District Motto

Living the Promise

This motto exemplifies how we as Scouts and Scouters should be fulfilling out duties as members of the Yellow River District. Embrace it and proudly proclaim it.

 Meeting Times

The District Committee meets the First Thursday of the month at Salem United Methodist Church on Salem Road (about 1/4 mile south of the interseciton with Spring Street (Honey Creek Road)) from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.

All District Committee Members and the Chartered Organization Representatives should attend.

 Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan of the Yellow RIver District is attached as a pdf file. THis is the plan as we move forward to improve and solidify our District.

LINK TO STRATEGIC PLAN

Unit Commissioners

The following was approved at the June District Committee Meeting

TO: Yellow River District Committee
FROM: Raymond Ramos, District Committee Chair
SUBJECT: Unit Commissioner Staffing

I have been giving the issue of unit commissioner staffing considerable thought over the past several weeks. My thoughts are as follows:

1. It is impossible for one person, the District Commissioner, to recruit the number of unit commissioners necessary to serve the units of this district. The level of effort required far exceeds the time requirements I could expect from someone who also has other duties associated with serving as District Commissioner.

2. It is my opinion that the District Commissioner’s role is to provide leadership to the commission staff and to assist this staff in identifying resources that units may need to be successful with their scouting programs. This includes insuring that all unit commissioners
are trained, are meeting with units a minimum of once a month, and attending commissioner’s roundtable once a month. It is not the responsibility of the District Commissioner to recruit unit commissioners.

3. It is the responsibility of the District Commissioner to keep the District Committee informed of the status of the unit commissioner program on a regular basis.

4. It is my opinion that the role of the unit commissioner is to attend training to insure he/she is knowledgeable of commissioner duties, to observe how his/her assigned unit is operating, reports to the District Commissioner on a regular basis on his/her observations, and provide information/resources in dealing with scouting needs within the unit being served. The unit commissioner is not a leadership position nor does the commissioner have a say in the workings of the unit he/she serves. He/she can help in identifying issues that may affect scouting performance and can provide the unit leadership with possible resource options to deal with such issues. However, final decisions are the responsibility of the unit.

5. The way we have recruited commission staff in the past has not worked and does not appear to be working in a consistent manner across the Council.

6. Based upon the job description of a unit commissioner, there is no requirement that it be filled by someone who has scouting experience. Such experience is a plus but the position should be filled by someone who has an understanding of how such organizations should run, are good observers, and are good listeners.

My proposal for organizing and staffing the commission staff is as follows:

1. The District Commissioner and the District Committee will no longer be responsible for recruiting unit commissioners. This responsibility will now belong to each unit. No other restrictions are placed upon who should fill this role other than he/she must be willing to serve in accordance with the parameters established in the job description outlined in this proposal and/or in accordance with parameters defined by Council/National. A unit may elect to opt out of participating, but must accept the consequences associated with this decision, to include not being eligible for Quality Unit designation, if such decisions impact this award designation.

2. Once units have identified a unit commissioner candidate and this candidate has been approved by the unit’s COR, the candidate shall meet with the District Commissioner for the purpose of insuring that the candidate understands his/her responsibilities as a unit commissioner. The District Commissioner cannot deny a person who has been approved by the unit’s COR from serving as a unit commissioner.

3. Those units who have recruited unit commissioners can then “shop” for a partnering unit that conforms to the criteria established by the District Commissioner and approved by the District Committee. The criteria will be established in an action plan developed by the District Committee. It is suggested that there be no more than two units in a partnership, but a larger group can be developed so long as all partnering units agree on the arrangement for sharing unit commissioners. Additionally, the unit commissioner(s) in such arrangements must understand that this may impose additional time requirements to serve as unit commissioner for multiple units. The length of service by the unit commissioner in any arrangement shall be established by the partnering units.

4. Units may shop for another partnering unit if one or more of the partnering units fail to uphold its unit commissioner responsibilities, i.e., providing a unit commissioner, attending commissioner training, meeting with his/her partnering unit a minimum of once a month, and/or not attending District Commissioner roundtable meetings on a regular basis. The District Commissioner may serve as a facilitator at the request of the partnering units to help resolve issues in the partnership, but has no say in resolving such issues. The District Commissioner may request assistance from the District Committee, but the Committee will only serve as an additional resource in facilitating a solution.

5. Although the units are responsible for recruiting unit commissioners, unit commissioners shall have direct reporting responsibilities to the District Commissioner.

6. The District Commissioner shall report to the Committee on a monthly basis on the status of the commission staff, issues that may require the attention of the Committee, and report the results of the unit commission program. The District Commissioner may recruit Unit
his/her own staff to help support the District Commissioner program.

7. The District Commissioner/Committee may help in the recruiting process only from the standpoint of assisting units unable to recruit a commissioner, but only at the request of the unit. This may mean meeting with the unit’s COR and discussing the importance of the unit commissioner position and how it may help the unit. However, it will still be the responsibility of the unit’s COR to identify/recruit the unit commissioner. The District Commissioner and/or Committee will help with identifying units who are also seeking a partnership. It will still be the responsibility of the units to work out the arrangements associated with the partnership.