TROOP 494 COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 AT 7:00 PM
1. Welcome Roger Scherping
-Minutes approved from last meeting. Roger introduced new a new parent whose son recently
transferred to our troop.
2. Report from PLC Quintin A.
- The PLC decided on possible Grey Wolf Candidates and
reported them to Jim, who will submit 2 names in February. Quintin reported
that the PLC would like to have the February snow event on 2/16. Troop elections: He noted that leadership positions
are only open to 1st class and above for upcoming troop elections. For Planning Weekend he reported that they
will use the same template as last year to plan the year’s calendar. The PLC would like to make the patrols more
independent, so they will discuss how to do this there as well. Jim advised that PLC needs to plan for Planning
Weekend. The PLC needs to put out sign-up
sheets out for the 437 events coming up.
Jim would like the PLC to think about a fleece jacket. Bill proposed a “Speed Career Exploration Night”
to the PLC, so Quintin will bring this idea to them.
4. Scoutmaster Report Jim Letourneau
- Pack 437 recruitment: Jim will meet with Pack 437 in February
to introduce himself in preparation for the Blue and Gold banquet. Other events they have coming up are: Pinewood
Derby 2/9, Blue and Gold 3/10. So far there
are 7 Cub Scouts that are committed to bridging over, with up to 10 total. New Scouts Night is 3/12. Troop election was
decided to be 2/19. OA elections will be
2/12. After seeing fleece jackets at
Eagle cave, Jim discussed the troop having an optional Troop fleece jacket to
purchase, and Committee members liked the idea.
Deb Clarke said she would look into pricing and report back.
5. Camping Committee MarySue Abel
- February (snow):
Saturday, 2/16 Snow Fun day at
Trollhagen for snow tubing hours 10-8pm, $12 for 3hours, snowboarding $16 and
skiing $16 after 3pm.
- High Adventure: Isle Royal (August) 3 of 4 reservations in, 4th
will go in tomorrow, so all will be in the lottery system to get the group
sites. Mary Sue explained that large
groups can only camp at certain sites. She
will be looking at booking the ferry next. The troop is not considering this
trip to be entirely a High Adventure Trip.
Concerns were brought up around proper age of scout for this type of
trip and using High Adventure trips for scout retention. Resolved that with the training beforehand it
should be evident if the younger scouts are fully prepared to handle the trip,
and now there seem to be enough different High Adventure trips to keep the Scouts
interested.
- SeaBase : Mary Sue had tentatively put us down for 2 sailing, 1 scuba, 1 out-island
adventure. She will be looking at a more
formal process of collecting money etc…later on.
- Tomahawk 2014 is planned for July 19-26th, 2014.
- Quartermaster Report - Rick Rausch: Isle Royale Scouts
should think about using their personal backpacking tents as the troop will not
have enough for all the crews. Rick will
give inventory lists to Jim for Scouts to view.
- Camping store - Jeff Abel-no report
6. Advancement Committee Christy Bartlett:
Christy reviewed the New Sustainability merit badge that is
coming this summer, an Eagle required merit badge which is an alternative to Environmental
Science. She also reviewed a13th
Eagle required merit badge: cooking.
Committee discussed how that could be included at Tomahawk.
- Road to First Class update Jeff Abel/Joe Mikkelson/Marc
Johannsen/Ken Rowe: Joe gave update regarding the Road to First Class Campout
at Fred C on March 8-10.
- Advancement current status:
4 Eagle, 8 Life, 6 Star, 17-1 Class, 2- 2
Class, 17 Tenderfoot, 8 Scout. Discussed troop participation regarding how
active a Scout has to be in the troop.
There was some frustration voiced regarding decreased participation by some
of the Scouts regarding their advancement as they near Eagle rank. Reminders given that we need to be sensitive
to what our role is in this process and let the Jim and Roger know if there are
concerns about Scouts before their Eagle application is signed.
- Eagle Expo in February: It was decided that the troop
should have an Expo this year as the 1st Class scouts should be
exposed to it. It was decided to take
place on March 5th during the Troop meeting.
7. Fundraising Committee Ryan Solberg:
Ryan checked into doing more fundraising at the Ramsey County Composting
Site. He will try to schedule 2 or 3
October dates for this.
- Flowers Michele Willard: no report.
Bill will drop off the reservation request for the park for May 11.
- Electronic orders process – Roger reviewed that for future fundraisers the
troop is going to use the website ordering entry process. He will check with Tim and Michelle to see
where they are at in the process.
8. Community Service Committee John
Mercier:
Scouting for Food needed to be rescheduled due to Basic Skills campout. It was decided to schedule it for May 4th. Heritage Park Clean-up also was scheduled for
Tuesday, April 23rd.
9. Treasurer's Report Ken Rowe:
He reported that there are a few Scouts that still owe money from the fall
fundraiser. This prompted discussion of
a “no-money- no-product” troop policy which could also be incorporated into the
online ordering process. All of our
fundraisers are pre-paid activities now, and no cash is to be turned in by the Scouts,
only checks.
-
Insurance on troop trailers – Rotary has not provided us with a name yet.
- ScoutBucks statements have been sent out in the past few weeks.
- Financial statements reviewed
10. Other
- Website update Tim Willard – no report
- Adult Leader Training update Dave DiSera – no report
- Fun Night update Mike Pendergast – no report
11. Old Business
- Troop capital campaign update
Roger reported that we are now at $5,270 pledged, or 59% of our goal. The Subcommittee will follow through with our
open assignments through February, and then consider phase 2 of the campaign.
- FOS
Marc Johannsen reported that pledges are being received.
12. New Business
Marc
Johannsen discussed the idea of a metal display for showing all the Scouts’
ranks.
- Rechartering Report
Roger reported that we started the year with 45 Scouts. We added 23, had 3 age out, had 6 older boys
leave, and had 4 first years who didn’t recharter. We ended the year at 55 boys. We retained only 82% of our boys this year,
which is still excellent, but we were below 90% for the first time in many years.
- Youth
Protection Status
Roger reported that most of our rechartered adults have updated their Youth
Protection Training. He will email the
District tomorrow to remind them not to drop any of our adults who completed
their training.
- WB
parade
Ann Cerney wants the troop to commit to doing the Manitou Parade every
year. The Committee decided that this
should be given to the PLC to decide.