Minutes Guilford AA JOL Happy Hour Business Meeting
2/7/2025 at 6:30pm
Attendance:
Officers Present: Dan A – Chair, Jo – Treasurer, John D – Service Chair, Pam D – Coins and Books, Herb – GSR & Website Chair, Ann Z – Secretary
Others Present: Scott M., Justine, John R, Regina, Bud, David B., Daniel
Dan A. opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.
Old Business: None
New Business:
Requirements for Service Discussion: Dan requested that the Committee review the “requirements for service” language in the current by-laws regarding the length of sobriety required to be an officer on this Committee or to serve as a monthly meeting Chair.
The current mandatory set of requirements sets one year of sobriety as the mandate for eligibility for nomination to these types of service. He suggested that we consider changing it to read “suggested requirements for service” thus making the time length of sobriety for each candidate based on the discretion of the current officers. Dan noted that a mandatory set of requirements can be counter-productive to matching a qualified and eligible candidate to an open position, as well as, helping such candidates fulfill a service roll.
Dan opened this recommendation for discussion or/and a motion. Herb commented that absolute rules concerning length of sobriety per position can limit offers to those in line for officers’ positions. He made a motion to go forward with rewording the current requirement for service (one year of sobriety) to a more flexible suggested requirement going forward.
In closing, Dan said the intent of his suggestion was to allow for discretion in the length of the sobriety rule so that it is more in keeping with the concept of placing principles ahead of personalities – keeping principles true to the values that help people in A.A. This motion passed unanimously.
Revising JOL Happy Hour Opening Script: John D. made the recommendation that the opening script for this group could use some revisions-that it may be redundant or excessive in some areas. Dan agreed that some of the wording in the current script is unnecessary and it should be without “fluff.” David B. concurred. John D volunteered to submit a re-scripted text.
Secretary’s Report: Ann Z. reported that the minutes for the 1/3/2024 Business Meeting had been posted on the group’s Website and said that any typos in the previous minutes would be corrected. Dan A. asked for any questions or comments. There were none.
Service Chair Report: John reported that all was running well but noted that one host had been absent for some time. He said he would ask for any other host nominations and run an election if anyone in the group is willing to perform that service.
Coins and Books Report: Pam reported that 6 anniversary coins and cards had been sent out in January – no books. She noted that the high volume of anniversaries that month may be due to successful New Year’s Resolutions.
Treasurer’s Report: Jo noted that January was the start of a new accounting year so the new report has the Year-to-Date fields effectively zeroed out. The January 7th Tradition donations came in at $145.00.
The current balance for the JOL Happy Hour Meeting is $258.47 (not counting the reserve of $400). $658.47 was deposited into the GSB account. Total expenses reported for January were -$75.33 ($34.01 for the groups’ Zoom subscription and $41.32 for Coins and Books).
Dan A. asked for any questions or comments. There were none.
GSR Report: Herb reported that our Guilford group – part of District 20/meeting on the 3rd Thursday of every month – rolled over all officers for 2025. He said the group is continuing to do fine work in distributing A.A. literature to prisons, treatment centers, libraries, as well as on its Web site.
Herb reminded all that GSR minutes are posted on the district web site at: https://d20a11.org.
Dan A. asked for any questions or comments. There were none.
JOL Web Report: Herb said the there was nothing new to report and that he was always open for new suggestions for changes or additions.
Chairman’s comments. Dan A. made a motion to accept all service reports at once at the end of the meeting. This motion was seconded by John D., unanimously accepted, and the reports were all approved.
Adjournment: Dan A. asked if there was any further new business.
As a point of information, Herb said he has been getting questions about the availability of the updated Meeting Schedule Book. He reminded the group that the new version of the book is available online (https://ct-aa.org/) and that each group member has the ability to print the books. Dan suggested that we need to make a general suggestion for people wanting to use the traditional “print” booklet, that it is available in this format and how to print their own copy. Daniel recommended, that since Tuesday is a meeting for newcomers on our rotation, that this become a recurring announcement by the Chair of that meeting.
Dan made a motion to adjourn the meeting. John D. seconded his motion and the meeting was unanimously called to adjournment. David B. thanks Dan for running the Business meeting each month – “nice job!”
