TROOP 494 COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013

1. Welcome Roger Scherping
- Meeting called to order.  Minutes approved from last meeting noting a correction to the number of crews for Isle Royale.

2. Report from PLC Quintin A./Paul J.: They reported that for March Planning Weekend they will be encouraging brainstorming. Scouts did not show interest in the speed career exploration night as the school does so much of this, but they were open to tying it to a merit badge exploration.  There was also no interest in participating in the WBL parade.

 

3. Scoutmaster Report Jim Letourneau
- Pack 437 Blue and Gold is 3/10.  We are waiting for a script from OA chapter for ceremony.  There are a total of 9 Scouts crossing over.
- New Scouts night is 3/12.  We will send out an agenda for planning in an email.
- Adult OA nomination: This year the troop elected 12 youth into OA, therefore we can select 1 adult for every 3 youth = 4 adults.  Possible adult candidates who need to be registered leaders were discussed.  If elected they would have to attend the conclave in the fall and attend the Sunday ceremony at Tomahawk.
-Jim reported he will work on the Grey Wolf Scout selection. 
-Discussed if there should be a direction given to the boys on the number of Eagle mentor pins given out.  Decided to continue to monitor and make sure that the boys really think about the decision appropriately.

4. Camping Committee MarySue Abel

- High Adventure: In a few more weeks we should have a decision about campsite reservations for Isle Royale.  SeaBase reservations have changed slightly after lottery results received.  We now have 4 sailing crews and 1 Out Island crew reserved.  Scuba was not available, but we are on a waiting list for 3 dates in August.  To try to accommodate this, two more sailing crews were added which are now reserved for 8th-9th x 2 crews and 8th-11th x 2 crews.  The Out Island is currently reserved for 1 week later (8/15), and our name was put on a waiting list for the same week as sailing to try to get some overlap of crews.  We will have to be patient to see if things change.

- Camping store - Jeff Abel -He will get over to the Army Surplus and see what they have.  He may have enough in stock currently for cross over gifts.

5. Advancement Committee Christy Bartlett
- Road to First Class update Jeff Abel/Joe Mikkelson/Marc Johannsen/Ken Rowe:  Scouts are finalizing the Road to First Class Campout preparations tonight. 
- Advancement status: We are waiting on Sam and Peder’s approval from the district council. 
- Eagle Expo March 5 preparations: Shelly will print the advancement records for all boys First Class and over.  Expo is open to First Class rank and above ~ 23 Scouts.

-Many Waters Merit Badge weekend is April 5-6, offering 22 merit badges at Fred C. for its 30^th Anniversary.   Marc will put out a sign-up sheet to see how many Scouts are interested.   
- Eagle-required merit badge program:  Bridget will put out a sign-up sheet for the March 19 Citizenship in the Nation merit badge. 

6. Fundraising Committee Ryan Solberg :

 

It was decided to not try to get an opportunity to do a fundraiser in May at the compost yard; we’ll wait for fall instead.  He has not had success yet in reaching the coordinator to finalize dates.

- Flowers Michele Willard: Ryan reported that Michele was not going to offer the gift cards this year.  

- Electronic orders process – Roger reported Tim is working on the new online order process and reviewed the new process.

 

7. Community Service Committee John Mercier
- Heritage Park Cleanup date 4/23 is right before Basic Skills Weekend on 4/26.  Decided to leave it.

- Scouting for Food is 5/4.

8. Treasurer's Report Ken Rowe

- Insurance on troop trailers – Ken now has a name at the Rotary to talk to about the insurance. 
- ScoutBucks statements:  nothing new

9. Other
- Website update Tim Willard: nothing new
- Adult Leader Training update Dave DiSera: nothing new
- Fun Night update Mike Pendergast: nothing to report

10. Old Business

- Troop capital campaign update: Roger reports that we are at 61% of our goal at $5,500.  The go-ahead was given to start looking for a new trailer.  We are waiting to hear from 5 more civic organizations.  We may have to think about the next phase for raising the amounts that may be remaining.  We have brainstormed other possibilities that would not take away from the boys.

                  
- FOS update: Marc Johannsen reports we are about half way to our goal.  It is coming in slowly.  The deadline is April 15^th.  Will send out reminder letters mid-May.

- Fleece jacket idea- Deb Clarke:  She got a sample from Hisdahls with a quote for ¼ zip jacket for $22.50 with logo, $3-5 for name additional, plus an overall $50 digitizing fee.  Committee members liked the color orange with black piping.   Discussed pros and cons of making it optional vs. part of our mandatory uniform.   Decided to make it optional, but strongly encouraged.  Will try to start to get sizes at next weeks meeting.

- Metal rank display- Marc is getting quotes for a display board to show ranks.  It is a metal magnetic board ~ 4x6 feet with easel ~$400.

11. New Business
- Remaining firewood at Christy’s parents:  Question what to do with it as we need to move it.  Will talk to Ryan Solberg about legality of moving it and using it on campouts.

- Question if there were any ways to better the sound dynamics in the church for meetings.  The committee gave ideas how to improve it including changing layout, using chairs only, standing more, using a half circle format.  Feedback will be given to the SPLC to take these things into consideration.