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Cooking the Books at the Unit's expense????


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A little history....the district I'm required to be in, is the Red Headed stepchild of the Council; and within the District, our county is the Red Headed Step child three times removed. Needless to say, we really don't get much support from either, and any new DE assigned to grow the District flames out in a few short months.

 

So, with no support we're down to one unit in this county, a Venture crew that I advise that has 5 girls, and 1 of the other gender.

 

At least I believe we're down to only one unit, because when it came time to recharter, the Council hit us with a bill that neared nearly a thousand dollars to cover nearly a hundred new sign ups that didn't exist in our Unit....

 

The COR got it corrected. But, I've a feeling someone didn't make thier numbers goal.....and, we're now planning to move the Unit into another nearby Council....happy campers we be not...

 

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Demand a complete list of all registered scouts in your District. Contact each and every person on that list.

 

As far as moving to another district. YOU CAN with the approvan of your CO we had a Den that when they moved up from Webs to Troop went with a troop out of our district.

 

But I would demand a total accounting of what they say you owe.

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Something is amiss here I am unsure where it is.

 

"the Council hit us with a bill that neared nearly a thousand dollars to cover nearly a hundred new sign ups that didn't exist in our Unit...."

 

Does anyone else get a bill from their council for new applications?

 

I have been a leader in 4 councils and none do that. If the application doesn't arrive with money then it is returned to the unit. If a charter arrives without money it is retuned or held until the money arrives.

 

If a council did bill, one obvious explanation could be that data entry put in the wrong unit? I have seen packs get nearly one hundred new members.

 

But what I really do not understand is how one would think this was done at the unit's expense? What did this cost the unit? Did the unit pay the bill? Would anyone actually think they had 100 scouts more than they knew of and pay such a bill?

 

To think that the council did it for membership numbers is unlikely since they cannot process the apps without money.

 

Profit is not the motivation since none of the application fees stay in the council.

 

These knee jerk conspiracy theories speak more about our own gullibility and pessimism then of any possible BSA fraud.

 

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Bob,

 

You're probadly more than right that someone at the the Council goofed with no intent for fraud. But, when you're told you're short nearly a grand for your Charter that get's one attention fairly quick. Trying to find the wee folks who are interested in Scouting in this county is like pulling hensteeth (the majority of kids here believe they will be picked up by the NBA, or NFL as soon as they get their high school dipoloma...)

 

However, we're not happy with either the District, or the Council. And tired of the 150 mile roundtrips to the Council, and the 70 mile roundtrips to the District to work out their mistakes, so it's time for our unit to move to a new home....as usual, I'm ranting, and frustrated....I'll get back on my meds...:)

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le Voyageur

 

I am glad to hear you realize it was probably just an office error. Unfortunately that was not the conclsion that some leaped at with apparent vigor. I am sure that a note saying that those names are not applicants to that unit would have been sufficient to get the problem out of your lap.

 

(finding the right balance of meds is always tough, I battle that constantly :))

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Hey le Voyageur

 

Why is it that some say I keep them sane here while others say I drive them nuts?

 

I started my own company in August doing advertising specialties, custimed apparel, banners/billboards and the like. Business has been incredible. I spend most my day in my home office shopping, doing artwork, invoicing and the like. So I have lots of computer availability. But I'm just getting my systems undercontrol so things are starting to get a little more sane.

 

If youever need tuques with the crew logo on them, I can do that!

 

Thanks for inquiring!

BW

 

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Glad to hear that your company is doing great....I'm about to start up with my own shortly as spring nears. Will be contracting out as an independant tree climber to some of the tree care companies here. It'll save them a lot of bucks in the long run (hiring, training, insurance, equipment, taxes, etc...)

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Coming back on topic...

 

It has always been my understanding that units cannot unilaterally recharter in a different council. Rechartering in a different district within the same council might be much easier, but when one crosses council boundaries the powers that be on high must get involved and these are rarely approved. Am I not correct?

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I have seen "creativity" in chartering units. For example a unit CO (church) is physically located in one district, however, the SM, all of the boys, the COR and IH all live in a different district, so they are registered and participate in that district. I guess the DE wasn't smart enough to figure out there was a unit in his district that he wasn't getting credit for. In this particular council, we have 7 districts within a 50 mile radius, so distance is not an issue. It all depends on how you fill out the paperwork. Think outside the box.

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