Meeting started at 8:20 pm

Treasurer’s Report: Craig presented the report (see attached). There was a question about the troop assets – the small trailer. It was moved and passed to remove this item from our assets.

Northlander Gym (March 11-12, 2005): Sandy and Phil will work on finishing merit badge.

District Dinner (April 3, 2005): We have been denied the privilege of doing the next district dinner per Mark Rauschenberger. The district has submitted the check to us and it has been cashed.

First Aid/CPR Certifications: Need to get names and dates for next sessions before Boundary Waters. Lois needs CPR for summer camp; Sandy and Paul need First Aid. Eric will set it up at the Belvidere Fire Station. First Aid started this week – Monday and Thursday. Next week is another class on Monday and Thursday.

Eagle Cave (April 22-24, 2005): There are nice pictures being shown on the computer at the meeting tonight. The troop came home earlier on Sunday, which worked better for everyone.

Midwest Regional Extrication Competition (May 21-22, 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(now Station #2) and buying and serving the food for a couple hundred people. It would support the fire station, which is our charter organization. Bill LeFevre said our troop would be asked to do this. A motion was made and passed to offer our services for this. (Brats and hamburgers last year.) The committee agreed to explore this further – as a service project. Being held at fire station three. Need 2 adults and 4 scouts. Eric will coordinate with Bill. The Spring Camp-O-Ree is the same weekend. Phil and Lois will arrange, and work it. Since the troop is expected to purchase the food and sell it for a profit, scouts can earn money for scout accounts. We may need help from Crew 181, depending on Camp-O-Ree attendance. There is a sign-up sheet on the Web site, and there is a big need for more volunteers.

Camp-O-Ree (May 20-22): Details should come out at Roundtable. There is an announcement on the Website. There are 8 scouts and 3 adults planning to go. Sandy will call other Scouts to see if anyone else wants to come. The payment has to be in the district office by the 13^th to pay $8.00. There are members of the Crew who will be going as well.

BMX Food Tent (June 16-19, 2005): It is the weekend we leave for the Boundary Waters. Need to have schedule ready for family night on March 22^nd. Phil to email out schedule. We need to ask for corn roaster. Only 3 people have signed up for it. There is a sign-up sheet on the Website. Pizza Hut has asked to run their food tent with us. ($135 for rental of pizza oven for 3 days.) Phil will discuss this with Duane Murphy of Pizza Hut.

BMX Clean Up (June 19, 2005): We do not have to pick up every cigarette butt in the grass.

Boundary Waters (June 19 - 26): 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. Al Fredrickson will put on some classes for canoeing. There are about 9 canoes in the troop that could be used for practice. All scouts need to be First Class. Looking at requiring canoeing, first aid, and swimming merit badges prior to leaving. We may want to change it to "be actively working towards them" in order to deal with exceptions. Eric, Ed and Al need to offer ideas on what to do. Print up this section notes to be discussed at next week’s troop meeting. 14 scouts and 3 adults are looking at going from the troop for 2 crews. There is a maximum of 9 people in a crew. Adults will pay between $150 and $200; troop to pick up the remainder. One permit was dropped. The troop has a 4^th adult -- Heidi Bonowski.

Summer Camp (July 10 - 16, 2005): 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. Deb Lindstrom and Dannette Holifield will be attending. Need an announcement to hand out at Family Night. Ken, Ed, Craig, Mary Ann, Deb L, Dannette H., are going, 32 scouts are going. Troop to pick up half the cost for adults. Still waiting on materials. A motion was made and passed that the troop will pay the full cost for all adults.

Festa Italiana (Aug 5-8): Steve Horan is organizing it.

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.

Need to look at what troop pays for adults. Still need to have committee look at how much the troop will pay for adults, several suggestions for 50%. There are 3 scouts and 2 adults going. We could take three more people, including one adult. The adults have agreed to pick up any costs over $500, which the troop would cover. A motion was made for the troop to pick up 50% of the costs. Motion failed. A motion was made for the troop to pick up $500 for each adult, motion passed.

Mystery Campout (Aug 13-14): 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. It will be August 13-14. The cost will be $24 per person for the activities, plus camping costs.

Storage facilities: Phil will ask Dan Murphy to write a "thank-you"/tax letter for Jon Paul.

Discipline agreements: Derek needs to get the new patrol (Stallions) to sign the agreements at their parent information night.

Wood Badge: Next course C-24-05 is August 26-28 and Sept 30 – Oct 2. Paul McCaffrey wants to attend. He needs the prerequisites (New Leader Essentials and Boy Scout Leader Specific [5-sessions] training). Ken Hoxie & Steve Horan want to take the local training. Who else wants Woodbadge? The Council is in danger of canceling the course, due to poor registration. If anyone is interested in it, they need to sign up quickly. The course for 2006 is definitely cancelled.

Leader Specific: Next session starts April 20^th. Ken, Paul and Steve need to go through Leader Specific Training to set up for Woodbadge. Dannette needs to do the overnight to finish her training. Phil will contact Tom Siefkin for applications. Paul called District and people do not need to pre-register; just show up. Siefkin said the same thing. Paul, Ken and Steve have been attending. Greg Sparks and Dannettee Holifield need to attend the campout. Steve and Dannettee will not be able to attend the May 14^th campout. Phil will check out other district campouts for them to attend.

Fast Start: Jessica Fuller and Vicki Lambert need Fast Start. Need to inform all new parents about training opportunities.

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

Uniform Inspection: The PLC talked about it tonight and decided to move it to the Fall, due to the troop moving to Class B uniforms for summer in just a few weeks.

Need to follow up on Sutherland letter.

Fall Camp-O-Ree at Camp Grant (Oct 7-9): at the Rockford Airport. There is an announcement on the on-line Courier. Aircamp

Popcorn: The Spring Popcorn Kickoff will be April 1, 2005. Will Jamie Beck do it again? Ken will run it, with help from Jamie. May want to look at "consignment sales." Wal-Mart may match funds. Can be set up to use leftover to fill orders. Look at doing this for Fall. Paul will work with Ken to set-up a few pre-sales. Three dates have happened and collected about $700. One more date to go. Ken is getting popcorn on Friday with distribution on Saturday. $4108 was made. Everything is going well. The troop posted over $400 into the Scout accounts. Ken will send Wal*Mart a thank-you note.

Fire Safety Merit Badge: Ryan will set-up date with Brian Rehnberg for final card approval. Ryan forgot about it.

Troopmaster – We can spend the $130 to get new Troopmaster and dot com. Need to get FTP site before purchase. Will use the 90-day trial. The new version coming up may allow multiple level passwords. Will not be able to start on it until August.

Secretary: Judi Nichols has resigned as the troop secretary. Still need new secretary.

Adult OA Elections: Mary Ann, Sandy and Craig qualify. Secret ballet elected Craig. Craig will do his ordeal at summer camp this year.

Scout OA Elections: Five scouts were elected. They can do their Ordeal at summer camp, Spring Fellowship, or Fall Conclave. Tell parents of scouts for summer camp, not scouts. One scout is not going to summer camp; should we tell him in advance? Craig will talk with all parents about money due prior to the Calling-Out Ceremony; about $40 per scout.

Annual Tour Permit: has been filled out. We still need a National permit filled-out for Sea Base and Boundary Waters. Eric will take care of the National Tour permit as well as get more copies of the Annual Tour permit. He gave them to Lois with the maps for Eagle Cave. (Where are they now?)

Refrigerator: The basement of the fire station was flooded, so they need a value of our refrigerator for the insurance company. $200 was suggested and accepted.

T-shirts: nothing has been done on them yet. Terry has information on sizes from a previous Parents’ Night. This information will be given to Bill LeFevre for ordering purposes. T-shirts are $7, and polo shirts are at cost, about $12. We found many shirts in the cabinet. Bill will take this stock into account before buying the new shirts.

Troop Planning Meeting: May 28^th planning meeting for the troop at Blackhawk Fire Station #2. Sandy will put together an announcement.

Safety Afloat and Safe Swim: Roundtable is Thursday night. They are offering Safety Afloat and Safe Swim Defense. Both are needed for the Boundary Waters trip. Eric and Terry will be completing the confined water training for scuba certification this Thursday.

Adjourned 9:21 PM