Abel Magwitch

Scouting above all should be fun. Scouting was fun when I was a Scout. I was able to participate in many activities that I could not have gotten anywhere else. Summer camp was great. The camp was up kept. I learned leadership. I I had opportunities to learn many things. When a Scout goes to summer camp now, he should have fun. The Scout is paying over $250 for a week of fun and opportunities. Council promises a quality program for the fees paid. Councils advertise on their websites how fun their camp is. Council's send out summer camp manuals to troops highlighting what their camps offer. Councils are obligated to live up to their promises. They are supposed to deliver the goods when non-refundable fees are paid. Council professionals are supposed to follow the policies and procedures of the BSA, no more and no less. Since the professional corps have decided to list themselves on the council tax returns as "program", by golly they better do their jobs and serve the Scouts. (I disagree with the concept that professionals are program. On the contrary, it is the volunteer who provides the program. Volunteers are unit leaders. Volunteer leaders are the trainers. Volunteer leaders manage district activities like camporees, not the professionals.) But in my council and others, the pros do not. They are only interested in making their criticals so they can be promoted. Service to the youth and volunteer leaders does not seem to be part of their job description. When Scouts at summer camp sign up for a merit badge (in this case, wilderness survival), there should be an adequate staff in place to run the program. There is supposed to be a merit badge counselor experienced in his field to counsel the Scouts, not 15 year old youths. Having one adult who is in charge of an area like Scoutcraft being the sole merit badge counselor for all Scoutcraft badges is unacceptable. There is no way that one person can "counsel" all the Scouts in all the merit badges. Councils using 15 year olds to do the actual counseling is unacceptable. It is not BSA policy. It is not quality. The Scouts do not get the promised program. TAHAWK's initial post is a good example of how councils fail the Scouts. They also fail the volunteer leaders when kids quit the troop because parents feel that summer camp was a waste of money after they hear that their Scouts did not get a chance to do the things council promised. So does a Scout deserve a refund? Absolutely! Council did not deliver. Thirty merit badges handed out and signed by a young adult area director who never interacted with any Scouts during the merit badge session is not getting the promised program. Thirty merit badges counseled by two youth who have little experience in the merit badge is not delivering the promise program. There is no excuse why our highly paid "program" professionals did not do their jobs. But then again who evaluates the professionals? Why the executive board does. But in my council, the executive board is made up of business folks who know nothing about Scouting. They do not visit the camp; they don't visit individual units to see the program in action. For the most part they are simply names on paper who lend their support financially. When I found out a few years back that the three Scouts who took cooking mb paid $8 for food and only made a single pancake, I complained to the DSS. He was in charge of managing summer camp. He offered a $4 refund for my Scouts. He did not make that offer to any other Scouts. He was willing to refund $12. So in essence, my three Scouts earned the cooking mb by making the single most expensive $4 silver dollar size pancake in the whole world. My troop after many years of loyalty to our council camp has joined the ranks of 75% of our council's troops by voting with our feet. We no longer attend our council's summer camp. All our efforts to address the issues of summer camp have been futile. We took our concerns to the council commissioner, the camping committee, the advancement committee, the executive board. Our professional corps are in control. They surround themselves with good old boys who will support them. TAHAWK, those Scouts deserve a refund by council. It was not their fault that council dropped the ball and did not hire an adequate staff; it was not their fault that the council advancement committee approved the professional's methods of using 15 year olds to do the counseling. Scouts depend on us adults to deliver. Volunteer leaders depend on the professionals managing the camp to deliver. When failure starts at those managing the camp, everybody loses. Abel

hello bnellon, on the contrary, read the first post. It's all about cheap MB's at summer camp.

So, how is advancement supposed to work in the BSA? Let's begin here: Step 1 The Boy Learns. He learns Scouting skills by taking an active hands-on part in troop and patrol meetings and outdoor programs. This learning, as we said above, the natural outcome of his regular Scouting activities his on-the-job training. Step 2 He is Tested. When his leaders see that he has mastered a given skill and satisfied a given requirement, they tell him so and record his achievement. Step 3 He is Reviewed. When a Scout completes all requirements for a rank, he appears before a board of review composed of members of the troop committee. Their purpose is not to retest him, but to make sure he has met all the requirements, to chat with him about how he feels hes getting along with the troop and its program, and of course to encourage him to keep advancing. Step 4 He is recognized. When a Scout is certified by the board of review, he is awarded his new badge of rank as soon as possible, normally in a ceremony at the next troop meeting. He should be recognized again at the troops next court of honor. What are some reasons why this doesn't happen? In some troops, being an eagle factory is priority number one. Kids will all take a merit badge together with only one or two Scouts actually doing the work. Everybody receives credit regardless if they actually did the requirements. In some council's an inadequate underage summer camp staff is hired. Council breaks national policy by using inexperienced 15 year olds to "counsel" merit badges at summer camp while an adult area director simply signs off on merit badges without ever having worked with the Scouts. Council's do this to save money. They don't care that the Scout doesn't get the promised program they paid for. Quality of training - how many scouters have sat in on a training class being put on by an inexperienced trainer? Did you ever question the experience of the trainer? In my council after completing wood badge, you are eligible to be in charge of next year's woodbadge class. You may only have two years of Scouting experience under your belt, but you will be able to "teach" the course. So who loses? Why the Scouts do of course. Consider this - our council summer camp just recently began following the rules for BSA lifeguard. Prior to that, the BSA lifeguard class at summer camp lasted an hour a day for five days. At the end of camp, Scouts were given their BSA lifeguard cards. Now when that Scout finds himself in a real lifesaving situation and ends up becoming a victim himself because he did not really complete the time requirements. So who is to blame? Or consider this - a Scout is given credit for hiking merit badge at camp by simply sitting during the sessions. The Scout isn't really tested, and a 15 year old merit badge counselor is more than happy to give credit to his friends without them doing any work. Then later, the Scout ends up getting lost and panics because he really did not do the work. But all of these things have been approved and condoned by highly paid professionals because they do not want to spend the monies necessary to have a quality summer camp program. And many of these pros have never read advancement requirements. Yet they still receive promotions based on their council's being one of "quality". So what do they care anyway? For many of them scouting is nothing more than a business. For most volunteers I know, Scouting is not a business, but a way of life and a commitment to the youth they serve. Then there are those MB counselors who like to add to the requirements making it next to impossible for the boy to get the merit badge from that counselor. Still there are other counselors who love cutting breaks to Scouts making the badge too easy. Advancement policy and procedure is pretty simple really - a Scout must do the requirements, no more and no less. A Scout is expected to do exactly what is stated - if it says show or demonstrate, that is what he must do. Just telling about it is not enough... Most Boy Scouts I know can read the BSA requirement book and understand what it says. Surely, literate and educated adults can understand it as well. So how much training is truly needed? There has to be a desire on the part of the adults and youth to make sure advancement is done correctly and a quality Scouting program is delivered to the boys. The professionals who supposedly manage the program (at least in my council) should especially do their jobs competently. Serving the Scouts and their volunteer leaders should be their priority number one. If the professional staff in my council truly managed things properly especially their summer camp, their membership criticals would be easily met as more and more boys would join Scouting because the council offered a quality fun program. Instead they do a pretty good job of chasing most of the councils troops out of council while they continue to be promoted to higher positions in their professional program. There should be no merit badge mill at summer camp. Instead, Scouts should go to summer camp and actually accomplish learning their skills and above all, having fun doing it. Just how much fun did a Scout have earning his motor boating merit badge at summer camp without ever entering the boat? How much fun did a Scout have earning his cooking merit badge by cooking a single $8 pancake?(This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

Yes, it sounds familiar. How about this... A council has 5 districts. Then the SE retires and a new SE comes to town. Within the next few years, membership grows at a phenominal rate (on paper). With such an influx of new members, the SE decides that council needs to divide into 9 districts. Unfortunately, nobody ever sees the new membership from the new units. The 9 districts are now too small to function. One district only had 4 traditional troops. Another had 8. There were no longer camporees or klondike derbies in some districts. Troops had to participate in other district events if they wanted a district program. In the meantime, the SE makes all his criticals. Membership is up, units are up, the council supposedly grew and the guy gets a promotion. In comes the new SE. Membership drops by over 6,000. The SE lets a very small group know that there was membership fraud and that he has supposedly fixed the problem. The next annual report comes out and it reflects a loss of membership yet the council claims it had membership growth instead of decline. The wording changed on the annual report. Now there is an end of the year total (which reflected the huge loss of membership) along with another higher count which the council claimed that it reached out to x number of youth for the entire year. (this way they still showed growth). Who cares? Well when the council went from 5 to 9 districts, 4 additional DE's had to be hired along with other professional support staff to serve the supposed rise in membership. At the same time, the summer camp staff that year was half the size of the previous year. Areas at camp were not manned and kids lost out on the promised program. When asking the council why such a shortage of camp staff and supplies, the answer given was the council had no more money. I care that monies are spent to pay additional staff when membership is not really there. I care that parents pay for a program and their kids do not get it while the SE gets promoted for doing such a fine job (at least in national's eyes). It's nothing but shenanigans and its wrong. And it affects all the units as they do not get the service they deserve (and pay for).(This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

One thing I can think of which would not tend to support such a Machiavellian scheme is the fact that councils seem to be unable to even keep simple advancement records correctly. How could such incompetence put together a scheme THAT clever? Incompetence with advancement records? I don't believe so. Not caring about such trivial things such as advancement records while being concerned with the real priorities of membership, fos and criticals, in my opinion is closer to the truth. I recall when I was advancement chair and required merit badge counselors to fill out their applications and be approved by the advancement committee, I was dismayed when people simply went to the scout office, paid their fee and was registered as a merit badge counselor without advancement committee approval. When I informed the SE about how I was working to follow advancement policies and procedures, he told me that he did not know of any such approval procedure by the advancement committee. But then a friend of mine who worked at the scout shop called me to tell me that the SE stopped by to look at the advancement committee guidebook. My friend asked the SE if he would like to purchase his own copy. The pros in my council give the impression that they are only concerned with the business of Scouting and rarely have anything to do with the program at the volunteer level.(This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

Packsaddle, I agree with your assessment that when the customer sees a better alternative, they will walk. This is most evident in my council. I know this is off topic but let's suppose... I know that there are Scouters out there whose council's have merged. I know there are those out there whose council sold their beloved camp. When council's merge and camps close, how are the decisions made to close which particular camp? How are the decisions made on where the Scout office will be located? Has anyone experienced a drop in the quality of your camp program where council troops sought out alternative council camps only to have your council camp be the one that closed before or during a council merger? Did it appear that the council camp was intentionally run into the ground giving reason for the council to close the camp? Anyone out there find a new camp director - a professional camp director, (not the usual volunteer hired from the ranks to be camp director for the summer camp season) and found that the camp director made it very unpleasant for troop leaders? I know in my council that many more troops stopped coming to the council camp in recent years and went elsewhere because how they were treated by the new camp director. I see some wheels in motion in my council which leads me to believe that there will be some big changes coming on the horizon. One executive board member whom I sought out concerning the problems of our summer camp told me "why does the council really need this camp when most other troops go elsewhere?" (By the way, the troop he is involved with stopped using the council camp 15 years ago because of the better program offered in the neighboring council). I also had a nice conversation with a fellow from regional who happened to be camping at another council's camp where my troop had its fishin camp. He told me of the plans that regional had for my council. Packsaddle, I see my council going to the grave as you say along with its camp. But I believe there is a bigger picture behind the reasons why. It will be easier for council to condone their decisions on why a camp had to be shut down if they intentionally made the program and service stink beore hand. Thoughts? (This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

Heh, heh, it's not politics...it's simple economics. When customers pay more, they expect more and they get it or else move on to a competitor. And that is the free market. When customers pay little and expect more anyway, that's...entitlement...aka Scout Camps. Pay more, pay little For me and my troop, the issue is not about how much one pays but rather what is promised by the council for the fees paid and what is actually delivered. There are several neighboring councils to mine. The majority of my council troops go to these other councils for their summer camp. Here are some of their reasons the program is better; the council invests in the upkeep of the camp; the council is prepared for summer camp; there is an adequate staff and adequate 18 year old merit badge counselors; the food is better and there is enough of it. Each of the out of council camps cost 10 to 25 dollars less per boy than my council camp. Each of these out of council camps offer 7 to 8 weeks of summer camp and they are filled to capacity by October with unit reservations. My council camp only offers 4 weeks and the camp is less than half full. The out of council camps offer a third more merit badges than my council camp. A few years ago, I compiled the information of my councils summer camp and compared it to two of the out of council camps where the majority of my councils troops now attend and presented the information to the pro in charge of managing summer camp along with the camping chairman. I told the pro that the other two camps are our competition and if we wanted to compete, we had to offer at least the same amount of program at the same prices. I questioned why the other two councils could afford a better program considering that they were smaller councils covering smaller areas. Considering all the membership my council boasted in having in order to solicit United Way funds and reviewing the annual report and the council 990 tax return there should be ample resources to fund our camp. I also mentioned that within the past 20 years, our council sold off two of its other camps and we volunteers were told by the professionals then that the monies from the sales of these two camps would be invested into the remaining camp. But alas, this never happened. The response I got from the transient professionals was that was in the past and that they had nothing to do with those decisions. Funny how that response is offered over and over for past mismanagement and broken promises by former administrations. But I have seen the inflated salaries that upper pros make. The ways in which former pros from my council fudged the numbers to get their raises and promotions. Some of these former SEs are now making over $250,000 annually. Talk about entitlements. A Scout is Trustworthy. The council should be trustworthy by keeping their promises to the Scouts for the fees they pay. Be Prepared. The council needs to be prepared for summer camp the day it opens. There should be an adequate staff in place ready to serve. All the supplies should be in place before the first boy arrives. There should be no excuses by pros saying that they have other things to do other than summer camp, (this was one of the excuses I was given when I asked a pro running summer camp why there was no archery supplies or pottery supplies bought before the start of camp). My troop made the decision last year to not return to our council camp because how we were treated by the new bully pro camp director. This year we summer camped at a private campground a campground that is friendly to Scouting and offers an excellent program. Instead of paying the customary $250 council fee, our week cost less than $125 per kid. And the biggest plus was we were well treated by the camp staff. The camp staff was courteous, willing and experienced. We supplemented the camp program with our own program. Volunteers became the merit badge counselors. And our troop's summer camp was all managed by a bunch of volunteer leaders who took no pay to serve. Tell me why our troop should support FOS anymore? To me there are two programs in Scouting. The real program belongs to the volunteer leaders and the Scouts they serve. (Imagine that people volunteering their time money and resources to better the youth of this country. Sounds like socialism does it not?) There certainly are no big salaries being paid to the devoted volunteers who actually do the work of providing the Scouts with the program. Instead, these volunteers are charged a fee to go to camp so they can provide their program to the youth they serve. If it werent for the volunteer leaders, there would be no BSA. And then there is the professional program. The pros will tell you that the scouting is a business. There are big salaries to be made if one so chooses to work towards the goals of membership and unit growth. Incentives to earn quality district awards the pro gets a raise, the volunteer gets a nifty patch to wear. But the pros are not in the trenches. They are not involved on the unit level. They do not run the camporees or daycamps, the troop and pack meetings. No, those activities are run by the volunteer. Scouting is not a business to the volunteer leaders who actually provide the program to the youth. The pros are supposed to manage the funds and maintain the properties. They are to hire the summer camp program staff and ensure that BSA policies and procedures are followed. The pros are supposed to ensure that summer camp is properly supplied. Instead (at least in my council) policies and procedures will only be followed if convenient or if it wont cost the council money and the camp is never ever ready for the first week campers. They truly miss out on the program and they are never given a partial refund for the program they did not receive. TAHAWK hit is on the head when he stated that 93% of funding went to pay professional salaries. What I find troubling is how the professional salaries are added to program on the IRS 990 form. Over a million dollars is spent in my council on professional salaries yet those figures are added to program. Yep, an $8 dollar fee to pay for food for the cooking merit badge and the only supplies the camp had was pancake mix. Scouts made an $8 dollar pancake and were given credit for the entire cooking portion of the merit badge. Program, Shmogram. The latest rumor floating around is that supposedly within the next few years, there will be a merger of councils in my state. And when that happens, our great council camp will be sold. And since the council hired its new bully camp director who is chasing everyone away, I can foresee the councils reason for selling the camp nobody was using it so we could no longer afford to keep in open. Then that SE will be promoted and a new executive board will be voted in. I wonder which executive board member will benefit from selling the property. The boys deserve the promised program. The boys deserve a quality program. That is not entitlement, that is living up to the timeless values and strong character that Scouting is supposed to stand for. (This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

my troop has voted with their feet and no longer camps at our council camp. It is a shame really; we have camped at the council camp for many many years out of loyalty to the council and to the camp itself. Many SE's have told us through the years that this is "your" camp. But over the years, the promised program got worse and worse. Council began neglecting to hire an adequate number of staff to handle the number of Scouts; the camp was allowed to go into disrepair; supplies not being ordered in time for first week campers; some supplies never ordered, etc. So over the past 20 years, the majority of council troops went elsewhere for summercamp. They choose to pay an additional out of council fee to camp elsewhere. And they did not simply leave quietly - they voiced their concerns to council and it fell on deaf ears. Currently, less than 25% of council traditional units use the council camp for summer camp. Many of the problems at our council camp reflect what TAHAWK wrote about. I have written before that at my council summer camp, a Scout could earn the cooking merit badge by cooking a single pancake and that counted as all the cooking requirements. The Scout also had to pay an additional fee that was supposed to pay for the foods they would be cooking at the MB session. But since the food was never secured, they truly did not "earn" their merit badge. So much for the additional $8 fee the Scout also paid. Scouts could earn the Eagle required hiking MB by simply walking for four house between his campsite and the main gate of camp. The Scout received full credit for all the hiking requirements. Scout earned the motorboating merit badge without ever entering the water. The motor boat was broken. But they all earned the merit badge. It is futile to contact national or regional. Contacting the council advancement chair or camping chair accomplished nothing. And contacting any professional member was absolutely futile. So troops left the camp. They now camp elsewhere. Sometimes in other council camps; or sometimes they camp at private campgrounds while providing their own program. Others go on cross country tours. But the problem of poor council service continues. From what I have read on these forums, I know that there are good council's out there - councils that adequately serve their Scouts and volunteer leaders. There are councils who maintain their camps and hire adequate staffs. kudos to these councils. And if you are lucky enough to live within the boundaries of one of these good councils, I envy you. My council was once good. There are some members on this forum who are former professionals. They have written many times about the inner workings of the politics and the culture of the professional ranks. Many do not like what they have to say now about the realities of some councils, but I appreciate their comments as they have provided me with a better understanding on why some council's offer poor service. There are poor council's out there folks because of poor management and professional greed. And after trying for years find solutions to remedy the problems of my council by volunteering in various capacities, I have come to realize that efforts have proven futile. We will not be returning to our council's summer camp. We have joined the ranks of the majority by going elsewhere in order to give our Scouts a quality program. Abel

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What is the name of the camp so others can steer clear. If it was a MB mill as usual, why does your troop still go to that camp? If the council used 14 and 15 year olds as merit badge counselors, the council broke national policy which states that all merit badge counselors must be 18 years old or older. Have you taken your concerns to the council advancement committee? the council camping committee? the council commissioner? Which council volunteer leaders have you gone to? What were there responses? Sounds like your Scouts got a sub-standard program for the fees they paid to get the promised program. Truly sad.

Sad. As I have posted before, our district exec decided to ask the SM at an Eagle Court of Honor if he could do an FOS drive prior to the start of the Court of Honor. This was an on the spot request to the SM about 15 minutes before the court of honor began. The SM told him no.

A Scout must do the requirement, no more and no less. If several merit badges have the same requirement, and the lad has done the requirement, he gets credit for it. A Scout need not complete it again. There are several merit badges that require a Scout to perform CPR. How many times must a Scout perform CPR? Each time he goes for a merit badge that has the requirement? Or can the Scout learn CPR say from the Red Cross and get credit for the CPR requirments for several badges? Most summer camps I know offer a CPR class during camp for which once a Scout attends that class, he will get credit for the CPR requirement for all the merit badges he may be going for at summer camp that require CPR. My 2 cents

The DE filled out the paperwork without the knowledge of the unit leader. Where have I heard that one before? ;-) At least your DE got the committee chair signature.

CNYScouter, your district has a quality district commish. Kudos to you.

ctbailey, thank you for your advice, but I have been around for awhile and I understand the dynamics of my council. I am addressing the issue.

From your reply ScoutNut, I guess you really don't want to answer my question. FYI, I am the COR of my unit.

The SE - no. I know for certain that he is supportive of the guy and his actions. Members of the executive board - perhaps. But they tend to believe whatever the SE tells them and do not participate at the unit level. Other volunteer leaders - yes. Some will understand the situation, others are just happy to get another award. So ScoutNut, I have answered your question. Please answer mine.

ScoutNut, you have definitely missed the point. Your assumption that I am forcing my DE to send me a ribbon tells me that you have some real misconceptions about my post. So let me clear up some things for you. Our DE is brand spanking new fresh out of college. The District Director who was our DE for the past year or so is a seasoned pro and very adept at membership management. I knew that there was no way our district could have achieved its quality status in the shape the district is in. When the new DE came aboard, I took the opportunity to ask him if our unit was a quality unit last year. I already knew that we had not filled out the application. He responded that we were. He later called me and told me that he found that none of the quality unit ribbons were ever sent out to any of the quality units from last year. He was pleased to let me know that our ribbon was finally in the mail. I am sure that there will be other units who will be surprised when they receive ribbons 7 months later when they never participated in the quality program. I never even asked for a ribbon and I certainly did not force the DE to send us a ribbon. Your assumption is wrong. If you don't feel that you genuinely earned Quality Unit, what does it matter to you that you were not told about it?... Genuinely earning the quality unit award To earn the award, one must first participate in the process. The leaders of the unit must be dedicated to achieving the criteria to be a quality unit. The leaders must set their goals and work to achieve them. And the leaders along with the DC sign the application. But how can the award be genuinely earned if the leaders of the unit did not do these things? It is now apparent that the district director filled out the application for us, set the units goals himself and apparently achieved the award for the unit without having any unit leaders or district commissioner agreeing or dedicating themselves to anything. To me and the rest of the leaders of my Troop, this is not right. The DD is not being trustworthy. Instead he exploited units for his own personal gains. Your statement of Feeling that I did or did not genuinely earn the award does not apply. This situation is not about what I feel- it is how the award was acquired and for who the award was acquired for. The award was acquired by a professional scouter who wanted to make his criticals. Like I have posted before I belong to a district that has not had a single Boy Scout activity since the district was formed 10 years ago. It is a district without a viable district committee. And once again, the district has a key 1 not a key 3. The district is not one of quality by any standard other than those that are made up. Now, if you would ask me if my unit is one of quality offering a quality program to youth, my answer is yes. Are you planning on displaying the ribbon, and the patch, even though you did not really earn them?... No. We will not display the ribbon or wear the patch. We dont need a ribbon or a patch to show that we are a quality Troop. How is that any different than what your DE did?... Again you assume that we were going to do so with your above question. Again your assumption is wrong. . Your stand on this situation leads me to believe that you feel that it is ok for others to exploit a unit for their own gains. Am I correct? By the way, when I post stuff about my council and district, I provide the facts of the situation. I have observed others in Scouting who feel that it is wrong to bring up situations where others in power are abusing their positions. For me, I will fight when Scouts are not given the promised program that they paid for with their fees. I will fight for Scouts when others make up their own rules and add their own requirements above what is actually required. (This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

First off, thank you Moosetracker. I was surprised that the district was actually given the award while some other truly quality districts did not receive the award. I didn't think the district even had a chance considering that there is no district commissioner or unit commissioner staff. Several of the council's other DE's took note when our district was announced. I saw a few shaking their heads. Scoutnut - you missed the point.(This message has been edited by abel magwitch)

We just found out our troop was a quality unit last year. Problem is we were not participating. We never filled out an application yet we were a quality unit. I was surprised that our district was a quality district last year. The district last year did not have a district commissioner. Yet somehow, the district was a quality district and the District Director (who was filling in as DE)stood up at the council dinner to receive his plaque. A few months ago the district got a new DE while the DD went back to overseeing his two districts. I inquired of the new DE if our troop was a quality unit. He got back to me and told us that we were. He just called me a week ago to tell me that our quality unit ribbon was in the mail. So I must ask what is your take on a professional filling out quality unit applications without notifying the unit that he is doing so? And then that same person choosing not recognize the units that he filled out the applications for? Is this right?

You assume correctly. I needed to make clear I was referring to the previous program. And your follow-up questions are my questions as well.

A question - can a Pack or Troop become a quality unit and receive their ribbon without filling out the quality unit application? Can the application simply be filled out by the Scout office without any signatures from the unit's membership?