NA Northern Australia Service Board Meeting minutes 4/10/2021

Location: Virtual Zoom
Meeting ID: 487 569 8440
Pass code 865364
Meeting Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86913016074?pwd=QjVpNFhXektBZUpiTXR3ajU5MFgwUT09
Date: 04/10/2021
Time: 6:30 pm
Facilitator: Meredith
Minutes: Sami
Attendees: Brad N; John C; Jason T; Meredith; Michael B;
Apologies: Matt P; Bonnie;

1. OPEN
1.1. Chair’s welcome.
1.2. Service prayer:
God, grant us the knowledge that we may act according to your divine precepts. Instill in us a sense of your purpose. Make us servants of your will and grant us a bondage of selflessness, that this may truly be your work, not ours – in order that no addict, anywhere, need die from the horrors of addiction.
1.3. ID of those present
1.4. Apologies.

2. ITEMS
2.1. RCM
2.1.1. The following Area service positions are vacant:
• Assistant treasurer
• Assistant secretary
• Outreach vice chair
• Policy vice chair and sub committee member
• IT chair and vice chair
• PR vice chair
• NA Today chair and vice chair
• Strategic Planning vice chair
• FSO pool member.

2.1.2. Call for sponsors for sponsorship program.
2.1.3. The NAWS world conference has been deferred to 2023.

2.2. Treasurer
2.2.1. Reports can be found on the website
2.2.2. Sending $2,000.00 up to region;
2.2.3. Good flow of 7th Tradition into the bank account;
2.2.4. Tony S. wants to step down from administration role; John C. has volunteered but questioned if there was a conflict between his role in PR and approving his own purchases; discussion around how to have separation and keep things transparent; the board are all in agreement that John C. should take on the role of administration for the bank account
2.2.5. John C. asked how to set up the treasurer to access bank accounts

2.3. H & I Hub
2.3.1.

2.4. LSC Tasks and Planning
2.4.1. Brad received feedback that it was excellent but the second half dragged on a bit; he got a lot out of the speaker jam; include speaker jam for future LSCs
2.4.2. Jason thought the first half was amazing but we lost a few people at lunchtime; the speaker jam was the attractor but we still need to do the business side of things
2.4.3. John C. thought it highlighted the people in NA with the various experiences in service; he felt inspired to listen to all the speakers; might be a good blue print for future LSCs; need to do the business side of things so we can attract people to do service at board level;
2.4.4. Michael thought it was really good and it worked well; impressive to get some big names to speak (eg Tim from world) good to hear what happens behind the scenes at higher levels of service; we can’t be all things to everyone;
2.4.5. Meredith thinks we have an excellent program but we just didn’t attract the numbers; we delivered it really well and a great format; we need to come together as a fellowship and having more events;
2.4.6. Sami thought it was a great day and learnt heaps about different levels of service
2.4.7. Action needed in regards to supporting GSFs with holding events like unity days; how can they request support, what does it look like; Jason has suggested that a Unity Day be held in Toowoomba; Meredith suggested that a Unity Day between Cairns and Townsville could be held in Cardwell which is the half way point between the two;
2.4.8. First meeting for the activities group is in the first couple of weeks in November in Brisbane North; things like trivia night or bowling night with a view to holding a convention next year; people are very keen to get things moving; great opportunity for the board to connect with that group to foster someone coming onto the board as an activity member; a couple of members of the board will attend the meeting; John C. will advise the board when the meeting will be held; John C. will find out if it is going to be a hybrid meeting so Sami can attend;

2.5. PR
2.5.1. Long term – Telstra and CFMMEU are still open for a cooperative venture with NA. We haven’t heard anything to the contrary as yet.
2.5.2. Northern Australia has made contact with other PR groups in Australia. To this time only Victoria has responded. I’ll continue with that endeavour. The idea being to swap ideas and offer encouragement.
2.5.3. Brisbane South is still going strong and Brisbane North has a Coordinator and deputy. Peter B is Coordinator and Paul S is deputy.
2.5.4. Brisbane North has set up a Google Docs page to record places visited. The group is going really well for visitations. There are about 7 keen members.
2.5.5. Posters have been collected – 300 in total of the blue one, the girl and the Indigenous.
2.5.6. Finances to date (June to October) $547.07 has been spent on PR in this period. This includes business cards, posters, pamphlets, booklets and postage

2.6. Website / Outreach
2.6.1. Meredith asked if the website needs to be updated to show how to fund flow; Jason thinks that the whole website needs to be updated;
2.6.2. the IT chair and vice-chair positions are both vacant and there is an acting IT chair;
2.6.3. Jason doesn’t have admin rights to the na.org.au site and doesn’t know if people are going to the Northern Australia website; Jason needs additional help with the IT side of things; Jason and Sami are to get together offline so Jason can show Sami how to do things;
2.6.4. Jason wants to restructure the front page of the website to make it easier to find things;

2.7. Board enquiries and contacts – email/ mail / etc.
2.7.1. Emails:
From: Re:
Matthew P Auto reply – out of office
Michael B. Treasury PDF – flow chart
Meredith C. Apologies for last board meeting
Square Spam saying they would love to hear from us
Webservant NA Group Report from Love Street Lunchtime Meeting
John C. Printing Quote
NA (RCM) (Bonnie) Enquiry about board meeting
John C. Reply to Bonnie about board meeting
Matthew P. Auto-reply – out of office
Charne R. Fund flow from Sandgate (forwarded to Michael)
Charne R. Information request to set up bank account (forwarded to Michael)

2.7.2. Jason checked mail box a couple of weeks ago but hasn’t since then;

2.8. New Items
2.8.1. Jason would like to rotate the position of checking the mail; Brad has volunteered to take on the position; Jason and Brad will arrange to meet up to pass on the key;
2.8.2. Meredith, Jason and Sami will collaborate to update the webpage; Jason wants to have a succession plan in place in regards to IT; Sami will help but the load will be spread over all the members of the board; put some instructional documents together; Jason doesn’t want to stop completely but he does want help in sharing the load;
2.8.3. Michael and Sami to coordinate a hybrid meeting for the next Townsville GSF
2.8.4. It was agreed that going forward, the board meeting is to be held on the last Monday night of the month at 6.30pm; we will reevaluate the time to see if it is viable or needs to be changed;
2.8.5. Meredith suggested to include an action table i.e. Item; Person Responsible; Due Date; Status – we can then go through the table at the next board meeting to ensure that things are not overlooked
2.8.6. Sami to send an email to the GSF reps to update contact details

4. CLOSE
4.1. Next meeting: 6.30pm on Monday 25th October, 2021
4.2. Serenity prayer in the plural:
God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. The courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.