, 2024

Motion to close. Seconded.

Moment of silence followed by the “WE” version of the Serenity Prayer.

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