Troop Committee Meeting May 15, 2002 Attendees: Pat Kelly, Ed Nichols, Craig Christensen, Bill Scott, Patrick Burns, Tom Schob, Bill Merriman, Bonnie Branch, Rita Bonds, Charlie Hood, Richard Carter Scouts: Jesse Benavides Chair: Mark Steger Minutes: Mark Steger 1. Calendar May 20: Summer Camp registration and fees due Jun 3: New PLC meeting (2002-2003 campout planning) June: Swimming sessions at RBFC (dates to be determined) Jun 19: Troop Committee meeting Jul 14-20: Summer Camp 2. Treasurer o No report o The 2002-2003 budget will be reviewed and approved at the June 19 Committee meeting. 3. PLC o The Committee congratulates Jesse Benavides on his election as SPL and welcomed him to the Committee meeting. o Jesse will work with the Scoutmasters and Pyro Patrol Counselor to finalize the naming of ASPLs and Pyro Patrol Leader for 2002-2003. o Jesse will begin a telephone calling tree to remind stragglers to get their 2002-2003 leadership applications turned in. Parents, your assistance is needed. 4. Roundtable - Ed Nichols o District is looking for youth volunteers at Twilight Camp at Breckinridge Park June 17-21, 4-8 PM o Annual "Friends of Scouting" drive is on. Please consider contributing. 5. Campouts - Richard Carter o May Campout - Shark patrol (Brent and Tom Martin) did a great job organizing this. Canoeing was a popular activity. - Ben Salisbury did a great job organizing the TFC program. Involvement of new Dads was great. - CJ Carter did a great job on Sunday morning thunderstorm, teaching the fireman's chit class to the first year Scouts. - We had a tire blowout on one of the trailers. The jack needs repair and the lug wrench is missing. o Scout Show - Chris Davis was far and away the most successful fund-raiser, selling 150 tickets and earning $180 for his individual Scout account. Congratulations, Chris. Thanks to Cindy McCarthy for organizing ticket sales. - The Scout Show was popular for the boys who attended and staffed the Troop 81 booth. Thanks for Ed Nichols for heading this up. o Summer Camp - Camp Constantin, July 14-20 - Registration and fees are due May 20. No regular troop meeting is planned that night. A short meeting for first-year Scouts and their parents will be held at 7:00 PM. Older Scouts can come anytime between 7:00 and 8:00 to register and leave immediately after registration. - A new Class I medical form is due, even if a Scout does not plan to attend Summer Camp. The Class I part of the form needs to be filled out EVERY YEAR. o Swimming - The troop will offer swimming sessions again in order for boys who need to meet swimming requirements for rank advancement or earn the swimming merit badge. Dates are not yet determined, but probably will be a Saturday or two in June. Scouts who are not yet swimmers should consider enrolling in city or YMCA swimming lessons before Summer Camp. Thanks for Charlie Hood (swimming merit badge) and Craig Christensen and Patrick Burns (TFC swimming requirements) for organizing this. o Northern Tier - Rita Bonds - Troop has one crew planned for 2002. 2003 is undetermined. o Sea Base - Charlie Hood and George Kerr - Troop has one boat planned for 2002. None for 2003. o Philmont - Mark Steger - Troop has two treks reserved for June, 2003 o Tents and chuck boxes - The Committee adopted a proposal to stop providing tents to Scouts beginning with the September campout. The troop's existing supply of tents will be offered for sale to Scouts or Scouts may buy their own tents, provided they conform to specifications to be set by the Scoutmasters. - The Committee would like to lighten the load on campouts by replacing our big, heavy wooden chuck boxes. Craig Christensen and the PLC need to discuss this to decide what to replace them with. 6. Meetings o Court of Honor was judged as very successful. The Eagle ceremony for four Troop 81 Scouts (Jason Kizzia, Matt Scott, John Mowrey, Tucker Livingston) was impressive. Thanks for Dave Knust for organizing this Court of Honor. o Dave Knust could not attend the committee meeting, but provided input by email. He plans to continue the current meeting format. He encourages adults to have a separate meeting in a different room. He wants to establish an email mailing list for Scouts to supplement, not replace, the telephone calling tree. o The Committee believes that merit badge classes are not being given adequate time in the schedule. Either better ways need to be devised to keep to the meeting schedule or sessions outside of regular troop meetings need to be scheduled, or more weeks need to be dedicated to each class. 7. Leadership - Tom Schob o There was more discussion on the proposal to change the length of service for patrol leaders from 1/2 year to 1 year. No consensus was reached. No vote was taken. 8. Advancement - Bonnie Branch o Eagles - Pat Kelly - Jirah Cox and Scott Kelly are waiting for the return of their final paperwork. - Scott Steger and CJ Carter are writing their reports. - Brenden Kerr and Jay Herring's projects are underway. - Ben Scott, Steven Schob, Jeff Collins, Travis Carter, and Ben Nichols, are working on their project plans. 9. Committee - Mark Steger o RBFC requires that Troop 81 adult leaders submit to a criminal background check. We are discussing what forms and service to use (Boy Scouts' or RBFC's). o A replacement for Ben Salisbury as TFC coordinator is needed for 2002-2003. o Pack 516 from Yale is looking for an adult trained to teach archery for Cub World on Saturday, June 1. --- The next Troop Committee meeting will be June 19 at RBF. Troop web site: http://www.bsa.net/tx/t81 --- Mark Steger