Troop Committee Meeting On September 13 2013

Troop 572 Committee Meeting
Date/Time: September 12, 2013; 7:30 p.m.
Attendees: Ron Brown, Chair; David Chicks, Mark Egbert, Greg Lincicome (secretary), Gwen North, Doug Ricard, Norm Vanderwal

  1. Opening Prayer: David opened the meeting in prayer.
  2. Previous Minutes: The minutes from the previous meeting (21-March-2013) were approved with some corrections. Greg will re-post them to troop572.wikidot.com…although he has to join the site first!
  3. Treasurer’s Report: Rena was not present to give a report, although all reports from other parents are that she’s doing a good job with reimbursements.
  4. High Adventure (HA):
    1. Grant was not present to give a report, but other High Adventurers were able to report on the trip. Six scouts and several parents / family members / past members went for at least part of the trip. The beach was quite a bit rockier than expected but everything seemed to go off pretty well.
    2. Next summer’s HA trip is Seabase in Florida. Trip is August 15-21, but all should plan on a travel day on each end of that.
  5. Outdoor Report:
    1. Birch Bay campout was August 30 – September 1. Absolutely perfect weather, kayaking, a REALLY long rope bridge and a short hike. And lots of food. We had about 25 people (scouts/families) so it was really well-attended.
    2. Summer camp was July 8-13 at Camp Meriwether (Cloverdale, OR). Ten scouts and 5 adults participated. The troop shared a campsite with another troop and that seemed to go well. Weather was good, as the Oregon coast goes: sunny but breezy and cool.
    3. Ancient Lakes backpacking trip is scheduled for next weekend. Three scouts and two adults are expected, so there were some car negotiations at the meeting.
  6. Advancement Report:
    1. Since we’ve had summer camp since our last meeting, there’s a lot to report. Our scouts earned 35 merit badges, most of them at camp.
    2. Four scouts advanced in rank, including our newest Eagle Scout—Jimmy Siefert! Congratulations!
    3. Our next Court of Honor will be October 3. Come at 7! Bring food! Cheer on our scouts and their accomplishments!
    4. Grant Peterson will be helping Norm with the technical side of the Advancement Chair role. Thanks Grant!
  7. Service Project Report:
    1. Christmas Trees: we’ll try to get the same areas as previous years. We’ll need all the help we can get, frankly, to cover these areas! Also, Bob Siefert may be transitioning out of scouts soon. It would be good to have someone else working with Greg on this project to make sure there is always good coverage. We’ll also need to get some contact info from Bob for Asplundh and for the print shop we’ve been using.
    2. Ron and Russell represented the troop at a work day at RHPC last month. Big thanks to the two of them!
    3. Eagle Project (Andrew Wittenmyer) is coming up this Saturday, September 14, and two weeks later on the 28th. Should run from 10-3 each day.
  8. Recruitment Report:
    1. Had some visitors over the summer (including tonight), but no one has committed yet.
    2. At summer camp this year, there was some discussion about improving troop discipline during meetings to make a better impression on our visiting Webelos…so the scouts recognize it as an issue, but no concrete ideas or plans were made.
    3. Webelos Woods will be October 26. Doug has contacted the event coordinator but hasn’t heard back on what our station will be yet.
    4. The troop will visit Pack 595 next month (Tuesday, October 15) to help run belt loop stations. There will be some discussion with the Cubmaster but some ideas are already posted on the wikidot site. We need as many scouts as possible to come out on this Tuesday and support this important recruitment event!
  9. Scoutmaster Report (you can always check troop572.wikidot.com for troop information!):
    1. Doug reminds everyone to get payment and permission slips for campouts in on time! It’s much better for peace of mind.
    2. Doug discussed his ideas for the video game design talks that are scheduled for later in the fall. He has more than a dozen game consoles from the 1980’s to current; these can be borrowed, along with games for each (nothing rated M or rated objectionable by Doug). The scouts will be working in a development environment called Gamestar Mechanic. Scouts should set up accounts before the first meeting, and it would help if scouts and parents could bring laptops to the meetings to work on projects during the meetings. The software is all web-based—no downloads—and we can use the church’s Wi-Fi. Doug will send out more details. Any issues with any of this? Concerned parents should contact Doug.
  10. Old Business: None
    1. Troop T-shirts: Greg didn’t order any this year because there weren’t enough people interested to get a minimum order together with a decent discount. By next year more people may be ready for a new shirt.
  11. New Business:
    1. Andrew W’s Eagle Project was reviewed by the committee on August 1 and approved. Norm is acting as the Eagle Project Advisor (something new this year). Andrew’s been prepping hard for the first of the two work days this Saturday. Plans still look good and the basic structure (an arbor) is pre-assembled at his house.
    2. Ron noted that we have open leadership positions in the troop:
      1. Heather Ortega is stepping down as Summer Camp Coordinator
      2. Bob is likely transitioning out as Recruitment Chair (although he was at Roundtable tonight)
      3. We can always use more Assistant Scoutmasters. This requires a 2-day training class.
    3. Program Training Conference is scheduled for October 19. For about $40 you get all the Scout training you can handle. Highly recommended by those who go.
  12. Closing: David closed the meeting in prayer.

-gl

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