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

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Portland Area Service Committee

of Narcotics Anonymous

4069 NE MLK jr Blvd

Portland, OR   97211

October 30^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: Jessica.

The 12 Concepts were read by: Thom.

The 10^th Concept was read by: Brody.

The Dedication to Service was read by: Paul.

Roll Call of the BOD

14 were present.

Roll call of groups and mail call

55 groups answered the roll.  Colin passed out mail.

Establish Quorum

Quorum was present and set at 23.

New GSR Orientation

Treasurer’s Report, Sunny

Please see attached reports.

Secretary Report, Mary E., including the reading of the minutes from the previous month.

Rick motioned to suspend the reading of the minutes, seconded by Learning to Live.  Motion passed by general consent.  There were no amendments made to the minutes.

Rick motioned to accept the minutes, seconded by Canby Saturday Night Live.  Motion passed by general consent.

            The post office approved our application for non-profit mailing rates.  I would like to remind everyone that Motion #44 approved $150.00 for fee to pay for our mailing permit.  This fee is an annual fee but Motion #44 only approved a one-time fee.  We may want to re-evaluate our use of funds for mailing vs the fee after a year has passed before establishing the $150.00 as a recurring expense to the Area.

            The post office has informed me that in order for our sub-committees to take advantage of the postal rates they must be listed under our corporation.  This will require that I provide them with additional information about the sub-committees and compose a “letter of request” to submit with the information, specifically on letterhead stationary, which we don’t have.  I would like to know if it’s ok to go ahead and have some printed so that I can complete our application or if I should submit a motion about it today.  (It was acknowledged that this could be done without a motion and that I will take care of it.) 

            Only members of the BOD will be listed as authorized “mailers” with the post office and will have to be changed with each BOD member change.  Also, I intend to list every standing sub-committee with the post office so that every will be able to use this mailing rate.

            All mail should be brought to Area for mailing the following month.

            Motion #50 was incorrectly established as having failed and changes the time the meeting should end.  The motion actually passed and we will officially end the meeting at 5:00 pm or earlier.

Chair Report, Colin W.

Colin apologized for being irritable at the September meeting.  We would like to see more unity being practiced amongst the Area and its sub-committees.

            We will be moving the PASC meeting in November to the new PASO location at 53 SE 8^th Avenue.  A flyer will be included in the minutes and we will have a volunteer at our current location (4069 NE MLK jr. Blvd) to direct people to the new location.

            I also want to remind everyone that we will be meeting early in November and December due to our national holidays.  The dates are: November 20^th, 2004 and December 18^th, 2004.  Plan your group’s business meeting accordingly.

Open Forum

-Rise and Shine has moved to the New Danmoore Hotel at 8 NW 8^th St.

-Rick gave an update on his proposal from last month that we establish a new committee to deal with annual events such as conventions. He approached the Activities committee about this idea and met with some resistance. He expressed dismay that the PAAS had agreed to turn hosting and organization of the Annual Picnic back over to the PASC(?), but the PAAS group conscience was to retain stewardship of the Annual Unity Day and other major annual events.

-The From Hell to Heaven group is starting to plan for next year’s Timothy Lake Campout, and welcomes input and support from the fellowship in organizing the event.. The group has decided to rename the campout  “T.L.C.”.

-Will responded with readings from the Guide to Local service that support the PAAS position that the primary purpose of the committee is to provide events that carry the message and support unity among the Area.

-Born Again meeting in Forest Grove will be expanding to hold a second meeting on Friday Nights starting Nov. 1^st.

-Troy says that his meeting requested that he ask PASC as a whole how the PAAS was able to withhold $1900 above its prudent reserve without seeking or obtaining approval from the PAAS.

-Aaron reminded the PASC that the PAAS organizes several very high profile and expensive events over a relatively short time in the late spring and summer. The PAAS held back money in order to meet upcoming financial obligations for some of those events without having to turn the money in to PASC and immediately submit a motion requesting the return of the same funds for deposits and related fees for upcoming events.

Vice Chair, Colin W. (Chair) conducts sub-committee reports

Activities sub-committee, Aaron R.

The PAAS has money set aside to reserve camp sites at Beverly Beach campground.  We are planning to reserve up to 50 sites in 2005.  We are returning the Oaks Park annual NA picnic event to the PASC for future organization and will no longer be managing that event.  The event was originally sponsored by the Area. The money raised will go to the PASO in support of the new office.

A “Spooky Dance” is planned for this evening at 5641 SE 111^th Ave.  Other upcoming events are listed in the Activities at a Glance calendar.

We plan to move our business meeting in December to the new PASO location after the information is printed in the new schedule.  The November meeting will be held at the usual time and place.

Jessse is our new Secretary.

We do need volunteers to help out during our events.  There is no clean time requirement to be a member of the committee unless you are interested in a board position.  Come to the business meeting and find out what’s going on.

Hospitals & Institutions sub-committee, Brad C.

We held 64 commitments, 4 were missed, 9 cancelled and 921 addicts were seen.

Hotline sub-committee, Linda R.

The last hotline meeting was held last Friday, October 22, 2004.  The committee discussed three options for the Hotline.  The group conscience of the committee was to adopt option #2 which would cost $75 per month plus $35 per month for the voicemail. This will require each shift worker to forward the hotline themselves when it is time for their shift.  This option also makes it necessary to change the time of some of the shifts that end or begin at 1:00 am.  This change will take affect on December 1, 2004.  There are two documents attached to this report. The first is the three options the committee had to choose from.  The second is a questionnaire for the groups to complete and return to me by phone email mail or by bringing to Area next month.  The reason for sharing these documents with the groups is because this committee needs some direction from the entire Area and wants to get an idea of what you want from the Hotline.  There seems to be a debate as to whether the Area wants a hotline or a helpline, so please discuss these options with your groups.  The committee has also voted to move our business meeting to the PASO for the December 10^th meeting.  Our next meeting will be held on November 12^th at 2408 SE 16^th at 7:00 pm.  The committee is still looking for a vice chair.  We currently have five hotline shifts open.  They are Monday 7:00 am – 1:00 pm, Tuesday 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Thursday 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Saturday 1:00 am – 7:00 am, and Friday 7:00 pm – 1:00 am.  The Hotline voicemail has been updated and I want to say a special thank you to Margie K., Shannon G., Sunny S., and Jackie A., who have stepped up to take additional shifts and get the voicemail updated.  Shannon attended Region for the hotline and gave her report to the committee.  A presentation was made at H & I last night about the 12 Step list.  We need addicts willing to be of service in this capacity.  The committee also decided to purchase a copy of the “Guide to Phoneline Service” from the WSO for each shift worker.  Please join us for our next meeting on November 12^th. Thank you, Linda R.

Outreach sub-committee, Brian

Brian summarized the function of the Outreach sub-committee in his report.  He also handed out a copy of the information the committee approved for posting on our website.

Currently, the committee responds to group report forms, submitted at Area by the GSRs.  The “Meeting Tracker” collects these forms and the sub-committee responds accordingly.  We are working with the PI web master to provide a Group Report form on the website as well.  (Secretary’s note: All sub-committee and BOD positions have their own email address at the website.  If you want Outreach to pay a visit to your group for any reason, send an email to the Outreach Chair at the web address email.) Public Information also alerts the Outreach committee about any groups that require assistance via the new Schedule Change Form.  The web master also assists our committee with information provided on the website from the Schedule Change Form. 

Lawrence, Chair and Jesse, Secretary, visited the Here and Now group to help them conduct their business meeting.

We are planning to move with the PASC meeting in November because we meet approximately 2 hours prior to the regular PASC meeting. 

Public Information, Jim B.

We are now without a vice-chair as Bill S. has stepped down.  We are also going to need someone with web experience to assist Dennis with the web site.  Public Information is moving again.  We will now be meeting at the service office as of November 12^th, at 7:00P.M.  Vickie D. has notified us that even with the room created from the audit, that we still do not have room on the current schedule to accommodate all the new meetings coming in. One solution would be to change to a larger paper size.  We have been informed that we have to re-subscribe to keep the domain name (Portlandna.com), and are making an emergency motion today to pay for a five year renewal.  The cost of this renewal is $99.95.  Dennis has now gotten all of the addresses required to use Map Quest on the web-site.  Now everyone will be able to find directions to a particular meeting from the web site schedule.  We are now fine tuning our Contingency Plan/Presentation material.  We will be creating a Media Response Plan for the office that should contain our anonymity statement, along with some simple do’s and don’ts.  The presentation material just needs to be updated with both local and world history, and current history, which has changed somewhat since the material was first introduced.  We now have a new P.I. Booth Coordinator, Brian, who is working on the regional convention committee as their information chair, so we will be helping Brian in every way we can.  The Web Site Ad Hoc Committee has a set of guidelines that we are using, and are in the middle of editing.  Our next meeting will be on November 6^th, tentative, 1:00P.M. at 1324 N.E. 79^th, one block South of Halsey.

Literature, Jeff S.

Our WSO order was $2,524.95 and our sales for the area were $2,367.00.  We want to remind everyone that, as a result of approving the budget for the PASO that there will be a 10% increase in the cost of literature beginning January, 2005.

Regional Committee Member report, J.B.

1) During this past World Service Zonal Forum, in August '04, discussion followed our Regional report on the Portland Area Service Office  that "it is noted that WSO will not recognize an area service office, only a regional service office". In addition, during this last RSC in October, it was brought up that in the Portland Area's minutes (available online) it stated that the Pacific Cascade Region endorsed the PASO when in fact the regional body has expressed no opinion on the Portland Area Service Office.

2) Attendance at this past RSC(Regional Service Conference) was the best yet with representatives from the Hotline, P.I., Activities and H & I present. Dennis P. had our Area web-site set up and running in real time so that folks could tinker around with it and see how it has been expanded and how it potentially could serve as a model for our up-coming Regional web-site.

3) One of the items of interest that was brought up during area reports was the increasing need for groups to provide liability insurance and "was our regional policy set up to provide coverage at the group level?” The Regional Treasurer, Greg I., was going to report back at the next RSC what is and isn't covered at the group level.

4) The North Coast Area reported by letter that they are in need of help with their P.I. and H & I sub-committees.

5) On the regional financial front the Regional Treasurer reported that we are in excess of $1,400 below the prudent reserve set by the last annual budget, thus a motion was tabled that was intended to fund the Regional web-site start-up($155).

6) The proposed Spring RSC '05 submitted by Thom M, our Alt RCM, was accepted by the body and a seed money check was cut.

7) We will be having two (2) new Regional motions coming up to vote on at the group level during the next couple of months concerned with by-law changes and the Regional budget.

8) Congratulations to our very own Claire K., she has been elected interim 2nd Alternate Regional Delegate. She has begun her upcoming six year voyage of service and I'm looking forward to reading her reports from World.

9) As per by-laws we donated $75 to region this past quarter, which incidentally was the second lowest of the eleven (11) attending areas.

10) I have a replacement check for $42.75 which covers our split from last summer's RSC and Assembly.

11) Open positions at Region are: Literature Chair, Additional Needs Chair and Archivist.

PASO sub-committee, Ron C.

We received our seed money check in the amount of $5000.00 and plan to sign the lease on the new building location at the beginning of November.  We also plan to hold the PASC meeting at the new location in November.  The committee meets prior to the regular area meeting and at the same location as the Area meeting.

P.C.R.C.N.A. XIII 2006 report, Claire K., Chair

Theme: “Together We Have It All”, spring 2006

Vice-Chair-

Claire brought us a draft copy of the PCRCNA guidelines.  A Power-Point Presentation is available for consensus-based decision-making available for those who are interested. We discussed funding for Claire’s trip to region.  CNC, Region and Area don’t cover it.  We voted to give her $75 to finance her trips to Region and may be adjusted if the trip costs more. 

Registration-

Becki got some direction from the group as to what the registration committee needs to accomplish.

Merchandise-

Ed received the logo result from the logo contest at the dance and asked if this body has the right to change or modify the logo (which we do and we did). The modified logo will be submitted at our next meeting for approval. 

Entertainment- 

No sub-committee meeting took place this month.   Barry made contact with a DJ on 9/28. He estimates the funds needed for his committee will be $4,850 not including the comedian.  Barry also wanted to know if a silent auction will be an option.  Randy voiced concerns about the attendance of this convention in the past.  Sinking too much money into this could be a disaster.  Some suggestions were to move the Blues Cruise to Saturday night.   The Blues Cruise was not voted on definitely yet.  The body wants to see a contract before we decide. 

­

Arts & Graphics-

Rusty got his graphics back on his computer but does not yet have Adobe.  He has been doing most of our printing at his home due to lack of spending money. 

Claire suggested a pre-paid copy card for future use.  We can get an account at Kinko’s for 4 cents per copy.  Barry volunteered to make copies at home for us for free but 2 committee members had concerns about going against traditions. 

Convention Information-

Brian outlined Information Booth needs and acquisitions of any and all materials. The visitor’s center has provided us with a sample packet of material that we could obtain for our event and will provide is with all sample pamphlets, flyers, and any other material they have at no cost to us.  Brian is also in the process of becoming involved with the Public Information level due to the fact that it is going to be beneficial to have knowledge on how to answer any questions from the general public and any media that might show an interest. 

Programming-

Samantha made a budget and task list but says there is nothing much to do until January.  March 31, 2005 is the cutoff for speaker tape submission.  The Marathon Meeting will be taken care of by this committee.

Fundraising-

• The fundraising dace went very well.  $684.86 was turned over to the treasurer, and $20 was given as payment to the drummer who is not an NA member.  $57 was raised from the 7^th tradition and $41 from the 50-50 raffle. 
• There was little participation in the logo contest but a winner was chosen. 
• The Spiritual Breakfast will be on November 6^th.  Gene needs a coffee pot for the breakfast. 
• The December 11^th dance is on and Gene is waiting for a response from Michael McD. (29 years) and Rita B. (13 years) as speakers
• Claire suggested that the monies collected for 7^th tradition be used for newcomer uses or be put into our account as long as when it is collected it is known what it is being collected for. 

­Treasurer-

Doug would like budgets from every sub-committee at the next meeting.

­Secretary-

The following sub-committees have chair positions available and need to be filled:  Billeting, Special Needs.  Vice chairs are needed for Entertainment, H&H, A&G, and Programming. 

Our next meeting will be on November 21^th at Providence Hospital, Room HCC8. 

New GSR Recognition

            Teen & Serene              Brody O.                    GSR

            The Nooner             Christopher L.             Alt. GSR

            Doin’ Life                  Mark D.                    GSR

            SE Serenity                        Guy J.                           GSR

            Find The Way                      Casey Z.                     GSR

            Late Night Recovery            Janelle D.                    Alt. GSR

            Winding Roads               Heather S.                     GSR

            Multi-Culture             Anna J.                         Alt GSR

            Tell It Like It Is                       Rob B.                          GSR

            Steppin’ To Live Jessica C.                     GSR

We welcome them and ask that they keep coming back!

Break 4:15-4:30 pm

Reopen meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer for those who cared to join in.

Recount of voting GSRs

36 present, quorum is met.

Unfinished Business

Motion #67 submitted by Brad C.  Changes Area by-laws. Requires funding of travel expenses to Regional meetings for sub-committee Chairs of non money-making committees, up to $105.00 each.  Result of vote: 25 For, 3 Opposed, 9 Abstentions, motion passes.

Motion #73, Made by P.I, changes by-laws to increase the allotment of all sub-committees except PAAS from $75.00 per month to $125.00 per month to cover the cost of increased expenses.  Result of vote: 23 For, 10 Opposed, 3 Abstentions; motion passes.

Motion #76, Made by Learning To Live.  Increases Regional donation from $75.00 every quarter to $100.00.  Result of vote: 20 For, 13 Opposed, 5 Abstentions.  Motion fails.

*Note: motion changes PASC by-laws, requires 2/3 majority to pass.  22 votes in favor were needed for this motion to go into effect.

Emergency Elections, 1.Vice Chair and 2.Treasurer

The Chair appointed Paul F. as the interim Vice-Chair of the PASC; nominations for the position will be held open until next month. Here and Now nominated Victoria C. for the position of interim Treasurer to fill the remainder of Joan P.’s term.

Motion to extend meeting until business is completed made by Kick the Monkey, seconded by Hour of Power.  Result of vote: 10 For, 3 Opposed, 6 Abstentions.  Motion passes.

New Business

Tabled Motions

Motion #77, submitted by Will A.; seconded by Hope No Dope:

Motion: To direct the PASO to accept the Oaks Park fundraiser event, (which they used to retain) from the Act(ivities) Com(mittee).

Purpose: To allow and encourage the PASO to be self-supporting and allow Activities to be relieved of some financial burden.

Motion was ruled out of order by the Chair. Will challenged the Chair’s decision, which was seconded by Hour of Power. Colin explained that his decision was based on the ruling by Motion #47; Will explained that he believes the direction provided by Motion #47 requires the PASO to direct a motion affecting a subcommittee to that subcommittee prior to submitting it to the groups. Colin considered that information and suspended his ruling. After significant discussion regarding the mechanics of how the motion was affected by that turn of events, the PASO was directed to consider the motion and discussion at the PASC was tabled until next month’s ASC.

Motion #82, submitted by, Ron C., seconded by Learning To Live.  Motion addresses PAAS by-law change regarding the “Purpose” of the PAAS committee. 

The Chair tabled this motion.

Both makers of the tabled motions were directed to take their ideas directly to the affected sub-committees and address the issues within those committees before hearing them on the PASC floor. 

Motion #78, submitted by Hotline Subcommittee; seconded by Kick the Monkey:

Motion for 14.79 for additional supplies needed.

Purpose: To bring the hotline account current with a beginning balance of $125.00. Motion passed by general consent with 1 abstention.

Motion #79, submitted as an emergency motion by Public Information Subcommittee; seconded by Hell to Heaven.

Motion: Emergency motion for $99.95 to keep and maintain the domain name “portlandna.com” for a five year period, as it will expire on November 24^th.

Purpose: to responsibly maintain and keep our domain name.

Discussion: Why do we have the name “dot-com” instead of “dot-org”? Because that was the name that the PASC decided upon. Wouldn’t registering dot-org be free? No, the domain registration costs the same regardless of the form of name registered. While some hosts may offer discounts for domain registration to non-profit organizations, our webmaster does not know of any and our current registration does not. However, doing the five-year registration does give us a discount of $19.95 per year vs. $34.99 per year. Motion carried unanimously.

Motion #80, submitted by Just Say NA (Chris S.); seconded by Hour of Power. To request starter kit funds for existing meeting (Wednesday, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., at 4985 Willamette Falls Dr.; West Linn, OR). This is a meeting done by candlelight. It is an open-style meeting; bus 35 will take you there. And to request to be put on the meeting schedule and time.

Purpose: To provide unity at the Area level and to carry the message of recovery to our town.

Discussion: How long has the meeting been in existence? June 2004. Has the meeting received a starter kit previously? No. Starter kits are intended for brand new meetings. . Another member of the meeting pointed out that its attendees are mostly younger people without a lot of disposable income to donate. Outreach has literature supplies from a meeting that folded, another new meeting that was supposed to receive it has not connected with the Outreach committee to receive it.  Outreach will be happy to turn it over to Just Say NA. Maker withdrew the motion.

Motion #83, submitted by Heather S., seconded by Hell to Heaven.

Motion: Request starter kit for new meeting named “Winding Roads”.  Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00pm at PCC-Cascade, 705 N. Killingsworth St, Portland, OR   97217 in the Student Services building, (SSB-103e, Women’s Resource Center). Open meeting.

Purpose: request starter kit for new group.

Result of vote: Motion passes by general consent.

Please vote on the following motions in red in your groups.

Motion #84, Made by Victoria C., seconded by here & Now

Motion: To change the hours of PASC monthly meeting from 2:00-5:00pm to 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.

Purpose: To encourage higher attendance for the entire meeting and to allow for a three hour meeting when needed with a convenient end time.

Motion #85, Made by Vickie D., seconded by Here & Now.

Motion: To waive clean time for PASC vice chair.

Purpose: To fill the vice chair position.

Motion to close by Here & Now, seconded by Hope No Dope.

Portland Area Service Committee

Monthly Agenda

November 20th, 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 (11)

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 Report, including the reading of the minutes from the last meeting.               

13.  Chair Report; mail call

14.  Open Forum- NA related (20minutes)

15.  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

15h                 PASO

               15i               Web site ad hoc

               15j               PCRCNA XIII 2006

       16.   New GSR recognition

17.  Break 15min maximum

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

19.  Count of voting GSR’s

20.                Unfinished business

        20a. Motion #77, Tabled

        20b. Motion #82, Tabled

        20c. Motion #84

        20d. Motion #85

20e. Emergency elections

        1. Vice Chair

        2.  Treasurer

       21.   New Business

22.                Announcements

       23.   Close