1980Scouter

I would like to start a thread about LC staffing and how excessive it is in most councils. Why do you need 30+ full time employees for a medium sized council? One council I studied, 70% of revenue goes to salaries. We are talking 3+ million dollars a year. Most of scouting happens at the troop level and with the exception of summer camp and maybe a few weekend camps the council is not involved at all. It seems like the government in that it is overloaded and excessive. Many camps have fallen into disrepair over the years due to no investment of funds when needed as all funds were needed to cover salaries. How many packs/troops interact with LC's on a regular basis other than recharter time and summer camp?

With 200 million in property promised, would that be 1/3 of all camps as suggested? I am sure some councils have cash that can settle the needed funds but most do not and will have to sell camps.

Has anyone seen a breakdown of what each LC will be expected to contribute in terms of cash and property on the latest agreement? This would be a game changer to know which properties must go and how much each council much pay. I am sure it varies widely depending on claims and council size, assets.

I find it hard to believe if a deal is close it can include LC's. I bet it is just national and deal with insurance and LC later. There are so many variables in the LC matrix.

So I am thinking there has to be some movement at the hearing this week. Either to let TCC file a plan or end LC protections. They would have to be very close to an agreement to continue negotiating, which I do not see. Hopefully the judge will decide some things so this can move forward.

What if all donors stopped giving money to local councils and started a trust to buy one camp per council. Restart BSA and fix the issues.

The BSA will lidicate their way out of existence. Mark my words. Unless there is some underground deal in the works, this is the end. The BSA needs to give up alot of assets if they wish to settle this. They do not appear to realize this.

Some are leaving poor councils and moving to ones that can withstand the lawsuits. If it is SOL laws or just resources.

I agree 100%. The ship is sinking.

Local council staff are leaving in record numbers. I have been watching multiple LC and I think the staff realizes the end may be near.

So how did the court hearing go? Hopefully some progress.

Some councils are being somewhat upfront with information concerning the costs associated with the lawsuits but most are not. Very interested to see what the TCC releases to LC this week concerning what assets they can keep/sell and how much they are expected to contribute to the settlement.

Agreed this is the only place to find out what is going on without reading thousands of pages of court documents.

Also sell all council offices. Many are in desirable areas and will bring a good price. Work out of the council camps. Have a local retailer sell scout stuff and online. No need for dedicated scout stores outside of camps. Make the camps the center of everything.

I think if they are able to save 3-4 camps per state spaced out evenly it will be fine. Try to make it a 2 1/2 hour drive at most. Today's roads are good allowing quick travel. Pick the best camps and do it.

I think many people are leaving LC's as they see the future is not good for job security. A few councils in my area have many open positions but are not filling them due to all that is going on with BSA.

So when is the next action in court going to happen on this case? I agree they need to move things along even if it means a bad outcome. Paying millions to attorneys to fight and make no progress is a waste of money that could go to the abuse victims.

If the lawsuit is just over National, would they still not go after HAB's?

Might as well add Lake Erie Council, Camp Stigwandish to the list. It was sold last year for 1.6 million and I am sure all the proceeds will go to the lawsuit as they have 450+ claims. The sale was supposed to support two other council camps and program needs.

I am wondering if LC's are starting to realize that they will have to contribute significantly to the settlement. Just viewing several area councils websites there is no mention of anything about the lawsuit other that the initial letter when BSA national filed for bankruptcy. I am interested if anyone has LC that is trying to raise funds and realizes they will have to pay.

I am wondering if when national and lc's realize it is over they start giving BIG bonuses to all staff to effectively draw down their cash reserves to a low point. I would not put this past them.

Good post on the TCC. I hope they secure adequate compensation for survivors and enhanced youth protection. In my eyes the BSA is done. I am am eagle scout and feel ashamed to be a part of this organization.

I have been following this discussion and the news coverage very closely on this issue. I feel that the victims should be compensated fairly. $50-60,000 should be a minimum. If it takes total liquidation of the BSA so be it. The BSA has become more about high priced execs sitting behind a desk and less about kids doing scouting activities over the past few decades. It has been next to impossible to get camp maintenance done when the first priority is staff salaries. There are so many camps out there falling into disrepair when councils spend millions on staff salaries. Why does a medium sized local council need 40 full time employees? I do not see the value here.

My council just laid off or had leave 1/3 of their staff. Around 10 people.They sold a popular camp this year and are feeling the fallout from all that is going on in scouting and the country. The SE makes $165k and another employee over $100k. These salaries and number of employees are excessive. Scouting is not about 30 people working in an office building. There is a need for some employees but not near this many. They could have the best camps around if they put a fraction of these resources in to them. Actually the two camps left are nice but do need a lot of work. If scouting does not survive the next year so be it. Maybe a better new organization can emerge from this focused on core values.