Guts Business Meeting – 08/11/2024

8/11/2024 Business Meeting Notes

BM Chair:  Mark M. (Standing in for Mary M.)

BM Co-Chair: Mark M.

Secretary: Lauren (Standing in for Noelle) BM Response=Purple

SC Members:   Mark M., Mary Mc, John E., Jason W., Ian, Suzie M, Elle, Christian

1. Treasurer’s Report – Elle
2. Report: Beg Balance-$4,768, GiveButter Transfer-$1,067, Paypal Transfer-$32.86, Total Deposits-$1,100.67.
3. Expenses: ORC Expense-$30.99/$50.48/$105.96/$23.46, Mailpoet-$21.00, Virtual Office-$19.00, Total Expenses: $250.89
4. Ending Cash Balance (7/31/2024): $7241.24
5. BM Response
6. Kimberly-Invest money in software to update website so that it’s accurate with the contact lists. Elle-We can look into that.
7. Dennis-We are registered with New York. Need the group number. Wants to put in his name for the hat for GSR. Elle-Yes, they currently have us registered.
8. Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report.

• Seconded and Passed (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

1. ORC Report – Jason W./Suzie
2. Report: Suzie-Some weeks are busier than others, but it’s moving along. There are steady requests that come in. Jason- June-62 orders, $522, 17 Big books, 12 12&12’s July-42 orders, 8 big books, 3 12 and 12’s, 20 coins
3. BM Response
4. Thomas-How are we following up with people who are saying that they’re new to the group? How do we invite them to be members of the group? Ask people if GUTS is their home group?
5. Suzie-No way to determine that. There’s no way to check. Compared this to verification process.
6. Dennis-You’re a home group member when you say you are.
7. Kimberly-If we want to do that, we could create a Google Doc for that. Might be a simple way to do it.
8. Jerry-Shouldn’t police people or waste time with a Google Doc. Just invite them to be a homegroup member when they request a book/coin.
9. Kristen-I appreciate the sentiment of getting people involved. Anyplace else I have gone, the best way to do that is to get involved in service and attend BM’s. Doesn’t need to be policed. You’re in a homegroup when you say you are.
10. Thomas-Belong to a group in Boston. I am a member because I was invited. I was asked by the person who was chairing. If we are doing outreach, we should ask them if they want GUTS to be their homegroup.
11. Motion to approve ORC report.

• Seconded and Passed (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
• Committee Reports

1. Host Feedback Workshop – Kristen
2. Kristen: Nothing new. We are in the transition for training people. Haven’t gotten together with anyone yet. Implement it with regular training. Maybe doing another workshop would be beneficial. Organizing the workshops is a lot to manage. There would be a way to offer it to those who need it. There have been issues with hosts not redirecting. A whole training session might not need to be done again.

• Kimberly: Some people need to be trained to moderate people’s shares. A certain member talks about drugs and homicide. Hosts need to moderate this individual when they are getting out of hand.

1. Unity Workshop – Lauren
2. Lauren: Nothing new to report. I am not sure if the group wants these workshops in the future. I am not sure if it’s needed anymore.
3. Intergroup Representative – Lauren stepped down
4. We need a new Intergroup Representative. Mark M explained the duties of the IR. Typically, these members attend a meeting once per month. Intergroup Representatives keep an ear to the pulse of what’s happening in the main office and how that affects individual groups.
5. Website Update – Glenn
6. We didn’t get an update from the tech team at the BM.
7. Polling
8. 1 Non-SC Thread Admin: Britt Britt (17 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
9. 1 SC Member: Jayna (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
10. 1 Male Contact List Coordinator: Christian (17 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
11. 1 Email Coordinator: N/A
12. 2 Trainers: Dave R (11 Yes Votes/1 No Vote), Kim G (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent), TC Tuna: (6 Yes Votes/10 No Votes). Kim G and Dave R will be the two trainers.
13. 2 Schedulers: Jayna (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent), John E (17 Yes Votes/1 No Vote)
14. 1 Training Coordinator: Barbara (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
15. 1 ORC Member: Mike G (17 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
16. 1 Intergroup Rep: N/A
17. 12 Step/12 Trad Meetings: Lauren (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
18. (Tabled at May BM) Topic for business meeting agenda: Combined three separate submissions. Lack of Coverage and Attendance for Sister Meetings (LGBTQIA+ & Allies and Traditions)
19. Issue/Background: Lack of Coverage and Attendance for Sister Meetings (LGBTQIA+ & Allies and Traditions).

• Out of consideration for our members I would like to request we add “on hold” for the LGBTQIA+ & Allies meeting in our script. I advocate for continuing to work to obtain a host and cohosts. This is a valuable resource and was cut short before it could fully develop.

 

• There seems to be a problem keeping hosts for the sister meetings. At least two meetings do not have any host and I am the only one on the traditions meeting, which is the only one I can host due to my work schedule. I have heard that one other meeting did not have a host recently.

 

• The Past Few Weeks there has been no host for The Sister on Sunday Nights I’m a suggestion we do not have the Sunday Meeting no more. or we can just have a regular AA meeting. just start early 6:pst but my first motion is to stop the sister meeting the on Sunday nights since there has been no one showing up and hosting. Second is two just have a one-hour regular AA meeting. or stop it altogether. and wait to the marathon meeting.

 

1. Steering Committee Discussion Points:

• There is a general lack of host/co-host support for all Sister Meetings.  This problem is beginning to compound across all the meetings.  We may need to start combining some meetings to maximize the hosts/co-hosts that are currently covering the meetings.

 

• The LGBTQIA+ and Allies may need to be put on hold, so we don’t have people going into the meeting and finding no one there to chair.  It would be a shame to eliminate the meeting, but resources are a problem.  New ideas need to be put forth since this meeting is a real value.  Maybe put the meeting on hold for 30 days.

 

• During the announcements in the marathon meeting, it seems the sister meeting announcements are getting glossed over to get to the hands more quickly.  A little more promotion may get additional people to step up.  If the hosts can stress our need for help in this area, we may get more people willing to serve.  This is an instance where nothing gets wasted if people show up when there is no host.  This might incentivize members to join our service team.

 

• Service cannot be mandated.  But it would be bad if any of our meetings went dark because of a lack of service members.  It looks bad for our group and very bad for any newcomers looking for one of these meetings.  Different ways of encouraging members to step up for our Sister meetings need to be explored.

 

• It was noted that during summertime AA meeting attendance tends to decrease.  Can we figure out if can limit or combine certain meetings to reduce the strain on the service team.  Perhaps we can have Traditions or Big Book workshops instead of weekly meetings. 

 

• There seems to be a larger issue of a lack of service commitments with all the Sister Meetings that will need to be addressed.

 

Motion:  To send to the BM for a discussion on how we can better resource all our Sister Meetings.  We need more service members to step up and cover these meetings.

1. SC Response/Action (April SC Meeting)
   Motion to bring to BM for a discussion on how we can better resource all our Sister Meetings passed unanimously 9-0. We need more service members to step up and cover these meetings.
2. BM Response

• Dennis-Lauren was elected to 12 Trad/12Steps. I just don’t want to do it alone. I am still willing to host those meetings. LGBTQIA had decent attendance, but then people stopped going. All meetings need to have a reasonable attendance.
• Suzie-Would like to jump into LGBTQIA as a Host. Can’t do it by myself. Would hate to see this meeting disband. The meeting is on hold.
• Thomas-I would like to address point 4. Service can’t be mandated. Putting pressure on people to do service is like mandating. If we are being realistic, the trend might be that we’re going to find problems getting the personnel for the marathon meeting. There have been defections. There’s always empty slots. Project this under statistical analysis. Going into a period where there’s less people to man the meetings.
• Kevin-We need resources for the marathon meeting. It’s a main reason people come to GUTS. There’s already time and resources for sister meetings. We need to support the main guts meeting as a priority. Marathon meeting needs all the help it can get.
• Kimberly-I think that we can consider taking the number of service hours that cohosts need from 60 to 40. There are people taking the time to do the cohosting. We might have more people hosting.
• Suzie-I understand that the marathon meeting is a priority. Some people like doing service work in the Sister Meetings. It’s an opportunity to do service. I didn’t think one was in more need than another. There’s several people who have been trained for the marathon meeting. Doesn’t think that there’s pressure for people to overdo service work. I propose that we leave the LGBTQIA group on hold.
• Ian M-It’s not mandating; it’s volunteering. Advertising the sister meetings more in the marathon meeting might be a good idea.
• Mark-Going to be upholding both commitments to the men’s meeting and marathon meeting.
• Kristen-The current GC is that people can be fast tracked to hosting if they step up to the sister meetings. People have to ask to host. The group can vote to get people in sooner. Maybe it’s time to remove the cohosting hours and allow people to host.
• Lori-Would like to explore hosting.
• Suzie-I motion keeping the LGBTQIA meeting on hold.
• Seconded and Passed (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
• (Tabled at July BM) Topic for business meeting agenda – Lauren

1. I propose giving leeway to thread admins to delete unhealthy messages from the threads. This was discussed at the Group Inventory, and I am hoping the group can give permission to implement this.
2. SC Meeting Notes: All in the group agreed that empowering the Thread Admins to police negative comments would be a good addition to GC. A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as written for approval. Motion Passed 9 to 0.
3. BM Response-Motion to approve

• Seconded and Passed (16 Yes Votes/No Dissent)
• (Tabled at July BM) Topic for business meeting agenda (Anonymous)

1. There is a dire need for hosts and cohosts during the Late Nite GUTS hours. Recently, Klaartje volunteered to host, despite not being host trained. It is proposed that Klaartje to be fast-tracked.
2. SC Meeting Notes: The question has been raised as whether a service members must be a host or cohosts prior to fulfilling other roles. This was not placed before the entire steering committee. A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as written for further discussion. Motion Passed 7 to 2.
3. BM Response

• The group seemed to agree that Klaartje and Lori should be fast tracked to hosting. Members needed clarification on the GC for fast tracking cohosts to Hosts. In order to be fast tracked, people can either host a sister meeting or host LNG once per week for 2 months.
• Jayna raised the concern that cohosts who are unfamiliar with cohosting duties might struggle with the host position.
• Ian wondered if there was a limit for fast-tracking people.
• Kristen responded by saying that these cohosts would still need to go through host training. She proposed removing the conditions for fast tracking and allow anyone to host.
• Motion to remove the conditions for fast-tracking cohosts and allow anyone to host.
• Seconded and Passed (14 Yes Votes/6 No Votes) The group may want to revisit this due to the high level of dissent.

1. Reporting harassment or inappropriate behavior during a meeting – Kevin Wyoming
2. Steven B tonight (during Dennis hour, got muted) called someone in chat a “psychopath”, saying “80% of the room are working the program wrong” (paraphrase), confrontational lecturing, inappropriate shares about women undressing recommend 6-month ban. More detrimental than helpful behavior.
3. SC Meeting Notes: Steven B was out of line during this episode. He was forcibly muted by the co-host.

• It was noted that Steven B will be back as he loves to push buttons and create disruptions.
• He is sexist and misogynistic and tends to target women.
• He comes off as AA savvy and smart, but eventually becomes very disruptive and manipulative.
• It was noted that hosts need to be connected and listening in the live thread to the co-hosts who may be raising the alarm that people are taking offense to shares. If the host is not offended that does not mean it is appropriate to let offensive shares continue.  Hosts need to be aware of the room and aware of co-host feedback.
• There are many instances where Steven B talks about personal sexual experiences or other inappropriate sexual commentary. Many women have expressed how uncomfortable he makes them feel.
• Steven tends to get inappropriate when men are hosting since he is more likely to not be redirected by a male host. Male hosts be unaware or unoffended by Steven’s commentary, so going forward male hosts need to take that into consideration.
• Steering Committee Action: A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as written for further discussion. Motion Passed 5 to 0.

1. BM Response

• Kimberly-Someone could have a personal conversation with Steven first. Can we also include Michael Anthony with this issue?
• Kevin-Steven called someone a psychopath. He was talking about 80% are working the program incorrectly. Should be asked to leave for a temporary amount of time.
• Mark M-There’s no excuse for Steven to be saying these things because he has lengthy sobriety time. He would brag about his time to others.
• Lauren-I motion for a 6-month ban for Steven B.
• Christian-Michael Anthony complaints should go through the SC feedback, and we can discuss the issue next month. Supported the 6-month ban for Steven B.
• Thomas-Has he been confronted before? Has he been given warnings? We might want to lessen his exile to three months.
• Motion to ban Steven B for 6 months.
• Seconded and Passed (18 Yes Votes/1 No Vote)

1. Topic for business meeting agenda – Jason W.
2. Is it time to consider cutting the hours of our marathon meeting. Possibly cutting the unattended sister meetings. A consolidation because the current and ongoing staffing situation is unchanging and unmaintainable.
3. SC Meeting Notes:

• People in GUTS have been resistant to this idea in the past, however we are experiencing a shortage in service members during certain time of the marathon as well as in the sister meetings.
• We have recently picked up new service members and are in the process of training them. It may be this will help the marathon meeting, but the sister meetings seem to always struggle.
• Cutting hours out of the marathon meeting will drastically change the feel and intent of what GUTS has always been about. A discussion may be needed amongst the group concerning a change in the marathon time.
• We would lose regulars on the east coast that come in early in their morning, as well as people who are up late or can’t sleep and need a meeting.
• The normal LNG team may experience burnout, this has always been a concern. If others can step up in LNG, it may help keep these hours staffed. 
• If we were to cut out the 1^st hour and the last two hours, it would be a really big change for GUTS.
• This has been an elephant in the room, the service team does struggle at times with a limited amount of service members. Sometimes we have as many as six empty slots.
• We may need to come up with some creative solutions or have a committee to address this problem. Especially with the sister meetings that need service help.
• Someone always seems to step up in the marathon meetings and we get it done. We may need to just continue trusting to our service team to step up when needed.  Ebbs and flows in service are natural throughout all AA meetings and it is happening in GUTS now.  At this time, we shouldn’t be curtailing any of the hours or meetings in the marathon.
• The schedulers indicated that it does get a little thin in the summer for LNG. It has been the same people in the last two years who take on the LNG meetings.  Concern is even the new people coming on are not available for LNG. 
• It was stated that the weekend meetings are always fully staffed so if there a necessary cut made it would not have to be for every night of the week.

1. SC Action: Motion to take this to the BM for a discussion. Motion passed 5-1. Issue will be brought to the BM.
2. BM Response

• Holly-There’s been an improvement, and it has made a big difference. We still need to talk about this. People are stepping up to fill in the schedule.
• Kevin-I don’t think we should cut the hours of the marathon meeting. Cutting the Sister meetings should be okay. Effort should go towards the marathon meeting. Sister meetings are there for extra service work.
• Dennis-Strongly opposed to cutting the hours of the marathon meeting. His work schedule allows for LNG service hours.
• Thomas-I remember waiting for the Coed Step meeting, but no one showed up. No one was hosting that night. People showing up to no meeting is not good. Maybe we can combine sister meetings? We don’t have to be locked in for 5 days a week for sister meetings.
• Jayna-Agree with Thomas. Having the sister meetings not open is not a great feeling. We have people stepping up for that. In terms of LNG, I think that we have certain people carrying those times. If they are not burning out, then what they think should carry more weight. Maybe cutting down the number of cohosts to 3 is an option.
• Kimberly-I don’t think we should cut the sister meetings. Many people stick around for the regular meeting. I don’t think we should cut LNG either.
• Kristen-This is kind of redundant because we covered all of this earlier. Emphasizing the times when people are needed has been helping. I don’t think there’s any need to change anything now that people are volunteering. When this issue was brought up, there was a lot of concern.
• Jason-Feedback was written in frustration when there was poor participation. I motion that we move forward with no changes. We brought up a lot of issues that have been addressed. We have moved towards a better phase. Keep meeting as is. Keep training new hosts/cohosts.
• Motion to make no changes. (15 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

1. (Tabled at July BM) Topic for business meeting agenda – Amy Anon
2. I have a member who wishes to add her name as a potential sponsor to the LGBTQIA+ support list. But the website form to add names to a support list does not have an option for the LGBTQIA+ support list. The only options are Male/Female in the dropdown. If I remember correctly, this webform dates from before we had set up the LGBTQIA+ support list. I respectfully propose amending the data field on the sign-up form. Perhaps re-title the data field as “Which List(s) Do You Want to Join?” or something similar. And for the options to be a checklist that permits up to 2 selections if possible. And the options in the checklist should be something like this to show what lists are available and who can join them:

Women’s List (women only)

Men’s List (men only)

LGBTQIA+ (LGBTQIA+ and allies only)

1. SC Meeting Notes: It was agreed that this would need to be sent to the Tech team to add an option for members to specify they want to be added to the LGBTQIA+ sober contact list. We can address during the BM Tech report. A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as for approval. Motion Passed 9 to 0.
2. The issue was remanded to the tech team already.

Motion to close out meeting-Seconded and Passed (18 Yes Votes/No Dissent)

 

Tabled

1. (Tabled at July BM) Topic for business meeting agenda – Leona
2. Presently, the Business Meeting notes are found behind closed doors on the website for service people only to see. Yet non-service people are encouraged to have voices, vote, and participate in the Business Meetings. Shouldn’t those people have the right to see the Business Meeting notes? Shouldn’t the notes be made available for all to see?
3. SC Meeting Notes: All in the group agreed that empowering the Thread Admins to police negative comments would be a good addition to GC. A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as written for approval. Motion Passed 9 to 0.

 

1. (Tabled at July BM) Topic for business meeting agenda (Mary Mc)
2. I would like to suggest that we add to the opening announcements the importance of sponsorship and let people know that there are potential sponsors in the room. Perhaps we could encourage people who are willing to sponsor to raise their virtual hand or use the green check mark to allow newcomers the opportunity to see potential sponsors. Ron (Rad Biz) does a wonderful job of talking about the importance of sponsorship. I think as hosts we have an opportunity to link people together. I have sponsees in Belgium and New Zealand just by reaching out and connecting with them. This was identified in the Group Inventory as a weakness of the group, and I would like to see it addressed.
3. SC Meeting Notes: There are details that will need to be worked out in the business meeting. Does this require a change to the Host script? Should it be posted to chat only? Where in the meeting should this be announced? It was mentioned that changes to the host script have always been a big deal and it may be best to use this as a reason to have a larger overhaul of the host script. All SC members agreed that this is a wonderful idea and has been needed for some time. A motion was put forth and seconded to send this to the BM as written for further discussion. Motion Passed 9 to 0.

• (Tabled at June BM) Feedback on service team – Holly

1. Issue: Recently there have been a higher than usual number of service members requesting one-hour shifts. This has been an evolving discussion and since the last time the topic was tabled, we have come to a clearer understanding on this question and feel it warrants speedy attention.

   Schedulers are requesting that:
   The group determines exactly what the group conscience is on the standard cohost shift so there is continuity in the mee􀆟ng announcement, training process and for the scheduling team. As far as we understand, up until this point the specifics of the hours have not been voted on in a business meeting. During the service announcement its now often stated that one-hour shifts are available. This is confusing as the standard expectation communicated during training is that cohost shifts are two hours, going back at least as far as 2022, likely longer. Even though the last time it was brought to SC it was tabled, we feel things have changed since then and the ambiguity does need to be cleared up.

 

• Additionally, since it’s not possible to maintain the schedule without the occasional exception (time zone impossibilities or health reasons) we are asking that the group conscience includes allowing us discretion when necessary. Gentle reminder that we are a team of three (odd number for consensus) and do not make decisions unilaterally. Thank you, SC and GUTS team, for your service.

1. SC Meeting Notes: Motion put forth to bring to BM to come up with definitive decision on the length of co-hosting shifts.

 

1. GC Manual (Tabled Last Month)
2. Lauren: I am proposing a voluntary committee to work on cataloguing all group conscience and creating a GC Manual. Some work has already been done towards this, but I am hoping we can get a group of experienced members together to finish the task.

 

1. Non-Facilitated Topics (Tabled Last Month)
2. Lauren: Any group-approved BM topic/proposal that has not been facilitated for 3 months will be tabled until a concrete proposal is brought to the group. Investigation and background work for accomplishing those topics can still be done. Bring the completed project to the group when it is ready for group approval and implementation.
3. My main concern is the follow-through on projects that have been left undone for months. The group has amazing ideas, but keep in mind that work must be done for these ideas to be accomplished.