This would kind of fit with the discussion I had a year and a half ago with the fundraising chair for the newly merged GSGLA. They’re going after the big fish. Being able to project your image as contemporary and able to handle that sort of attention is just where this new office fits in. Black glass walls, brand-new interior, upscale part of town all say that this council knows how to handle its money. I’ll miss the old building that looks like a converted warehouse, but maybe they’ll actually use it as a warehouse for cookie season. I guess not since I saw the big For Lease sign on the front.

The GSGLA is moving at the end of next month. It will be convenient to pop by after work or during lunch to grab supplies. So, without further ado: your peek at the future of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.

I had previously posted on the proposed merger Cayuga County council and Hiawatha Seaway Council and the aftermath.

There are now updates on the Hiawatha Seaway Website.

Cayuga County is now a district within Hiawatha Seaway Council.

As reported in ScoutingNews in an excerpt from the letter coming from the council

Simply put, the Cayuga County Council, BSA, was deemed too small to sustain the functions of a full Council. The Cayuga County Council had been counseled by national headquarters since March 2005 that its enrollment trends and resulting size placed it on a “Critical Care Council” list, requiring certain benchmarks of progress to be made as a Council. Those benchmarks were not met.

Earlier this year both the former Cayuga County Council and the Hiawatha Seaway Council were informed by the Boy Scouts of America that the Cayuga charter would not be renewed and the Council would cease to exist as its own entity as of June 30, 2009. The Cayuga County Council was given the choice between merging with Hiawatha Seaway Council, or be assimilated with Hiawatha Seaway after the Cayuga County Council charter lapsed.

I like a nice, small town. They’ve got a lot of individual personality. Watch out for small councils, though, because the charter might be in danger!

The Otetiana and Finger Lakes councils of the Boy Scouts of America voted unanimously Monday to merge.

The new council will cover Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates counties.

Leaders of the Finger Lakes Council approved the merger at a meeting at its Geneva headquarters. The Otetiana Council approved the merger at a meeting at its Rochester office.

The new combined organization will continue to maintain both offices.

In 2008, the Finger Lakes Council provided programs for about 2,800 scouts in Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties, while Otetiana Council served about 13,000 scouts in Monroe County.

Members of the Trails West Boy Scout Council and the Okaw Valley Boy Scout Council voted to consolidate the two councils and form a new council.

The new Boy Scout council in the metro-east area will be known as the Lewis and Clark Council, said Robert J. Smejkal Jr., program director at the Trails West Council in Wood River. The new council will oversee Boy Scouts in a 15-county area of Southwestern Illinois.

LOL. Dan beat me to the news again.

According to this presentation file over at the Okaw Valley site, there will probably be personnel cuts after the merger. Some of the benefits listed:

Benefits – Finance
National Scout Shop
Savings on occupancy expenses
Savings on equipment rental expenses
Savings on professional fees & salaries
…
Benefits – Personnel
Stronger, more efficient staff
Consolidation of personnel
…
What occurs next
Send out a letter to all chartered organizations
Establish a new executive board
Establish a search committee for a Scout Executive
A final vote of all the voting members of the council to consolidate

Sounds like a different office that won’t house all the old professionals. At least the presentation lists all the current camps held by the two councils. We’ll have to see if they keep them all or try to finance the consolidation by cannibalizing their properties which is just a fear I always have. Good luck to the new council!

Update: Pretty much confirmed on the cuts.

The new executive board has a lot of work ahead, including a decision on the future of the Trails West headquarters in Wood River.

“It has pretty well been determined by the consolidation committee that Belleville be the new headquarters, and we will most likely be closing the Wood River office,” Barlow said. “We want to get a Scout executive hired and let them make a decision on staff. We anticipate there will be duplicate positions that will not be needed.”

In previous articles, Smejkal stated that layoffs after the consolidation were not expected.

Forced into the move by a pending corner-widening project, Girl Scouts of Western Washington seized the opportunity to get bigger digs to expand its programs.
…
The building there has 5,800 square feet of space and will require modifications to turn it from a church into a Girl Scout center. Those include a new roof.
…
The Scouts’ new home was formerly occupied by Trinity Mission Baptist Church, and that congregation has disbanded.

Corner-widening. That just sounds made-up, doesn’t it? That’s it. I just thought it was different for a council to take over a church.