GUTS Business Meeting – 06/07/2026

June 7th, 2026 Business Meeting Notes

BM Chair: Christian
BM Co-Chair: Bently
Secretary: Lauren

 

I. Treasurer’s Report – Elle

1. Report: Beginning Balance-$4,066.05, Ending Balance $5,015.46
2. DM Response
   1. Jason-I have a question about the ORC. I think we are running smoothly and everything is copacetic. I want to double check that the budget is on track. I am not keeping track of how close we are with our limits on money.
   2. Elle-We are doing really well.
   3. Shawna-I wanted to double check with the fiscal year. Are we on a calendar year?
   4. Elle-Yes, we are on a calendar year. We have four quarters. We are in the second month of Quarter 2. 
3. Motion to approve Treasurer’s Report 
   1. Seconded and Passed (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

II. ORC Report – Jason

1. Report: We go through busy and slow times. We had a combination of both. We had a total of 10 coins with a variety of times. 7 books were sent out. A newcomer was given the literature. A lot of gratitude is sent after receiving ORC services. I had two different emails that apparently a host has given out the ORC email for someone who was pestering them about verification. The ORC does not give out verification. The host needs to not give out the ORC email for verification. We reply that it is only available in the meeting.
2. BM Response
   1. Susan-Are there requests for the Plain Language Big Book?
   2. Jason-Yes, we have requests for that book. I try to always make sure it’s not their only Big Book reference. This book is in addition to the Big Book. I have given out several,
   3. Susan-As a reading teacher, my passion is for the second language learner and disabled learner. The fact that we are translating the Big Book for those who need it is beautiful to me. This reaches the newcomer. I am so proud of the numbers. It’s close to my heart. 
   4. Jason-I can source other languages for those who need it. I don’t know if we need a vote for that. Send people our way so that we can provide literature in other languages. We sometimes do shipping from overseas which has worked out. I will do all that I can to make the literature available in other languages.
3. Motion to approve ORC Report
   1. Seconded and Passes (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

III. Tech Team Report – Gabi and Elle

1. Report: Nothing new to report
2. Motion to approve Tech Team Report
   1. Seconded and Passed (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

IV. GSR Report – Dennis J

1. Report: The final draft of the 5th edition of the Big Book was approved, 27 new stories will be in the 5th edition, GSO has been given the EverythingAA App by the owner, no action was taken to address the subject of people living outside the area they represent (They recognize each area is autonomous), the conference decided not to change the policy of the Grapevine not accepting cash contributions from groups and individuals, and the district has set up an ADhoc committee to work on a workshop.
2. Motion to approve GSR Report
   1. Seconded and Passed (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

V. Group Conscience Manual Report

1. Report: Gabi showed the group the finished product of the GC Manual. The group thanks Gabi for this amazing service. We are so appreciative that she organized all the group consciences for the group.
2. BM Response
   1. Shawna – Is there a way we can have today’s Group Conscience listed out for reference?
   2. Gabi – There’s a page with exception of one, are all current GC. It’s not too hard to figure out. The whole manual is all current unless there was an override. I can pull out all the ones that were overridden. It won’t make the document much smaller. We tend to have a GC and stick to it. Or, we have a GC and then we make another GC, but it’s drastically different. We layer GCs so both are in play. I see what you’re saying, though. 
   3. Shawna – Maybe the overrides can be color-coded?
   4. Gabi – Yes, I can do that. 
   5. Dennis – I think is fantastic. Thank you so much for all the work you did. 
   6. Kristen – I just wanted to say that this was a huge undertaking. People did contribute a little bit, but Gabi took this on as her baby. Goes to show that there’s been advancement in technology. Gabi did the hard work. I am totally wow-ed by this. 
   7. Gabi – I had three missing. Leona sent me two of the missing notes. Thank you, Leona. 
3. Motion to approve the Masterpiece
   1. Seconded and Passes (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

VI. Nominations – Lauren

1. Nominations
   1. Bently – Trainer (17 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
   2. Mike G – Trainer (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
   3. Steve – Trainer (17 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
   4. RA – Male Contact List Coordinator (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
2. Unity Workshop
   1. Lauren: I just want to take a moment to make a plug in for Unity Workshop that will be happening this week. The dates will be Wednesday at 10am, Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 11am. That’s Pacific Time. Those will be the first three workshops. I will be doing 3-4 more workshops within the next couple of weeks. After that, we will see if anyone still wants or needs to attend. 

 

VII. Todd Ban

1. BM Response 
   1. Bently – For me, this is really cut and dry. We set boundaries and parameters. We should reinforce what we set out this time. He needs to be kicked out.
   2. Dennis – I want to emphasize that I am not against the ban, but we need to follow GC. I strongly feel that we need to uphold the 2/3 majority. I don’t want us to set a bad precedent. Let’s vote again and get the 2/3 vote. I support the ban. 
   3. Shawna-My understanding is that he was soliciting illegal activity to newcomers. Our safety card gives us the ability to remove people. The newcomer is the one who has first hand experience. We can’t report hearsay. We need to protect the room. If someone is engaging in predatory behavior, they need to be removed.
   4. Kristen-I am working with the person who is going to report the situation to the authorities. In the group, there’s only so much legal action we can take. The victim of the crime has to do this themself. There’s very few lines I have that you don’t cross. I’m patient, loving, and tolerant in most situations. I truly hope Todd gets well, but child pornography is not something I can overlook. He was soliciting newcomers. His past was brought into the present. This is one of those cases that involves safety and the well being of the group.

   5. Bently – I motion for an indefinite ban because of the nature of what happened. Only ⅔ majority would allow him back into the meeting, if he petitions to come back to the meeting.

   6. Diana – Is there a difference between the permanent ban and indefinite ban?

   7. Christian – Permanent ban-no return, indefinite ban-possible return.

   8. Bently – We have done permanent bans before, but GC can always be changed. GC is never permanent. Everything changes. Do I want him back in the group ever again? No. We just want the extra security that he would really need to be a different person to come back.

2. Motion
   1. Todd is indefinitely banned from the group. Only 2/3 majority would allow him back into the meeting. 
      • Seconded and Passes (19 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

VIII. Grapevine Subscription Access

1. BM Responses
   1. Christian-I am all for having the Grapevine available to members.
   2. Shawna-I just want to ask the Treasurer based on the numbers we have, is this a reasonable expense? I don’t know how much it would cost for a group subscription
   3. Elle-I have looked into this a bit. The Grapevine doesn’t offer a group subscription. It is per user email subscription. We can do an annual fee which is $30 a year. It’s not something in which we can use our GUTS email. We can’t give that to everyone. We can have a Grapevine representative to tie to our GSR as well. That way, we can stay aware. They can coordinate subscriptions. If we do it through the ORC, we do have those funds available, but then it’s managing them on a monthly basis.
   4. Mark-Can this be like sharing a Netflix password without having to pay them more money than they are due?
   5. Elle-Technically, yes, but it’s not legal. It’s per user and not quite like Netflix where sharing is allowed.
   6. Teresa-If we could get a cost per user, that would be a good update for the community to have. I think it could be a hefty expense. 
   7. Kristen-A person can subscribe on their own. As I understand it, if we give the info, can individuals decide if they want to subscribe or not. Just give the info out. We can’t give a paper copy away. 
   8. Bently-What is the comparative price? If it’s comparative, it’s fine. We have plenty of money to offer this to people. We have this money rather than hoard it, we should be doing the service portion to give people the resources.
   9. Lauren-I would like to motion to table this for the Treasurer and ORC to figure out the logistics of this to see if it’s possible. Figure out how it would work for them respectively and report back.
   10. Shawna-Maybe we can offer the one year subscription to Grapevine for 1 year attendance for GUTS?
   11. Kristen-The only thing I worry about rewarding people for attending seems like promoting. This could be a violation of the traditions. We don’t mean it that way, but it can be perceived that way. I like John’s idea that they receive a subscription after a year of sobriety. That way, we don’t get in the gray area.
   12. Bently-Wanted to see if a third representative could be there with the Treasurer and the ORC. Someone who is not in a leadership position.
   13. John E-No way to keep track of who is a GUTS homegroup member and who isn’t. I think we should only give the gift of the subscription to people after 1 year of sobriety.
2. Motion
   1. Tabling this topic for next month so that the Treasurer and ORC can figure out the logistics and see if this is all feasible for the group. There was also an amendment added to have a third representative outside of GUTS leadership to work on this.
      • Seconded and Passes (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

IX. GSR Team

1. Motion to limit the GSR to one term consisting of 2 years. 
   1. Seconded and Passes (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

🛑 Vote to close meeting passed.