Delegate's Report Archive

June, 2007

• Early Bird Box 459 - English
• Early Bird Box 459 - En Espanõl

Reprinted from Box 4-5-9 (2007 General Service Conference – Early Bird Edition Vo. 53 No. 3 June-July 2007)) with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc

Delegates Report for the 57th General Service Conference April 22-28 2007

Preparation for the 57th GSC began in earnest in the middle of February when I recieved the CD with the final agenda and background material from Conference Coordinator Rick W.

As delegates we have the choice of receiving the background in a hard copy format or on a CD. I chose the CD and had two copies printed; one for me and one for our alt/delegate Woodrow W.

Once we had the background material Woodrow and I got together and made decisions about what agenda items we would chose to discuss at the Spring Pre-Conference Assembly. This is a difficult choice, considering the entire background for the agenda is over 800 pages. It would be difficult if not impossible to go over the entire agenda at the Pre-Conference Assembly. With that in mind we picked topics that were on going from last years conference and ones that we thought had the most affect on AA as a whole. We ended up with 10 agenda items to discuss at the Pre-Conference Assembly Workshops and then at the Spring Pre-Conference Assembly.

I want to thank all of those that participated in this process at the area level. I will start by thanking all of the groups that participated by donating there time, money and energy to the district, the Area, and the Board of Trustees to make this year around conference process work. Also thank you to everyone who attended a Pre-Conference Assembly Workshops and the Spring Pre-Conference Assembly. The workshops helped the DCMs and GSRs prepare for the Pre-Conference Assembly. They were a valuable tool in helping me understand the material and get ready for the conference. Thank you to all of the past delegates that have helped me and inspired me through the years. Last and certainly not least I want to thank Woodrow W. Area 92 Alternate Delegate for his help in making this whole thing work.

This year's conference found my committee, the Conference Committee on Trustees, with a little more on our plate then we had expected. We were presented with the opportunity to add a Minority Appeal, filed by several Trustees, to our agenda. We were informed of the appeal about a week and a half prior to the conference. Our Committee Chair Lori P. panel 56 delegate from area 46 New Mexico led us in an email poll to vote whether or not to accept the appeal. Our committee voted with substantial unanimity to accept the appeal and discuss it in committee. This turned out to be a controversial and somewhat disturbing turn of events at the conference. Because this appeal came in after the January 15th deadline for agenda items the conference coordinator and our committee secretary were not able in good faith to the conference process provide our committee or any other delegates any background material.

Information about the appeal was requested from the floor of the conference early on in the week. Our committee chair asked the rest of the conference to be patient and wait until we gave our committee report.

Our committee was in a position of not being able to discuss this item due to the fact that it was in committee and therefore only to be discussed by committee members until after our report. Lori presented the Conference Committee on Trustees Report to the conference body on Thursday. After all of the dust settled a substantial majority of the conference was satisfied with the work the committee did and the resulting additional consideration.

The Minority Appeal centered on the question "Is the General Manager of the General Service Office position a rotated position." The Conference Committee on Trustees kept our focus on the appeal and not it's content. Our decisions were grounded in a careful study of the traditions and concepts in regard to minority opinion, with special attention to concept 5.

Following is the additional consideration the committee presented to the conference.

• The committee accepted the "Appeal to the General Service Conference" dated April 11, 2007 concerning the decision made in the January 2007 executive session of the General Service Board not to begin a search for a new General Manager of the General Service Office.
  
  In keeping with the importance of the principle of assuring us that the minority opinion will be heard, as outlined in Concept V, the Conference Committee on Trustees requests that this "Appeal to the General Service Conference" be given a full hearing at the next scheduled executive session of the General Service Board.
  
  In addition, the committee requested that the trustees' Committee on Nominating review Procedure ? 9 of their Composition, Scope and Procedures-"Guidelines for Hiring the General Manager, G.S.O."-and clarify the language which refers to the length of service for that position. The committee requested that the trustees' Committee on Nominating forward a final report to the 2008 Conference Committee on Trustees.

It was a privilege to be a member of the 57th General Service Conference Committee on Trustees. I was able to experience first hand the true meaning of our Second Tradition. This experience affirmed my belief in the group conscience process that we use in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Another historical event took place for the trustees committee. We were able to make a recommendation that led to the following Conference Advisory Action.

In accordance with the Bylaws of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., the General Service Board consider all eligible Class A (nonalcoholic) and Class B (alcoholic) trustees when selecting the chairperson of the General Service Board.

Note: The Bylaws of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., may be found in The A.A. Service Manual

This item was on the agenda of the 56th General Service Conference Committee on Trustees. At that time the committee didn't feel there was enough information available on the topic for a full discussion on the floor of the conference and therefore asked that additional relevant background be gathered and be reported to the 2007 Conference Committee on Trustees. This was presented as an additional consideration. Additional considerations are not actionable and therefore not open for debate by the conference. Conference members may ask questions of the committee chair or other committee members. (for a detailed explanation of the conference processes refer to chapters seven and eight pg. S51-S58 in the AA Service Manual.

The question of having a Class B (alcoholic) serve as Chairmen of the Board of Trustees was discussed throughout the US and Canada in the Areas for the entire year proceeding the conference. It was never a matter of changing the by-laws of the Board of Trustees, the by-laws allow for Class A (non-alcoholic) or Class B to serve as Chair of the Board. The issue was that there had been several Advisory Actions made by past conferences to continue the tradition of having a Class A Trustee serve as chair.

As I said earlier this was debated on the conference floor and after much discussion the vote was made and the recommendation passed with substantial unanimity and became an advisory action. This fulfilled a recommendation that Bill W. made to the board in 1962.

One highlight for me as a member of the Conference Committee on Trustees was to make the recommendation that:

The following slate of directors be elected at the annual meeting of the members of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc. in April 2007:

Ginger B.	Raymond M.
James B.	Robert (Bob) M.
Robin B.	Madeleine J. P.
Herbert I. G.	Andrew M. (Andy) T.
Dorothy L. H.

The Ginger B. in that slate of officers is Ginger B. Panel 48 delegate for WSEA 92. Ginger is newly appointed Non-Trustee Director for the Grapevine Inc. Ginger began serving at the conclusion of the 57th General Service Conference and will attend her first Meeting of the General Service Board in July.

Each year at the Conference the Pacific Region Delegates meet for lunch with the Pacific Region Trustee to award bids for future PRAASAs and Pacific Regional Forums. The selections made this year were:
PRAASA 2010 Area 05 California Southern
PRAASA 2011 Area 17 Hawaii
Pacific Regional Forum 2010 Area 09 California Mid-Southern

Another topic we discussed at great length in the past year in Area 92 was volunteer contributions to the Board of Trustees and how they affect AA as a whole. Vince Keefe is a Class A Trustee and Treasure of the General Service Board. Vince's gave a superb financial report to the conference. Following is the closing statement of Vince's written report.

"What can we conclude after having reviewed all of the various financial statements? For one thing we can say surprises happen every year and 2006 is certainly no exception.

In 2006

• We saw the Fellowship respond with a record amount of contributions to help pay the cost of our General Service Office.
• The percent of groups sending contributions increased for the first time in the last five years.
• Increases' in pension and retiree health care costs have added significantly to the annual cost of the General Service Office.
• Gross sales of literature showed only a very small increase over 2005, while the related gross profit was slightly lower.
• La Vina reduced the overall loss incurred in 2005 by approximately $36,000.
• The A.A. Grapevine posted a loss of $48,875 instead of the budgeted profit of $19,983.

In conclusion, my hope is that each of us pledges to continue to do our best to maintain momentum into 2007 and 2008. Surprises will come our way, but with the continued support of our membership we will be able to meet new surprises without affecting the level of our services to the Fellowship."

On behalf of Area 92 I would like to thank Vince for all of the hard work he does for Alcoholics Anonymous. Vince's reports are all well presented and easy to follow. If anyone is interested in a copy of the report which includes text and a Power Point presentation let me know and I will get it to you.

All of the Conference Advisory Actions, Additional Committee Considerations, and the reports and presentations presented throughout the conference week will be available in the Final Conference Report. The report will come out around the middle of August. I will get the reports out to the Area 92 Committee as soon as I get them. If anyone has questions on any particular agenda item please contact me and I will get you the information.

I would like to conclude this report by thanking Area 92 for the privilege of allowing me to serve as Panel 56 Delegate to the General Service Conference. This experience has changed my life. When I stumbled into AA 18years ago I could barely talk to anyone. I had no idea who I was. You got me a cup of coffee sat me down and said welcome and please keep coming back, and I have. "God's will be done" and "keep coming back" are two phrases that have saved my life.

My time as delegate is quickly coming to a close and I will be rotating on to what I have been told is the best job in AA; past delegate. I hope my experience can be useful from time to time. The greatest experience I have had is in learning to trust the process. In this case the Conference Process. The 57th General Service Conference taught me things at the level of the heart and mind that I will never forget. It was not an easy conference; we struggled with some gut wrenching issues. In the end I think all agreed that the group conscience has been heard.

The day one conference ends a new conference begins. Preparations are already being made for the 58th General Service Conference. The conference is a year around process and is the guardian of our World Services and our Twelve Traditions. With that in mind I encourage all AA members to take an interest in the conference. We can all become more diligent in discussing the conference in our home groups and at the district and area level.

We elect a delegate to send to the conference and be a voting member. Our responsibly does not end there. All AA members are conference members in that we are all guardians of the Twelve Traditions and our World Services.

Yours in Service Dave