Delegate’s Report to Area Assembly, July 14, 2019
I attended the Northeast Regional Forum (NERF) from May 31st – June 2nd. It was held in Tarrytown, NY. Our new regional trustee, Francis G., had just over a week from learning he’d been elected, to running huge portions of the event and he did a great job. My favorite quote about the situation was “He was so excited to be useful he forgot to be frightened.”
The weekend consisted of various presentations; we heard from a Class A trustee, a Class B trustee, an AA World Service board member, a Grapevine board member, the treasurer, the general manager of GSO, several GSO employees, etc. Each gave a sort of “state of the union” of how things were going/what was new in their part of the fellowship. There were also multiple general sharing sessions, similar to our 2 Minutes at the Mike. Any member of the fellowship could ask a question about any topic, make an announcement, offer an idea for improvement – just generally be free to comment on anything.
I moderated 2 panels on “Making Service Work Appealing!” and Carrie C. graciously took the official minutes of the discussion.
While we were there, we had a meeting of NYS Area officers who were present to discuss the New York State Informational Workshop (NYSIW). This year’s workshop is the 1stweekend in August and it will be held near West Point. Signup and additional information can be found on www.NYSIW.org.
Part of our discussion was about the website and related costs, and the other part was about the rotation. There are 4 Areas in NY state, Areas 47, 48, 49 and 50, and hosting the workshop rotates annually through all 4, in numerical order. Ideally an area would host in their second year of a panel, so each chairperson and officer is in their second year of their 2 year rotation. This is especially important for some Areas where chairing the workshop is tied into the panel schedule. What’s happened is, somewhere along the line we’ve fallen out of this rotation pattern and it leaves some host districts changing who’s chairing the event in the middle of the planning. Imagine someone in Alexandria Bay chairing, having a local planning committee and selecting a hotel in that town. Then elections happen and the new chair is in Sayre, PA. Now they may have strange and frequent travel and/or have totally different ideas about the event – chaos ensues. That is what’s been happening to some of the other NY Areas. So, we are going to go back into the old rotation. That meant either our Area skipped our next turn, or hosted early, in 2020. I felt hosting next year put us too much under the gun – just finding a suitable place still available in a year could take a while – so we will next host in 2024. Meantime: Southeast NY/49 this year, Western NY/50 – 2020, HMB/48 – 2021, Southeast NY/49 – 2022, Western NY/50 – 2023.
In GSO news, they are switching platforms for all their computer based functions. As they make the change, all systems will be down Friday July 26ththru Monday August 5th.Note this means no literature orders can be taken after July 22nd(not by phone either) through August 5th. No online contributions can be made during the 7/26 – 8/5 period and if you had a recurring payment set up, you’ll need to re-enter your credit card information afterwards as that information will not transfer to the new system. No updates of service/group records can be made during this switchover time. They say Registrar training “will be provided”
GSO also sent a memo about sales tax and exemption status stating there are now “22 states in which we have to start collecting sales tax.” NY is listed. Also, if any group had a tax exempt status on file with GSO, this information will also be lost when the computer system change occurs, so that paperwork will need to be resubmitted. I have asked our finance chair to investigate if any of that impacts how Area 47 bought or sold literature.
It is time for people to put in bids for hosting the 2020 ESCYPAA (Empire State Convention of Young People in AA). Part of the bid packet requires a letter of support from an Area representative. Both the Southern Tier and Syracuse young people’s groups (STCYPAA and SYRYPAA) have asked for such a letter and I provided one for each. We have supported more than 1 locale in the past and it just goes to show we have amazing young people throughout our Area and either one of those groups would do a great job! Rochester is hosting this year.
I have been giving and continue to give “On Demand” General Service Conference report backs to various homegroups and districts in our Area. I even get to go to the men’s correctional facility in Elmira. It was scheduled for last month but they went on lockdown that day, so it was postponed. How amazing is my life!?
Yours in Service,
Barb C – Panel 69 delegate
