November 2004 Area Minutes and financial statement, Portland Area of Narcotics Anonymous

Click link below for printable .pdf files of the minutes

November Area Minutes .pdf

Pacific Cascade Regional Minutes & Motions also included in PFD Format

Regional Minutes Page 1    Page 2    Page 3

(This requires a .pdf file reader to view such as Adobe Acrobat)

Portland Area Service Committee

Monthly Agenda

December 18th, 2004

Set to begin at 2p.m.

1.     Call meeting to order

2.     Moment of Silence, followed by the Serenity Prayer for those who care to join

3.     Reading of the Twelve Traditions

4.     Reading of the Twelve Concepts

5.     Reading of the Concept of the month (12)

6.     Reading of the Dedication to Service

7.     Roll Call of Officers

8.     Roll Call of Groups

9.                Establish a quorum

10.  New GSR orientation

11.                Treasurer Report

12.  Secretary/By-laws ad hoc report, including the reading of the minutes from the last meeting.               

13.  Chair Report; mail call; Schedule PASO open forum meeting (date/time/location)

14.  Vice Chair Report- Subcommittee and Regional issues

15a         Activities

15b                 Hospitals and Institutions

15c                 Hotline

15d                 Literature

15e                 Outreach

15f                  Public Information

15g                 RCM/ Alternate RCM (includes Regional motions,vote)

15h               PASO

15i               Web site ad hoc

               15j               PCRCNA XIII 2006

15.  New GSR recognition

16.  Break 15min maximum

17.  Reopen meeting with moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer

18.  Count of voting GSR’s     

19.                Unfinished business

        20a. Motion #77, Tabled

        20b. Motion #82, Tabled

        20c. Motion #92, Tabled

        20d. Motion #88

        20e. Motion # 91

20e. Emergency elections

         1.  Treasurer

       21.   New Business

       22.   PASO/Open forum

23.                Announcements

       24.   Close

This record has not yet been amended or accepted by a vote of the PASC fellowship

Portland Area Service Committee

of Narcotics Anonymous

53 SE 80^th Avenue

Portland, OR   97213

November 20^th, 2004

The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.  the meeting opened with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer for those who cared to join in.

The 12 Traditions were read by: Becky

The 12 Concepts were read by: Casey

The 11^th Concept was read by: Casey

The Dedication To Service was read by: Troy

Roll Call of the BOD

14 were present.

Roll call of Groups

46 groups answered the roll call.

Establish Quorum

Quorum was present and set at 23.

New GSR Orientation

Treasurer Report, Joan T.

We failed to meet our prudent reserve this month by $1500.00.  Our total income from January to October this year is $14,800.00.  Total expenses were $21,000.00.  Included in this month’s report is an account of the Activities financial report up to September, 2004.

Please see attached reports.

Chair Report, Colin, W.

Apologizes for previous month’s behavior.  Asks the fellowship to support the new Portland Area Service Office.  A PASO open forum meeting and meeting of the BOD is scheduled for November 28, 2004 at 3:00 pm.  All are welcome to attend.  We will be discussing the future of the PASO.

Secretary Report, Mary E., includes reading of the minutes

Motion to waive the reading of the minutes made by Hope No Dope, seconded by Hour of Power.  Motion passed by general consent.

Amendments to minutes were: p.2, under “Chair Report”; address corrected to 53 SE 80^th Avenue.  p 3, under “Activities report”: 2^nd sentence corrected the wording returning to offering; p. 7 under “PCRCNA XIII report”, corrected date of next meeting from November 20^th to November 21^st; p. 8 under “Emergency Elections” corrected Paul’s last initial from F to J and Joan’s last initial from P to T.  Motion to accept the minutes as amended made by Will, seconded by Recovery In The House, motion passed by general consent.

Minutes were returned.  Please confirm that your mailing information is correct and that you write legibly.  Please be aware that there are two forms for new groups to fill out, one is the Group Schedule Change Form for the Portland Area meeting schedule, the second is a New Group Registration form that you pick up from me and that is mailed to the WSO which will allow you to receive a copy of the NAWS NEWS and your group will be listed on the world schedule website. 

I plan to meet with a postal worker concerning our bulk mailing and requesting our permit to mail.  I will need the check for $150.00 for our permit fee that has already been approved as per Motion #44.  I will attend the next Public Information meeting to report the mail specifications to them.  We should be able to use this service by December.  I still have an email sign in sheet for those who would like to receive the minutes via email who are not GSRs or Alternate GSRs.

I would like to remind everyone that PASC officer nominations will be held in February and elections will be held in March.  I will have completed 2 full terms as the Secretary and do not intend to continue in this position.  It would be a good idea for someone to work with me now to find out exactly what this position entails.  The clean time requirement is 2 years.

Open Forum

Back to Basics made a statement about their group’s position regarding the PASO.

A Dessert Social is planned for December and we will need physical volunteers as well as monetary donations.  Contact Laurie S., (phone number in Activities At A Glance calendar.)

Hotline is a good opportunity to be of service. 

Marathon meetings are being planned for November 25^th and December 25^th, 2004, see Activities calendar for contact info if interested.

A request was made to keep the noise level down while someone has the floor because it’s had to hear in the room. 

Vice-Chair report, Paul J., interim v.c.

Conducts sub-committee reports

Activities report, Aaron R.

We will submit a motion today for $1000.00 for seed money for some activity.  We are experiencing a problem resolving our bank statement but are handling it.  We are donating all money above our prudent reserve back to the Area account and requesting it as needed as per passage of Motion that directs us to do so.

A concerned member pointed out that the committee shouldn’t attempt to “float” any checks because there has been a change in banking policy that could have an immediate affect as a result.  There was also some concern about checks being cashed with only one signature but that issue has also been resolved.  Ultimately, the PAAS is making the effort to conform to the Area by-laws.

Hospitals & Institutions, Steve P.

43 commitments were held, 4 were missed, 3 cancelled and 586 addicts were seen including the River Rock facility.  The committee made a financial request for $50.00.

Hotline, Linda R.

The hotline meeting originally scheduled for November 12, 2004 was cancelled.  However, I would like to emphasize the changes that were voted upon at the October meeting and why the committee voted the way it did.  The reason for this is, there seems to be some confusion within the Area.  The committee had three options to choose from and unanimously voted for option #2, which will go into effect on December 1, 2004.  All three options that the committee had to choose from were in the October minutes.  There are many reasons why the committee felt that option #3, merging with the Portland Area Service Office would be inappropriate at this time.  It would mean the hotline telephone number would be changed.  The Dex directory put out by Qwest would have the old number listed until December 2005 when the new phone books come out again.  This means that anyone dialing the old number would receive a message of, “this number has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”  The reason for this is that Business Telephone Exchange owns this number and WILL NOT release it to us, which is their right.  They also have the right to assign it to a new client the next day after we leave their service if they want to.  Also, we would loose our voicemail service.  Qwest does have the specialized “listen only “voicemail that we currently have, however they charge by the minute for each incoming call.  We could buy our own equipment for the phone service, but the cost for everything we would need is in the ballpark of $2500.  The committee feels it has chosen an option with the least cost.  It is important to make sure that in the effort to reduce costs that we do not lose our main purpose, to get the still suffering addict to a meeting.  Also, as stated in concept #2 “The final responsibility and authority for NA services rest with the NA groups.”  As of today I have not received any of the questionnaires sent out in the minutes.  I hope that the feedback from these questionnaires will be received today as it will be very helpful for the committee.  The bottom line is the hotline will not be merged with the Service Office at this time.  And as a reminder, that because of Motion #47, no other changes will be made to the hotline committee until a motion is brought to the committee affected before presenting it to Area or the groups.

We currently have only two open shifts, which are Tuesday afternoon from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Thursday evening from 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm.  Our next meeting will be held on December 10, 2004 at 7:00 pm at the Portland Area Service Office, 53 SE 80^th, Portland.  We are also looking for a Treasurer and Vice Chair.  We hope to see you at our next meeting.

Thanks, Linda R.

Literature, Jeff S.

We had $3159.15 in sales and our WSO order was $3513.75.

Q:  Does the committee intend to raise the cost of literature or have they been directed to do so?A: No.

Outreach, Laurence, J.

We had a number of groups ask us about different ways they could approach child care issues within their groups.  We’re gathering some info about that from other groups and will provide that next month.  The group “Just Kickin’ It” ended.  Most groups request help managing their business meeting.  We suggest that the person currently holding a service position train their replacement.  The meeting in the Dalles is asking us for support and some members from the committee plan to attend this month.  The question was raised by someone about whether or not it is ok for an individual to hand out NA schedules on the street and whether or not that could be construed as “promoting”.  It was determined that anyone can hand out NA schedules but should refrain from making any statements that could be misunderstood as a “promise” to be “cured”.

Public Information, Jim B.

No report was available for November.

RCM/Alternate RCM report, J.B. & Thom My.

 1) Our next RSC and GSR Assembly will be held on Feb. 5 & 6 '05 in Salem. I hope  that, because this will be held so close to us, we will have great attendance. The GSR Assembly starts on Saturday at 10 A.M. and will finish up in the afternoon with smaller discussion groups on specific topics that affect us as a fellowship. As usual the sub-committees will meet at 8 A.M. on Sunday with the Regional business meeting in the afternoon. This last quarter our area had excellent sub-committee participation and I hope this trend continues.

2) There are several open positions available at the Regional level: Literature Chair, Additional Needs Chair and Archivist. In order to hold Regional positions Regional experience is generally necessary.  A good way to develop that exposure is by attending these quarterly meetings.

3) There are several Regional motions that need to be voted on by the groups. Included here are several by-law changes that need to be addressed. As at area, a 2/3 majority is required to pass. There has, during the past year been several positions that have existed without official job descriptions and requirements. Motions # 5, 6, 7 and 8 correct that. Motion # 1 was tabled because our Region is operating below its prudent reserve but will be re-examined this next quarter and I need direction from our area groups.

4) The Regional budget for the up-coming year is also included and will be discussed line by line at the next RSC. If groups have questions on specific line items we can address them in several different ways: a) written questions brought to the next PASC by group GSR's can be answered by the RCM and Alt RCM to the best of their knowledge. b) E-mails that address specific line items can be sent prior to the next PASC and I'll try my best. jbclean8998@hotmail.com  

5) The spring RSC is going to be hosted by this area and it has been tentatively scheduled to be held at the PASO on April 16th '05. Contact Thom My. if you want to volunteer to be of service during this event.

Personally, I would hope that since we, as an area, have decided to go forward with a Service Office that we get behind this group venture and work together with unity to work out the bugs. In loving service and gratitude, JB

P.A.S.O., Ron C.

We will address the concerns of the sub-committees at the next BOD meeting.  Our budget did involve sub-committee participation but because there is dissatisfaction with it, we will withdraw the budget that was passed and present the Area with a new budget.  We plan to use an accountant.  We received a copier to make the schedules this month as a demo offer, therefore we didn’t have the expense of paying for the schedules this month.

We plan to hold an ice cream social and grand opening of the office Saturday, December 4^th and would like everyone to attend.  Prior to that, an open forum regarding the PASO will be held. 

Joan wanted to know if a financial report was available from the committee and the response was “No”.  She also wanted to know about the bank statement.  The Secretary informed her that she had mailed them to her.  We received our $5000.00 allotment and currently have $3700.00 in the bank.  We plan to have concessions.

We will have the ceiling finished by the December Area meeting.

Website ad hoc committee, Jim B.

The website is near completion as well as the by-laws governing the use of the site.  We will meet once more on December 11^th, 2004 to wrap up.  The web site should be completed by January 2005.

PCRCNA XIII, Claire K.

A fund raising dance and speaker meeting will be held December 11^th, 2004 at 5641 SE 111^th beginning at 6:30 pm.  We will decide at the next committee meeting whether or not we will be relocating the business meeting to the PASO location.  The meeting will be November 21^st at 12:30 pm at Providence hospital on NE 47^th and Glisan in room HCC-8.  We still have open positions available for billeting, entertainment vice chair, hotels and hospitality, speakers and special needs.  We also have raffle tickets available.

PCRCNA 13 is only 18 months away. Our next meeting is 12/19/04 - see Activities at a glance for location and fundraising events. Entertainment and Hospitality subcommittees are meeting on 12/18/04. Contact pcrcna13@portlandna.com for information. Don't forget to pre-register for PCRCNA 12 in Grants Pass, OR 2005.

New GSR Recognition

Hope Group                           Bobby K.                    GSR

            Late Nite                              Jason B.                     GSR

            Step On It                                  Marlon F.                     GSR

            Hugs Not Drugs                     Becci S.                     GSR

            Unloaded In Sandy                   Brian W.                    Alt GSR

            U.R.S. 10:00 pm                       Duane W.                    GSR

            SE Serenity                                    Guy J.                           GSR

            From Hell To Heaven             Travis T.                     GSR

            This Is It                                  Troy C.                         GSR

We welcome them and ask that they keep coming back!

Break 4:30 -3:40 pm

Meeting resumed at 4:45 pm with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer for those who cared to join in.

Count of voting GSRs

27 were present; quorum is met.

Unfinished business

The Chair made a decision to hold the Table on Motion #77 until the issue could be addressed at the next PASO business meeting.  Motion directs the PASO to accept responsibility for organizing the Oaks Park fund raising event and relieve the Activities committee of that duty.

Motion #82 is being sent back to the groups this month for a vote.  The motion did not receive an endorsement from the Activities sub-committee.

Motion #84 proposed a change in the Area meeting time from 2:00-5:00 pm to 12:00-3:00pm.  Motion affects Area by-laws and required a 2/3 vote to pass. Result of vote:

19 For, 14 Opposed, 2 Abstentions.  Motion fails.  (22 votes in favor to pass)

Motion #85 to waive the clean time for the PASC Chair.  Also required a 2/3 vote to pass.  Result of vote: 25 For, 8 Opposed, 0 Abstentions.  Motion passes.

Result of emergency election for vice chair:  No other nominations were made and a vote was taken.  Paul J. was elected unanimously as the Vice Chair.

Victoria C. was nominated for the position of Treasurer and accepted the nomination.  Unless there are other nominations next month, a vote will be taken for that position in December.

At 5:10pm Vickie motioned to extend the meeting until business was completed.  Seconded by Hour of Power, Motion passed.

New Business

 Please vote for the motions in red at your group’s business meeting.

Motion #82 (#47) Made by Ron C, seconded by Learning to Live

That the Portland Area Activities sub-committee bylaws, section Purpose, have the words “in order of descending priority” be removed.  Leaveing the Purpose to read: “The purpose of the P.A.A.S. is threefold, these are:

            A) To carry the message….

            B) To promote unity….

            C) Provide funds…

Purpose: To bring the Portland Area Activities sub-committee closer to following the guidelines proposed in the “Local Guide to Service”

Motion #87, Submitted By: Mary E., seconded by: We’re No Angels

Submitted as an emergency motion based on the time line included in the motion.

(A copy of the lease agreement was submitted with the motion.)

Motion:  To direct the PASO sub-committee to negotiate dissolution of the lease of this building (monthly rent @ $950.00 per month) with the landlord before December rent comes due. Amended to add: To negotiate a 30-day opt-out option with the landlord.

Further, that the PASO restore any remaining funds leftover from their $5000.00 allotment upon successfully reneging the negotiation of the lease with the landlord, to the

Area Treasurer until a time when we, as an Area, are able to fulfill the financial commitments and obligations of a service office.

Purpose: To avoid undermining the Primary Purpose of Narcotics Anonymous in the Portland Area, the 12 Traditions, 12 Concepts by failing to provide ALL the services this Area has requested from this service Body.  To provide an opportunity for the Area groups  and the Area sub-committees to participate in the decision making process.

To avoid financial disaster.

Result of vote: 25 For, 3 Opposed, 2 Abstentions, Motion passes.

Motion #88, Made by Public Information, seconded by Spiritual Journeys

Motion: To remove sub-committee/officer phone numbers from the schedule as of the February/March printing.

Purpose: To use the free space for new meetings and to keep information accurate.

Motion #89 was withdrawn by the maker.  It was a request for a starter kit for a new group.  The group Steppin’ To Live offered to donate their supplies, etc. because it was ending due to a lack of attendance.

(After some discussion, the Chair, Colin, decided to resign from his position and left the building.  The newly elected Vice Chair, Paul, conducted the meeting from this point forward.)

Motion #90 Made by Mary E, seconded by Teen & Serene

Motion: The PASO restore any remaining funds left over from the $5000.00 allotment upon successfully reneging the negotiation of the lease with the landlord, to the Area Treasurer until a time when we, as an Area are able to fulfill the financial commitments and obligations of a Service Office.

Purpose: To provide an opportunity for the Area groups and sub-committees to participate in the decision-making process.

The Chair ruled the motion out of order because it was prematurely submitted and would depend upon the outcome of Motion #87 to determine its validity.

Motion #91, Made by P.A.S.O.,  seconded by Hour of Power

Motion: To rescind the previously passed budget of the P.A.S.O.

Purpose: To engage the sub-committees and the groups for further input with the development of the P.A.S.O.

Motion #92, Made by Aaron, Activities, seconded by Teen & Serene

Motion: That we set aside $1000.00 seed money to fund summer events.

Purpose: To avoid money problems during the summer bigger money events.

A motion to table was made by Spiritual Journeys and seconded by Hour of Power.  Motion to table passed and the motion will be considered again in December.

A motion to close was made by Let’s Get It On, seconded by Present Reality.

The meeting adjourned at 6:05 pm.