Tokala

The threat from National was to pull the Council charter or reduce it's geography to an unsustainable level. My comments were that they would be stupid to do that because it would just inflame and cause a mutiny with volunteers and parents. Unfortunately not having the benefit of a Council website or email system, the opposition was squelched. Honestly, the available volunteer pool has been shrinking making it more difficult to recruit and then offer program. The Region wanted a merger done a few years ago and when WCFC rejected it we were given conditional charters for 2 years as punishment.

You can add Gulf Ridge Council based in Tampa, FL and West Central Florida Council based in Seminole, FL to the list of mergers. Neither is in debt or crisis. Both are stable with sizable endowments. A vieled threat from National has been persistent and WCFC being smaller geographically and membership has capitulated. Final vote by the CORs will be in March with corporate paperwork done by June. Hopefully the result is better and more program. Too bad we dpn't have a plan other than "this will be great and our volunteers will love it". I say that as a Board member of WCFC.

There are 3 types of charters now: regular, conditional and transitional. My Council was placed on a conditional charter for 2 years for a couple of reasons with one being purely political manipulation by the Region and Area leadership. We were given markers to hit both years and if we missed, we would be given a transitional charter which means we would enter merger discussions. National can already manipulate a Council's charter, now it seems they are changing the rules to manipulate the mere existence and assets of a Council. Now, the region leadership is using the second change that I mentioned above to get us to discuss merging again because if we don't they will just do it when they change the rules.

National has by-laws that all Councils agree to operate by in order to receive a charter. I have heard that two changes are coming in May 2016 that affect Council business decisions: First is one removing CORs from a vote determining merging or selling property. I hear that one is a definite change. The second one, is that National can override Council Boards and force mergers and selling properties. Anyone gere serving on that National committee? Anyone hear anything in your area?

We do not have programs with a lot of variety offered. Since we are in Florida, the camps are open year-round. If a unit wants to use the shooting sports facilities or climbing, then they request the Council's subcommittee to staff it. We only charge for the facilities not the staff.

My Council has about 1200 Boy Scouts and 1000 Cub Scouts. Total membership is less than 3800. We have a great program and two well-run camps (by volunteers). Our school system gave us the boot a long time ago which seriously impacted our abilities to recruit. Until a few years ago, the Executive Board and untis continued to beat their heads against the wall of the school board and did not look at new ways to recruit. We have made a lot of progress working around the school board and doing more non-traditional recruiting efforts. Other than small membership, our JTE scores were better than most of the Councils in our area which include Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Tampa.

Because people are not honest. Usually copying the ID happens when they did not give us a form before camp and show up at the office wanting to take a child somewhere. At that point we don't even know if they have legal custody. Since as a camp director, you can be held liable (without BSA legal to back you up), I prefer to cover my butt.

We use a separate form that a parent completes prior to camp if a Scout has to leave property without his unit. We also copy the driver's license of the person that picks the Scout up. Two simple procedures could make the difference in a risky situation. Would you be happy if a parent that did not have custody showed up at camp and took a child? I bet the parent that did have custody would be grateful. We do not let the person into camp that is picking them up. We send a staff member to meet th unit leader and bring the Scout to the camp office. Better safe than sorry. There are creepy, desperate people out there.

Been invited back to my OA service corps job, but not sure how the dates and commitment fits with family commitments. Life has changed from a couple to a couple with a 1 year old daughter.

West Central Florida Council has one. We have a father and son travelling from Seattle area for our camp this year. I guess it pays to maintain contact with young men we mentor in Scouts since that is why that dad chose to visit. http://www.wcfcbsa.org/document/2015-webelos-camp-leaders-guide/148920

I see a drastic drop off in people willing to volunteer at the District and Council level locally. Not sure about the unit level. It's going to get worse in Florida. A new law that becomes effective July 1 will require all of our volunteers to submit to fingerprinting background checks. Not many people will want to pay $50-75 to "volunteer".

Happy to say that Trevor Case is a Scout in my Council. He has 2 brothers as participating. He has been on our summer camp staff and has been a leader in our Lodge the last few years.

Too soon to say. Was already solicited to return on OA service corps. Having a new daughter that will be a few years old makes the choice very difficult. I wasn't happy to see that they increased the price again.

My lodge had 35 deposits paid and ended up with only 23 slots. We picked up additional youth slots, but as Lodge Adviser, I had to refund deposits to 16 adults. They never anticipated the participation when registration opened. Thankfully, I have my staff position that about guarantees me a spot. My responsibilities have me involved in just about every aspect of NOAC and yet I usually do not get to participate or see any of the events. I enjoy the job and the people that I have worked with since ArrowCorps5 in 2008. We are probably th smallest staff and go unnoticed. We run the trucks that haul all of the gear for the program starting days in advance of even the staff reporting.

I think some of the script was forced to match the symbolism and tradions. It just doesn't flow or make sense.