Commissioner Meeting

Attending

• Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
• Richard Christman, ADC
• Michael Wrenn, Round Table Commissioner
• Robin Rees, Unit Commissioner
• Charles Hoffman, Unit Commissioner
• Paul Smith, Unit Commissioner
• Melanie Smith, District Eagle Coordinator
• Steve Rodriguez, District Member-at-Large
• Alex Garcia, District Executive

Agenda Items

• Crucial need for new commissioners
  • The district has 60 units, but only 6 commissioners.
  • Service to Packs is the priority, in line with the Council priorities.
• The Nomination committee needs viable people for DOC positions.
  • Finance, Program, Commissioners, Marketing
• Council Training Goals
  • All youth facing leadership and key 3 to be fully trained for next year’s recharter
    • The above will include up to date Hazardous Weather training.
    • The above will include BALOO and IOLS for Cub Scout and Scouts BSA leaders.
  • Move unit committee members who do not have a specific role to the Unit Scouter Reserve.
    • Changes in Role (Committee Member to Unit Scouter Reserve) require a new application to be submitted.
    • Changes in Position (Treasurer to Youth Protection Advocate) can be made by the COR or COR Delegate.
    • Do not make changes in Scoutbook until the new role is reflected. If you end a role, the Scouter will be dropped from the unit roster.
  • Scoutmaster Position Specific Training (SMS) and Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) will be offered at camp this Summer.
    • Wente and Royaneh will offer it every week.
    • Wolfeboro plans to offer it as well, but will rely on volunteers each weak to lead the course
  • Cub Scout Leader Training will be offered May 12 & May 19
    • $5.00 fee
    • Session A: 5/12/2025 6:30 – 8:30pm for all leaders
    • Session B: 5/19/2025 6:30 – 8:30 for Den Leaders and Assistants 
    • Session B: 5/19/2025 7:30 – 9:30pm for Cubmasters/Assistants/Pack Committee
    • https://scoutingevent.com/023-csleadertrainingmay2025
  • Roundtable
    • Michael Wrenn is stepping down to take on Council Cub Scout team building
    • The virtual round table was better attended and more productive than the in-person meetings.
    • The council will be hosting zoom Cub Scout Roundtables. These will be twice a month on different days of the week and cover the same topics.
    • The District Roundtables will be Scouts BSA only and virtual.
  • The District Operations Committee meetings will be moving to the Joaquin Miller Community Center. Still on the 1^st Thursday of each month except December.
  • Memorial Flag placement at the Chapel of the Chimes.
    • Interested units should contact Rose Godfrey or Yoshiko Bertetta

 

District Operations Committee Meeting

Attending:

• Alex Garcia, District Executive
• Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
• Richard Christman, Assistant District Commissioner
• Ron Ratto, District Camping Committee Chair
• Nikki Maguire, District Advancement Committee Chair
• Linda Owczarz, District Special Needs Committee Chair
• Richard Wong, Popcorn Kernel.
• Marcin Owczarz, Wekemnayon Village Advisor
• Melanie Smith, District Eagle Coordinator
• Paul Smith, Unit Commissioner
• Charles Hoffman, Communications Team, April Camporee Co-Chair
• Michael Wrenn, Round Table Commissioner
• Robin Rees, Unit Commissioner
• Steve Rodriguez, District Member-at-Large

Agenda Items

Finance

• Friends of Scouting
  • Family Giving contributions are at 77% of the goal
    Community Giving contributions are at 25% of the goal
    Overall contributions are at 56% of the goal.
  • Discussed the difficulties of getting Companies to match donations. Schwab was used as an example.
  • No Community Giving “Ask” event has been planned yet.
    • Honoring Chief William McDonnald, the Alameda County Fire Chief is being considered to be honored with the Good Scout Award. The unions have agreed to participate if he is honored.
  • Chris Dempsey, Alex Garcia and volunteers have been making unit presentations and have more scheduled.   Only a small number of units have chosen not to have presentations.
• Popcorn
  • Richard Wong, the chair for the district, gave a kick off report
  • Many packs and some troops have started the process.

Membership

• Progress on starting new Cub Scout packs.
  • The District Executive has had positive responses from the Catholic parishes of All Saints and St. Clement in Hayward.
  • St Felicitas Catholic Church in San Leandro has agreed to start a new Pack. Paperwork has been delivered to the Organization Executive, The COR for the pack and an organizing group have started meeting. Tentative Presentation and Signup dates of Jun 15 & 22 have been selected. 
  • We still have several upcoming Cub Scout Sign-Up Nights at local schools throughout May. In order for these events to succeed, we need help connecting with school contacts, PTAs, newsletters, and parent communities to spread the word. Any assistance with outreach would be greatly appreciated.
    • Montclair Elementary – Tuesday, 5/6 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
    • Edison Elementary – Wednesday, 5/7 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
    • Paden Elementary – Tuesday, 5/13 | Event: 7:00–8:00 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:30–8:30 pm
    • Love Elementary – Thursday, 5/15 | Event: 7:00–8:00 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:30–8:30 pm
    • Bay Farm Elementary – Tuesday, 5/20 | Event: 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
    • Maya Lin Elementary – Thursday, 5/22 | Event: 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
    • Earhart Elementary – Wednesday, 5/28 | Event: 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
    • Otis Elementary – Thursday, 5/29 | Event: 6:30–7:30 pm, Multi-purpose room, Volunteer Window: 6:00–8:00 pm
  • 27 Invitations are outstanding in the district
    9 applications are outstanding in the district

Advancement

• An overview of the advancement of traditional units was provided.
  • This covered the period since 9/2024
• A number of Merit Badge Counselors were dropped when they did not renew due to the new renewal process.
  • Contact Nikki Maguire for help in reinstating Merit Badge Counselors.

Nominating Committee

• Mark Frey is the new Chair.
• A first meeting was held, with good attendance, to review the open positions and ensure the committee members knew the responsibilities and qualifications needed for the open positions.
• An email has been sent out to schedule the next meeting.
• The committee is looking for valid and fruitful names of potential candidates.
  • District Chair
  • District Vice-Chair(s)
  • Finance Chair
  • Program Chair
  • Activities and Events Chair
  • Community Friends of Scouting Chair
  • Round Table Commissioner
  • Unit Commissioners

Unit Service

• May Roundtable will be in person at Joaquin Miller Community Center.  
  • No Roundtable in June or July.
• The District Commissioner reported that she needs information on the units in the legacy Peralta and Alameda districts.
  • The health and status of each unit.
  • Which units need help
• Steve Rodriquez requested contact information for the current Oakland units to help gather the information.

Training

• Cub Scout Position Specific Training will be offered May 12 & May 19
  • $5.00 fee
  • Session A: 5/12/2025 6:30 – 8:30pm for all leaders
  • Session B: 5/19/2025 6:30 – 8:30 for Den Leaders and Assistants 
  • Session B: 5/19/2025 7:30 – 9:30pm for Cubmasters/Assistants/Pack Committee
  • https://scoutingevent.com/023-csleadertrainingmay2025
• BALOO training will be in October
  • The Council BALOO page has information and registration links
  • May offer a September date as well.
  • The GGAC is looking to put on at least five courses in the 2025-2026 Scouting year.
• The next IOLS training hosted by our district is tentatively scheduled for September at Rancho Los Mochos.
  • The Council IOLS page will have information and registration links.
  • You can attend sessions hosted by any district. The Briones district hosted event at Camp Hermes is now active
• LEAD is once again scheduled for January.
  • A course direction has been recruited.
  • BALOO training will be offered again. The classroom session will be at LEAD, and the outdoor session will follow on the same day and overnight at Camp Herms.

Order of the Arrow

• Camporee – April
  • 89 Youth and 42 Adults attended.
  • Good weather, no incidents.
• Camporee – May
  • 71 Youth and 30 Adults have registered.
• The mixer for Wekemnayon and Kaweah villages had 15 attending. A good time was had by all.

Activities

• Alameda District Cub Scout Day Camp
  • 9 youth and 1 adult have signed up.
• Advance Camp on the USS Hornet
  • 144 youth and 39 adults have signed up.
  • Some merit badges have a wait list as more counselors are needed.
• District Recognition Dinner
  • A Chair for this event is needed.

 Camping

• Council Goal is to get all 1^st year Scouts BSA to summer camp.
  This is shown to increase retention in the program.
• Campership money is available. Last year GGAC had money left over after meeting all requests.
• Paul Anzi is working on “Where to go camping” information to be distributed.