[Businessmtg] Topic Chair Requirements - Added Comment

[Jerry H.]

Morning, Biz-Pals,

There seems to be some confusion about this. I submitted this topic request because there was a reoccurring "problem" during the time I was ASP's List Administrator and also required to fill the Secretary position. During that relatively short period I had to fill, I believe three slates of Topic Chairpersons.

In two of those efforts ASP did not receive enough volunteers to fill the necessary seven positions. That's a fact, not a hypothetical. Because ASP had a hard and fast "6-month Rule" I was in the position of having to deny willing volunteers who were certainly qualified to chair any meeting anywhere in Al-Anon, but who were a few days/weeks short of the exact 6-Month Rule. In order to keep daily topics posted each day required that I ask then-current topic chairs to extend - some did and so to the general membership the problem didn't present itself.

To say that this problem is rare so we shouldn't have to worry about it misses the point; it did happen and ASP didn't/doesn't have a solution to this problem should it occur again.

If we follow Al-Anon Principles as I have come to know them trusted servants are to be given the authority necessary to perform their jobs with adequate oversight to make sure things don't go astray. Thus my suggestion that the person performing this particular Secretary duty have the limited authority in similar situations to consider volunteers with slightly less than 6-months of ASP membership, but with significant Al-Anon background.

For the record, chairing a topic meeting isn't rocket science. There is no secret code to follow. As we used to say at least, if you stick to Al-Anon principles you can't do it wrong. So why in circumstances such as the above are we forced to deny even someone who has served as Group Rep, District Rep, Area Officer, etc. in their past from filling the simplest of ASP services?

Lastly I'd like to mention that all this will simply be talk unless everyone here speaks up with their positions. Unless a significant percentage of this BM's total membership speaks up in favor of some sort of solution to this problem the problem will continue. Your voice is needed one way or the other.

Respectfully,
Jerry
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