Troop 81 Committee Meeting Minutes - March 21, 2001 Attendees: Larry Herrin, Pat Thompson, Richard Carter, Tom Schob, Bill Merriman, Floyd Hodges, Dennis McCarthy, Bill Scott, George Kerr, Dave Knust, Craig Christensen, Pat Kelly, Lou Hocker, Rita Bonds, Carl Bonds, Bonnie Branch, Tom Martin Scouts: CJ Carter, Scott Bonds, Brent Martin, Brenden Kerr Chair: Mark Steger Minutes: Mark Steger 1. PLC - CJ Carter o Family Camp was popular and recommended for next year. o PLC agreed to do Scout Show. Tom Martin agreed to organize an Electricity Merit Badge activity. 2. Roundtable - Pat Kelly o Merit Badge clinic at UTD on March 31. o Oak Leaf training will be April 7-8 at Camp Wisdom. o Trash Bash is planned for April 7. o Pat will pick up Scout Show tickets. o BSA recommends each troop have a glucometer for diabetics. Also recommended is an inhalant for asthmatics. The latter requires a prescription from a doctor, so it's not clear how a troop can comply. o First Aid and CPR training is available from Red Cross on May 19 and June 9. All adults are encouraged to be trained in these potentially life-saving skills. o Troop 45 has two openings for Northern Tier on June 17-23. 3. Camping - Richard Carter o March: Camporee - Floyd Hodges - Mar 23-25 at Camp Wisdom. Only two vehicles per troop will be allowed at the campsite. o April: Mineral Wells - Scott Bonds - April 27-29. Activities include rappelling and TFC program. Rappelling requires 1st class rank and release form signed by parent. Cost is estimated to be $33 for rappellers and $19 for others. o Summer Camp - Mark Steger - It is important that, at the April 2 troop meeting, we get an accurate estimate of attendance at Summer Camp June 17-23. A non-refundable partial payment by the Troop is due April 6. Camp fee will be collected from Scouts later in April. o Military Base 2002 - Mark Steger - PLC was asked to rank choices for a military base campout in January 2003 so that reservations can be made early. o Family Camp 2002 - Mark Steger - PLC and Committee approved reserving Ft Parker for Feb 23-24, 2002. Richard Carter will make the reservations. o Troop equipment storage - Bill Scott - Bill continues to pursue options for purchasing a storage shed to be placed on RBF grounds for storage of troop equipment. Cost is estimated to be $1000. - Bill expects a need for the troop to repair and purchase more tents, given the wear and tear on the existing tents and possible growth in troop size with this year's incoming Webelos. No decision needed yet. 4. Meetings - Bill Merriman o Recommendations for changes to troop meetings - Bill Merriman and Dave Knust presented a recommendation that the troop emphasize more effective meetings, utilizing written agendas and more e-mail communication to parents and Scouts. - Mark Steger requested that adults minimize the number of announcements that they make personally and instead get the appropriate Scout to make the announcement. - Richard Carter requested that adult "mini-meetings" at the back of the room be stopped or taken outside in the hallway. 5. Leadership - Tom Schob o Lessons-learned from patrol integration - Tom Schob - The re-organization of the patrols into age-integrated patrols went fairly smoothly, all things considered. The Committee discussed the cases where problems arose. Most might have been avoided through better planning by adults. - Adults should have met beforehand to coordinate the ground rules to be used by the Scouts and agree on when and how the adults should get involved. - The Troop should have assured that the Patrol Counselor (or suitable substitute) was present in each patrol meeting. - Adults should have communicated the troop requirement that a Scout be 1st class in order to be elected patrol leader. - The troop should encourage all adult leaders to attend Adult Leader Training, to help avoid mistakes in similar situations in the future. - Despite these adult shortcomings, the boys handled this major change remarkably well and deserve a four-square "how". - Going forward, the troop needs to be on the lookout for outgoing patrol leaders who will need new leadership positions for rank advancement. - Also, with new patrols, we will need new Patrol Counselors. Volunteers should contact Mark Steger. New Patrol Counselors should consult with the old Patrol Counselor before signing off on leadership requirements, where service time overlapped the patrol re-organization. o Letter to Scouts about leadership positions for 2001-2002 will be sent home. Bonnie Branch and Tom Schob will prepare the letter for mailing. 6. Advancement - Bonnie Branch o Eagles - Lou Hocker/Pat Kelly - Tucker Livingston had his Scoutmaster conference and has a board of review scheduled for March 30. - Chris Kelly and Jason Kizzia are ready for their Scoutmaster conferences and need to have boards of review scheduled. - Next Eagle candidate meeting will be April 8. All Life Scouts who have not attended a previous meeting should attend this one. 7. Treasurer (Pat Thompson) o February 7 month YTD financials were presented. Income: $16,872. Expenses: $15,778. Variance from budget: deficit of $311. o Summer Camp partial payment ($60/Scout) is due April 6. Troop expects to pay for 50 Scouts. o Pat asks that any expenditures greater than $50 expected before June should be forecast now. 8. Committee - Mark Steger o Membership/position changes - Mark Steger - The troop is expecting 21 or more Webelos to join the troop on April 2. Mark Steger will prepare Troop Handbooks and registration forms and will lead an orientation meeting for adults. Tom Schob will lead an orientation meeting for new Scouts. o Bylaws - Mark Steger - Discussion of proposed bylaws was deferred, due to lack of time. --- The next Troop Committee meeting will be April 18 at RBF. Troop web site: http://www.bsa.net/tx/t81