BSA Troop 81
Troop Committee Meeting Minutes
April 19, 2000

ATTENDEES

Adults: Craig Cox,  Lou Hocker, Larry Herrin, Tom Schob, Bill Scott, Bonnie Branch, Richard Carter, Mark Steger, Tracy Russell, Bill Merriman, Dan Lassiter, David Knust, Ed Nichols, Jeff Branch, George Kerr, Bob Rielly, Teresa Burlingame, Charlie Hood, Sharon Hood, Gregg Irvin
Scouts: Jirah Cox, Doug Rielly
Meeting conducted by: Craig Cox
Minutes recorded by: Mark Steger

PRELIMINARIES

1. April campout (Doug Rielly)
• Campout will be weekend of Apr 28-30 at Dinosaur Valley State Park.
• Main activity will be a backpack hike to a remote campsite. Alternate activities will be to visit the Commanche Peak nuclear power plant and Trail to First Class program for new first year scouts.
2. Eagle Scout Report (Lou Hocker)
• Lou has reviewed first drafts of project plans for Jeff Collins and Jirah Cox.
• Eagle candidates' meeting was held on March 26. Three scouts attended.
3. Financial Report (Pat Thompson via Bonnie Branch)
• March financial summary was distributed.
• 7-month YTD income is $16,244. YTD expenses are $15,467. Variance from budget is a deficit of $217.
4. PLC (Jirah Cox)
• Camporee assessment was positive. Some complaints about staff preparation and difficulty of some events. Troop participated in all competitions and did well.
• Scout show tickets are available for sale.
• Planning was done for softball game and court of honor.
5. New Scouts (Tom Schob)
• 20 Webelos joined the troop at Monday's troop meeting. One older scout joined as well.
6. Membership/Position changes (Craig Cox) - no report
7. Subcommittee Report (Larry Herrin)
• A subcommittee held several meetings to consider proposals made at the last troop committee meeting. These involved integrating patrols with different age groups, restructuring patrol meetings to balance merit badge classes with other activities, and extending tenure of patrol leaders to one year.
• Craig Cox expressed his opinion of the mission of our troop, which should form the framework of this discussion. The mission is to foster scouting skills, leadership, merit badges, and retention because scouting is perceived as being fun.
• Subcommittee presented a draft plan for vertically integrated patrols. It consists of six patrols of approximately 12 boys each, with a mix of ages. All of the full committee discussion was on this proposal, which was considered the most urgent because of the formation of new first year patrols and the upcoming PLC for planning next year's schedule.
• Craig asked for a sense of the committee on how to proceed. Three options were presented:
• Reject proposal for integration of patrols (3 in favor)
• Move ahead with plan for integration of patrols (4 in favor)
• Table decision tonight and continue discussions (13 in favor)
• Bill Merriman moved that the discussion about realigning patrols should continue at the troop committee level, with involvement of scouts, until consensus is reached. Motion carried 18 to 1.
• Larry Herrin distributed a draft of a proposal for change to the structure and agenda of troop meetings. Draft is attached for committee consideration before next troop committee meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Philmont (Pat Kelly) - no report
2. Seabase (Ellen Steger) - no report

NEW BUSINESS

1. News from last troop meeting:
   • Scouts elected C J Carter as Senior Patrol Leader for 2000-2001 year.
   • Scouts voted to keep the same troop hats for next year: red with Texas Rangers' "T" and small "81"

FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS

1. Next Troop Committee meeting will be May 17 at RBFC