Major Change in Chartered Organization Relationship

[GrammaScout]

19 hours ago, jcousino said:

Help me understand things under the this new arrangement (council is now the CO)

1. Council now can select or reject a troop leader  based on their personal relationship with council, so council  can cherry pick people and those that question council activity can just not be accepted. 

2. Can council merge units based on what ever three small troops may become one.

3. Do we know the fee that will be charged to manage troop account's?

4. Can council now require unit to attend  activities or face changes in leadership?

5. Will council now be able to say no to troop trips (to nonscout bases ).

6. At what level will council require troops to get approval to spend money

7. Will donations to FOS be made automatically

Just a few of my wild thoughts

Fr. John

 

[GrammaScout]

Just now, GrammaScout said:

 

I’m behind.  Does this ‘new’ Charter-arrangement apply only to UMC sponsored(?) Troops?

[5thGenTexan]

18 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

Now I am curious as to other's super secret peach cobbler recipes. Mine is just the typical dump cake style; nuttin' fancy.

I use peaches AND apricots.    

[jcousino]

My understanding is that this is what the UMC agreed to as a model. They being the the biggest CO group it makes since to me that the other groups will soon allow this model. If they even want to continue scouting units.

 

A lot of my above is just me looking at questions going through my mind, 

 

fr. john (catholic but not roman if the FR. title is confusing)

Edited June 20, 2022 by jcousino
spelling

[curious_scouter]

Councils don't want to do this any more than the units do.  If they did, they would have been pushing this for years.  It's being done out of necessity and Scouts BSA needs this to work.  If there's widespread looting of unit resources by council(s) it will torpedo this and scouting is likely to fail. I'm not worried at all about council chartering and the resources of our unit being protected if we're required to go that route.  I'm more worried about having a consistent place to meet and somewhere safe to keep the trailer without having to pay through the nose for storage.

[T2Eagle]

1 hour ago, curious_scouter said:

Councils don't want to do this any more than the units do.  If they did, they would have been pushing this for years.  It's being done out of necessity and Scouts BSA needs this to work.  If there's widespread looting of unit resources by council(s) it will torpedo this and scouting is likely to fail. I'm not worried at all about council chartering and the resources of our unit being protected if we're required to go that route.  I'm more worried about having a consistent place to meet and somewhere safe to keep the trailer without having to pay through the nose for storage.

There's a pretty big divergence in operations between councils.  I find my own pros to be just that, professional, and generally outstanding.  I will say money is where they are the funniest, I think because they never can relax about it because they don't have a dedicated income stream the way national does with registration, so it feels like the wolf is always at the door.

My guess is that there will be some questionable actions in some councils, but I suspect what will most often happen is that things will become more bureaucratic and annoying, especially in comparison to the near total independence most units now have, but with no real change in the end result.

[fred8033]

4 hours ago, jcousino said:

fr. john (catholic but not roman if the FR. title is confusing)

It was.    ... I still don't understand, but that's okay. 

[Tron]

If you're in a UMC chartered unit I suggest you start speaking with the nearest American Legion or VFW post that has a clubhouse. Both have it in their charter statements to support youth education and Scouting in particular. Veterans organizations as a whole just don't have the volunteers to get in your business, but they typically want to help and appear useful to the community. As a CO veterans organizations do not care about BSA unit resources, if on the off chance that one does the problem can quickly go away by asking all of your veteran relatives and friends to join the post and vote the problem away (most veterans organizations practice simple majority democracy and follow Roberts Rules of Order which makes controlling problem people very easy). 

One of the local Troops made the transition late last year from my neighborhood UMC (The church wanted to continue to support but had shrank in size to such an extreme that they sold their facility and bought a smaller space that could not support a BSA troop) to the nearest AL post and it has actually worked out better for the Troop in every regard except finding a parking space for the Troop trailer. 

On a side note, what is stopping units from forming their own non-profit and sponsoring themselves? A unit 1 town over did that (formed a non-profit called "friends of pack NNN") and then sponsored itself. 

[ThenNow]

FYI, this is the reply I received after a direct inquiry:

My hope was the lawyers would release the documents. They have not yet. Please see below.

Resources to Learn

•             GCUMM is actively engaged in supporting Scouting still

•             There is a resource page for questions

•             More resources are coming

The GCUMM has been an active voice in the last two plus years of activity with the Boy Scouts of America. The voice of ministry and advocacy for youth has been filled through a GCUMM staff member. We still support Scouting.

The GCUMM.org website has resources on the Scouting page. It also links to a key site that allows for the housing of information as it becomes available. The Annual Affiliation Agreement has not yet been posted. As soon as it is received, it will be. The new Facilities Use Agreement will also be posted there. (www.GCUMM.org/scouting) Just click the resources link in the text to see the latest available information and videos.

As disappointing as it is, the agreements have not been released. Giving answers to questions and helping with plans will be a challenge until the finalized agreements are released. We are here to help you the best we can. There are alternatives and ways to still be involved effectively...

If you only have 4 minutes go here directly: 

www.MethodistScouter.org/a-new-agreement/             

Edited June 21, 2022 by ThenNow

[BPUMC]

Here is a copy of the agreement announcement, in all its glory.  My hope is that when this agreement goes live, someone posts it here so we can all see it.  Not all of us received the notice that the agreement was even in process.

Affiliation Agreement Announcement.pdf

[RememberSchiff]

@BPUMC  welcome to scouter.com

[yknot]

3 hours ago, BPUMC said:

Here is a copy of the agreement announcement, in all its glory.  My hope is that when this agreement goes live, someone posts it here so we can all see it.  Not all of us received the notice that the agreement was even in process.

Affiliation Agreement Announcement.pdf 294.39 kB · 7 downloads

I know they wanted something in place before June 30 but it's been an unusual process in that they set the unveiling meeting and said the agreement would be sent out prior to the meeting but didn't do so. Then they said it would be available at the meeting, then in the week following the meeting, and now they say it's still being worked on and are promising it for yet another week from now. It seems odd that there is still so much to work out after an unveiling meeting. It also seems odd that a facilities use agreement, which ought to be much more straightforward, is also still being worked out. I wonder if the fact that the judge's ruling, which I think both BSA and UMC thought would have been issued by now, is playing a role in that or if there really are that many issues still under discussion. 

[Eagle1993]

On 6/21/2022 at 11:42 AM, Tron said:

American Legion or VFW post that has a clubhouse

Unfortunately both of these organizations are in decline as well.  Our local AL sold their building and may be closed. They probably aren't bad short term. 

BSA will likely need this new agreement as I expect more and more units having issues finding decent charters.   Having a way that clearly addresses "ownership" will help some organizations accept units.  

[MattR]

1 hour ago, Eagle1993 said:

Having a way that clearly addresses "ownership" will help some organizations accept units.  

But isn't the problem of no ownership what caused this mess in the first place? If COs weren't doing their jobs overseeing units then how will making councils responsible for oversight solve that problem. Now, DEs have the added responsibility of unit oversight? This seems to me like a bandaid.

[InquisitiveScouter]

51 minutes ago, MattR said:

But isn't the problem of no ownership what caused this mess in the first place? If COs weren't doing their jobs overseeing units then how will making councils responsible for oversight solve that problem. Now, DEs have the added responsibility of unit oversight? This seems to me like a bandaid.

Bingo!  We have a winner!

Well, we can hire someone for oversight, but then, your council service fees increase.  On the bright side, you may actually get some service then!