Attendees:

Beth A., International Trustee

Jeff B., Secretary

Jennifer B., Treasurer

Mark M., Technology chair

Barry M., Trustee-At-Large

Susan R., Chair

Visitors

Ken B., Unity committee member

Brigette, Huit18 group member

Carlos D., Unity Committee chair

Jimmy J., IGR, Recovery in Da House

Susan R., the Chair, called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.  Susan asked that we read the Traditions and Mark M. read the Traditions to the Board. The Board then recited the Serenity prayer. Susan welcomed the visitors and stated that any visitors’ questions will be answered at the end. This meeting is for the Board and visitors can only listen.

Overview of Agenda: Minutes, Treasurer Report, Old Business: ASL Discussion, Contributions from other AA entities, Grapevine Podcase request, Officer reports.

Meeting Minutes Approval – Jeff B., Secretary

• August 11, 2024: Jeff reviewed these minutes and there were no comments or corrections
  • Motion: Jennifer made a motion to accept the minutes as presented and Barry seconded that motion. No one opposed. Minutes approved.

Treasurer Report – Jennifer B., Treasurer

• Jennifer reviewed the 3 July treasurer reports starting with the Budget Variance report. Revenue for August were just under $10,000. Jennifer reviewed several of the expenses from this report.
• Balance Sheet: She reported that we have $140,000 in the bank with $5,500 earmarked for the OIAA International Convention, leaving us $134,500 in available funds.
• Jennifer reminded the Board that we need to have a discussion about the allocation of excess funds over our prudent Reserve which she would like to take place at the November Board meeting as she will not be attending the October Board meeting.
• Contributions: Jennifer reported that July saw very robust contributions. There were 77 groups contributing with a contribution from a first time contributor, the Stepping Stones group, being the highest.

Comments/Questions on the Financial reports:

• Mark asked whether the OIAA membership will be asked how they would like to see their excess funds allocated and Jennifer indicated that they would be given that opportunity.
• Jeff asked if Jennifer had a sense of how much over our prudent reserve we will be. Jennifer replied that she will have a better sense of that after our International Convention in October.
• Susan asked if it would be possible to place a star in front of the new groups which are contributing for the first time on the Contributions report. Jennifer replied that it would be difficult to do accurately and a very manual process so she won’t be doing this.

Old Business

ASL Discussion – Susan R., Chair

• Susan asked Jeff to summarize the discussion at our previous Board meeting as several Trustees were absent.
• Jeff summarized the discussion about ASL. He mentioned that we have received 10 names of ASL interpreters from a member of the Deaf community that they are comfortable with and who are familiar with AA terms in sign language. However, these individuals are more expensive. Jennifer stated that she looked through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and found 12 ASL interpreters who can meet our needs and who are more cost effective. She also expressed concenr that we were being dictated to by a member of the Deaf community. Beth expressed concern that we were only addressing ASL needs and not the needs of everyone in the deaf community worldwide.
• Barry commented that, based on his experience in his Area, he feels that it is very important to have an Accessibilities committee, populated by people with accessibility concerns. He stated that he would be very interested in creating an Accessibility committee with a worldwide focus. Jeff stated that he had come to the same conclusion and that there was an agenda item under New Business to address setting up an Accessibilities committee.
• Susan mentioned that she had requested an increase in her budget for translation services to pay ASL certified interpreters $65/hour which would be an increase of $1,248 over 8 events. She then discussed the rest of her translation service requests and asked the Board for feedback.
• Jennifer stated that she was able to obtain certified ASL interpreters for $40/hr. which would fit within the $37/hr. blended rate so there was no need to pay for ASL interpreters at $65/hr.
• Jeff stated that he supports the work that Jennifer had done to find 12 AS interpreters who are at a more reasonable rate and who can sign AA terms properly. He further stated that we were provided a list of interpreters who the deaf community is comfortable with and that perhaps, as a compromise, we can select one from their list and then use one of the interpreters Jennifer found.  Jeff mentioned that any interpreters that we used would have to be validated.

Accepting Contributions from the UK GSO – Jennifer B., Treasurer

• Susan asked Jennifer for a follow-up report on this issue.
• Jennifer stated that we had already discussed this item. She mentioned that this contribution turned out to be from a group and not from the GSO in the UK.

Grapevine Podcast Request – Susan R., Chair

• Susan mentioned that we had received a request from the Grapevine Podcast to have a podcast episode about OIAA.
• Susan responded to that request as did one OIAA Committee member and a Committee chair. Susan offered the Grapevine podcast team a choice and the Podcast team selected her to present.
• Susan mentioned to the Podcast team that we will be having an International Convention in October and they offered to do some PR for the event. Randy, from the Communication committee, was contacted and he provided an announcement which was sent to the Podcast team.

Officer Reports

Chair Report – Susan R.

• Susan stated that we have had 3 complaints from groups that have complained before. The Alt. IGR for Serenity Seekers has made a second request for a workshop on predatory behavior.
• Susan mentioned her various activities in the past month.
• She provided a report on the trip to the ICOAA Convention in Las Vegas. Susan stated that for the past 2 years the budget has provided for 2 members to attend this Convention which is a gathering of Intergroup and Central Officer workers to discuss problems and possible solutions.  Officers of the General Service Board and members of the Grapevine staff also attend.
• Susan mentioned that there are 2 important ICOAA committees who work with GSO, the Policy committee and the Communications committee. Participation in these committees is done regionally but as OIAA is not a geographic organization we do not belong to a region and, therefore, cannot participate in these vital committees to have the voice of online groups heard. Susan mentioned that we are hoping to change this policy.
• Susan mentioned that there was a request for an announcement from the OIAA Convention committee that she declined to publish due to the inclusion of a personal, non-OIAA email address on the announcement.

Comments/Questions on the Chair Report

• Beth mentioned that Susan had declined to publish an announcement for the OIAA International Convention from August 24^th and asked for an explanation. Susan stated that this issue would be discussed in the Executive session which will follow this public Board meeting.

Secretary Report – Jeff B., Secretary

No report

Treasurer Report – Jennifer B.

No report

Technology Report

• Mark reported that there is an Assembly coming up and that preparation are being made for that event.
• He stated that much work is being done on the Member project and that a pilot is on-going through Oct. 7^th.

International Trustee report – Beth A., International Trustee

• Beth reported that we 2,465 registrations from over 60 countries with Bolivia being the latest country.
• Beth is working with Mark and Kerri to post the agenda on the website and to post how-to documents.
• Beth stated that she has been meeting with the Tech 12 team and coordinated a meeting with the Alene and the Deaf community to work out the technical issues for that community with Tech 12.
• Beth mentioned the various different volunteers who are assisting with the Convention, one of which is Ken B, who is coordinating the entertainment. Beth stated they currently 4 videos have been submitted.
• Beth stated that the Unity committee is working with Jennifer on an unbudgeted fund request and their 2025 budget.

Comments/Questions on the Chair Report

• Jeff expressed concerns that the videos being submitted are of members of AA where their full face is being shown and asked whether this was an issue with the 11^th Beth stated that the OIAA Convention is a closed event for alcoholics only and that when individuals register, they are asked to provide a Home Group and a Sobriety date.

Trustee-At-Large report – Barry M., Trustee-At-Large

• Barry reported that he has been working with the outside law firm that we engaged and prodding them to complete the 6 or 7 items on their plate.
• He stated that it his intention to get these items resolved as soon as possible and that we have not been invoiced for any of them yet.

The meeting ended at 2:12 pm EST when the Board went into Executive Session.

Motions Summary

The following motions were voted on by the Board at this meeting:

• Meeting minutes for the August 11^th, 2024 Board meeting were approved.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeff B.

OIAA Secretary