Minutes
Guilford AA Happy Hour Business Meeting
8/2/2024
Attendance:
Officers: Dan A.-Chair, John D.- Service Chair, Jo -Treasurer, Pam D.-Coins and Books, Herb-GSR & Website Chair, Ann Z.-Secretary
Others: Yvonne, Daniel
Dan A. opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.
Old Business: It was noted that there was an anonymous contribution for the Jacob’s Beach picnic from the early morning Joy of Living Live meeting.
New Business: none
Secretary’s Report: Dan A. reported that the minutes for the 7/5/2024 Business Meeting had been posted on the group’s Website and asked for any comments. None were made.
Service Chair Report: John D. reported that there is nothing new on recruiting new hosts for meetings and that current hosts do a remarkable job. Dan A. reiterated that the hosts do a great job—they are the glue of the meeting and make a huge contribution to the group.
Coins and Books Report: Pam D. reported that 6 coins with cards had been sent out in July. No books were requested during that time. Dan A. thanked Pam for her service.
Treasurer’s Report: Jo reported that the current balance for the JOL Happy Hour Meeting is
$328.44 (not counting the reserve of $400). $728.44 was deposited into the GSB account.
Income was reported for 7th tradition contributions ($267.01). Expenses reported were for
Zoom ($34.01) and Coins and Books ($25.55) – totaling = $59.56.
Noting that contributions had been made in July to District 20, Area 11, and the G.S.O, Jo suggested that there be regular rotation for such contributions. Yvonne asked about the level of donations to the above groups and said that there was AA literature on how allocations should be made. Dan A. responded that there has always been a discussion and agreement on how the allocations should be made and that this group regularly makes allocations that cover our bases.
In response to Jo’s suggestion about the timing of donations, Herb reported that allocations are typically sent out quarterly from the Treasurer in March, June, September, and December. Jo reported that all donations by the group are well discussed and documented. She also said that she would create an excel report documenting YTD accounting of all line items the groups discussion before further disbursement decisions are made. Yvonne asked how many people in the group work on its accounting. Herb told her that the process is transparent; he oversees accounting and Jo handles the bookkeeping. There were no further comments.
GSR Report: Herb reminded the group that all GSR minutes are posted on the district web site at:
Herb also reported that the District 20 representatives meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Guilford Community Center. He said that the representatives welcome all AA member to come as there are always service opportunities.
Herb noted that there is a Traditions Study meeting preceding the monthly third Thursday business meeting at 6:30pm. He said they were considering making the meeting a regular AA meeting and publish it in the meeting schedule to draw others in. He underscored that the current discussion is focused on doing an inventory of how the traditions apply at all levels. Currently it is a live meeting-not on Zoom. There were no further comments.
Web Server Report: Herb clarified that his role as Web Server is two sided: 1) reviewing the overall ct.aa.org Web site and 2) focusing on content of the Happy Hour Web site.
Herb reported that the District 20 (Area11) July 18 meeting had an agenda item to look through the ct.aa.org web site and offer feedback on its contents. The group created an inventory of proposed changes for the group to review and vote on at the next meeting. He noted that one of the revisions discussed was the rewording of the guidelines for this committee. Other recommendations are listed in the web site at: https://d20a11.org/minutes-july-18-2024-gsr-meeting/
Herb also highlighted that our District 20 web site is autonomous. He strongly emphasized that he is not the “boss” of the Happy Hour web site. But rather, he said he is always open to suggestions and does what the group’s Conscience requests. Dan A suggested that it would be a good to ask the whole group to make suggestions regarding the Web Site over the next month.
Chairman’s comments. Dan A. made a motion to approve all service reports at once at the end of the meeting. John D. and JO seconded this motion and it was unanimously accepted.
Dan A asked the group if there was any other business to discuss. Two topics were brought up:
Yvonne asked if the committee had considered having a time keeper facility to ensure that people self-monitor themselves to limit their shares to 3 minutes.
Dan opened the discussion on this concept asking if it should be the individual meeting Chair’s responsibility to cut people off. There was agreement that this should be discussed at the next business meeting. Dan A. will reference the issue of limiting shares to 3 minutes at the daily meetings before the September business meeting. Daniel also recommended reaching out to the 7 weekly chairs to determine if this is an issue in their meetings.
Yvonne asked if there is any guidance for when there are readings that are not in the AA approved literature-out of the scope of AA. Should there be a prior discussion and group approval of certain readings initiated be meeting chairs?
Dan A. asked if we wanted to give the chairs leeway to decide if a topic is inappropriate. Should the meeting chair reach out to the service chair? He noted that we must be very careful not to go down a slippery slope of censorship.
Herb highlighted that most weekday meetings have assigned readings to choose from-that only the beginners meeting does not. He suggested that we look at the early morning Zoom meeting to see if they have guidelines. Dan A. suggested that we look at this question again in the September meeting.
Adjournment: Dan A. made a motion that all reports be accepted. This was seconded and all reports were accepted unanimously. The meeting was also unanimously called to adjournment.
