SHAC

 

UPDATED 10/05/2012

RECHARTERING YOUR SCOUTING UNIT

Sam Houston Area Council • Boy Scouts of America

 Look for unit's
Internet Recharter
Access Code
here on printed
copy

Resources • How Recharter Is Done • Instructions / Checklist

This document will assist unit personnel with responsibility for the unit’s recharter by providing pointers to resources, by providing an overview of how the recharter process works, and by providing an instructions/checklist to minimize errors.

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME TO BE INVOLVED WITH RECHARTER, OR IF YOU ARE AN “OLD HAND” WHO NEEDS TO “BRUSH UP” ON HOW RECHARTER IS DONE, PLEASE READ "HOW RECHARTER IS DONE" BEFORE CONTINUING.  DOING SO WILL HELP MAKE THE POINTERS TO RESOURCES BELOW MORE USEFUL!


RESOURCES

RECHARTER WEBSITE

The Council Recharter website contains helpful information about recharter including
Access it at www.samhoustonbsa.org/Recharter with the QR code above.

NEW FOR 2012-13

There are four main changes for 2012-13:
  • The “Unit Charter Fee” is now called the “Unit Liability Insurance Fee” and doubled to $40.  The new name reflects how BSA uses the fee.  The increase is due to increased claims in recent years that have depleted the fund created by the fee.
  • Sam Houston Area Council now requires the use of Internet Rechartering for all recharters.  The council feels that the benefits of improved accuracy of recharters and reduced volunteer and staff effort are so great that this change is required to make best use of resources.  If your unit does not have access to the required computer with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, or higher, contact your district’s Commissioner Team for assistance in gaining access to those resources.  While a roster is still included in the recharter packet for your reference, it is not a recharter roster (no signature area) and cannot be used to recharter.
  • Sam Houston Area Council will require that all charters expire in December starting December 2013.  If your unit presently recharters in December, no change is necessary.  Otherwise, you must change your unit’s next recharter date to December by rechartering for a period of time other than a year.  To do this, recharter in the normal manner using Internet Rechartering.  Then complete the “December 2013 Recharter Transition Form” to recalculate the BSA fees (“Total Fees Submitted”) on the Internet Rechartering printout.  This form is included in the recharter packet.
  • The number of documents included in the recharter packet has been reduced to reduce complexity and reduce wasted paper.  The remaining documents that were formerly included in the packet are available online via the “Documents and forms used in recharter” link in the “Resources” section of the recharter website.

DEADLINES

Your recharter is due at the Council office on or before the 15th of the month in which the current charter expires.  Registration hours are 8:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M.  Please arrive by 4:00 P.M.; the office closes at 4:30 sharp.  We encourage you to use recharter turn-in opportunities provided by your district to save yourself a trip to the council office.

INTERNET RECHARTERING (IR)

This web-based system provided by the BSA National Council helps you update your unit’s roster to correct errors for existing members, add new members, and remove members who are no longer in your unit.  IR is available to you starting two months before your current charter expires.  That is, if your charter expires December 31, you may access the system on November 1.  Attend your district’s Recharter Workshop or see the Recharter Workshop PowerPoint tutorial linked in the “Resources” section of the recharter website for detailed information.

IR ACCESS CODE

The access code required to use IR is on a brightly-colored label in the right-hand corner above.  The access code changes every year – do not use last year’s code because it will attempt (and fail) to access last year’s information.  YOU ARE A “FIRST TIME USER” WHEN YOU BEGIN YOUR FIRST SESSION EVERY YEAR!

RECHARTER HELP

Your district’s Commissioner Team is your first point of contact if you need help.  If they don’t already know the answer to your question, they will help find it.  Contact your Unit Commissioner or, if you do not know who your Unit Commissioner is, your District Commissioner.
 
BE “ON TIME – ERROR FREE”.  Every hour spent by volunteers and Council staff chasing down late recharters and fixing errors can’t be spent helping youth.  THANK YOU in advance for making good use of our limited resources!
(EXPERIENCED RECHARTER PROCESSORS MAY SKIP TO INSTRUCTIONS / CHECKLIST!)

  HOW RECHARTER IS DONE

 
If you are reading this, you probably have just been asked to “recharter” your “unit” and are full of questions.  You also may be a little anxious, wondering “what in the world have I gotten myself into?” because everyone else was so relieved when you agreed to do it.

RELAX.  Unit recharter has earned a reputation as being difficult when, in fact, it is pretty easy.  If there is a hard part, it’s that some rules have to be followed for each member and that you have to finish on time.
 
So let’s start with some of those questions:

What is a unit?  That’s the Pack, Troop, Team, Crew, or Ship that asked you to do this.  Units in our area operate under the Sam Houston Area Council (SHAC), the local operating arm of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).  The Council assigns each unit to a District, a geographic part of SHAC’s area of operations. A unit always has a Unit Leader who is responsible for seeing that a program is delivered to the youth members.  The Unit Leader has a title like Advisor, Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Coach, or Skipper.  A unit has at least three adults who serve as the Unit Committee that supports the Unit Leader.

What is recharter? BSA issues a charter through the local Council to a Chartered Organization, like the Church or other organization that owns your unit, which allows it to use a BSA program to serve youth in its community.  For example, a Cub Scout Pack uses Cub Scouting to serve boys in the first through fifth grades. BSA requires that the charter be renewed annually to continue using the program.  We call that annual renewal “recharter”.

What else happens during recharter?  In addition to renewing the unit charter, recharter time is when all youth and adult members (leaders) renew their membership in BSA.  Member renewals are most of the work.  If your unit collects all or part of its member dues or fees on an annual basis, that collection often takes place at recharter too.  Your unit should also complete the application for the Journey To Excellence Award. 

What is the process?  Briefly, it goes like this:
  • Attend your District’s Recharter Workshop.  Each District should hold one or more workshops to discuss recharter before most of its units recharter.  It also gives you a chance to meet your Commissioner Team, your first line of help in case you need it.  You may have received your unit’s recharter packet at the workshop.  The PowerPoint presentation used at the workshop is available on the recharter website via the “Resources” section.
  • Inventory your members and collect fees.  Collect BSA registration fee, Boys Life subscription fee, and Council accident insurance fee from each member that will be continuing membership.  The unit’s Treasurer or another leader may do the actual collection, but you must know who is renewing and any changes to their personal data (address, phone#, etc.) and, for adults, Scouting position.  Involve the Unit Leader and Committee in determining the status of those who do not respond about renewing.  Get complete, new applications, including all required parts and signatures, for any new youth or adult members. All adult applications should include proof of having completed Youth Protection Training. This course is available online the E-Learning Center in MyScouting at the BSA website, www.scouting.org. (If the course is not completed prior to turning in the application, it MUST be completed in the next 30 days to avoid cancellation of the new leader's membership!)  Attach a copy of the training certificate to the application and the criminal background check authorization before submitting the application.
  • Update the unit roster.  The recharter process uses a unit roster in a special format to provide an updated list of members and to provide BSA with the signatures to approve the renewal.  You create this roster using Internet Rechartering (IR).  The paper roster in your recharter packet is for reference only, is not in the correct format, and cannot be turned in. IR will import a current roster from BSA's registration system after you first access the system. It will record any changes you make – corrections, added or deleted members – and send them to the Council Registration staff so they will have exactly what you want them to have!  At the end of the Internet process, you will print out the paper roster to use for the rest of the process.  More information about IR and how to get started are on page 1.  We recommend that you take the tutorial if you have not used IR before. 
  • Recalculate the BSA fees on page 1 of the roster.  Sam Houston Area Council will require all units to recharter in December 2013.  About one-half of all units already recharter in December.  If yours is one of these, skip to the next paragraph.  For all other units, you must manually recalculate the BSA fees to recharter for a period of 6-18 months so that your next recharter date is December 2013.  Complete the "December 2013 Recharter Transition Form" to determine the correct BSA fee for your unit and attach the worksheet to the front of your IR printout.  Use this revised BSA fee in calculating the total payment due in the next paragraph.
  • Calculate insurance, new member fees.  Complete the blue Accident Insurance Information form from the packet.  The fee is $1 per person, including Tiger Cub Adult Partners for Cub Packs.  If you added any new members and want them to be members before your new charter starts next month, add a fee of $1.25/month/member.  Use the worksheet in step 6 (page 4) to calculate the total payment due.
  • Obtain signatures on recharter roster.  Before you turn-in your paperwork, you must get two signatures on the first page of the recharter roster.  The person named as the Executive Officer on the roster must sign the top line for the Chartered Organization  The person named as the Unit Leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, etc.) must sign the bottom line as Unit Leader.  The middle line, Council Representative, can be completed at turn-in and will be signed by a Commissioner and/or the professional Scouter responsible for supporting your unit’s District.
  • Turn in all paperwork.  Take the following to turn-in: signed updated roster, complete applications for new members, completed Accident Insurance Information form, December 2013 Recharter Transition Form (if needed) and Journey to Excellence application.  Bring your unit’s check with you to turn-in; we suggest that the amount not be filled in until someone has checked the total calculated on page 4.  When your District has a turn-in, district personnel will take the paperwork to the Council office.  Otherwise, your unit must turn it in at Registration in the Council office at 2225 North Loop W, between 8:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. Monday-Friday, excluding holidays by the 15th.  .
 

UNIT RECHARTER INSTRUCTIONS/CHECKLIST

The use of Internet Rechartering (IR) is required as of September 2012.  Access it through the link on the rechartering website, www.samhoustonbsa.org/Recharter.  IR checks the information you provide and prevents many common rechartering errors such as missing required information and missing required adult leaders.  It also warns you about adult leaders who do not have the required Youth Protection Training on file with BSA.
After you submit your revised roster with Internet Rechartering, perform the following steps to complete your unit’s recharter:

1.    Print Roster.  Print the PDF file that Internet Rechartering downloads to the computer you are using.  This PDF file contains the revised roster that you have created with IR. ( If you are NOT on a public computer, we suggest that you save the PDF file for future use in case you want another copy of the roster.)  After the printing completes, log off IR.

2.    Corrections to Roster.  After you complete IR, if you discover errors in the recharter printout, you must manually correct the printout and recalculate the BSA National Charter Fee on the signature page of the printout.  Corrections to existing information must be made by drawing a fine-point straight line through information to be changed. THE OLD INFORMATION STILL MUST BE READABLE SO THAT IT CAN FOUND AND CHANGED.  Use a ruler and fine point pen to draw a single line through information to be corrected.  Print new information as neatly as possible above the lined-out information. DO NOT USE A HIGHLIGHTER TO MARK CHANGES.  If you add a new youth or adult member, to the roster also be sure to add the new member to the new youth or new adult lists on the page preceding the signature page.

3.    Applications for New Members.  If you added new youth or adult members to your unit, the IR roster printout will be preceded by a list of new youth members, if any, and a list of new adult members, if any.
a.    For each new youth member in the list:
i.    Include a completely filled out youth application
ii.    Be sure the application is signed by the Unit Leader (CM, SM, etc.), the parent, and, for a Venturer, the youth.
b.    For each new adult member in the list:
i.    Include a completely filled out adult application, including the references and answers to the questions.
ii.    Include a completely filled out criminal background authorization form, signed by the member.
iii.    Be sure the application is signed by the Chartered Organization head and the adult.  Your District Executive will sign the form after you turn in your recharter.
4.    Calculate Accident Insurance Fee.  Use the blue Accident Insurance Information form in the recharter packet to calculate this fee.  This fee is imposed by Sam Houston Area Council to fund the accident insurance policy that it is required to provide by the National Council.  (Do not confuse this fee with the $40 Unit Liability Insurance Fee calculated by IR as part of the BSA National fees.)  The accident insurance fee is $1 per person for all youth, all registered adult leaders, and all Tiger Cub Adult Partners.  Be sure to count persons, not positions.  An adult registered leader who is also a Tiger Cub Adult Partner is charged the $1 ONCE even though he or she appears on the roster twice.  The fee is not charged in the following cases:
a.     to the Executive Officer/Institution Head unless he or she is also a registered leader (Charter Organization Rep, Committee Chair, or Committee Member) or is a Tiger Cub Adult Partner. 
b.    to any member who is a “multiple registrant” in your unit.  That is, he or she pays his or her BSA membership fee in another unit. 
c.    to any member of a unit chartered to the LDS Church which has an agreement with BSA to self-insure members of its units against accidents.
5.    Recalculate BSA Charter Fees for December 2013 Expiration.  Sam Houston Area Council will require all units to recharter in December beginning in 2013.  If your unit already recharters in December, skip this step.  If your unit does not currently recharter in December, you must recalculate the BSA charter fees (“Total Fees Submitted” from the signature page of the recharter printout)  so that your unit’s next recharter will be in December 2013.  To do this, complete the December 2013 Recharter Transition Form included in your recharter packet.  Using this form, you will adjust the annual renewal fee calculated by IR to make your unit’s new charter expire in December 2013.  This will be accomplished by recharter for a period other than 12 months based on your current expiration date:
Currently expires Renew for Currently expires Renew for Currently expires Renew for
September 2012 15 months January 2013 11 months April 2013 8 months
October 2012 14 months February 2013 10 months May 2013 7 months
November 2012 13 months March 2013 9 months June 2013 6 months

Attach the completed form to the front of the printout from IR.

6.    Calculate Total Amount Payable with Recharter.  Calculate the total amount as follows:

BSA Charter Fee
(for units expiring December 2012, “Total Fees Submitted” from IR printout;
all other units “Total December 2013 Fee” from December 2013 Recharter Form)		 $                  

Accident Insurance Fee (from blue Accident Insurance Information form)

 $                  

New applications to be registered in the current month @ $1.25/month/member

 $                  

Total Amount Payable (add the three lines above)

 $                  

DO NOT WRITE THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAYABLE ON THE RECHARTER PRINTOUT!

NOTE:  We strongly recommend that you not fill in the check amount until all calculations have been checked at your designated turn-in location.

7.    Obtain the three required signatures on the recharter printout:
⃞    Executive officer (Institutional Head)
⃞    Unit leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Varsity coach, Venturing advisor, Skipper, Explorer advisor)
⃞    Council representative (commissioner or district executive) – can be obtained at turn-in.

8.    Bring the following documents with you to recharter turn-in:
⃞    All pages printed out by Internet Recharter with signatures on the first page of the roster
⃞    Completed adult and/or youth application, including all required signatures, for each new member added to roster
⃞    Completed “Accident Insurance Information” form
⃞    For all units with charters NOT expiring in December, December 2013 Recharter Transition Form.
⃞    One or more blank checks (to be filled in by you after your paperwork is checked).

NOTE: if you turn in your paperwork at the Council office, the Registration desk office hours are 8:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. Monday-Friday, excluding holidays.  Please arrive before 4:00 P.M. because only limited personnel are available after 4:00 P.M. Registration closes at 4:30 P.M. sharp.  We encourage you to use your district’s turn-in event(s) instead.

September 2012
 
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