APRIL TROOP 494 COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
1. Welcome Roger Scherping –
Minutes approved from the last meeting. New members, Mike Cogan and Terry Hietpas,
from the new first years, joined us for the meeting.
2. Report from PLC Quintin A.-
- Basic Skills preparation: Quintin reported that 4 patrols agreed to sleep in
tents. Went over weekend agenda
including session details and who is in charge of doing them, nightly
activities including skits, and chaplin duties Sunday morning.
- WB Lacrosse ticket sales service project was not supported by the Scouts, nor
is it really considered a community service event.
- Feed My Starving Children dates discussed:
Scouts definitely want to do it, but are having conflicts with the dates
to do it. Roger will check to see what
is still available and get back to the troop.
- It was decided not to pursue a flag retirement ceremony.
3. Scoutmaster Report Jim Letourneau –
Jim reported that Quintin is still working on finalizing the
2013 calendar. It should include FOS and Courts of Honor. Jim is in favor of making name tags at Basic
Skills this weekend. Scouts should wear
them, along with the adults working with the first years. We are going to need two more patrol boxes
but need to figure out where to store them.
We will hold off on making them until after a new trailer is bought.
4. Camping Subcommittee MarySue Abel-
- 2012 Philmont preparations- going fairly smoothly as they have gotten in a
few hikes so far. They are trying to find some alternative nights to get more
hikes in. It was communicated that Basic
Skills weekend is highly recommended to participate in to assist with getting
the necessary pre-hikes in. If Scouts
don’t respond to the emails crew leaders may have to follow up as well to make
sure their equipment up to date and have sufficient break in time. It is important that the crews meet their
agreed-upon preparation commitments.
- 2013 High Adventure – Voyager houseboat was decided on; 2014 thought they
would try to do Sea Base again.
- April 27 - Basic Skills at Fred C. Anderson has 49 Scouts, 24 adults going. Pack is coming on Saturday. Mike
and Jeff can drive the trailers. Need to
make sure that all the meal prep is coordinated after the meeting. Mary Sue will meet with Marc to coordinate
food buying for the adults. Ken would
like to have a check in table set up for check in and collecting fees.
- May 18 - Backpacking at Afton; have 6 sites reserved currently as there can
only be 6 people on a site per State Park rules. 35 people are signed up. There should not be an issue to find space
for more if needed.
- June 22 prep for Philmont – Scouts would like to go to campsites at Fred C
Anderson. Day trips to Taylors Falls could be activities for the younger Scouts
while the older Scouts do longer hikes.
- Tomahawk – We will have to decide on which troop guided merit badges to work
on. Mary Sue would like to discuss with Bridget merit badge options for in camp
Tomahawk. Deb will get a sign-up sheet
going for Tomahawk merit badges due to deadlines coming up. It was decided to have the swim test date on
the June 26th Committee meeting night. An update on need for second camp site was
given: The current troop at the Tuscarora site is open to having members from
our troop. For 2014 have reserved the
Tuscarora site.
- August campout has not yet been decided as feedback from the younger Scouts was
needed. Perhaps Lake Elmo.
- Quartermaster Report - Rick Rausch absent
- Camping store - Jeff Abel absent
5. Advancement Subcommittee Christy Bartlett- not present
- Road to First Class update Jeff Abel/Joe Mikkelson/Marc Johannsen – Scouts
are wrapping up turning in receipts from the last first year Scout camping trip. Most Scouts should be able to get done with 2nd
class and maybe 1st class requirements before the next Court of Honor. Troop is looking for the right Scouts to
fulfill the troop guide role to help transition the first year Scouts.
- Advancement status – no report
- Eagle Expo report was scheduled for this past weekend with two Scouts showing
up. Note for next year to gauge interest
level and need before putting it on the calendar
6. Fundraising Subcommittee Ryan Solberg –
- Bagging - June 3 Pam Blank: Stayed with original bagging
date of June 3rd. Sign up
sheet will put out May 15th.
- Flowers Michele Willard - pickup May 12.
Overall $2,600 more sales than last year, almost $5,000 through webstore
(60% of Scouts used store). Linders gift
cards fundraiser, over $1400 in sales, 33% through the webstore.
- Manitou 15k - June 2 Bridget Newman – Bridget has to make a few more phone
calls to organize things. Currently there
are 6 sponsors compared to 11 last year.
Would like to have more sponsors to offset T- shirt costs. May have to limit number of Scouts
volunteering to keep assignments manageable and profit per Scout up. May need to have someone else assist with
assigning day of duties so Bridget can concentrate on managing organizational
process. Discussed it would be helpful
to invite parents of volunteering Scouts to come to May committee meeting to
understand what is needed day of race.
We need to close the signups after the May 22 troop meeting.
7. Community Service Subcommittee Lori Hamlin – not present – Marc reported
that the troop has to have six community service projects per year to earn the
gold standard.
- Heritage Park Cleanup report - went well! Not much to pick up, but boys did
pruning, raking, etc…to make the park look great!
- Scouting for Food report Deb Clarke – needs to find a time to deliver food. Deb’s
pickup bed is filled food as well as extra in her minivan. The turnout was perhaps slightly down
compared to last year.
8. Treasurer's Report Ken Rowe -
- 2013 proposed
budget reviewed. Eagle gift budget increased
from $150 to $300. Reported that the credit
card fixed annual fees will be part of the annual troop budget.
Fiscal year end (Feb 29, 2012)
numbers show the troop had a net income $1,390.
There are currently 30 Scouts overdrawn, only 7 are over $100. Roger will get out emails to these Scouts to
balance their Scout buck accounts.
- Insurance issue on troop trailers- Ken is meeting with an insurance agent on
Friday and will give an update at next meeting.
9. Other -
- Website update Tim Willard –not present.
Roger reported that the troop has reached max storage capacity on our
website and that they are in process of correcting this.
- Adult Leader Training update Dave DiSera – not present
- Fun Night update Mike Pendergast – not present
- Friends of Scouting update Marc Johannsen – We met our goal! We now get free rank advancments.
- Adult Historian update Shauna Galatzer – not present
10. Old Business -
John Clarke is looking into cost and
how to fund a trailer. The troop is looking
for a single axle 6’x10’ fully covered 6’ high trailer that a smaller vehicle
could pull. Initial cost estimate is
$2500 to $3000. Roger to send John an
email to get an update.
Linders Fall Festival fundraiser
Michelle Sylvander - not present
11. New Business -
- District Tomahawk and Troop 494 Campership applications for Tomahawk due 5/31.
- Several
adult committee members and Scouts from Troop 494 were recognized at the
recognition dinner last week. Troop 494
had more people recognized than any other troop in our district.