Troop 45 Troop Committee Meeting 25 August 08 The Hanover Boy Scout Troop 45 monthly troop committee meeting was held Monday, 25 August 2008 at the Richard Black Community Center in Hanover. In attendance were Yorke Brown (chairman), Norma Young (treasurer), Tim Smith (Scoutmaster), Nick Collins (Lions Rep), and Roger Thompson (advancement). Yorke called the meeting to order at 7:04. The minutes of the meeting of 23 June were approved as distributed. STANDING COMMITTEE AND OFFICER REPORTS Treasurer (Norma Young): Current cash on hand $3,388.45 (including $342.00 of popcorn credits), plus approximately $200 on account at the Scout Shop. Nick indicated that he had invoiced the college for $300 for the Shriner Game cleanup. This payment will be made to the Lions Club, and then to us. The confusion about camp fees is still not entirely resolved. Tim and Norma will continue to work to resolve this issue. Advancement (Roger Thompson): Roger presented the current DWC advancement report for the troop. Scoutmaster (Tim Smith): Events for the past two months included participation in the Independence Day observance, the summer camp expedition to Camp Bell, and the Long Trek expedition. Tim observed that this years summer camp expedition went especially well, with patrols and the troop leadership functioning effectively. He attributed this success to good preparation and setting high expectations for the troop leadership. During the encampment, ten Scouts advanced in rank, and one patrol pursued swimming merit badge with all members completing the badge. The Long Trek was successful with four scouts completing 45 miles on foot and 7 by canoe. Since they also completed a service project at Wellington Beach State Park, they qualified for the 50-Miler award. The canoe trip was cancelled. We plan to move the troop meeting back to the community center on 3 September. Chairman (Yorke Brown): There was no Roundtable in July. Yorke reported that he is now completely up to date with personnel records and applications. He noted that we may not be entirely current on individual fees, but that the DE told him that we'd be billed for any shortages so we shouldn't worry about it. Yorke has our Unit of Honor patches ready to distribute. There was a brief discussion of the new BSA uniform. OLD BUSINESS o Parents Night. Pursuant to his action item, Nick investigated the double-booking of Area 5 for Parents Night and discovered that there was a new person handling scheduling who made a mistake. The HIS did offer an apology. In any event there's no further issue with the availability of the site. o Popcorn. No action has been taken on popcorn, so we will abandon that effort for this year. o Summer Fundraising. Pursuant to his action item George Desaulniers conducted the Shrine Game cleanup fundraiser. There were enough people participating that we completed the operation in only 35 minutes. New Hampshire won again by a wildly lopsided score. o Prouty Support. Time reported that four scouts assisted with the Prouty by providing incidental labor while four rode in the event itself. o Eagle Achievement Standards. We continued our discussion of standards for Eagle projects, concluding that those mentoring Eagles (Tim and Yorke) should continue to urge Scouts working on Eagle to rise to challenging standards. Nick indicated that the historical standard has been a project involving 70 man-hours, of which only 20 could be rendered by the Eagle candidate himself. NEW BUSINESS o Mascoma River Cleanup. Yorke reported that at the August Roundtable, Shawn Elder had urged him to get the troop involved in the Mascoma River Cleanup, a service project being advocated by the district. Tim agreed to take the idea to the PLC the following Monday. o Nick urged that we begin thinking about the Centennial Jamboree, which will take place in 2010. This is, of course, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. o Tee-Shirts. Nick reported that he had ordered 50 new tee-shirts, but that they were delivered in the wrong color. He is working with the vendor (New Horizons in Sports in Williston, VT) to resolve this issue. He believes that the vendor should replace all the shirts with the correct color, and will endeavor to secure that outcome. The committee asked Nick to investigate the possibility of procuring long-sleeved shirts in polypropylene, polyester, or other fabric suitable for winter wear. **Action NHC: Work with vendor to correct the problem with the color of shirts he ordered. **Action NHC: Investigate pricing and availability of shirts suitable for winter wear. o Attendance. Nick reminded Tim of the importance of maintaining attendance records as an element in justifying our use of the community center. Tim described how he gets attendance as part of the uniform inspection procedure at troop meetings. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:12. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 22 September at 7:00 pm. ACTION REVIEW Completed Items **Action GD: Serve as "Event Owner" of the Shrine Game fundraiser. **Action NHC: Investigate double-booking of Area 5 for Parents Night. Outstanding Items **Action YJB: Find a secretary for the committee. **Action TPS: Resolve accounting issue on camp payment. New Items **Action NHC: Work with vendor to correct the problem with the color of shirts he ordered. **Action NHC: Investigate pricing and availability of shirts suitable for winter wear.