January 21st, 2024
January 21st, 2024
Good afternoon, everybody, I am an alcoholic, member of the East Naples Men’s Group, my sobriety date is November 28, 2008, and my name is Steve B.
Per the motion that created the position of Alternate Chair, I will be assuming the position of Chair for the remainder of the Panel due to Sharon’s resignation. I am humbled by this responsibility but thank everyone for the support I have be provided so far. It has been a busy month for me since our December meeting, working around the holidays and attending the Area 15 Quarterly Assembly the weekend of January 5th.
I want to thank everyone who attended the assembly in Sarasota. At the assembly, I was able to attend the Chair’s meeting, the Quarterly Coordinator’s meeting, the Current Practice Committee Meeting, as well as various workshops, each of which District 4 did an excellent job putting together. The speakers were great, especially the Saturday speaker, Bob, who is serving as the General Manager of the General Service Office in New York. District 9’s attendance at the assembly was a little anemic, with only 19 voting members at the Sunday Business Meeting. Hopefully we will have a bigger group at the April Assembly, which will be held closer to home in Boca Raton. As you are aware, a bid for the October 2024 Assembly to be held in Boca Raton was presented to the Quarterly Coordinator Committee. District 8 also bid for that Assembly and the competing bids were presented to the full Area body. District 8 was chosen to host by a majority vote of only three more votes. However, we did agree to bid on the next Assembly in Boca, which will be April of 2025, and we were awarded that hosting opportunity. Although that is almost 16 months away, you can start thinking now about how you want to serve on that Quarterly Assembly Committee.
We have received a survey from the Area Quarterly Coordinator’s Committee that has been distributed to our entire District mailing list. This subcommittee was formed to look at possible ways to improve the Area Assemblies and make them more productive and enjoyable for attendees. Everyone who has attended Area Assemblies is invited to take this survey, not just people who attended the January Assembly. Please take time to give your input, and do so as soon as possible, so that the subcommittee can compile the results and report back to the body in April.
On January 14, a District 9 officer’s meeting was held online. It was a very productive meeting, with several pressing issues to discuss because of the change in the Chair position. It was decided that our registrar, Milinda B., will assume the role of DCM Coordinator in the absence of an alternate chair. Milinda will also take on the responsibility of chairing the Re-Sub districting ad hoc committee which will be getting started soon. We are looking for District 9 trusted servants from east central Broward as well as south Broward to be able to align the volunteers with the geographic sections of the district. If you are interested in participating, please contact me or Milinda. Also, at the officer’s meeting it was decided to put together a workshop for the chairs and alternate chairs of the various District 9 Committees. In this workshop, we will have discussions on matters such as understanding your budget, making expenditures, requesting reimbursements, finding co-chairs and committee members, making reports, brainstorming activities and more. We would like the greatest possible attendance, including experienced chairs so we can all share our experience and ideas. I am therefore strongly encouraging chair participation, and anyone interested in Committee work is invited to attend as well. If you are a Committee Chair, please check your District 9 email and respond to my email asking for a vote on the best day in February to schedule this workshop. We will accommodate the majority the best we can. I understand it may not be possible to accommodate everyone, but we want the best possible attendance. If you cannot make the final date, we will record the session. The date will be announced in a district blast next week.
Finally, on today’s Agenda, the Room and Ride Coordinator’s Committee
will present a Motion to this body. It is presented today so that you can take the Motion back to your home group for a vote at
the February District Meeting. Thank you all for your service, and if you have any questions, comments or yes, even complaints,
I can be contacted at districtchairperson@district9.aa or called at (954) 648-4961.In love and service, Steve B.