capnwhizz

To answer Longhaul's question, the council has had discussions over the past several years with the local water management district and the county in which the camp is located, hoping to negotiate a sale of the development rights to the camp to one of these government agencies. This could have resulted in several million dollars of income to the council, while keeping the camp just as it is. It would also have done away with offers from developers. If the rezoning is successful, we will have no development rights to sell. With that ongoing, and with the lawsuit file by the MCBDA, no one is interested in talking with us now. They get the development rights for free.

I am one of Mr. Kaiser's bad guys in Fort Myers, and I am having a hard time reading these posts and seeing the misinformation that is being disseminated. As one of the "businessmen with little Scouting experience" mentioned in a previous post, I first want to provide some information about my Scouting resume, which is typical of the Southwest Florida Council Executive Committee. I have two sons who are Eagle Scouts, the youngest now 21. I was a Tiger parent, a den leader and a Webelos leader for both boys. I spent 11 years as an Assisstant Scoutmaster while they were in their troop in Fort Myers. During that time I was an Assisstant Scoutmaster for a National Jamboree Contingent, took courses at Philmont, taught courses at Philmont, lead a council contingent and a troop contingent on two different treks to Philmont, plus did all of the typical summer camps and weekend camping. I have also served as a District Chairman, Vice President of Program and I am now Vice President of Physical Resources. I have been on the Executive Committee for Southwest Florida Council since 1993, and went through the process of taking over Sunnyland Coucnil after it failed, and was part of the committee that hired the current SE of the council. While Mr. Kaiser likes to use the term "evil" to describe the members of the Executive Committee of our council, I have known many of these people for years. They are all dedicated volunteers trying to what is best for Scouting in Southwest Florida. Most are successful business professionals, and as such are not going to be patsies for the Scout Executive. I can gaurantee that the Executive Committee and the Executvie Board run our council, and that the SE follows our lead. I understand that Mr. Kaiser and others think they know what is going on, but they seem to be motivated by emotion and rumor. There has never been a solicited offer for Camp Flying Eagle, no submitted offered was ever accepted, and there is no plan to sell the camp. However, no board could fulfill its fiduciary duty to a council by not at least reviewing and discussing offers submitted. The actions taken by "Red Dog" Maynard with regard to the suit filed against the council and his promoting a rezoning of the property, lowering the value of the camp by millions, cause serious damage to Scouting throughout the Southwest Florida Council. Mr. Maynard has chosen to operate outside of typical Scouting channels and procedures without once offering to work with the Executive Committee. He could at any time have asked to talk with any or all of the Executive Committee, and we would have been more than willing to hear and discuss his ideas about how to keep Camp Flying Eagle a viable tool for Scouting in the Council. He chose, for his own reasons, to work outside of the program, resulting in a significant amount of harm to Scouting in Southwest Florida, in my opinion. This does not reflect the actions of someone loyal to Scouting, but those of someone with his own agenda. While I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with the action of the board or executive committee,to use terms like evil and bad guys doe not further your cause. While you may not want to admit to it, we all want what is best for Scouting.