Proposal 8 – Ratification of Trustees

Submitted byRegion 2 – Greater Western US, CA1006, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA, CA915, Arroyo Grande, CA, USA, CA1064, Fresno, CA, USA, CA1265, Fresno, CA, USA,

IG76, Central Coast, CA, USA, WEB0381, IG595, Washington State, USA

Issue:We propose that each year’s ballot process include worldwide ratification of each World Service Trustee. For fully informed decision making, Concept XI information (contact information, education, and work and program experience), and each Trustee’s understanding of the Traditions and Concepts would be included on the ballot form that is submitted to the fellowship.

Background:Delegates make decisions on behalf of the fellowship and in service thereto. Delegates ratify each of the WSO Trustees at the Annual Business Conferences. The Traditions and Concepts limit the Board’s authority in serving the fellowship by: providing information; facilitating ACA communication; complying with corporate regulations; carrying out delegate decisions when feasible; facilitating program access; and hosting the ABC, not governing or controlling it.

As per the fiscal report given at a recent WSO Teleconference, ACA is now the 4th largest 12-Step program in the world based on financials of revenues and sales; total revenues in 2022 were $1,700,000 and are expected to be over $2,000,000 by the end of 2023 according to the ACA General Manager. WSO Trustees need to have the education and aptitude to deal with the corporate, custodial, fiduciary, and leadership roles required of the ACA WSO Board. Further, while the WSO Board could be composed of up to 20 members, it currently has only five. These five split their attention between their communities, families, and vocational responsibilities. They do ACA service in other ACA settings as well as work on their own recovery while trying to do Board work and participate in multiple WSO committees. We need more WSO Trustees with the ability to fulfill their fellowship and corporate responsibilities.

Additionally, Concept XI encourages selection of quality trusted servants on our “…service boards, (and) …the personal qualifications of their members… will always be matters for serious care and concern.”

Implementation/Resources:For each ABC, each Trustee applicant may submit an ABC ballot proposal asking worldwide delegates to consider him/her to be on the WSO Board for the following year. These proposals will be due on the same dates as all other proposals.

The “Proposal” section (limited to 75 words) will include: contact information, a request to serve another year as a Trustee, and why.

In order to comply with corporate requirements, transparency, and ACA Concept XI, each proposal will include a “Background” section (limited to 250 words), with personal history, including: contact information, education and applicable work experience, previous and current ACA program service, and relevant experiences and expertise.

In lieu of the “Resources/Implementation” section of the proposal, a new section (also limited to 300 words), “Traditions and Concepts,” would replace it. All board members would give their interpretation of Tradition 9 and Concepts I, II, VI, XI.

WSO Analysis:

Response:

Currently all trustees are extensively vetted by the Nominating Committee and ratified each year by worldwide voting of our delegates at the ABC (Annual Business Conference).

This proposal would ask for increased disclosure of the personal information of the Trustees being ratified. This could potentially discourage current and future trustees from serving on the board due to additional public disclosures of personal information, especially at a time when we need more Board members.

Currently the Bylaws require that qualified Trustees are added to the ABC agenda for ratification. After worldwide online voting takes place for each Trustee, the opportunity for minority opinion is made available, and a revote is taken if necessary. This proposal would create the possibility that some/all Trustees would not reach the agenda for ratification.

Factors to consider:

• Regarding fiscal matters, WSO employs skilled staff and professionals with strong checks and balances in our system to ensure our finances are protected.
• We need diversity in our Trustee members with good recovery from all walks in life, in both business and fellowship.
• This process would not only duplicate the comprehensive vetting work done by the Nominating Committee, it also could make it more difficult for people who do apply to be ratified due to adding several more steps than currently exist.
• There is no “corporate” or legal requirement to disclose trustee last names and personal information.
• Other 12 Step Programs that we’re aware of do not disclose the last name and personal information of board members nor require approval by groups outside of their Conference.
• This would add additional Ballot proposals each year, one for each Trustee (up to 20 Trustees), expanding the work for:
  • Meeting groups to review additional proposals,
  • The Ballot Prep and ABC Committees,
  • Delegates at the ABC by requiring an extensive amount of valuable ABC time to process the resulting motions for each proposal.

Resources(for more background information) https://acawso.org/bpc/