Previous Minutes

Show Me Group Conscious Meeting Minutes

Tuesday May 14, 2024 - 7:15 PM

In-Person / Zoom (620-218-0121, pw: showme)

OPENING:

Called to order by the Chair: Justin W. @ 7:15pm.

Opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

Read from The AA Group Pamphlet pg.28

Trusted Servants Roll Call – 10 of 13 Primary / 6 of 10 Alternate

REPORTS OF TRUSTED SERVANTS

●        GSR - Aaron B. reported the following:

o    Aaron attended the district meeting

▪          District will be voting in September on new District Guidelines.

▪          District Inventory will be done in July and will be discussed in October.

o    In a recent outreach to students in Medical and Nursing schools, their feedback was that they are confused why we are telling people not to take their medications.  They are asking us to stop doing that.  AA has no opinion on outside issues.  We need to determine as a group if we need to take any action and what that action would be.

o    Next District meeting will be this coming Sunday.

o    Next Assembly will be June 14-16 in Abilene.  Christy will be going.

●        Secretary – Rob G. reported the following:

o    I will be on vacation during the June GC meeting, so I am going to need help from somebody to take notes since I have no alternate chairperson.

▪          Michele R. volunteered to assist. (Thank you, Michele!)

o    Motion to approve the minutes of the April GC meeting made by Meranda and seconded by Kim D.

●        Treasurer – Bill H. reported the following:

o    Contributions exceeded expenses in April by a little over $777.

▪          Quarterly contributions will be made at the end of June.  See the posted report for details.

▪          Phone/Internet went up a little (143.50 -> 159.26), so Bill will check with Frontier to see why that has occurred.

o    Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report made by Meranda H and seconded by Kim D.

●        Quartermaster – Susie H. reported the following:

o    All is well and stocked.

●        Building Maintenance – Lane B. reported the following:

o    Nothing to report.

●        Literature – Dee T. reported the following:

o    Literature continues to be restocked on the shelves.

o    Went through the birthday chips and returned some excess to Intergroup and got a credit.  Maintaining 8 or so per year.

o    Dee heard that a member was in the county jail recently and reported that there are no big books.  She is going to follow up on this, and would like to use money from the orange can to purchase some and drop them at the county jail.

o    If anyone knows of anything else we need, please let me know.

●        Treatment – not present to report.

●        Corrections – no trusted servant to report

●        Events Coordinator - Hannah W. reported the following:

o    There is a camping trip June 28-30.  Details are posted in the group.

o    They will also be posting info about an event on Memorial Day, May 27th.

●        Grapevine - Mellisa M. reported the following:

o    Nothing to report.

●        Public Information (PI/CPC) – Steve A. reported the following:

o    Nothing to report.

o    Justin W. added that there is a meeting every 3rd Saturday at 10am.

▪          Discussed a meeting with the Society of Medical Professionals

▪          Also had an event to cover groups in ‘dark areas’ (they have no GSR and don’t participate in the service structure).  They will be having a table at the Gathering of the Eagles.

●        Intergroup – Michele R. reported the following:

o    Michele showed some business cards that she had made to be handouts for personal interactions with potential members.

o    Lots of events coming up this summer!

o    Houston Methodist Hospital needs help/support for liver transplant patients.

o    More information can be found at https://www.aadallas.org

o    Michele is unable to attend future Intergroup meetings, and so she is stepping down from this position.  However, she did step up into the Alt. PI/CPC position later in this meeting.

●        Webservant – Chris J. reported the following:

o    Nothing new to report.

OLD BUSINESS

A.   Elections – most primary positions have been filled, but there are a lot of alternate positions still open. The results sheet is posted on the bulletin board.

a.    Some open positions were filled. 

                              i. George S. was nominated for Corrections by Steve A. and seconded by Rob G.

                            ii. Steve A. stepped up to Chairperson from Alternate Chair for PI/CPC.

                           iii. Michele R. was nominated for Alt. PI/CPC by Christy and seconded by Rob G.

1.    Michele stepped down from her Intergroup Chairperson role earlier in this meeting.

Position

Term

Sobriety

Reqmnts

Name

Years

Sober

Ayes

Nays

Corrections

1

2 yrs

George S.

26 yrs

23

0

PI/CPC

1

2 yrs

Steve A.

2.5

23

0

Alt. PI/CPC

1

1 yrs

Michele R.

9 yrs

22

0

B.   Committee on Trusted Servant Position Duties and Responsibilities.

a.    Christy D - They are meeting tonight to finish it up.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Motion - Update the meeting formats - Susie H.

   1. Updated meeting formats for Open Hybrid, Open Speaker Hybrid, Newcomer, and Closed meetings are posted on the bulletin board and handouts will be available.  These changes are similar in nature to the previous changes for the Open Hybrid that was approved in the March GC meeting.

   2. Clarification stage began.

                                          i. Susie made the following changes:

1.    After ‘Is there anyone visiting that would like to be recognized?’, she added:

a.    “Is there anyone here for their first AA meeting?”

2.    Added to end just before closing prayer:

a.    “Remember, what you hear here, who you see here, let it stay here when you leave here.”

1. 3. Closed clarification stage and there was no discussion other than a call to question.

                                          i. Ayes => 21, Nays => 0

1. 1. Motion passed unanimously!

2. Discussion Topic - Move Newcomer meeting to 6pm on Sunday - Shannon F.

   1. The Motion Representative was not present, so this will move to the agenda on the next GC.

3. Discussion Topic - There is work remaining to be done to the marker board on the section with Trusted Servants, etc.  We need to follow up on ETA for completion of this item.

   1. After some discussion, Christy D. has agreed to present a new format for the entire board at the next GC.  There seemed to be some agreement in the room that the current revised format is not as effective as hoped.

4. Motion - Motion to revise how our contributions are being distributed. Suggested proposal: 10% District, 10% GSB (reserve)  40% Intergroup, 40% NETA.  - Kim D.

   1. Supporting Info:

                                          i. I exchanged some emails with Sam, the office manager at intergroup, and Dan the Treasurer at Neta 65 and it seems to me that our contributions would better serve the still suffering alcoholic by being forwarded to them rather than reserved for GSB at this present time. Page 13 of this pamphlet offers suggested diagrams of how groups could distribute their contributions. https://www.aa.org/self-support-where-money-and-spirituality-mix  This would not cause any additional financial impact as the percentages would just be figured differently if the group approves. The Treasurer would be responsible for calculating the new percentage and mailing the check.

4. 2. Objective of the Motion

                                          i. Reallocate our quarterly excess funds to provide more support to Intergroup and Area 65.

4. 3. Problems to Solve

                                          i. I think it’s a problem to leave 35% of our quarterly  contributions sitting in the checking account waiting for an unknown date in the future to mail to GSB when there are service entities directly needing financial assistance in our area. Both intergroup and area have a lot of expenses and could use the extra support from groups and I believe the money would be better spent that way.

4. 1. Motion seconded by Michele R.

   2. Clarification stage was completed with no changes.  Will discuss and vote on this at the next GC.

5. Motion - To completely eliminate the 10 pm meetings and narrow down the 8 pm meetings to 2 meetings a week (Saturday and Sunday). - Tyler E.

   1. Supporting Info:

                                          i. All of the 10 pm meetings are DOA. The 8 pm meetings are following the same trend as the 10 pm meetings. If those meetings do not see a change in attendance by the end of the month then they should be eliminated from the schedule immediately.

5. 2. Objective of the Motion

                                          i. It will lower the utility costs. And ensure that any other meeting that shows the same trend will result in the same.

5. 3. Problems to solve.

                                          i. Attendance is dying down.

5. 4. Motion was seconded by Michele R.

   5. Clarification stage began.

                                          i. It is unclear how much attendance is actually occuring at some of these meetings, so Bill has agreed to gather and assemble data on attendance/contributions/envelopes for the 8pm and 10pm meetings that we can then review at a later date.

                                        ii. Tyler agreed to table the motion until after the Group Inventory this summer so we can then review with better information for the group to consider.

6. Motion - Make all 10pm meetings Open.  -  Shannon F.

   1. Supporting Info:

                                          i. If there isn't anyone in the room we can upload all formats to have remote host

                                        ii. Currently, only the Tuesday and Thursday meetings at 10pm are closed.  The others are already open.

6. 2. Objective of the Motion

                                          i. Have access for all to get a meeting.

6. 3. Problems to Solve

                                          i. Just change it with intergroup and open access.

6. 1. The Motion Representative was not present, so this will move to the agenda on the next GC.

7. Motion - Motion to make Monday 9am open. - Shannon F.

   1. Supporting Info:

                                          i. Closed meetings do not help the suffering alcoholic and the 9 and 12 are closed.  This is stressful after the weekend especially when there are more old-timers at the early meetings.

7. 2. Objective of the Motion

                                          i. To make more meetings for the alcoholic who is suffering alone to hear hope.

7. 1. The Motion Representative was not present, so this will move to the agenda on the next GC.

8. Motion - Motion to start purchasing paper cups instead of styrofoam. - Michael J.

   1. Motion was seconded by Christy D.

   2. Clarification stage was completed with no changes.  There was a request to be prepared with a cost differential at the next GC for discussion.  Susie H agreed to get with Michael on locating that information.

   3. The meeting will be on the agenda for discussion/voting at the next GC.

9. A motion to extend the meeting 10 minutes was made by Aaron B. and seconded by Michele R. at 8:05pm.

ADJOURNMENT:  

The Meeting was adjourned at 8:19pm. The motion was made by Meranda H and seconded by Hannah W.

Closed the meeting with the Lord’s Prayer.

The next Trusted Servants meeting will be at 7:15P on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.

The next Group Conscience meeting will be at 7:15P on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.