SeattlePioneer

<<~~Haven't found dual signatures burdensome as checks are signed either at troop meetings or Committee meetings. The Treasurer (TC) cannot make any payments not expressly approved by TC so after a vote at Troop Committee meeting (TCM) is a good time to dual sign checks. You do need a bank that can diligently handle dual signature checks. >> Doing accounting at a Committee meeting IS distracting. Just since our Committee meeting a couple of weeks ago, I've written a $500 check for rechartering and a $900 to pay money to the council for popcorn sales made on a "Square" card so we could take credit cards for popcorn sales. Also received cash for a district bowling tournament which I deposited and wrote a check to the council for that bowling tournament entry plus two youth BSA membership fees. I provide a year to date statement of revenues and expenses (Quicken) quarterly, and a balance available to spend at each committee meeting. No one has expressed interest in looking at the accounts in more detail --- not even the Committee Chair. I point out that the Pack Committee can appoint a new Treasurer whenever they might wish by a majority vote on a resolution, (needed for the bank to act). The only spending decision I haven't liked was the Cubmaster's desire to spend $200 for a pack flag. I didn't like spending that amount of money for that kind of frippery, and favored having the Scouts make a pack flag, which I thought would be more interesting and a better expression of Cub Scout program and values. But the Committee supported the CM's request --- so he got what he wanted.

<<2. Dual signatures for all checks and other account withdrawals. 3. The WHOLE Unit Committee is responsible for financial oversight so the Treasurer must bring the latest real bank statements and the unit check ledger/book to Committee meeting. No transcriptions to a spreadsheet. Real balances and transaction histories should be reviewed.>> I don't agree with these. Dual signatures is a burdensome requirement and is easily circumvented if a treasurer wants to do so. My preference is to provide the Committee Chair with the checking account statement each month for his review, which includes the images of all checks processed. The CC is welcome to raise any issue he wishes with the Treasurer or the Committee. Trying to hash out everything a Treasurer does at each Committee meeting is a waste of time and energy and an invitation to a sloppy and incomplete job. Far better to have one person (the CC) responsible for reviewing what the Treasurer does, in my view. <<1. Treasurer should be a 1 year term position with a new RIGHT person each year.>> I have been the unit treasurer for three years now, and plan to continue indefinitely. It takes a year or so of experience just to understand how spending a revenues work. Much better to have someone who develops some experience than someone whop is perpetually new to the financial issues, and tough to find a new good person each year to do the task, in my experience. <<4. Periodic account reconcilation (audits). >> The CC gets the checking account statements each month and can schedule whatever additional inquiry he likes as often as he may like.

I took Wood Badge in 1985. Back then the aim seemed to be to develope and polish skills Scout Troop adult leaders needed to provide a good program for youth. That seems to be only an incidental part of Wood Badge today, which promotes and emphasizes Wood Badge as general "management training" and encourage Cub Scout leaders to participate. Lack of focus --- I think that's a problem. Focus on training adult leaders to provide a quality Boy Scout experience. <> Umm. "Bigger" or more complicated tickets should not be the theme, in my opinion. "I'm going to work my ticket while I can" --- that's what I took away and what I still do. Thirty years later, I'm always on the lookout for "tickets" that need to be worked and that I can do. Currently my only BSA registration is as a Chartered Organization Rep. But I understand what that involves. I attend all the district Committee meetings, have pushed for a dfistrict nominating Committee to be appointed and help find new leadership for the district, and provide leadership within the Cub Scout Pack whereever needed. Get in the HABIT of providing quality BSA volunteer leadership. That's what working your ticket means to me thirty years on.

Personally, I wear the "Recruiter" emblem. One of my main functions in Scouting is to recruit more boys. In theory, a powerful way to do that is to encourage boys to recruit boys. While that's been tough to do, I like to have the "Recruiter" patch handy where I can put my finger on it to use it as a device to enourage boys to invite a buddy. If other people had reasons to wear the odd youth badge, I wouldn;t object to that either. Generally though, I go by the no youth badge rule. Of course, there are "knots" to go on uniforms if you earned Eagle, Arrow of Light or a few other awards as a youth. Those are designed for adults.

<> Most sexist would be "How to chat up boys who like science..."

If you can't log on to this website and want some help in finding out why ---- drop me an e-mail at skubi_will@hotmail.com For a couple of years I couldn't log on for some reason and had no way to get help or notify website operators of the problem. If I get questions about that, I will post them here----- if, indeed, I can log on!

<> Units are prohibited from SOLICITING (asking for) contributions. However, if someone offers a contribution on their own, you are free to accept it. The idea is that BSA and especially your council have a monopoly on soliciting donations for Scouting. Read the guidelines for fundraising for more information on what you can do and how you can do it.

<< I have written bylaws for non-Scouting local organizations that DID need them. But it's an advantage I don't want and don't need, when dealing with my fellow Scouters. The "book" as provided by the BSA is not perfect, it does not have all the answers to every single question that might arise on the local level, but when applied with common sense and a shared objective, it is good enough that you don't need bylaws. The ONLY exception I could understand would be in the financial area, but my troop has never had bylaws even for that, and we seem to get along okay. >> Let's start a discussion of what accounting policies Troops and Packs ought to have, and why they ought to have them. You don;t want policies that are complex or burdensome for volunteers to administer, but you do want policies that allow unit leaders to review what is going on with the money routinely and easily, and to have a reasonable trail of accounting transactions so that money can be tracked coming into the unit and when it goes out from the unit. That's my basic theory, anyway. How would you do that or how would you change the objectives just listed? What kind of good and bad examples have you seen in Scout units or other small organizations?

Hello NJCubScouter Your CC is wrong. If you YPT is current through March (I think it is, 2015) you DON'T need proof of having taken the training. On myscouting.org, any of your unit Key 3 (like the CC) can get all the training records of the Scouters in the unit, with the dates that YPT has been taken, If that electronic record is current, the recharter packet DOESN'T ask for YPT certificate when it prints out, and the unit doesn't need to provide the record when they turn in the recharter packet. Your CC either isn;t informed about this (most likely) or is trying to make things easy for himself. Probably she doesn't know, since getting all those YPT certificates is a pain. You might e-mail her and suggest she check this to save herself and everyone else trouble.

<> Well, that's disgracefully sexist comment. But it's not something I would rage on any volunteer about --- male or female. I regret that our Cubmaster is very overweight and doesn't tuck his uniform blouse in. Looks rather slovenly I'm afraid. But he IS wearing the uniform and he does a good job at pretty much everything else, including running the popcorn sale when no one else was willing to do so. It's not an issue I would raise.

Last meeting we 1) made pumpkin carving tools and 2) decorated the new Tiger Cub Den flag. Tonight we will be 1) carving pumpkins I've grown over the summer and 2) mounting the den flag on a pole and crosspiece, using a staple gun. Also we will be playing a game to qualify boys for the MEANING OF WEBELOS requirement of the Bobcat award and reading a couple of short stories to qualify for part of the Webelos requirement 8 (protection from adult predators.)

I always encourage new leaders to pick things to do that they either WANT to do or are GOOD at doing. Sounds like your puppet show would qualify on both counts.

We offer opportunities to participate in activities, not obligations. Boys and their parents are free to decide when they will participate in Cub Scout activities.

Oh my. I'm Chartered Organization Rep and I do all kinds of things that need to be done that aren't a part of my listed duties. For example, I organize the fall recruiting campaign and then run the Tiger Cub program until I'm able to find a parent willing and able to take on that task. Often that lasts all year. If you are stepping on someone elses job duties, that could be a problem. But if you are doing things that need to be done that no one else is doing, I don't see the problem. So you've have to be more specific about your grievances.

My theory is that VOLUNTEERS are supposed to do everything in Scouting. We have paid staff who don't seem to understand that and do a lot of useful stuff to help volunteers and keep the units, districts and council going, though.

n Google the BSA list of the duties of a district chair. The first duties listed are that the district chair is responsible for recruiting the volunteers needed to operate the district program. If your district chair isn't making an active effort to do that --- you need a new one, probably. And there's no need for that to be someone with a lengthy Scouting history. The Nominating Committee process emphasizes looking deeply into the wider community to find an effective district chair. The District Commissioner is the person who needs a good Scouting background.

<> Heh, heh! Good. Thanks for your welcoming comment. A few years ago I sudenly was unable to log on to this forum. Couldn't figure out the problem, and of course no way to ask for help or advice! The same thing happened to me with trying to log on to BSA on line features. QAnd then this week I couldn't log on to do internet rechartering. Well. I usually use a public library computer. When the internet rechartering wouldn't work, I tried using the public computer of a DIFFERENT libarary system (Seattle Public Libraries rather than King County Libraries). Suddenly everything started working again!

Interesting comment, Tahawk. I have high hopes of some significant improvements with new leadership. I HOPE I'm not disappointed.

Last Thursday, every unit in the district was encouraged to have someone present for a Roundtable devoted to the CHANGES in the on line rechartering system. The session last for 75 minutes. And frankly, it was mostly useless. The projected display of information and examples was way too small and complex to follow with any degree of effectiveness. Even listening and observing carefully, I learned about ZERO! Then when I logged on the next day to begin the rechartering process (using a public computer at a library) I couldn't log on. Emails to the DE produced NOTHING, and still no reply a week later. I tried logging on on the computer of a different library system --- and that worked. Later I ran into the training certification issue described earlier, which had a complicated solution. After the 75 minute session on internet rechartering, I complained about the burdensome administrative processes that BSA is increasing imposing upon volunteers. Frankly, I don't like it, and I avoid using them whenever possible. BSA seems to think that they can impose any degree of complexity they wish upon volunteers, often for trivial reasons. Personally, I find that obnoxious and abusive.

I have to commend the recently appointed District Commissioner for sorting out this issue. When someone moans and groans about how useless Commissioners are, remember this! < I think David may have more than one online training account. I used the “Training Validation†tool in the myscouting.org site to look David up by his BSA Member ID (XXXXXXXX), and that gave me one list of trainings (mostly old). Then I did an Advanced Search by his e-mail address, and that gave me a different list of trainings, including his new YPT and Webelos Leader Specific. I think David should associate his newer email account with his BSA Member ID, and that should merge his trainings together. One other possibility is that he may actually have more than one BSA Member ID, but let�s try associating his member ID first. I�ve attached a PDF listing the steps to associate an ID with a training account. If David, could give that a try and let me know what happens, that would be a good first step. One other thing to look into would be if David has a training account with an older e-mail address.>> Whether the volunteer will be able to follow the directions to merge these numbers is problematic. I e-mailed hime the information.

Accidental duplicate post.

As pack treasurer I reimburse den expenses that are turned into me. Unfortunately, relatively few den leaders turn in expenses. Last year the treasury was pretty flush, so I reimbursed den leaders for their pack dues. But my preference is to have leaders turn in receipts and be reimbursed off receipts, whether those expenses are high or low. I'm not too picky about receipts though, if I'm told that some have been lost or whatever. Without receipts, I'll reimburse what's reasonable and justifiable. Unfortunately though, the main problem is that den leaders aren't getting reimbursed for what they actually spend. There is one exception ----ME. I do the Tiger Cub Den each year, and I'm pretty good about turning in expenses. Any expenses I have I turn in to the CC and He/She pays me what they find to be necessary and reasonable off the receipts I provide. I was den leader for a pack that wanted me to collect den dues. That was NUTZ! Not worth the considerable hassle, as far as I'm concerned. As pack treasurer I want to protect den leaders from that. I also provide the CC with a copy of the monthly checking account statement for the pack so they can review the activity on the checking account.

The Pack for which I'm COR and CM is chartered by a Kiwanis Club, which also charters a second Cub Pack. The packs serve neighboring geographic areas. No reason not to charter as many packs or troops as you like! I just attended the weekly meeting of the Kiwanis Club last night and got our recharter signed off.

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/mission/pdf/513-332.pdf The PDF describes the process for organizing and conducting the anual District nominating Committee and District Election Of Officers. To summarize, the District Chair isn't supposed to be self perpetuating. Each year the district chair is REQUIRED to appoint a nominating committee charged with making nominations for the District Chair, District Commissioner and other district officers. The nomination made are submitted to the council for approval, and the council appoints one or more people to sit on the nominating committee. Ideally, the nominating committee looks for the BEST people in the community to fill district positions, and these may not be people with a lot of Scouting experience. My district leadership has been worn out in recent years, and no nominating committee has been held for years. I pointed out the obligation to hold that, and now that procedure is rolling along. I am optimistic that will lead to an invigorated district leadership. I commend this method to those who need new district leaders.

< >> That sounds like a good marketing plan...