Commissioner Service
Final Recharter Turn-In at Roundtable
At this point, all units should have opened the Internet Rechartering system and reviewed their rosters and verified that all of your existing leadership is trained and new leaders have scheduled their training. At this time, three packs, two troops, and one crew have not started rechartering online. To those units, please do so this weekend.
This Thursday, November 9, 2017 we will have the next Roundtable at 7:00 pm. We will also offer Den Leader Training at the same time.
Next door in Luke’s Lodge, we will be holding the last recharter turn-in. It will open at 6:00 pm and close at 8:30 pm. It will be open house style, so it is first-come, first-serve.
All units are expected to have their Applications to Renew Charter and supporting paperwork turned in by the end of this function. We want to be 100% done. To determine what that means visit the Rechartering Update 2017 page.
Please contact your unit commissioner, district commissioner, or assistant district commissioner for Rechartering Mat Gerdenich if you have any questions or concerns.
Long-Range Planning: an Alternate Proposal
Traditionally in BSA units, National recommends that units do an annual planning conference one time per year. This is designed to discuss the budget, annual calendar, and longer-term projects, like high adventure outings. The idea is that at least once per year that the unit makes sure that it is staying on course. This is usually done concurrently with the annual program calendar.
The result is that the unit has a full agenda to talk about the calendar. Dealing with other long range issues gets varying discussion and analysis. For units that do the planning as part of an evening meeting, they run out of time quickly. For units that have a full retreat, they have plenty of time, but may have different items on their agenda.
Compounding the problem, most officers of the unit only plan to be with the unit until their son (and soon to be, daughters) leave the unit. This makes planning a much shorter term vision than the unit probably needs. But in terms of prioritzation, it allows the players to focus on what affects them and shorten the agenda.
Scouting already has a tendency to “meeting” our volunteers to death. We tend to have too many short meetings rather than taking the time to do a retreat once.
November Boy Scout Roundtable: Life to Eagle in North Star
We will have the members of the North Star District Advancement Committee, 
specializing in Eagle issues lead a discussion. The roundtable will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 9, 2017 at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
Specifically, Eagle Project Coordinators Rick Aker and Bill Cherry will talk about how boy scouts go about getting their Eagle Projects approved in the District.
Eagle Board of Review Coordinator Jerry Simon will talk about how boards are scheduled, run, and successfully completed.
This topic is ideal for Eagle Candidates, their parents, Troop Key 3 members, Troop Advancement Chairs, Troop Eagle Mentors (scout and scouter), new and old Scoutmasters, Assistant Scoutmasters, and anyone interested in serving on Eagle Boards of Review. Oh, forget it; just anyone.
Come with your questions!
Known Issue with Rechartering Invoice
This year National Council has added local council insurance premiums for registered members. That means the $1.00 insurance premium per scout and scouter is automatically included in your invoice, which is an upgrade over the last rechartering cycle, completed in November 2016.
Unfortunately, all is not rosy in the invoice automation. At Council meetings last we were informed that the Adult Partners for Lions and Tigers (i.e., parents included on the Youth Application but have not completed a separate Adult Application for positions such as Den Leader, Assistant Den Leader, Committee Member, etc.) do not have that insurance premium included in the invoice.
Consequently, please count these adults and multiply by $1.00. This will need to be added manually to the amount of the invoice for your pack to be paid in full.
Notes from Rechartering Roundtable
If you are attending the Rechartering Roundtable, you can watch the presentation live on your iOS device, Mac, or the web by clicking here. This will allow you to see the same slides as they advance. Please note that this is not the same as downloading the file. That will be posted on this page as a later update, after the Roundtable is over.
For copies of the Journey to Excellence forms that are required to complete recharter, you can download them from www.scouting.org/jte.
Take a look at the Unit Assessment form to know more about what you can do to improve your JTE score. Talk to a commissioner the results. Review the Unit Performance Guide, especially chapter 4 for ideas.
Remember Recharter Agreements are required. Sometimes those are handled in advance. Rechartering cannot proceed, if our DE does not have that agreement in way or another.
YPT Update
Thank you to all the scouters who have been updating their Youth Protection Training. Your efforts are paying off. In 2018 we are running ahead of 2017.
We still have a bunch more to go, the trends are excellent.
Social for all Districts
On Friday, November 3, 2017, the Council Commissioner Service is hosting a council-wide social the evening before the Commissioner College. The event is free. You can RSVP here.
SPECIAL KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
- Al Lambert, Central Region Director, BSA
- Kandra Dickerson, Central Region Commissioner, BSA
- Bob Hoffmeyer, Ass’t Area Commissioner, National Commissioner Tools Team and former CAC Commissioner
Friday, November 3rd: Social Mixer, Keynote Address, Refreshments, and Fun together!
Theme: “ENERGIZE AND BUILD TEAM PERFORMANCE””
For BSA Board Members, All Commissioners, District Committee Chairs and District Committee Members, and BSA Professionals.
Where: Camp Belzer Activity Center, 6102 Boy Scout Rd,, Indianapolis IN 46226
Registration/Check in: Starts at 5:45pm, Event starts at 6:30 pm
Roundtable Thursday
This Thursday we will have a busy roundtable.
We will have all the following at 7:00 pm
- Den Leader S
pecific Training for all grades; - Camping skills for Webelos Den Leaders and Cubmasters with demonstrations by boy scouts from Troop 56;
- Introduction to Rechartering methods and other fun of unit administration. This is open to all persons handling rechartering; and
- An open forum for boy scout leaders not involved in rechartering.
We will also have Youth Protection Training for Cubs and Scouts live at 6:30 pm.
See you Thursday at Luke’s Lodge on northeast corner of campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260 at 7:00 pm.
Applications Awaiting Approval
The district currently has 13 new leads for scouts and scouters that are stalled in the Invitation Manager and 2 applications for scouts and scouters.
Please make sure that your COR, Unit Chair, and Unit Leader (i.e., Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, or Venturing Advisor) log into to these regularly.
If you cannot clear the application or invitation due to technical difficulties, please email the applicant and me to inform them of the problem.
I have been told that this system will be closed for 60 days during Rechartering, but I have seen no evidences of this yet.
REMINDER: District meetings
Thursday, October 5, 2017 at Second Presbyterian Church, 4th Floor:
- Commissioners: 6:00 pm, Room 401
- District Committee: 7:00 pm, Room 405
Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 7:00 pm (except where different below), Luke’s Lodge, outbuilding on Campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St.
1. Youth Protection Training (Y01) (6:30 pm)
2. Boy Scout Roundtable: TBA. Possible topic: path to Eagle.
3. Cub Scout Roundtable: planning your next camp out. Presented by Scouts from Troop 56 and RTC Bill Buchalter. (Great for Pack Programming Chair, Pack Chair, Cubmaster and Den Leaders, especially Webelos Den Leaders). Tents and gear explained.
4. Rechartering breakout for Unit Rechartering Coordinators. How to rechartering. Changes to system.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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