Happy Hour Motions Passed
1 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.
