ELECTIONS AND
APPOINTMENTS
Area Officers
Fourteen (14) Area Officers are chosen, every second year, to serve 2-year terms on the Area Service Committee (ASC) . Seven of these are elected, in even numbered years, at the September Assembly of the full Area 79 Committee. Seven are appointed by the Selection Committee, following the elections, to sit as chairs of designated Area standing committees.
It is strongly suggested that the outgoing (not the incoming) GSRs and DCMs be available to vote at the Election Assembly in order to assure a more informed election.
To apply for an appointed position in Area 79, please email your resume to resumes@bcyukonaa.org
Elected Officers
The seven (7) elected officers are listed below, with a brief summary of their roles:
- Delegate – Reports to and from the General Service Conference.
- Alternate Delegate – Assists Delegate in responsibilities. Currently the Alternate Delegate also sits as the Literature Chair.
- Chair of Area 79 – Responsible for the agenda and chairing Area and Area Service Committee (ASC) meetings, assigns travel of committee members.
- Alternate Chair – Assists Chair in responsibilities. Currently the Alternate Chair also sits as Grapevine Chair.
- Treasurer – Maintains payables and receivables for Area 79. Chairs Finance Committee.
- Secretary – Records meetings and prepares the minutes.
- Registrar – Maintains Group Records of Districts and Groups in Area 79 and informs the General Service Office (GSO) in New York.
Appointed Positions
We encourage everyone who is interested in an appointed position on the Area 79 General Service Committee to submit a brief resume. The following positions are appointed by the incoming Chair through a Selection Committee made up of the incoming Chair and 3 other elected ASC members.
- Accessibilities – Explore, develop and offer resources to make the Alcoholics Anonymous message available to everyone.
- Archives – Collect, classify and care for literary works and artifacts.
- Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC) – Establish and maintain better communication between A.A.s and community professionals
- Corrections – Carry the AA message to alcoholics in correctional systems
- Finance – Discusses Area 79 self-support and the Seventh Tradition.
- Grapevine – Develop awareness of the many benefits that can be derived through the Grapevine and La Viña (Spanish version) subscriptions
- Grassroots – Oversees the production and distribution of Grassroots Forum, the BC/Yukon Area 79 Newsletter.
- Literature – Promote Conference-approved literature, audiovisual material and other special items.
- Public Information – Communicates to the public what AA does and does not do.
- Remote Communities – Creates awareness about and assists those who are unable to make it to regular face-to-face meetings on a consistent basis
- Treatment/Bridging the Gap – Assists members and groups who are interested in carrying our message of recovery to alcoholics in treatment facilities
- Website – Maintains the Area 79 Website.
Additionally – Grassroots Committee Chair: Responsible for the Area Newsletter (Grassroots Forum) and leads the committee responsible for the format, content and distribution of this quarterly publication. Motion passed in October 2016 reads….
“The Area 79 chair will be free to assign Grassroots, or any other standing committee, as an additional responsibility to any member of the ASC, based on committee workloads and ASC members’ skills”.
Things to Consider
- Communications between members of the Area Committee are generally via email and therefore it is essential to have access to electronic communications in order to be considered for a position.
- The transitional General SC meeting held on the first Wednesday of December, (after the election assembly) is mandatory as are all monthly ASC meetings of the 2-year rotation.
- The time commitment required is substantial and will vary from position to position, and also with the particular skills possessed by the member. Generally, some time will be spent every day to check and respond to emails and phone messages. Some jobs have workloads that are heavier at certain times than at others.
- We encourage you to speak with members of the ASC (current or past) to ask more specific questions if you are considering applying for an appointed position.
- General Service Committee membership may sound demanding, but, as we so often find in AA, the rewards are far greater than time and effort put in.
- For more information please read “duties common to all” on the job description page.
How to Apply
- Email your resume to resumes@bcyukonaa.org
- You will receive an immediate confirmation of receipt of your application and a response from the Area 79 Chair within 48 hours.
- Resumes must be received at Resumes at BC/Yukon AA by October 31st to be considered. When sending your resume, you can include additional information that may help the Selection Committee.
- Resumes are reviewed by the Selection Committee the evening of the first Tuesday of November. The Chair will call you that evening with the results. Please be sure that you are contactable by telephone.
- Successful applicants will be required to attend a transition meeting held the first Wednesday of December at the BC Yukon Area office in Vancouver (travel expenses are covered by Area 79).
- Successful applicants will be ratified at the January Quarterly. At that time, they will present their resumes (2 minutes maximum) to the fellowship.