DOC Minutes 2025-03-06

Alameda Area District
Meeting Minutes 2025-03-06

Commissioner Meeting

Attending:

• Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
• Richard Christman, ADC
• Michael Wrenn, Roundtable Commissioner
• Clark Cole, Commissioner
• Charles Hoffman, Unit Commissioner
• Sean McQuillan, Pack 73 CC
• Alex Garcia, District Executive

Agenda Items

• NorCal Commissioner College
  • 130 participants, up from last year
  • 2 virtual tracks, this seemed successful and will be continued next year.
• Advancement
  • New Multisport merit badge
  • Eagle Letters of Recommendation requirements have changed.
    Only four needed, and can be from anyone, however Parents, Unit Leader and Committee Chair are discouraged as they are already endorsing the Scout.
• Cub Scout Camping
  • Request for Unit Commissioners to encourage attendance. If not for our district, for the sessions hosted by other districts.
    https://ggacbsa-21688059.hs-sites.com/cub-camping-2025
  • Our district has identified a Cub Scout Day Camp Director and Day Camp Director.
• Friends of Scouting
  • We need more presenters. A presentation script and support materials are available from the District Executive.
• Recruiting
  • The Alameda Spring Shindig, April 19. Sponsored by the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department.  We can set up an information booth.  Setup is 9-11 a.m., and the event is from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Training
  • While the new Scouting America metrics indicate that only the Unit Leader and Committee Chair need to be fully trained, our council has determined that the safety of the youth will require that all Youth Facing volunteers need to be fully trained in their position.
  • It is recommended that unit Committee Members who will not be interacting with the Youth change their registration to Unit Reserve. Those who interact with youth, such as Treasurer, Secretary, Activities, etc. should remain Committee Members and get fully trained as such.
  • Currently only 44.3% of our district registered leaders are fully trained.
    This is a significant increase over last month, but still far from complete.
  • Hazardous Weather Training is our continued focus. Currently the report shows 75.6% of the registered leaders have valid training status for this course.  Again,  this Is a good increase over last month, but we need to remind all units that any outing requires at least one volunteer to have the current training which needs to be renewed every two years.
• New Commissioner Tools
  • The Journey to Excellence program has been retired in favor of a new approach that is less subjective, and more objective based on data gathered from unit membership, activity, and advancement entries.
  • The Scouting / Commissioner Tools has been updated
    • Organization Dashboard gives an overview of the district status and allows you to select a specific unit for more details and record Connections
    • View Units allows you to see a quick overview of all the units in the district.
      • The filter allows you to see only the units assigned to you.
    • Help Guide provides PDFs with guidance on
      • Metrics and Dashboards:
        https://my.scouting.org/Documents/Metrics-and-Dashboards.pdf
      • Unit Connections:
        https://my.scouting.org/Documents/Unit-Connections.pdf
• Rose will be retiring from her role as District Commissioner

District Operations Committee Meeting

Attending:

• Alex Garcia, District Executive
• Rudy Gonzalez, Field Director
• Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
• Ron Ratto, District Camping Committee Chair
• Michael Wrenn, Roundtable Commissioner, Training Committee Chair
• Richard Christman, Assistant District Commissioner
• Clark Cole, Commissioner
• Sean McQuillan, Pack 73 CC
• Matt Attaway, Troop 3 SM
• Charles Hoffman, Communications Team, April Camporee Co-Chair
• Nikki Maquire, District Advancement Chair (emailed status)
• Chris Dempsey, District FOS Chair (emailed status)

Agenda Items

• Finance
  • Friends of Scouting
    • Our district goal is $65 thousand for 2025.
      • $39,000 from Scouting families, currently 35.58% achieved.
        • We have 683 youth members, so $60 per youth
        • However, the district is only asking for $27 per youth.
      • $26,000 from the community, currently 14.47% achieved.
    • Of 51 units in the district:
      • 14 (27%) have completed their presentation
      • 17 (33%) are scheduled for the future
      • 7 (14%) declined
      • 9 (17%) unscheduled
  • The district is developing a Good Scout event to encourage support from Community groups, individuals, and businesses.
    • We need volunteers willing to join the steering committee for this event.  This committee only needs to meet 3 times.
      • Good Scout Award Event Information – Community FOS
  • The council pays about $300,000 per year for insurance on the council properties, and to provide coverage for specific events.
• Membership
  • Our district goal is to create six new packs this year.
  • We actually are 10 packs and 500 youth short of our goals for Cub Scouting.
  • The district executive has been visiting Catholic parishes to investigate restarting lapsed packs.
  • As part of a council wide strategy being executed on the District level by our District Executive, we are trying to schedule 15 School Sign-Up Nights in the Spring, with 25 in the fall, with the goal of recruiting 440 new Cub Scouts by the end of the year.
• District Volunteers needed
  • District Chair
  • District Nominating Chair
  • District Membership Chair
  • District Program Chair
  • District Commissioner and Unit Commissioners
• Unit Service
  • 3 units still have not been renewed
    • YPT training, change of position, and AB506 expiration are the issues.
• Training
  • Scoutmaster Specific training will be in the fall run by the prior Tres Ranchos training team. The date has not yet been set.
  • Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) is planned to be offered at the council Summer Camp sessions (Wente, Royaneh, Wolfeboro)
  • BALOO training is available this month on the 22/23 hosted by Mission Peak District. https://training.goldengatescouting.org/baloo-2/
• Advancement
  • The first aid merit badge is entirely different for 2025. https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/first-aid/
  • Eagle Letters of Recommendation have changed. Only four are needed, and parents, unit leaders, and committee chairs are discouraged from submitting them.
    • https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/512-72825-Eagle-Scout-Application.pdf
    • Note that it is encouraged that Scouts use the Scoutbook or Scoutbook Plus tools instead of the link above as the tools will automatically fill in much of the required personal, merit badge, and position of responsibility requirements.
  • There are three “experimental” badges that are being tested: auctioneering, wildland fire management and life skills.  A scout could work on them with a registered adult and earn a certificate (not a merit badge, this badge would not count towards Eagle). 
    • BSA Test Lab
    • Test Lab overview
• Camping
  • Camp Royaneh and Camp Wolfeboro still have slots open for Summer Camp.
  • The district is still seeking information on units that are going out of council for Summer Camp this year.
  • Our district’s Cub Scout Day Camp is going to happen this year. We have a Chair and a prospective Program Director.  The location and date are still being worked out.
• Activities
  • April Camporee is ongoing. Waiting for units to sign up.
  • May Camporee has reserved Camp Tamarancho, working on budget and final plans.
  • 2026 District Camporee is tentatively scheduled for May 1-3, 2026
  • 2026 District Jamboree is tentatively scheduled for Oct 2-4, 2026
  • Peralta Cup was a success. Lots of youth, and a number of troops showed up to recruit and help run the event.
  • Advancement Day at the Hornet is continuing the planning, Henry Ramos is the lead.
  • The District Recognition event is looking for one volunteer from each of the legacy districts to help plan the program and awards criteria. We are looking for a location as well.