Oct. 8th, 2016 – WSOB Minutes – Draft – Documents Archive for Cocaine Anonymous

WORLD SERVICE OFFICE BOARD MINUTES

October 8, 2016

OPEN MEETING @ 9:05 AM

SERENITY PRAYER – Lead by Tim A.

TRADITION 11 – Read by Allison M.

CONCEPT 11 – Read by Yvette H.

BIRTHDAYS – Alesia F. – 8 years on the 6^th! Linda’s Birthday was last month.

ROLL CALL & QUORUM DETERMINATION

Present were Tim A. (Chair), Allison M. (Treasurer), Linda F. (DOO), Alesia F. (Vice Chair), Randy M.

(Secretary), Kevin M. (WSOT) and Yvette H. (WST).

Quorum is met.

Guests: Shawn, Mazi

CHAIR ANNOUNCEMENT(s)-

Linda and her staff have done a wonderful job reorganizing the office space.
We have 3 Director at Large positions open we need to fill ASAP.
Communication as Board members is critical on what we say and do. Tim discusses issues that have come up recently. Fmr. WSOB Chair Richard L. had emphasized that as Board Members and Trustees our words take on a larger meaning when taken out of context. We need to take care in how we answer questions and how we speak. Kevin M.: says he was speaking in a meeting recently where he had to clarify that what he was stating is his own opinion. Just be mindful.
Tim passes out Conflict of Interest forms to be signed and turned in.

APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING(s) –9/17/2016 MOTION to approve the minutes from September 17, 2016 made by Randy M..; seconded by Allison. Motion passes unanimously with noted amendments.

SEVENTH TRADITION

OFFICE DIRECTOR REPORTS

Director of Operations- Linda – Written report submitted.

Comments:

Are we interested in selling or auctioning off our damaged books? A couple of A Quiet Peace: Special Editions, as well as HFC II’s that are unique (damaged). One Double stamped A Quiet Peace. And we have two “albino” HFC’s. MOTION that the double stamped A Quiet Peace: Special Edition be auctioned at the next convention made by Kevin M. Seconded by Yvette.

Motion passes unanimously. MOTION that the remaining A Quiet Peace: Special Edition books be switched with the books in archive made by Kevin M. Seconded by Allison. Discussion – Linda is in favor of giving them to archives. Alesia F. clarifies that we are just giving the A Quiet Peace: Special Edition damaged books to replace the two we already have

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given to archives. Motion passes unanimously. MOTION to give the two “albino” HFC’s to archives made by Kevin M.; seconded by Allison. Motion passes unanimously.

Linda has additional questions. In the past we have a Meeting in a Pocket, but now we have a something similar which has all of the same formats and readings (a Newcomer Booklet), but in a booklet style. Kevin M. asks what would be the size of this booklet? Linda gets a copy. Shawn: what would be the difference in price? Linda states she hasn’t priced it yet. Tim: is there a minimum order or do we print them here? Linda: We don’t print here, but the last order was 1,000. Tim likes that the current Meeting in a Pocket is wallet size. Kevin M. echo’s that remark. There is no set up charge if we do the same thing, so he recommends staying with the current format.
Linda is working on the specialty coins to get them in other languages. She reached out to ANRT and ERT regarding this matter. It will cost $190 per language to set them up the die for each new language. At current cost we only need to sell more than 13 to make up the cost. And in talking with ERT, she requested the additional cost of shipping to Europe, as shipping costs may make it not desirable. Cost to ship would be $23 if we want to track the shipment. We will have a French coin. MOTION to approve a French die of the specialty coin made by Linda. Seconded by Yvette. Allison says she knows someone who can assist with overseas shipping costs. Kevin: This opens a whole new range of issues; such as do we really need to be shipping items to Europe. Lots of low volume items of sending these things to Europe; specifically shipping. Would we sell to areas instead of individuals? Linda: no, we would sell to individuals. Shawn: for general information – how are the general sales. We have sold a total of 399. (See report). We have a ship direct agreement for Canada. Motion passes unanimously.
We currently have book covers that work for our hard cover HFC and the Big Book for sale in various colors. Vendor has sent some versions in real leather, but our cost would be $29.00 for each. Alesia F.: What is the current state of sales? We need to order more, but our biggest sales happen during conventions / conference. Is this something we want to pursue? Alesia F: something like that would be sold at convention / conference. Tim A.: Is there a minimum order? Linda says we could order one or fives at a time. Kevin: he noticed it has the serenity prayer on it Do we have to have it? Do they charge us to print something additional text if we want? Linda: Yes. Allison went to Amazon and found one for $35.00 for a leather AA book cover.

Questions:

Alesia F.: Why can’t we put the damaged books in Archives? Linda F.: We can. Kevin M. who did the work on these books? Linda states it was a project of the last WST and the WSOB. He doesn’t think we’ll get much money for the damaged books.
We received another commission check from Amazon for 105.52. Is this a donation check? No. Linda clarifies that this is a commission check for sales of the electronic book.
On the issue of charity in the Smile program (Amazon charity program), Tim A. feels that if the trustees believe we should not get money from Amazon that way it should be taken off the Amazon site.

DIRECTOR REPORTS

Chair – Tim A – written report submitted.

Comments:

Volunteers for the office. Volunteers help take the load off of the paid staff. But we need to give them direction on what to do, specifically.

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Vice Chair- Alesia F – No report.

Comments:

Her report was submitted but is missing from the Yahoo Group.

Treasurer – Alison M – written report submitted.

Comments:

Sent email requested on the issue of money transfer from England.
She and Tim also talked with Gary about the convention checking account used for fundraising. It is set up for Area fundraising. We feel that since it was set up by committee, it is ok. They send us money when the funds get to $1,000. Tim clarifies this is an Area issue, not a WSOB issue.
CAWS 2017 has a new treasurer and Allison M. is getting her set up with the bank.
The Finance committee conference call was short.
The rest is in her written report. Updated balance sheet issued today.
Tim A.: Where is the money for the backroom coming from? The moving expenses.
She contacted Chicago about the final numbers from the convention. They did not make their target.

Questions:

Kevin M. – it was explained to him that we shouldn’t manage four different conventions at the same time. Lots of agreement on that.

Secretary – Randy M – written report submitted.

Director at Large – Open

TRUSTEE REPORTS

WSO Trustee – Kevin M

Comments:

Set up different email accounts with the Trustees.
Dropped off Structures and ByLaws committee, and now he is getting on the Public Infomation committee.
He had a discussion with Chair about the appropriate timing of reporting WSOB minutes / issues with the Trustees.
He has done research on Square; his wife is using Square or her business, and looked into issue of device and personal fraud. (ed. Note: this is due to the controversy surrounding the CAWS 2017 Committees’ use of Square with their fundraising activities.) He states the devices are mostly dumb, but they encrypt credit card information. Found the account information is stored in the back office, not on the device. User logs into the system to access account information. He feels the system has been thought through and is generally safe. As long as they are logged into separate accounts. Tim points out that someone could use the Squares to log into their own account and scan items into their own bank account. Linda’s question is how do we get back information? Do we get a batch list about how many sales, etc., has one person done in a day? Kevin M. responds: You can set up separate accounts for individuals and get those reports, yes.

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The batch will match with receipts and the cash deposited. Mazi: he has a Square app on his phone for business. He uses it personally. Talks about the cost. He says it is very easy. Alesia F.: We were talking about Square regarding fundraising for the conventions. Linda: Mazi, you said there is a card slider. Is there a chip reader? Yes. Kevin clarifies that now they issue a card reader and a slider. Tim speaks about the main issue is the security of our funds. Tim and Linda will be working on this together. Linda: the only other downside is that there is no receipt. Receipts are emailed. Yvette: Maybe we could send this to the Finance committee to provide general guidelines, as times and technology are changing. It is a correlation of all three committees, Finance, IT and Conventions. Kevin M. discusses costs involved compared to large retailers. Mazi: he is debating using credit cards and merchant services in lieu of the Square. Money goes to the bank faster than Square that way.

WS Trustee – Yvette H

Comments:

No report submitted. Still waiting on orientation which will be next Sunday. She’ll be more familiar with her duties after that.
She has gotten approval for the addendum for the lease. We are going to sign today.
She has also written an article for the Newsgram. Trustees want to approve first. Tim clarifies that the Trustees are approving first as she is a representative of the trustees.
She will get in touch with Ira to get some feedback or input from his experience.

Questions:

Kevin M. – might want to talk with as many of the previous WST’s that you can find for additional information on WST duties. Trustees are assigned mentors.

Break

COMMITTEE REPORTS –

Finance – Alison M-

Comments:

We had no meeting; Heidi has not scheduled another meeting. She thinks they have 3 conference calls a year.

Questions:

Shawn: in the expenditures guidelines – are these changed? No they are the same. She confirmed with Ira.

Structure & Bylaws – Yvette H.

Comments:

No report.
She has not been contacted for a meeting. She requested contact information for chairman.

Convention – Allison M.

Comments:

They had a conference call and primarily spoke with Sweden. Is there a guideline for creating websites? Linda – we had our IT consultant create the website for 2014, and a template was created. 2015 set it up on their own, but way late. Subsequently the board determined the

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template should be used by the convention committees. Sweden should work with the WSOB IT person to use the template.

Questions:

Yvette H.: Should she be on conference / convention committees as well due to contracts, etc.? To be determined by the WSBT.

Conference – Alesia F. and Linda F.. Written report submitted

Comments:

Conference call on October 23^nd at 10:00AM.

Unity – Alesia F. written report submitted.

Comments:

Conference call on October 16^th. Finished up the artwork.

Literature, Chips & Formats – Tim A. No report

Hospitals & Institutions – Tim A– No Report. First meeting on October 23, at 8:00AM. Fourth Sunday of every month.

Questions:

Shawn: Is the meeting on the 16^th and not the 23^rd? Making HI the fourth Sunday of the month? Yes.

Public Information – Kevin M

Comments:

Just assigned to this committee and hasn’t yet hooked up with the committee. He says a member of the PI committee found him at a regular meeting and spoke about concerns she has about what is happening with PI. She has had a similar conversation with the previous trustee involved with PI.

IT – Randy M – written report submitted.

Archives – Randy M – written report submitted.

Comments:

Tim appreciates the committee reviewing the boxes for items we can trash.

CAWS CONVENTION REPORTS:

A. CAWS 2017- Seattle –Treasurer? Reg on –line? Comments:

They do have a new treasurer.
RegOnline is open.

B. CAWS 2018 -Montreal – Board to approve Montreal hotel contract. (Held until July, 2016) Comments:

Contract is already approved. Allison M. needs to see it. Board still needs to approve? Tim A. believes so, yes.

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C. CAWS 2019 – Sweden – Comments:

They are still getting bids for the hotels.

D. CAWS 2020 – Austin – No report.

GUEST REPORTS:

Mazi from San Gabriel valley. He has discussed shipping with Allison M.. He has transportation and shipping company, in business for 22 years. He was hoping to help cut down shipping costs for the office. (Coming in as a vendor.) Linda F. would like for Mazi to come in during business hours to compare our current system and its cost, versus what Mazi can provide. Linda F. is happy to discuss costs savings with Mazi. Mazi – where do we ship? Scotland, England, South Africa, Netherlands, South America, Japan.
Shawn: he is here to check out the board activities. He has 15 years’ sobriety, from the CALA area. Has held many commitments in his area. He attends the conference regularly, and H&I is his favorite.

ONLINE BUSINESS:

None.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS-

A. Meeting Formats in a Pocket Linda – Hold – conversation with Committees.

Can take this off – discussed earlier.

B. Office Lease – Signed? Done?

Was signed today. General contractor will come next week to give a quote on expanding the archives room.

C. Organization of the warehouse. Time line.

Tim wants to have this 80 – 90 percent organized by June. Shelving can come as early as November.

D. New birthday envelope – Linda – moving forward

Take off the agenda.

E. CAWSO Dba setup – Tim / Kevin – (Tabled motion from 11/14/2015 – waiting for Trustee opinion on whether necessary or not)

They will only be discussing orientation.

F. Translation of specialty chips. Linda to work on.

Talked about French version. Communicating with ERT to discuss shipping costs. Kevin M.: they have the regular metal coins in English, and only 1 – 5 in French. Would it make sense to do the regular metal coins in other languages first? Linda states that we have to warehouse metal chips, and this is not practical with the various languages, as those orders are very rare. Shawn – has a question about the die – do we have a set up charge for each color? No. Allison M. – it is basically a set-up fee. Yvette H.: is it possible for the area to take on batch orders of specialty chips? And be delivered by trustees? It can be done, but has to be coordinated by the area. Shawn: Still confused. Is the set-up fee for a different language? Kevin clarifies.

G. Referrals from 2016 WSC

a. From other Committees

None

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b. From floor:

NEW BUSINESS:

A. WSOB Director(s): 3 open positions at this time. Resume outlines available from Linda.

a. 3 – Director at Large – we really need to fill these. He wants input from all areas. Kevin M.: what areas are not represented? CALA, San Diego, Northern California.

B. WSOB Guidelines.

Alesia F. states there are guidelines in earlier versions of the WSM. Tim asks why would they be removed? Alesia F. explains that she was given specific guidelines previously, but doesn’t know why they are not in the manual now. Tim A. reviews current WSM regarding individual requirements for each position. She points out that the guidelines she remembers are no longer in the manual. Tim will compare 2014 to 2016.

C. Financial Oversight Committee Guidelines.

This was given to Tim and Laurie 2 days prior to the conference. The Trustees are looking for feedback; they’re trying to address inconsistencies. Allison likes them. Kevin can’t comment. Tim will discuss this with the Trustee Chair. Linda clarifies that the $2,000 limit only applies to items not in budget. Kevin: suggests we may include fixed costs not in the budget, as rent. Tim will note changes on the guidelines. Discussion of the guidelines regarding transfers. Allison asks about convention money transfers. Linda discusses how we used to transfer large amounts of cash to move into operating costs, but we don’t have that issue currently. Wonders if this is a hold-over from this. Compensation changes. Discussion of standard 3% increases. Convention Money Distribution. WSBT wants a written report of distribution of funds. No new line items to be added to the Chart of Accounts without WSBT approval. Linda – keep in mind that in the next couple of years there will be a number of new line items, due to the revamped QB which recently took place. Kevin: is there a conference approved budget for 2017? Yes. MOTION to accept the Financial Oversight guidelines made by Allison M., seconded by Allison. Motion passes with noted abstentions.

D. Box and Formsite:

Linda – She and Tim also has a conference call with Jay F., and he will be coming into the area so that we can get up to speed on Formsite and Box. Former WST wants the WSOB to have control over the Box website. Jay still wants to have access. WSOB will take control and pay the monthly fee. This has been approved previously. Formsite is a registration website. This site provides more data. And now he’s setting his up for convention registration. Susan doesn’t really like it. Randy disagrees that the RegOnline is too expense. He believes that the cost for RegOnline, compared with the overall convention budget, is relatively small. And The per person charge can be added to the registration fee. Alesia F. agrees with Randy. The cost of the last online registration thing would have been saved with staying with RegOnline. Kevin: did not think the Box was handled correctly. He thinks it needs to be controlled more closely by the conference secretary or coordinator. Tim A: The conference officers have had control of it. Linda suggests that maybe a conference IT person needs to handle the Box. Jay F. has offered to come here and discuss Formsite and Box Issues directly with the WSOB. Allison M. asks about what items we requested that were not included. Randy M. points out that Linda F. and the registration committee need to be consulted, in any event. Tim A. speaks to some items coming from

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Formsite which are beneficial. Linda F. discusses costs for Box and Formsite as well as the program for referrals. Alesia F. – we need to get control of both sites. Shawn: Linda, do you have access to Formsite and the referrals? No. Alesia F. – that goes back to a problem we had last year. Kevin M.: his experience is that individuals take on tasks when the “system” doesn’t take care of them. Alesia F. clarifies that the initial problem started with missing referrals.

E. Chips and Literature for Europe.

How can we help cut their costs for sending chips and literature overseas? 500 books are a minimum from Lucky Line. Lucky Lines and Wendell’s currently handle our shipping. Linda F. discusses the current costs from Donnelly, in reference to the German Edition of HFC. Let’s talk to Luck Line and Donnelly about bulk orders. Kevin M.: Asks about addresses in the EU and the UK. Kevin M. – is it really necessary? Do we have a current program to send large amounts overseas? Tim A.– yes, but they are asking about options. We need to be responsive to show that we are actively seeking out some possible solutions. Shawn: does it make sense that a place like UK or EU act as a hub? Linda F. to do additional research.

EXECUTIVE SESSION –

NEXT MEETING(s) – November 26, 2016

MOTION to adjourn at 12:06 made by Randy M., seconded by Yvette. Motion passes unanimously.

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