1;. SUMMERY OF MOTIONS PASSED IN 2023.
Jan.
Motion was made that our group have no requirements for Co-hosts (aka Hosts in training). The motion was seconded and discussion followed. The motion was voted on with 6 votes in favor, and two abstained. The motion was passed.
A final motion was made that John D, the Service Chair, draft a Recruitment script that will be presented for review and discussion in our next month’s Business Meeting. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Feb.
A motion was made to exchange service commitments between Siobhan and Deb. Siobhan will become the Secretary and Deb will become the GSR chair.
A motion was made to separate the Business Meeting Chair and Webmaster Chair with Herb remaining as Webmaster Chair, and a new Business Meeting Chair will be needed. It will be announced over this month that the meeting is looking for a Business Meeting Chair. Qualifications include 1 year continuous sobriety. The Chair positions are 2-year commitments. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Herb suggested we try a Meditation Room as a breakout meeting after the Main meeting on a particular night. It would involve a volunteer to lead a 8-10 min guided meditation for people. A motion was made to announce at the General Meeting that we are looking for any interested people in helping to lead the Meditation Room. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
The motion was seconded and then passed unanimously.
March.
New Chairpersons:Herb will remain as the webmaster chair and Dan A. was nominated as the new business meeting chair. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
April.
There will be no monetary distributions for quarter ending 4/23. The distribution percentage will be discussed further at the May business meeting (5/2/23). The motion was accepted and passed unanimously.
At the next meeting, the option to allow participants to unmute themselves in order to share rather than raising their hand will be discussed. The motion was accepted and passed unanimously.
May.
The issue as to whether or not to disable the mute button was deferred until the June business meeting. Announcements regarding this vote will be made 5 days before and daily leading up to the June business meeting. Dan made the motion to approve the decision and Herb seconded it. The motion was passed unanimously.
There is $257.11 in the account. (Not including the prudent reserve).
We deferred until June 30 how to disperse the funds. Deb made a motion to approve the decision and Herb seconded it. The motion was approved unanimously.
June.
Discussion about being part of the EMZoomers and EMR group's summer picnic. John D made a motion to nominate Patrick as our representative as our groups picnic planner. Dan seconded,and was voted unanimously.
Liz made a motion to accept the abridged version of Robert's Rules of Order John D seconded, and passed unanimously.
Dan A made a motion to allow participants to unmute indefinitely starting Monday June 12th. Jess S seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
July.
New business: Liz made a motion to nominate Jess as the new secretary. Dan A. seconded, passed unanimously.
August
Dan made a motion to amend the minutes to explain the treasurer's report from last month: 60% to district. 30% to area 11 , and 10% to GSO. Peg seconded, passed unanimously.
Sept.
New Business: Pam moved that we add restoring chat privileges for all to the agenda for the October business meeting. Rich seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
October.
Dan A made a motion to nominate Joann as the new treasurer. Jess seconded the motion, passed unanimously. Joann accepted the position.
Rich made a motion to open up the chat during the meeting. No one seconded it, did not pass.
November.
To find a GSR. Jess made a motion to nominate Herb as GSR. Liz seconded it, passed unanimously. Herb accepted the position as GRS, though mentioned he would be willing to give up position if there were any new interests, and he would be happy to help train.
Dan A made a motion to make a $100 donation to the Clinton Thanksgiving Alkathon. John D seconded the motion.... Passed with 11 votes.
December.
Liz elected Service Co-Chair by acclimation
John D motion to allocate 50% to GSO 25 to State 25 to District. Motion fails.
Motion to amend Opening Script passes by acclimation:
“If you have any concerns about the meeting please refrain from disrupting the meeting but Chat the Hosts instead.”
2. SUMMARY OF MOTIONS PASSED IN 2022 Jan’22: Decision-making: It was acknowledged that a recent emergency meeting was called with the Meeting officers in response to Zoom Bombers. The decision was made to lock the meeting so that people could not unmute themselves and could not change their screen names. This will remain the format for this next month and will be on next month’s agenda.
Feb’22: Separating GSR and Chairperson positions: Herb has been doing both jobs. A motion was made to separate the two jobs and the motion was passed unanimously. Herb will stay on as Chairperson and the GSR position will be filled by a new person, TBD.
March ’22: Siobhan has volunteered to be the GSR representative. A motion was made and passed unanimously for the following: A new AA meeting will convene twice weekly at 12 noon, sponsored by the Joy of Living Meeting. This will allow for shared resources such as Zoom Room & treasury support. This new meeting/s will be sponsored by the Joy of Living Meeting for a trial period of 6 months.
April ’22: no new motions
May ’22: no new motions
June ’22: Terri made a motion to replace Saturday’s “Open Topic” meeting with “Living Sober” meeting starting in July. There was discussion and unanimous support for this motion and so it was passed.
July ’22: Group Security issues discussed. Recent inappropriate chats received in some groups required intervention by the Group Host to close down the chat and/or remove the disruptive person for that meeting. The Host is responsible for keeping the meeting safe and focused on recovery. The Host will be supported in his/her decisions. Herb volunteered to make a revision to the Chairperson’s script to clarify that inappropriate chats will not be tolerated and encourage members to contact the host if they receive an inappropriate text.
Aug ’22: It was explained that the current security measures include restrictions on unmuting, changing your screen name, and chatting with anyone other than the hosts. These have been put in place to keep the group safe from disrupters and harassers to the meeting’s purpose.
Sept ’22: John D and Rich reported that there has been no one attending the noontime meetings. A motion was made to cancel the Saturday and Wednesday noontime meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Oct ’22: Siobhan reports that at the next GSR Meeting there will be a vote on whether to divide district 4 into 8 districts. She presented a map of the proposed new redistricting. A 2 motion was made for this group to vote for the redistricting in the next GSR meeting. The motion was passed unanimously.
Nov ’22: Criteria for Chairperson A Motion was made to require 90 days of continuous sobriety for nominating someone to chair for a month. Up until now, it has been a suggestion but not a requirement. The group engaged in discussion. The motion was seconded and put to vote. 4 in favor, 1 opposed, 1 abstained. The motion was approved.
Dec’ 22: There was a motion made to Have an Accomplished host every night with a learning co-host. The motion was seconded and was opened for discussion. It was noted that new co-hosts can be trained by Accomplished Hosts. The training should not fall on John’s shoulders. The goal will be to make available more service opportunities in our meeting as well as create a deeper bench of capable hosts. The Motion was voted on: 5 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstained. The Motion was passed.
3 SUMMARY OF MOTIONS PASSED from August-Dec 2021
Aug ’21: At its last business meeting, this group decided to establish itself as a new group, the Guilford Joy of Living Happy Hour Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, meeting at 5:30 pm, separate from the Guilford Joy of Living Group (7:30 am). Many of the rules and customs were carryovers from the morning meeting, so this business meeting was called to establish new rules for the newly-established group. Chairperson requirements Decision: Requirement will continue to be ninety days continuous sobriety; also that the person has not chaired in the previous month. Chair and host time periods Decisions: Chairs will serve for one calendar month. Each chair will train successor. • Hosts will serve for nine months, or until they need or want to pass the duty on to someone else. Each host will keep track of their time of service and will train successor. A host training/review/practice session for all current, new, and prospective hosts will be held on September 21, 2021. Speaker requirements Decision: Speakers must have one year of continuous sobriety. Business Meetings Decisions: Business meetings will be held quarterly, beginning September 14, 2021, and continuing on the second Tuesday of each of the months December, March, June, and September. At the next business meeting on September 14, officers will be elected. Offices to be filled, with acting/interim officers listed, are: • GSR representative/meeting chair – open • Secretary – Terri S. • Treasurer – Herb S. • Service Coordinator – John D. • IT coordinator (help people with zoom technology and host training) – open Website: The group website https://www.aahappyhour.com/ is maintained by Herb S. The website includes useful background information, links to resources, daily readings/reflections, chair and host assignments, chair’s script, business reports, and other useful items. Decision: Herb S. is elected as webmaster and will continue to maintain the website.
Sept ’21: Motions were made to elect group officers, and the group members voted unanimously to have the following people in these positions: • GSR-Group Service Representative-Herb • Treasurer-Liz • Secretary-Terri S. with Deb B. as Assistant Secretary • Services Chair-John D., with Chelsea as Assistant Services Chair All positions have a suggested term of two years.
Oct ’22: no minutes
Nov’21: Terri stepped down as Secretary and Deb stepped up into the role. Deb was unanimously voted into the position. It was moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed by the group to have a Chair for Coins and books. Terri volunteered for the role and was unanimously voted by the group to serve in this role. We agreed that the Officers of the Meeting (GSR Representative, Treasurer, Secretary, Host Chair, Coins & Books Chair) should have as minimum requirements for service either: • One year of continuous sobriety or • Six months of continuous sobriety and a sponsor.
Dec ‘21: Contributing to the Branford Christmas Alkathon: A motion was made and accepted to donate $100 to the Alkathon. Codifying the Host role: A discussion about Standardizing breakout room announcement, "The host will be setting up two breakout rooms after the meeting, one for women and one for men. You will receive an invitation after the closing prayer." It was agreed that the host will provide breakout rooms after every meeting. The main room will be used as a non-binary room or gender non-specific room. Dealing with security issues: There were Zoom bombers in a recent meeting, quickly managed by the hosts. Herb spoke about Zoom’s additional security measures such as locking the meeting and removing the profile pictures. A motion was made and accepted that in the event Zoom bombers invade a meeting, the meeting will be locked.
