Report and Charter Committee Report - April 2026

Greetings Area 41,

Report and Charter met February 15th with six in attendance. We opened with the Serenity prayer. The minutes were read and approved. The Newsletter Chair and Registrar gave their reports. After discussion, a motion was made and passed to make the edits needed to update the English and Spanish Handbook. The committee then discussed the past actions and agreed to the proposed changes and to update the document. The translation item was assigned to R&C to determine what method to use. After discussion, the committee agreed to trying Wordly and having the Secretary start the process of setting it up. No report from the subcommittee for the State Convention Item. Agenda Item 2026-01-10 002, the Proposed Newsletter Scope was next discussed. There was discussion on what role the newsletter person needs to take in maintaining area 41 contact lists and the verbiage regarding “make necessary grammatical edits”. The consensus was this does not allow editing the content of people’s reports. The committee voted unanimously to recommend the item to the Area 41 committee for vote. Next, Agenda item 2026-01-10 005 Report and Charter: That past Delegates be granted lifetime voting privileges at Area Assemblies, effective immediately upon completion of their service term as Delegate was discussed. Discussion included: granting lifetime voting privileges to past delegates could potentially conflict with Tradition 9, Concept 4, the responsibility past delegates have to Area 41, and Concept 12 among others.

After research and discussion, the committee unanimously decided to take no action. Agenda Item 2022-04-02 005 (j) All documents distributed at or by Area 41 should have a revision date on them was next discussed briefly. More research and discussion will be needed. This and the rest of the items were tabled.

Report and Charter next met on March 22nd with four in attendance. The minutes were read and approved. The Newsletter Chair and Registrar gave their reports. The subcommittee for Agenda Item 2024-01-06 003 Area 41 to form a new Area committee tasked with hosting the area reunions did not meet. They agreed to meet via Zoom to discuss this item. The committee then discussed the Newsletter agenda items: 2026-01-10 006 Agenda Item Change the Area 41 Newsletter distribution process so that the standard printed copies just include the agenda, voting items, business meeting minutes, new agenda items, agenda items still in committee, contact list, and the Officer reports. Printed copies of the additional reports will only be printed as requested on demand from the Area Secretary and 2022-04- 02 005 (n) That Area 41 make District Committee Member (DCM) reports available on the Area 41 website rather than printing them in the Newsletter. What each item would remove was discussed along with questions related to how this relates to our Traditions, how much will actually be cut, would costs potentially increase per page if we print less, how to ensure we maintain transparency and access, and will this create barriers? It was noted that shopping around can greatly reduce costs along with the large number of leftover newsletters along with the observation that people are already cutting back on the number of newsletter orders or opting for the digital copy - change is happening currently. All items were tabled until the next meeting.

Report and Charter meet April 11th with 9 in attendance including two first timers. The minutes were read and approved. The Newsletter Chair and Registrar gave their reports. The subcommittee met and discussed Agenda Item 2024-01-06 003 Area 41 to form a new Area committee tasked with hosting the State Convention. They recommended that the Report and Charter take no action. Report and Charter accepted the recommendation and voted unanimously to take no action. Agenda item 2026-01-10 006 Change the Area 41 Newsletter distribution process so that the standard printed copies just include the agenda, voting items, business meeting minutes, new agenda items, agenda items still in committee, contact list, and the Officer reports. Printed copies of the additional reports will only be printed as requested on demand from the Area Secretary was next discussed. It was noted additional items would be excluded as the item is currently written. Along with this, concerns were brought up about transparency, access, where the excluded reports would be on the website, and the importance of funded positions to report back to the body. The committee voted unanimously to take no action.  Agenda item 2022-04-02 005 (n) That Area 41 make District Committee Member (DCM) reports available on the Area 41 website rather than printing them in the Newsletter was briefly discussed next. The committee set the date for the next meeting at noon CST on March 17th via Zoom. A motion was made to close the meeting and approve unanimously. Thank you to all who attended!

Thank you for allowing me to serve.

Yours in service, Zach I., Area 41 Secretary