[Businessmtg] Agenda Item #1

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,

It seems that we are nearly unanimous that an officer of ASP needs to have
been a member of ASP for at least a year, but the agenda item stated:

  "The first issue regarding qualifications is the length of time of
participation in ASP which is currently six months."

In other words, the question remains "What constitutes being a member of
ASP?"  Isn't participation the crux of membership?

While our Traditions say that anyone with a friend or family member with a
problem of alcoholism can be a member of Al-Anon, just having met the
qualification does not make one a member of Al-Anon.  One must attend
meetings & participate to be a member.  The same is true for being a member
of a meeting.  Our Service Manual states: "Al-Anon members who attend
several groups regularly and participate fully in all of them may consider
themselves members of all of those groups."  In other words, in order for a
member of Al-Anon to be considered a member of any particular group, they
must attend regularly and participate fully.  FYI, my home group in
California had a group conscience that someone must have attended that group
at least 2/3's of the meetings in the last 6 months to be considered a
member of that meeting for the purpose of serving and/or voting on group
issues.

So, how does that apply to ASP?

Well, it's obvious that simply having your email address on a list in some
server in cyberspace doesn't make the person a true member of the meeting.
Those of us who have had the honor of serving as List Administrator know
that many of those people/email addresses are long gone when we clean house
every year.  

So, I'd suggest that our requirement for being a member of ASP for one year
prior to serving as an officer of ASP state something about regarding the
need to be an ACTIVE member of ASP by 'attending regularly and participating
fully'.  

That said, I am NOT suggesting that we write some specific rule about how
many times someone must have shared during that year, or call out the
Al-Anon police to investigate and enforce the rule.  I am simply suggesting
that we reference the text in the Service Manual in defining what a member
of ASP is.

Thanks for listening.

Hugs,

Steve