7 January 2009
Illinois Boy Scout Merger
Posted by admin under: council news .
Two councils in Illinois have voted to merge to create a new one with, to me, an arguably cooler name.
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.
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