CAR Votes are due at Region on April 5th.
Conference Agenda Report (CAR) Workshops and Voting
Our open CAR Workshop was held at the Regional Office in Banning on February 16th. Attendance was a total of 2, including myself. Our final CAR Workshop will be held on March 8th at 1pm in Greater Mojave Area at the Alano Club in Apple Valley. The CAR and CAT are both available for download online at na.org/conference
If a GSR cannot get their Group’s vote into their ASC in time, they can check voting options at cirna.org/vote20 or email their votes to delegate@cirna.org Please ask them to include their Group Name and Area with their votes.
WSC and NAWS Information
- Please ask your Groups and be prepared to give me direction at our April meeting: What ideas, issues or challenges would you like the CIRNA RD Team to bring up for discussion at the WSC? The top items will be presented as New Ideas for discussion at the WSC.
- An online version of the survey included in the CAR is available until April 1, 2020 for anyone who wishes to participate at na.org/survey then click “Online Survey”
- Our Regional report to the WSC was submitted prior to the February 15th deadline.
- I have put Stephanie in touch with Lori W. wh
- o contacted me from NAWS regarding updating our meeting information with NAWS.
- Participate in writing content for the Spiritual Principle a Day book at na.org/spad
Regional T-Shirts
I have a request for pricing in with the vendor I found and am hoping to have pricing for quantities of 100, 200, and 300 shirts in by our meeting.
Budget and Expenses
I am requesting reimbursement for $175.52 for 2 rounds of copies of CAR Summaries, and remaining budgeted travel to CAR Workshops, including the GMA workshop on March 8.
Including these expenses, I have spent $1299.46 of my $1536.41 budget.
RD Calendar – Upcoming Dates
- March 28 – WSC Participant Orientation
- April 1 – Last day for CAR Survey
- April 26 – May 2, 2020 – World Service Conference in Woodland Hills
- May 1 – Service Day (annual worldwide day)
- September 1 – Unity Day (annual worldwide day)
- World Convention September 9-12, 2021
Melbourne, Australia
CONTACT ME
Feel free to contact me, Mike C., at delegate@cirna.org or by phone at 760-641-0705
Conference Approval Track (CAT)
I am still open to doing some Conference Approval Track (CAT) review with this body if you are interested. If this body chooses not to provide any direction on the CAT, I can: (1) vote on behalf of CIRNA using my best judgement based on my sense of the conscience of the groups within CIRNA; (2) abstain on all 17 motions in the CAT (an abstention would effectively count as a “no” vote, although it would be counted separately); (3) vote “Present, Not Voting” which means we are not participating in the vote at all, and won’t be counted in the tally.
If this body asked me to recommend a vote for each of the 17 motions in the CAT, the following is where I feel the conscience of the Groups within CIRNA would fall. (Note: my tendency would be to err on the side of caution and vote “No” for items that aren’t a clear “Yes”.)
Motion 17: To approve the 2020–2022 NAWS Strategic Plan.
No. (?) This motion is as complex, if not more, than Motion 1 in the CAR, and includes 16 diverse Objectives. There are a few items I think the region would oppose if they were individual items, and many that CIRNA would support. The question becomes, do we vote “Yes” for a partly good plan, or “No” for a plan that includes elements we don’t support.
Motion 18: To approve the project plan for the Spiritual Principle a Day Book for inclusion in the 2020–2022 Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Budget.
Yes. We have participated in the writing of this literature across the region, and I believe the directive from the Groups would be to proceed. ( FYI, 2 year budget is $75K )
Motion 19: To approve the project plan for New Recovery Informational Pamphlets.
No. My sense is this region would prefer not to delegate decision-making about literature to the WSC.
Motion 20: To approve the project plan for Revising Existing Recovery Informational Pamphlets.
No. I’m not sure that the Groups of CIRNA want the World Board making edits to any of our IP’s. Until I’m sure, I say No.
Motion 21: To approve the project plan for Issue Discussion Topics.
No. Issue Discussion Topics should come from the fellowship, not the World Board. This topic has already been out to the fellowship for a 2-year cycle and should not be pushed again if it is not chosen by the fellowship.
Motion 22: To approve the project plan for the Local Service Toolbox.
Yes. This work can be beneficial to the fellowship as it involves gathering “best practices” from the fellowship.
Motion 23: To approve the project plan for the Role of Zones.
No. This feels like a continuation of the push to make Zones full voting and participating members of the WSC. Because our Zone is not a decision-making body, and because I have heard no input from the Groups in our region asking to further the role of Zones, I do not sense a regional conscience other than “no”.
Motion 24: To approve the project plan for the Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust Revision.
No. I have heard little feedback in our workshops in favor of revisions to the FIPT.
Motion 25: To approve the 2020–2022 Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Budget
No. (?) I have heard that the World Board is working to revise the proposed budget and make cuts to lower it. At over $1.6 million in deficit for the current proposed budget, I am curious to see what they come back with. It seems like our goal should be to set a non-deficit budget. My question is, at what level of deficit would the region have me vote “Yes”?
Motion 26: To seat the Minas Region
Yes. They fully qualify.
Motion 27: To seat the North‐West Russia Region
Yes. They fully qualify.
Motion 28: To pause zonal seating by not considering seating requests from zones formed after WSC 2018 until after zonal seating criteria or a process for zonal seating is established by the WSC.
Yes. This only limits the seating of new Zones, which could potentially be created to exploit the decision to allow Zonal Representation at WSC for Zones with 2 or more unseated Regions or communities.
Motion 29: To approve the proposed changes to A Guide to World Services in NA as provided in the 2020 CAT and indicated in red.
Yes. I reviewed the proposed revisions, and don’t see any problems. The term “Zonal Delegate” is now being used to reference “voting zonal delegates”, but I think this is just something to remember for later… that this does not mean that all zones have voting delegates.
Motion 30: To approve the proposed changes to A Guide to World Services in NA as provided in the 2020 CAT and indicated in red and highlighted.
Yes. I reviewed the proposed revisions, and don’t see any problems. These changes were voted in at WSC 2018.
Motion 31: To adopt the 2020–2022 Reimbursement Policy.
Yes. I reviewed the proposed policy and it seems resonable.
Motion 32: To eliminate abstentions when voting or taking straw polls, for WSC 2020 only beginning after CAR Related Discussion and Decisions.
Yes? Abstentions always wind up working as “no” votes. The option to weigh in as “Present, Not Voting” seems like a viable alternative. My only question would be, Does getting a large portion of abstentions on a motion indicate an overwhelming need for either more information or more discussion, where “Present, not voting” might not?
Motion 33: To adopt, for WSC 2020 only, the following approaches for New Idea Discussions. (much more info)
Yes? Without any experience with the New Idea process, this seems like a reasonable workflow.
Motion 34: (New Idea from Northern New England Region regarding a process for taking New Ideas from once WSC, furthering their discussion, and ultimately presenting them as CAR motions at the next WSC.
Unsure. (No.) I would need a greater understanding of the process being presented and how it would actually work.