{"id":64668,"date":"2015-11-17T19:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=64668"},"modified":"2015-11-17T16:26:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T21:26:17","slug":"two-local-boy-scout-councils-to-merge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=64668","title":{"rendered":"Two Local Boy Scout Councils to Merge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Boy<\/a>(Utica, Oneonta, NY \u2013 Nov. 17, 2015) The Otschodela and Revolutionary Trails Councils of the Boy Scouts of America are pleased to announce that they have voted to merge its Councils. As a result, a new and larger Council will be created to serve more than 3,400 youth across six counties in central New York.<\/p>\n

An Executive Board comprised equally of members from the two former councils will govern the new Council. As a bonus to its youth, the Council will be reaching out to them for their input on the name of the new Council.<\/p>\n

Merger discussions began eight months ago around a shared goal of attracting more youth to Scouting and creating a better Scouting experience for all. As neighboring Councils, it was a logical step to reach out and work together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made sense that two strong Councils could do more together than separately\u201d said Rick Bamberger, Council President of the Otschodela Council headquartered in Oneonta. \u201cThe months-long feasibility study we conducted showed that this is the right thing to do. We are going to harness the combined strengths of both of our Councils to offer a world-class Scouting experience to our Scouts and volunteer leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key Points from the Merger<\/p>\n

*The new Council will arrive at its name through a competition among all of Scouting youth.<\/p>\n

*As equals, both Executive Boards will combine to form the new Executive Board. New Officers will be elected and new bylaws written. This new Board will have oversight and governance for the new Council.<\/p>\n

*The new Council Boy Scout summer resident camp is Henderson Scout Reservation in Maryland, NY.<\/p>\n

*The new Council Cub Scout summer resident camp is Kingsley Scout Reservation in Ava, NY.<\/p>\n

*Kingsley will also be used for specialty programs and Boy Scout winter camp.<\/p>\n

*Cub Scout day camps will be held throughout the new Council.<\/p>\n

*There will be increased cost savings by reallocation of resources.<\/p>\n

*The endowment funds from both Councils will be used for the benefit of all the Scouts in the new Council.<\/p>\n

*The Corporate Office and Executive Director will be in Utica. Field staff will use Home and Council Offices<\/p>\n

*The office in Oneonta will continue to be used to meet the needs of the membership of the new council.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the core of this merger is the understanding that above all, we want to create a sustainable program providing a better scouting experience for our youth.\u201d said William Kline, Council President for the Revolutionary Trails Council headquartered in Utica. \u201cWith a combined Council we will attract more scouts, train more leaders and develop programming that we never thought possible to get our Scouts excited and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the vote of both Councils, the merger must be finalized with New York State and the National office of the BSA but will be completed in several months.<\/p>\n

For more details on the merger, please visit the Council website at\u00a0www.scoutingcny.org<\/a>. You may also email the Scout Executive at\u00a0StevenK.McEwan@scouting.org.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Utica, Oneonta, NY \u2013 Nov. 17, 2015) The Otschodela and Revolutionary Trails Councils of the Boy Scouts of America are pleased to announce that they have voted to merge its Councils. As a result, a new and larger Council will be created to serve more than 3,400 youth across six counties in central New York. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}