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Telephone Service - Roles & Responsibiliies

A reminder of our overall context.

Our service covers the area of NW Region Liverpool, Merseyside and South West Lancashire, Wirral, Chester, Greater Manchester, Blackpool and North East Wales. We currently operate a two month schedule of 4 hour shifts covering 8am to 8pm seven days a week so that each Responder is on for a month, then off for a month. This requires a roster of 42 active Responders plus back-ups to cover sickness, holidays or other absence.

Delegation: It is reasonable to expect anyone who is temporarily unable to fulfill their role, attend a meeting or complete their shift to find an appropriate delegate to cover that function for them, and inform affected parties of what is happening. For example, if a TLO is unable to attend a TSC meeting, they should find a substitute and inform the Chairman, or if a Responder cannot cover their shift, they should ask another (trained) Responder to cover for them and inform those on duty before and after them as well as their Team Leader.

If this temporary unavailability is likely to become long term, or permanent, as much notice as possible would be appreciated.

Telephone Service Committee (TSC) - Responsible for overseeing the provision of the Telephone Service in our area, this is comprised of 2 TLOs (Telephone Liaison Officers) from each of the 5 constituent InterGroups plus the officials below.  Appoints a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Manning and Information Officers, establishes budgets and levels of contribution from each Intergroup and determines and acquires the facilities required to run an effective phone service.  Liaises with Region and National Telephone Officers, our committee is responsible for setting and monitoring standards for our phone service and responsible for the production and maintenance of the Responders Manual. Meetings are open to all interested members of AA. Responders and 12 Steppers are particularly encouraged to attend.

Chairman: - Calls and chairs meetings of the TSC (normally once a quarter), Oversees the appointment of officers (normally for a period of 3 years).  Liaises with TSCs of other areas where necessary, as well as the Regional Committee and GSO.

Email telephones1.nwne@aamail.org

Secretary - Produces minutes of the TSC meetings within two weeks of the meetings and circulates to attendees for verification, then circulates the final draft to attendees and the secretaries of each of the constituent intergroup within two weeks of the first draft. At the direction of the TSC, produces (and receives) correspondence to other parties.

Email telephones2.nwne@aamail.org

Treasurer - Maintains a bank account on behalf of the Telephone Service, receives payments from the constituent InterGroups, and any other income and disperses payments to suppliers (e.g. BT) and reimburses costs incurred by TSC members. Major expenditure would normally need the prior approval of the TSCMaintains records of income and expenditure to a standard that could be audited, annually, produces a budget for the following year in order to establish the level of contributions from the InterGroups and maintains a prudent reserve in our bank account to cover foreseeable costs, and recommends to the TSC whether any surplus should be returned to InterGroups or forwarded to Region or GSO.

Email telephones3.nwne@aamail.org

Information Officer - Is the focal point for the collection and dissemination of information necessary to provide an effective telephone service and maintains a master list of the details of all meetings in our area (i.e. the area covered by our phone service), receiving updates of any changes in day, time or venue, closures or new meetings from a variety of sources.  Maintains a master list of 12 Steppers in our area, showing their name, sex where appropriate (e.g. Chris could be either male or female), telephone number and approximate location (e.g. L4 and/or Anfield).   Maintains a master list of Responders and their contact details, changes being provided by the Manning Officer. (The contact details are needed for the dissemination of updates.).  Maintains the master copy of the Responders Manual.  Sends out updates of the lists of meetings and 12 Steppers as they occur (or have been confirmed) to all active Responders, by email where possible, by post where necessary. Sends out updates to the rota  to all Responders.

Email telephones5.nwne@aamail.org

Manning Officer- Responsible for overseeing the recruitment and training of Responders.  Maintains a list of Responders (active, backup, in training, already trained but now inactive) and provides updates to the Information Officer and produces a monthly schedule (the rota) of which Responder covers what shift and sends it to the Information Officer for publication to all Responders. Aims to ensure any gaps in the schedule are covered, drawing on the help of TSC members and the Responders.

Email telephones4.nwne@aamail.org

Responders - Responsible for manning the AA Help line telephone for our area on a particular 4 hour shift on each weekday every second month (either even or odd numbered months),  for example from 4pm to 8pm every Tuesday in Feb/Apr/June/Aug/Oct/Dec.

Telephone Liaison Officers (TLO) - Responsible for communications between the TSC and their InterGroup.