Committee chair timeline: December

december_200December can be the most hectic month of all, with holiday preparations, family visits and vacations, shopping, cooking and cleaning. Fortunately, if you do your Scouting duty to “be prepared”, your workload will be lighter and you’ll have more time to spend with your family.

Your biggest concern right now will be with the annual charter renewal process and tabulating your Journey to Excellence scorecard. Our council announced last year, to some groaning, that all charters will be due on December 31, rather than in January or February as in the past. While some felt that our council was acting like Scrooge, making us work over the holidays to renew our charters, they’ve set the timeline to actually get everyone’s charter submitted early. (Last year I drove in a snowstorm on December 30th in order to meet my commissioner and turn in our Journey to Excellence report.) While some in our troop were undoubtedly caught by surprise, despite the repeated reminders, it has meant that our “heavy lifting” will be done in plenty of time to deck the halls and have a relaxing holiday.

The final recharter bits:

  • Finalize your online roster and Boys’ Life tally.
  • Get applications and Youth Protection training from everyone listed.
  • Get a check from your treasurer (if your council provides a worksheet, use it).
  • Finish up your Journey to Excellence report. (There is a spreadsheet on the JTE site. Just plug in the numbers it asks for and answer the questions, and Calc will do the rest.)
  • Print off the annual charter agreement.
  • Pull everything together, make copies, and get the required signatures (unit leader, committee chair, chartered organization representative and executive officer).
  • Head for the party – the recharter party! Our district holds charter turn-in events complete with food and beverage, commissioners to give guidance, and a help desk for the various parts of the process in case you need questions answered.

Then, take a deep breath, get on with your holiday planning, and think about all the great things your Scouting unit will do in 2014.

Image by arztsaumi / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This post first appeared on Bobwhite Blather.
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