The United Methodist Church in West Virginia has recommended local United Methodist Churches not charter Scouting units. They recommend use of an Affiliated Agreement, or the Facilities use Agreement. After a detailed review of these two options, the Executive Board of the Buckskin Council has determined that the Affiliated Agreement is not a viable option for our council. As a result, Untied Methodist units will have to be chartered by another entity if they follow the recommendations of West Virginia United Methodist Church officials. Those that do so and still desire to allow scout units to utilize their facilities will need to execute a Facilities Use Agreement.
Given that a number of existing church units will need to be rechartered as a result of these developments, the Council Executive Board has authorized the formation of a Group of citizens to act as the chartering partner for any units who are losing their current chartering partner and are unable to identify an alternative chartered partner. This entity, known as the Central Appalachian Scouters' Association, will be established as a separate entity with its own EIN and will function as any chartering partner would function.
We recognize the this is a burden for our United Methodist Church sponsored units and will work closely to help shepherd you through this process. Your point of contact for questions is your District Executive or Commissioner. Alternatively, you can contact Kelly Thaxton at 304-340-3663.
For complete details, please refer to the INSTRUCTIONS TO UNITED METHODIST CHURCH UNITS.
RELEASE OF SCOUT UNIT OWNERSHIP
FACILITIES USE & INDEMNITY AGREEMENT (September 2022)
UPDATE: The Buckskin Council has conducted three informational meetings to provide details and guidance to unit leaders going forward. In these meetings, leaders were able to ask questions. We have compiled these questions and answers plus the slide deck from the presentations to help provide clarity to unit leaders.
