[Businessmtg] Welcome to the Business Meeting

[Dawn Werezak]

Hello Everyone,

 

Welcome to the Business Meeting for ASP.  I apologize for not starting this
on time but the server went down and a day later I ended up with a really
nasty sinus infection which I am still battling with and failing at.  I felt
better last night but this morning it came back with a vengeance.
Thankfully I don't have to talk with my voice here so that's okay! :-)

 

We have a couple of new members who joined us for the Business Meeting and
I'd like to Welcome them to our small group of business members.  

 

The address for the business meeting is:  businessmtg at asp-afg.org  This is
the address you will use to send in shares to the Business meeting.  Please
do not send your business shares to the recovery meeting.

 

I'm going to give a brief background and perhaps a refresher for the rest of
us about the business meeting.  About 4 years ago Steve, who was our army of
one with the running of ASP, decided he was going to retire from the
administration of the list.  He put it out to the membership his desire to
do so and a business meeting was formed.  Those, about 18 members, voted in
a new service structure, found on the business page of our website, and then
voted in new officials.  I took over as List Administrator (LA), Heather
(she is no longer with the group) as Secretary, Tara as Greeter Chair, Anne
O. as webmaster and Jerry as Treasurer.  We submitted our resumes to the
business meeting and ran for a position.  It was not much of a battle as
there was only one of us running for each position.  Heather left our list
about six months ago and Tara and I have split the duties of the Secretary
since then.  

 

Our service rotation is due for rotating out and this meeting is convened to
find some replacements for some of the Steering Committee positions. 

 

Here is our Agenda for this meeting - I don't know if Anne has posted it on
the website - I admit I have not looked.  

 

1.	Open the Business Meeting.

 

2.	Introduce the positions available on the Steering Committee.  First
up is the treasurer position.  Jerry has been gracious in staying with the
position even though he has been ready for a while to rotate out.  Thanks
for doing that Jerry.

 

3.	Those interested will post their resumes to the group.  Resume
formats can be found at this link:
http://www.asp-afg.org/Archived%20Pages/index.htm    

 

4.	Discussion of resumes for Treasurer/questions for the person
running.

 

5.	Vote on the position.

 

6.	Discussion of other positions that are open and when we want to have
them filled by, so that there is time for training and rotation out without
losing everyone and creating chaos on the list.

 

As well, I want to throw this out for everyone to think about and we can
discuss it when we reach item #6.  Over the past nearly years, we have had
to put out a minimum of two calls for daily chairs every six months.  This
is a relatively easy service position with a once a week commitment to the
group and for a short time - six months - and it has been tough to fill. Two
years ago we put out a call from Greeters and ended up having to drop one of
them and thankfully the third person who applied was still interested and we
trained her and we had two greeters.  Last year we started with two greeters
and a few months into it the second greeter bailed and we have had Denise
step up and do a beautiful job in managing the entire alphabet - we had no
alternates this past year.  As you are all aware, both Tara and I have put
out 4 calls for greeters, as it is past due for Denise to rotate out of that
position, and we have had one person apply for the position.  While we
recognize that it is a position (as Denise demonstrated) that can be done by
one person, it was designed for two people.  I would like to ask you for
your suggestions as to how we can go about filling that position.

 

When those on the present Steering Committee took over from Steve, we had
all been active at ASP, some in service, all of us with regular
participation in the recovery meeting, we had a sense of each other and a
knowing of each other that has grown over the course of the last three
years.  With the demonstrated lack of desire to do service at ASP I admit
that I have my fears about where we are heading with our group and I am at a
loss as to how to encourage people to be of service at ASP.  It started
small for me, I chaired every meeting at least once, I then became a greeter
and then the LA.  That transition happened over the course of several months
and Steve mentored me well into the beginning of my second year as LA.  I am
thankful for that because I couldn't have done it without his support,
wisdom and knowledge of the running of ASP.  He is also a founding member
and the longest standing member of ASP.  

 

Alright, enough rambling.  The business meeting is open for discussion.  Our
first order of discussion will be the Treasurer's position.  Perhaps Jerry
can give us a brief description of his job, the number of hours per day/week
he spends doing ASP treasurer business and a little bit about his vision for
the position.

 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly at
princessdawn at telus.net

 

Love and Serenity,

Dawn