replacing a committee chair HELP!!

[featherswillfly]

I am the committee chair for our troop and have been for about 6 years. We have undergone many great changes and our troop is the best it's ever been. The problem is my son is finishing up his Eagle this coming week and our charter is up at the end of March. It is time for someone else to give this job a try. My life is going in other directions in scouting and personally. The committee and parents don't want me to leave and arn't being very helpful in the search for a new committee chair. I have told them I am not going to be on the charter as CC but I will stay as a committee member to continue helping. I don't want any hard feelings but they arn't helping and time is running out. I have already asked other parents and there is no interest. I don't want things to go down hill. There are still many boys active (we have 18 boys). Please help!!!

[Weekender]

They will drag their feet if you let them. Set a date after which you will no longer do the job. It's sounds like you are bing reasonable in that respect. If the committee doesn't find someone new I wouldn't bail them out. And I would make sure there was no doubt about that. I'm not sure I would even attend the first several meetings after that date. It probably sounds a little harsh but if you have made a decision to leave they need to show you the respect you've earned for your service over the last 6 years.

[featherswillfly]

thanks weekender. I have set a date wich is when charter is up in March. They know this. I told them I would sent in the charter with no CC and if coucil caught it, oh well. I actually have been in scouting for 10 years totaled. Since my son was a Bear and I still will continue in scouting but in different areas and the parents know this. My son and I are doing more activities in the OA and I'm doing commissioner work and summer camp. See there is another problem too. Our local Pack has some siblings of our older boys. So some parents would like to be in both troop and pack. Here is the problem. The charter of the pack has their own so called policy that says you can't be on two charters or hold two committee positions. It boils down to some very nasty politics. We have 4 sets of brothers one of which the set consists of three. The set that contains 3 also has one more brother coming up through. The mother is the advancements committee member for the pack. The pack won't let her be a member of our committee. So you see I have already used most of our parents. They already have positions in the troop.

[Weekender]

Well,

 

It seems like you picked an appropriate name.

 

I would think that if several key pack people joined the troop committe and then told the pack committee chair that they would resign from the pack committee if necessary, the pack might reconsider their position on dual committee membership.

[Bob White]

Good News Feathers. It is not something you or the committee members have the ultimate responsibility for. The selection of the Committee Chair is the responsibility of the Charter Organization Representative and the Charter Organization Exectutive Officer. I would let them know of your plans, and remind them they need to select someone else. I'm sure thay would appreciate a recommendation from you as to a parent or committee member that you feel would do a good job.

[Chippewa29]

Feathers-

 

Something you may need to do is to have someone as the Vice Chair for several months and make it a more gradual transition. One of the reasons they may be dragging their feet is because you have done such a good job and none of them wants to have the pressure of following you (do this make sense). If someone were to come on as Vice Chair and you gradually shift the responsibilities over a period of several months, they would probably realize that you don't have to be super human to be CC. In the future, and this is something I'm hoping to do with my troop in the future, is to have a backup for each key position so that there is a very orderly succession in the troop. That way, you have dug your well before you are thirsty.

 

In regards to the restrictions the pack places on their leaders: how do they keep people when they are being selfish like that? What are they going to do if someone registers on another committee? Kick them out?

[KoreaScouter]

Bob White hit the nail on the head -- it's the CO's responsibility if no internal candidates are stepping up. Remember, the troop doesn't belong to the committee or its chairman, it belongs to the CO. Out of curiosity, is the Cub Pack you reference chartered to the same CO? If so, and the "no-two-position" rule is tying your hands, they can exert leverage to change it.

 

Here's another possible option, not knowing your demographics. We typically rely on certain "feeder packs", but that doesn't mean you can't get a CC from a bridging family from another pack. And, there's no requirement that any leader must have a son in the unit. You could always look at someone from the community who isn't currently involved but would like to be. Now, you wouldn't want to do that for a new SM, but for the CC, I submit that anyone with good organizational/people skills who gets fast start and a copy of the troop committee guidebook can do a good job -- better than letting the position go vacant (besides, I don't think you can -- old Scouters help me here, but BSA requires at least a CC on the committee...)

[eisely]

If your council were to accept a re-charter application without a CC, it would only be because somebody screwed up. All of the above is sound advice. Make it the charter organization's problem. Set a firm date and stick to it. To do otherwise merely enables the group to continue to rely on somebody else. Also, I don't see how a pack can enforce such a policy. Obviously you don't want individual volunteers spread too thin over too many units, but this policy is an attitude that they would have difficulty enforcing if they chose to try.

 

Good luck.

[Bob Russell]

I disagree with those who say make it the CO's problem. Some of us are fortunate to have actively involved CO's, but we all know that probably the majority of CO's are there in name only. If you leave it to the CO, there is a good chance that the program will fail. The people who care about the scouting program are those of us in the trenches.

 

I believe that the best course of action is to give a firm deadline, and then schedule a number of conflicts so that the outgoing CC is unavailable for the regular obligations such as committee meetings. Yet the outgoing CC can be available to assist others to make sure the troop doesn't fail.

[jmcquillan]

I've gone through this same problem as CC for a Pack and later SM for a troop. It finally dawned on me that the only way to get the others off their collective butts and move to find a replacement, was when I set a date, and told the whole committee that upon that date, I would be leaving, retiring, gonzo, and that it would be in their best interests to have someone lined up to take the position as of that date....sooner would be better. They dragged their collective feet still, but when the advertised date arrived, I bid them all goodbye, and went on with my life. I've remained on as a general committee member, but I do not take on roles that require more than what I want. The committee found out in short order that dragging their feet, and hemming and hawing, and not attending to the task at hand of finding a replacement, was a big mistake. I did not worry about hard feelings, for it was my life that I needed to get on with, not theirs. Their kids were now in the troop, not mine. And I realized that the longer the older experienced guys like me stayed around, the less the newer folks felt they needed to get involved, as the "old guard" would always be there. The day I retired was a big wake up call for all the parents of all 65 kids. Sometimes you just have to set the date, and walk whne the day comes. The remaining adults need to take the reigns and walk the trail as you have done for 6 years. Don't be afraid to walk, and get on with things.

[eagle90]

I agree with Bob White regrading the CO being involved. Perhaps in the ideal situation that would be the case, but especially in units sponsored by PTA's, schools, etc. this is not going to happen. Our CO has someone sign our charter and that is it for the year. They don't even know we exist if not for the newsletters we send them. The Pack cannot make arbitrary rules about dual memberships. Especially when there are multiple boys per family. That is slitting their own throats eventually.

[featherswillfly]

Great news guys!!!!

I call our CO this afternoon and gave him the news of the positions changing and also gave him a name to call for my position. I had already spoken to this person but they had not gotten back to me (two weeks have gone by). He called me back in about a half an hour and said this person would take the job and I am going to help them in the fall when they are busy with their business. Everything is working wonderfully. Thank you all for your help.