Meeting started at 8:25 PM

Treasurer’s Report: Craig presented the report and answered questions.

Midwest Regional Extrication Competition (May 21-22, 2005): We agreed to do it again next year. However, are there points or Scout Account money to be earned? This needs to be discussed again to consider an advantage to those who worked it. Further, is it open to everyone to take advantage of?

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. We will sell Pizza Hut pizza by the slice, and Baskin Robbins Bold Breeze. Look to wrap-up expenses and final accounting by the August committee meeting. We need a clarification of health department rules and a point system for youth workers. Can anyone work it?

BMX Clean Up (June 19, 2005): We do not have to pick up every cigarette butt in the grass. We need every available person not going to Boundary Waters! Only 7-youth and 8-adults worked the clean-up. We worked until 7:20 pm, and it wasn’t the best job we’ve done. We got a check for $500 before we left, which divides-out to $33.33 each.

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. All training and consent forms are done. At the last troop meeting, all finances were discussed – it is wrapped-up. Ed is arranging for refunds to the few scouts who were overpaid.

Cave of the Mounds (June 25-26, 2005): We do not have the necessary scouts yet; need 20. We will ask again next troop meeting, June 14. If we do not get enough interest, it will be cancelled. Only 6-scouts raised their hands to participate; the event was canceled!

First Aid/CPR Certifications: A few people still need it. Sandy will contact Captain Shulty at the Belvidere Fire Department. Sandy referred it back to Eric.

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. 30 scouts going, Ed cannot go. Ed will bring the trailer to camp. Mary Ann and Paul will be medical officers. Physicals are coming in slowly. Lois will bring camera next week to help get pictures done. 27-boys are paid; maybe one more. The site we are getting has one platform tent. There are six adults participating (3 men and 3 women). We’ll probably use all the troop tents, and 4-5 boys will be bringing personal tents. [Because of his age, David will stay in an adult tent.] Limit occupancy to 2-scouts per tent for weeklong camping. We are looking for $77.34 private campership for one scout.

Festa Italiana (Aug 5-8): Steve Horan is organizing it. Sign-up sheet is posted. Steve will start calling people. Paul Maffioli has been contacted and everything is a go. Steve has a plan about limiting scouts not driving golf carts. Steve needs to do all his recruiting at the next few troop meetings.

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. Still looking for one to three more people to go.

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. Still need a camping place. Three campgrounds have been contacted but could not handle quantity of scouts. All scouts must have a parent or adopted parent. Saturday night only camping. The cost for the activity is $24 per person, plus $4.50 per person for camping at Nordic Pines Campgrounds. Participants must tent themselves (they need to use their own, or ASK the troop to borrow its tents; to the limit we have tents. Each family must provide two meals for themselves and their adopted scouts. The troop will donate money to the event; enough to buy Sunday morning breakfast. Further, the troop will donate enough money to cover some camping fees equivalent to the same number of campers registered in the troop.

Fall Camp-O-Ree at Camp Grant (Oct 7-9): at the Rockford Airport. There is an announcement on the on-line Courier. Aircamp. Numbers have been called in, estimating 20 youth and 5 adults.

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. Stallions have not been completed. Need to get sheets to Derek.

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. Craig, Phil and Paul are still thinking of signing-up. Craig paid a deposit. Steve and Ken will not be participating. Paul is undecided.

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. Other districts had the overnight about the same time. The next leader specific starts in September.

Fast Start: Jessica Fuller and Vicki Lambert need Fast Start. Need to inform all new parents about training opportunities. Vicki will take the online class.

Troop Advisors: Ed is collecting adult volunteers for Patrol Coaches, and coaches for the all leadership positions. Stallion patrol will work on physical requirements next meeting. Ryan will call Frank Musso to it set up.

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.

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 Sam's a thank-you note. Ken says he’s still missing three people. Still working on thank-you letter.

Fire Safety Merit Badge: Ryan will set-up date with Brian Rehnberg for final card approval. Ryan forgot about it. Some of the requirements were old.

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. Craig will pay the $28 per person (non-camper is higher) fee upon arrival at camp. Further, he will collect the cost from each candidate at some point.

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?). Tour permit was passed out during committee meeting. Looking at adding a permission slip with future outing announcements.

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. They have been ordered, Bill is picking them up. We should have them by next troop meeting. They arrived and most have been distributed.

Special Needs: David, age 19, may need to tent with two adults to protect adults and scout. Andy will call National to get a final answer. Need to get form filled out for deviations for advancement and merit badges that get sent for District consideration. One is needed for each merit badge. We discussed having a mentor going with scouts on outings.

181 Crew: They want to join us on submarine, February ski trip, Midevil Times; no objections.

Wreath Trailer: Still need to rewire trailer that we borrow for wreath pick-up. Looking at August. We need to set a date.

Tree Lot: Troop has 32 Christmas stands; Eric bought them for 25 cents each. We can sell for $5, plus.

Spring Camp-O-Ree: We’re missing scout checks and troop roster from spring camporee. We do not know the details of who paid; how. Ed had it in his records. We’ll balance the records now.

Insurance: Has troop paid troop insurance? Craig paid "Health Special Risk," effective July 1.

Wreath Sales: Paul will have paperwork ready in September.

Adjourned 9:35 PM