FROM THE COUNCIL PROPERTIES COMMITTEE 

As many of you know we have been working on ground up refurbishing and new construction throughout Fire Mountain Scout Camp for the past ten years.  We probably have another ten years to go.  Boy Scouts like many non-profits have a great tendency to raise money to build new things, but then let maintenance slide for a lack of funding.  This is what happened to Fire Mountain over its first 40 years of existence.   The Properties Committee is very committed to the new construction projects in our Camp Master Plan, but we are just as committed to maintain everything we build. 

We have a tool that is the envy of Council’s around the nation…  A $1.15 million dollar maintenance endowment.  The original $1.05 million of this fund came from the sale of Camp Black Mountain.  We fund major maintenance projects by utilizing 4% of the assets in this fund each year.  Currently that amount is around $45,000.  Some examples of the use of these funds recently is the replacement of our walk in cooler and walk in freezer attached to our kitchen.  2020 maintenance projects include the replacement of all of the Hollander Hall fire sprinkler heads, new stove tops, a new double capacity dish sanitizer, and various projects on Fort Boeing. 

If you have not been to camp in the past couple of years you really need to see the amazing transformation.   We are building a world class Scout camp, and we are also maintaining everything we build to ensure that it will remain a world class Scout camp for many generations in the future. 

Scott Suchan 

V.P. Properties