GENERAL SERVICE COMMITTEE
Business Meeting Minutes
September 11th, 2024

65 Present
OPENED with the “A.A. Preamble” and “The Serenity Prayer” at 8:00PM ET.
WELCOME No new DCMs/Alt-DCMS.
VISITORS Member from the Accessibilities Committee; Alternate Chair of the Area 11 Convention.
DELEGATE’s REPORT: Registration and hotel booking for the 2025 International Convention in Vancouver opened yesterday-there were some glitches, and a communication was sent out. They are addressing the issues with the website crashing, and most of the housing has been booked. The Fall Assembly is 11/2. The GSO Bus Trip is 9/27-it’s $50, and there are still some spots left. The Final Conference Report is available-it’s on aa.org, and I have hard copies. We had the GSC (General Service Conference) Sharing Session, which was an Advisory Action from the 73rd GSC in hopes of improving communication and transparency. There was a disagreement about the agenda, but I have hope that the feedback will be taken. We are looking for themes and topics for the 76th GSC. Update from the Public Information (PI) Desk-there are interviews from military members in AA from the US/Canada on YouTube and aa.org. The Bridging the Gap pamphlet and service flyer have been revised. We are looking to update neurodivergent material in the pamphlet Serving all Alcoholics-Making the A.A. Message Accessible. There are updates in the Delegate’s report from the Treatment/Accessibilities Committee. We are still working on the development of the English 5th Edition of the Big Book and the Spanish 4th Edition, Alcoholicos Anonimos. The Corrections Correspondence Service is looking for Spanish-speaking AAs from Eastern US and transgender and non-binary members. They believed they fixed the issue with the group contributions report. Registration for Virtual NERAASA 2025 is open-$35.
Question: Has Area 11 considered renting a large room so members from Area 11 can attend the virtual NERAASA together?
Answer: Not yet. There are some logistical issues, like how we would line up for the microphone in a large room. We also want to make sure we are financially supporting NERAASA. We can discuss this further offline.
Question: Do you have copies of the Final Conference Report in Spanish?
Answer: Yes, and in French.
DCM SHARING: Question: Who has a vote at the Fall Assembly? The Save the Date mentioned service committee chairs. That should specify that it’s Area 11 Service Committee Chairs, not District, with a vote.
Answer: We may want to consider removing District Officer votes at Assemblies in the future.
-I agree we should update the guidelines for who has a vote at assemblies.
Question: Am I the only DCM that is not receiving the AAWS, Inc. Contribution Report?
Answer: It used to be sent out regularly, but they paused distribution because of the errors in the reporting.
-When we redistricted, we did not include District Officers in those that have a vote at Assemblies. Most of the District Officers are also GSRs. District 30 is doing well, and we are getting ready to have our elections.
-Just a reminder: Alternate GSRs, DCMs, etc. have a vote at assemblies in the absence of the GSR, DCM, etc. If your district is having elections before the Fall Assembly, bring the newly elected to Assembly.
-New District 1 has an event coming up on 11/2 in cooperation with District 33. It is a Halloween Social with a speaker raffle, 3-minute shares.
-Thank you for giving the DCMs time to share in the beginning of the Area Committee Meeting.
-I like how this meeting is flowing. We created an Ad Hoc to look into making schedules, but we decided to work with CCTI once we were informed that the GSO is recognizing them as an Intergroup.
-District 12 will be meeting hybrid for the remainder of the year.
ACCESSIBILITIES PRESENTATION: Click Here for PowerPoint Presentation
-Both of the needs for services for deaf/hard of hearing members came from my district. I would love to hear about the tension between Tradition 5 and Tradition 7 with this issue.
Question: What does the percentage of the population for this need look like in Area 11?
Answer: 1.7%.
Question: How many times a year does a member from this community reach out for help?
Answer: About seven times a year.
Question: Do you believe this is a “if you build it, they will come” type of service?
Answer: Yes, similar to how District 10 started.
Question: Are gold can users also using other colored cans?
Answer: I don’t know. We could alternate them.
Question: Is the meeting with ASL in Massachusetts affected by geography?
Answer: That meeting has the funds and the history to sustain itself.
-It would be good to start with a monthly meeting in Hartford. We could gauge the interest from that. There could be room in the budget this year to try it. Also, groups and districts having this discussion would be the best approach.
-If one AA could benefit from this, it’s worth it. This shouldn’t be an issue about money.
-There is a group in another area that identified this same need and came together with the support of other groups pay for an ASL interpreter at a meeting. At the district meeting, they would pick a group out of a hat that would the meeting with the interpreter. The district eventually decided to pay for it.
-Our district might be able to support the Hartford meeting.
AREA NEED AD HOC REPORT BACK: The Area Needs Ad Hoc Committee met Monday. We have talked to a lot of people from all over. We are working on compiling everything, and we decided that we still have more research to do on how other areas conduct their Committee Meetings and Assemblies. Please reach out to me (treatment@ct-aa.org) if you have not yet given us feedback. We also need to get hard numbers on the cost of providing internet in the basement at the Area Office. We will be reporting more next month.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
• Call for Service Sponsorship
• CCTI is now registered as an intergroup and can be found on A.A. Near You. It looks like we were registered and then unregistered at some point. I’m not sure how that happened.
• October 2nd @ 7:30PM-Area 11 Budget Committee Meeting
• October 5th 10am-2pm-Grapevine Day of Sharing
• October 19th 8am-4pm-Love and Service Bilingual Event
• November 2nd 9am-12pm-Area 11 Fall Election Assembly
• November 2nd 7pm-11pm-Interdistrict Halloween Social with a Speaker Raffle
•
November 29th-December 1st – CSCYPAA 39 @ the Mystic Marriott (registration open)
• July 3-6th 2025 – 2025 International Convention (Vancouver, BC Canada)
OLD BUSINESS: “Our Area 11 Technology Ad hoc Committee moves to form an Area 11 Technology Service Committee with a budget of $500 for the remainder of 2024.”
Discussion: I’m in favor of this. The Ad Hoc did a lot of research, and this is needed. The $500 can always be increased if needed.
-In favor. The $500 proposed budget was more for travel reimbursement. The Ad Hoc visited more than 10 other area tech committees in the U.S., and we formed preliminary guidelines based on feedback from those discussions.
-If we think we will need more than $500, we should iron that out now.
-I’m in favor.
Question: Would this service cover Area, Districts, and Groups?
Answer: This is an Area Committee serving the area only. If districts wanted to start their own tech committees, we would cooperate, and anyone can participate in the area tech committee work.
-I’m in favor. Interpretation can’t be offered without a tech committee.
Question: Is the $500 amendable?
Answer: I’m not changing it as it reads in the motion.
VOTE: 42-0 PASSED with complete unanimity.
NEW BUSINESS: “I would like to make a motion to have Area 11 form a Literature Committee which will be responsible for maintaining an inventory of AAWS Literature that the Literature Committee will make available for purchase during a monthly Literature Committee meeting, as well as at all Area 11 functions.” (CLARIFYING QUESTIONS, ONLY)
Question: Where would the literature be stored?
Answer: I’m not sure. This motion is just to create a literature committee. We can figure out logistics after.
Answer: We could store the literature in a locker.
Question: Would it be more appropriate to create an Ad Hoc to look into this?
Answer: That is a possibility.
Question: Could we combine a literature committee with an existing committee, like Grapevine/La Vina?
Answer: Grapevine/La Vina is responsible for subscription sales. Combining the committees is probably too much work for one chair.
Answer: They are two separate committees because A.A.W.S., Inc. and A.A. Grapevine Inc. are two separate companies.
Question: How would this affect how the area interacts with intergroup?
Answer: Intergroup has not been participating in Area functions. We have a need right now within the area.
-CCTI does not have a literature committee, but we would love to partner with your districts. We have not been to Area Events because we haven’t been invited and were not allowed.
-It is untrue that CCTI has not been allowed at Area Events.
Question: Is this a guidelines change that should be discussed at an assembly?
Answer: I’m unsure. We could discuss this at an assembly.
Answer: I don’t see this as a guidelines change. We would form an Ad Hoc Committee that would then present in front of the assembly.
Question: Is there a reason that we don’t have an area literature committee already?
Answer: There was a motion made to form one over 10 years ago that was voted down, but districts ended up creating their own literature committees after that.
Point of order-This is supposed to be clarifying questions on the motion.
Question: Would service committee chairs make their literature purchases through this committee?
Answer: That is my vision.
Question: Are you just trying to gauge if this body is interested in a literature committee?
Answer: Yes.
Question: If this motion were to pass, we would have a literature committee with no budget. Should I make an amendment?
Move to amend the motion to add “If approved, an Ad Hoc Committee will be formed to determine the logistics of the literature committee.”
Vote to amend the motion PASSED @ 85%. Minority was not allowed time.
EVENT COMMITTEE REPORTS:
1.
Rompiendo Fronteras/Breaking Frontiers 2024: We returned more than the seed money alotted. We will be presenting our candidate to chair RF/BF 2025 next month.
2.
Round-Up 2024: We are looking for a Round-Up 2025 chair. We had 174 people attend in-person and 25 attend online. We received $201 from the 7th Tradition Basket.
3.
Soberfest 2024: Darrin stands for Soberfest 2025 Chair. Voted in with complete unanimity.
4.
CSCYPAA 2024: No report.
5.
Convention 2024: No report.
6.
A.A. Rep-Al-Anon Convention 2024: No report.
SERVICE COMMITTEE REPORTS:
1.
Accessibilities: No report.
2.
Alki-Line: No report.
3.
Answering Service: 10 Districts moved to take part in the new consolidated Answering Service as of 8/1. We had 11 as of 9/1 and will have 13 as of 10/1. We are recommending districts that participate elect an Answering Service chair to help keep a district volunteer list.
4.
Corrections: No report.
5.
Website: No report.
6.
Archives: No report.
7.
Cooperation with the Professional Community: No report.
8.
Public Information: No report.
9.
Schedules: No report.
10.
Treatment: No report.
11.
Grapevine/La Vina: No report.
OFFICER REPORTS:
1.
Recording Secretary: Looking forward to the election assembly. I hope there are people in this room that are standing for RecSec-it’s a great position.
a.
August 2024 Inventory Minutes accepted unanimously.
2.
Treasurer: Ditto about the Fall Assembly. We have the Budget Committee Meeting coming up on 10/2, and the budget packages are out. Shared Screen with Treasurer’s Report.
a.
August 2024 Treasurer’s Report accepted unanimously.
3.
Chairperson: We will probably have some business at the October Sharing Session. For November, it’s a DCM only Sharing Session.
a.
Group Names Policy Proposal Ad Hoc Committee: Report back will be next month.
b.
Area Needs Ad Hoc Committee: See report above.
POLL FOR THE ILL & DECEASED: Calvin H. from Montville passed away. David from Westport passed away. Kyle V. from District 3 passed away. Mike S. from Colchester passed away. Gindy from District 2 passed away. Vicky L., a longtime member of Al-Anon and involved in service, passed away. Joanie from District 13 passed away.
CLOSED w/ the Responsibility Declaration at 10:30 PM ET.