Troop 81 Committee Meeting Minutes - April 18, 2001 Attendees: Bill Scott, Pat Thompson, Lou Hocker, George Kerr, Richard Carter, Charlie Hood, Bonnie Branch, Larry Herrin, Tom Schob, Dan Lassiter, Bob Rielly Scouts: Matt Teplow Chair: Mark Steger Minutes: Mark Steger 1. PLC o Matt Teplow was elected Senior Patrol Leader at the April 16 troop meeting. He becomes SPL at the conclusion of the May Court of Honor. The Committee congratulates Matt and looks forward to his leadership. 2. Roundtable o There was no Roundtable meeting this month 3. Camping - Richard Carter o March: Camporee - Troop did not cover its expenses. Shortfall was due to food, which was budgeted at $5/Scout, and a miscalculation in the number of Webelos attending. - Next year, we should try to improve our troop's competitiveness. Matt Teplow will take this to the PLC to plan ways to achieve this. o April: Mineral Wells - Tom Martin - April 27-29. Activities include rappelling and TFC program. - Bill Scott will reassign chuck boxes to the new patrols before Monday's campout planning meeting. o Summer Camp - Mark Steger - Troop has made a down payment for 50 Scouts. - Information packet will be mailed to parents in a week or so. - Registration meeting will be Tuesday, May 29 at RBF. - Registration fee is $165, if in by May 29 ($185 afterwards). Financial aid will be available, if needed. - Adult leaders are needed. Please consider attending Summer Camp. - Note that the immunization information on the back of the Class I medical record must be filled in. Marking it "on file" or "current" will no longer be acceptable. This information can be obtained from your doctor or school. - Parents of first year Scouts who are not swimmers may want to consider enrolling their sons in city pool swimming lessons before Summer Camp. It's easier to learn in a city pool program and the camp experience is more rewarding if boys arrive already having basic swimming ability. o Discussion on troop policy: - Trailers will be open only during certain hours and patrols need to plan accordingly. Hours will be posted on each campout. - In general, the Campmaster for a particular campout is the Patrol Counselor responsible for planning that campout. - Troop needs to ensure that each patrol has its Patrol Counselor or a designate attending each campout. To that end, the troop needs more volunteers for Assistant Patrol Counselors. - Tour permits require accurate information about drivers and vehicles. Richard Carter will check on the implications about insurance coverage if we don't have such information. Please cooperate by providing all needed information on the Driver's Information Sheets before each campout. 4. Meetings o Scout Show - Activity for our booth is being prepared by Tom Martin. Matt Teplow will coordinate getting Scouts to sign up for 2 hour shifts manning the booth. - Pat Kelly is responsible for registering the troop for a booth. Pat is also responsible for handling ticket sales. Status of these items is unknown. 5. Leadership - Tom Schob o A letter to Scouts about leadership positions for 2001-2002 was sent home. All First Class Scouts and above should fill this out and return it to Matt Teplow or their Patrol Counselor. o Tom reminded the committee that troop policy is that Scouts need to document their activities in fulfillment of their leadership positions. This is done on tracking charts. Signoff of leadership requirement will only be done if this chart is filled out. 6. Advancement - Bonnie Branch o Eagles - Lou Hocker/Pat Kelly - Chris Kelly and Jason Kizzia passed their boards of review. - Tucker Livingston's board of review will be held next week. - Next Eagle candidate meeting will be May 6. All Life Scouts who have not attended a previous meeting should attend. o Bonnie Branch circulated a draft of guidelines for conducting boards of review. She welcomes comments. o It has been noticed that more Scouts are appearing before boards of review not in dress Class A uniform. Adult leaders are asked to pay more attention to this, especially for higher ranks. o Tom Schob anticipates a possible dilemma when an Eagle candidate asks for adult leader signoff on the "Scout Spirit" requirement. If the onus for signing this or not falls on just one person, the Patrol Counselor, the pressure to approve is enormous. Tom suggests that a committee be used to review candidates on this requirement. Ed Nichols asks that all adult leaders communicate more with Scouts on an ongoing basis when they live up to or fall short of showing "Scout spirit." 7. Treasurer (Pat Thompson) o March 8 month YTD financials were presented. Income: $18,498. Expenses: $17,613. Variance from budget: deficit of $161. o Forecast for the rest of the year is a slight deficit, due largely to exceeding the budget for supplies. The Committee approved recent expenditures or plans for new tents and seam sealer, filing cabinets, an Eagle plaque, first-aid supplies, a new trailer tire, and possibly another Dutch oven. The Committee approved an increase in the authorization for expenditures for supplies by $1000. 8. Committee - Mark Steger o Membership/position changes - Mark Steger - 21 new Scouts joined the troop. 4 more may yet join. - Richard Carter will lead a "Fast Track" training session for new adult leaders on Tuesday, April 24 at 7:00 PM at RBF. All parents of new Scouts are encouraged to attend, as well as any other parents who have never received any training in the Boy Scout way. o Bylaws - Mark Steger - Discussion of proposed bylaws was deferred, due to lack of time. --- The next Troop Committee meeting will be May 16 at RBF. Troop web site: http://www.bsa.net/tx/t81