Meeting started at 8:15 pm

Treasurer’s Report: (not available)

First Aid/CPR Certifications: Eleven people started the course at the Belvidere Fire station. Nine completed it. Ed and Paul were advised to contact Al or Chuck to arrange a new date to complete their training.

Ski Trip: Sandy requested the date be changed, due to a pack’s pinewood derby being on that day. Most of the places needed 20 reservations 2 weeks in advance to get the group rates. It was rescheduled for February 5^th. The troop will go to Chestnut Mountain near Galena, IL. The prices are $33 for lift ticket, $55 for lift, rental, & lesson; $39 for lift and lesson. The trip was a success, but we only had 14 people attend. The weather was wonderful! Sandy got Merri to agree to the group rate with less than 20-people attending. Meal tickets were an additional $6 (an $8 value). NEXT YEAR, we want to present several options vs. costs.

Summer Camp: Ken Hoxie, and maybe Ed will be attending. Camp Lowden has been chosen for July 10-16, 2005. Need adult volunteers. $100 deposit has been paid from the troop account at the Council office. Costs are $160 per Scout by May 1^st and $180 after that date. The cost for adults is $107. March 15^th will be the parent information meeting, and the deposit is due March 22^nd ($25). Besides the $25 payable by each scout, a scout may earn up to 135 dollars in points. Ed will lead two sessions about the ways to earn points. One session will be for parents of new scouts; the other session will be a refresher for all scouts and their parents.

Florida Sea Base (Aug. 7-14, 2005): Still looking for people. Have 2 confirmed boys and 2 adults. We need at least 6 people, so it will be opened to the District after 12/31/04. It was brought up at Roundtable and there is 1 possible recruit. Nothing new.

Eagle Cave (April 22-24, 2005): A payment is due in March. Need exact count of people by March 22. (Eagle Cave will not refund fees for people who do not go.) The troop will be charging more for this campout for both Scouts and Scouters. Eagle Cave charges $42 each. Motion was made and passed to charge $21 for each participant. A deposit check was sent.

Boundary Waters: Date is set for June 19-26, 2005. Eric Schmidt bought 3-permits for Troop 181 and 2-permits for Crew181. (Nine people per permit.) Approximate cost per participant will be $500. There was discussion about the availability of advisors for each permit.

Merit Badge Learn and Earn: The event is March 19, and April 2; both at 3^rd Presbyterian Church, 1221 Custer Avenue. Phil is working on posting the information. The scouts who were going to sign-up have signed-up! Connie Snyder is the District coordinator.

Equipment: Steve Horan has the axe and John Vermi has the hatchets. Motion to purchase a couple of fiberglass handles and sledge hammers. Motion passed.

New Meeting Location: We still need to plan to leave from the municipal parking lot next to the fire station for our outings. When we return from weekend campouts on Sunday mornings, we will be returning around the time of church services. We won’t disrupt worship services.

Storage facilities: John Paul provided storage space. A "Thank-you" letter, for tax purposes, should be composed and sent to him; one similar to the letter we sent to the farm that stores our trailers. We are still lacking storage for the long-term stuff. It can remain in the firehouse for the time being.

Discipline agreements: Derek Dwyer took care of them. Of course, we hope to receive new scouts soon, and there will be a new batch of agreements that will need to be signed. Recommendation was made that these should be gone over annually with all Scouts as a refresher.

Wood Badge: Paul McCaffrey wants to attend. He needs to accomplish the prerequisites (New Leader Essentials and Boy Scout Leader Specific [5-sessions] training). Ken Hoxie wants to take the local training. Who is the other possibility for Woodbadge?

Midwest Regional Extrication Competition May 2005: The Midwest Regional Extrication Competition needs a group to serve food to participants. It would be 7am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday in May of 2005. It means manning the kitchen at Station #3 and buying and serving the food for a couple hundred people. It would support the fire station, which is our charter. Bill LeFevre said our troop would be asked to do this. A motion was made and passed to offer our services for this. (Last year they had brats and hamburgers.) The committee agreed to explore this further – as a service project. No new information.

District Dinner: There will be a subcommittee meeting shortly. Flyers will be passed out at the next Roundtables. Also, nomination forms will be passed out and collected all in one night. Gretchen has gotten a flyer ready for Roundtable. Station #3 is reserved for April 3^rd. The theme is celebration – a party theme, because it is Cub Scouting’s 75th Anniversary. The food is decided. (Eric Schmidt, Mary Ann Bushaw, and Phil Reece) No new information provided.

Troop Advisors: Ed is collecting adult volunteers for Patrol Coaches, and coaches for the all leadership positions.

Swim Nights: Marcus Tryggestad has been our Lifeguard. He may be eligible for an award. (Ask Eric Schmidt.) Some Webelos Dens have joined us in the pool to work on their activity badges. A few scouts and adults from Troop 23 joined us this month. All visiting youth were charged $2 each. Jon Paul sent Phil/Terry an email stating that Christine (his daughter) may be a possible lifeguard, if we need one.

Uniform Inspection: Ryan Lambert picked-up 60 uniform inspection sheets. They will be distributed at a future troop meeting. Then, a date will be set for the actual "inspection" at a subsequent meeting. Mary Ann indicated that District is suggesting inviting special Scouter guests or military recruiters to help with the inspections about twice per year. Hopefully, we will have a guest, in uniform, initiate our troop inspection.

A "Thank you" needs to be sent to John Sutherland for his help with the pioneering camp-out. Nathaniel has written the letter, but it hasn’t been sent. Ed was given ideas for finding his address.

A Thank-you card was sent Dr. Swanson; and acknowledged by Dr. Swanson. Also, the Thank-you letters were sent to our Tree Lot contributors in early January, dated December 31.

National Volunteer form: The boys will need to fill out a National volunteer form, particularly for members of OA. Ryan will talk to Andrew about it.

Council activities: No new information. The council would like the troops to balance troop activities with Council/District activities. A large Council Cam-p-oree is planned for 2005 at Camp Grant and the airport.

Future committee meetings: The meetings will be moved to the second Tuesday after a regular meeting for the swimming season.

Popcorn: The Spring Popcorn Kickoff will be April 1, 2005. Will Jamie Beck do it again?

BMX Food tent: Revive it; per Phil. It is the weekend we leave for the Boundary Waters.

Northlander Gym: The event is set for March 11-12, from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am, Friday night to Saturday morning. (It is followed by the First Aid Meet at 9:30 am.) The cost is $35 for climbers taking the merit badge; climbing with out the merit badge is $25, non-climbing chaperones are free. The troop will split the above fees with the participant. If we want food, we have to order it ourselves and pay for it separately; or bring it.

New Scouts will be joining soon. Our Troop Guide needs to be ready for them.

Fire Safety Merit Badge: Ryan is getting this arranged for troop meeting nights of 2/15 and 3/15.

Tours: A tour of a potato chip factory is not available. All food-processing companies are denying tours. We need new ideas for a March tour.

Show and Do for adults is coming soon.

First Aid Meet: The date has changed to March 12.

Nominating Forms: Has Troop 181 made any nominations for the District Dinner?

Canoeing Merit Badge: Al Fredrickson will teach this merit badge at Boundary Waters.

Mystery Campout: The Mystery Campout date needs to be changed to August, due to conflicts (Boundary Waters) in July. It will be a "family event" with permission slips required for all non-family participants.

Adjourned 9:30 PM