A note from Mike Wellech, council registrar:

We apologize for the frustration everyone is experiencing. Processing a recharter is time consuming, and to run into roadblocks that are out of your control is simply intolerable.

We’re keeping in touch with National and we’re following the threads of posts in the Registrars group on Workplace about rechartering issues with prepaid members. The portal is marking all members added after October 1, 2021, as being prepaid for next year, whether they registered online or were manually entered (Scout Service Center staff).

By now you’re probably aware that if a new youth or adult registers using the online registration portal at www.BeAScout.org after October 1, 2021, they are charged the prorated balance of 2021 and all of 2022. They’ll show up on your recharter roster as prepaid for 2022 and are automatically renewed. This is a great option and worked well last year in saving those members registering late in the year from being missed on the recharter.

The current obstacle we’re facing is even members being registered manually are showing up on your recharter as being prepaid, resulting in your recharter calculation being incorrect and your payment being short.

National is working on a fix (no timeline yet) but has offered a temporary workaround.

On your recharter roster, if you see a red box with the words ‘Added Member’ next to the member’s name, that’s showing you a member that was entered manually. The fee sheet at the end of the recharter will not include this person as needing payment, but you must.

We will have to review every charter manually before it can be posted. If the payment is short, we cannot post your charter.

We are giving district executives a physical recharter roster. If you prefer to do this manually, you can reach out to them for a copy of that roster.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Below are questions and answers related to rechartering:

Q – Error message regarding Council ACH payments not established are showing up on Commissioner Recharter dashboard.

A – This issue is encountered when the council has not yet set up its ACH. ACH enables the council to receive funds from National.

Q – Not able to upload zip and other conventional files.

A – Zip files are allowed when the “upload documents” button is clicked. Zip files are NOT allowed when adding a new paper application. An earlier issue with uploading zip files was due to a file size limitation. That has since been resolved.

Q – Not able to change volunteers listed as multiple or revise their payment details from one unit to another.

A – This issue has been resolved.  A Key 3 can select a multiple, click “manage members” then “unmark as multiple.”

Q – A miscellaneous extra fee is charged for each of our volunteers.

A – If a council adds an additional fee for its units/volunteers that is not divisible by 12, the system prorates all fees on a monthly basis and the result is a rounding adjustment that occurs in the yearly charge.

Q – Need a dropdown menu to be able to change/add a new Institutional Head/Executive Officer (IH/EO).

A – The EO/IH position has been added to the New Member drop down menu.  This position is a noted as a no-fee position.

Q – I added a new Executive Officer (no-fee position), but I am still noticing a fee charged.

A – This issue is still being addressed. If your unit is having this problem, please have the council registrar submit a ticket to manually address this incorrect charge.

Q – How does a Scout add Scout Life if he or she registered online, did not select the feature, and wants to now receive the publication?

A – Request the council registrar to update the records and manually pay the difference

Q – What is the proper way for a youth to register as a multiple, e.g., a current Scouts BSA member and registering in a Venture crew?

A – To register a youth in both programs, one program would need to be his or her primary registration and should collect the registration fee. The other program would then go to “Add new member” > “Existing Member” and enter the Scout’s information. This will mark the youth as a multiple in that program.

Q – What is the process to address new applications missing signatures?

A – This is an example of a typical deficiency and requires follow-up between the unit and council registrar.

Q – What is the process to register two youth with the same adult partner if one is a Lion and another a Tiger?

A – The unit should have the ability to assign the parent to more than one youth that is a Tiger or Lion when submitting their renewal. Parents of twins is another such example.

Q – How can a currently registered paid adult change his or her position?

A – The unit COR can change the position of the adult leader, or the unit can submit an application to the council registrar to make the change.

Q – In some situations, CBC authorization forms are showing as incomplete when the charter is submitted even though it showed green during the working stage

A – This issue has been resolved.

Q – I have a person in my unit with a red “X” under CBC, but they’ve had their CBC completed. What does this mean?

A – The column “CBC” is referring to the status of if a current Criminal Background Check Authorization is on file. If an X is displayed, our systems do not detect a current authorization for that member. Please upload a completed CBC authorization for that member. To reduce confusion, we will be releasing an update to that column – renaming it to CBC Auth, and providing an information snippet (tool tip) when you hover over that column.

Q – After the ‘Submission Complete’ email is received, a statement shows that your payment was received, but the unit had selected to ‘pay council directly.’  This is a misleading response.

A – An update to the email has been made.

Q – Some Exploring units (reported in NCAC), when loading their charter information, only adult data appears and no youth (Posts 91, 1658, 153 and 742).

A – This issue has been resolved.

Q – Other Exploring units in NCAC (Clubs 1935 & 7600 and Posts 301 & 555) do not see their units listed at all when logging into Internet Advancement.

A – This issue has been resolved.

Q – How do Exploring units handle exceptions they have regarding no Key 3, who to manage charter approval, only two adults needed for clubs, and CBC exemption?

A – If there are only two adults (leaders) in the club, the two adults should be registering as a multiple in the open positions in the club.  The Advisor (EA) may also register as the Post Committee Member (PMC) and the Post Committee Chair (PCC) may also register as the Post Committee Member (PMC).

 Q – Who approves the charter for Exploring posts and clubs?

A – The renewal approval is sent to the Post Committee Chair and Exploring Advisor.

Q – Unit members do not show on my recharter roster but they show in My.scouting.

A – This issue has been resolved.  This issue was due to a validation problem.

Q – Units are concerned with the ACH payment option and providing password details that seem too personal. Can additional instructions and information be made available to explain that providing such personal information is only for initial access, is not viewable or saved by the BSA, and is similar protocol as for other similar direct withdrawal systems?

A – An alternative is to do use the microdeposit method. Instructions will be developed shortly for details of how to handle. (NOTE: The credentials being entered are immediately tokenized and not visible to anyone. The tokens are temporarily issued for the single transaction being made and cannot/are not saved by any entity. The modal being interacted with for entering these credentials is secured and outside of BSA’s experience. WePay, the payment processor, is the entity with whom the transaction is occurring with. BSA simply receives a confirmation or failure status for the transaction.)

Instructions for alternative use of ACH – microdeposits. If the unit chooses not to select their bank and enter their credentials, a microdeposit alternative is available. To begin, click the tiny link at the bottom of the modal that appears and asks you to select your bank. Once clicked, the bank routing and account number will need to be entered. Following this step, a series of microdeposits will be made to the account entered. An email will be sent from WePay to the email entered as the payor information. This email will ask the user to click to a form where they will need to confirm the microdeposit amounts. Once confirmed, the microdeposits will be reverted and the transaction amount – the full recharter amount – will be immediately withdrawn.

Q – My bank denied the charges for my recharter and now my recharter is locked.  How do I resolve?

A – This issue is now resolved.  If you bank has denied your payment, an email will be sent to the person who submitted payment alerting them.  The unit should request the council to return the charter, which can now be reopened and payment can be resubmitted.

Q – Some units get a message that the system is down.

A – This was an intermittent issue due to some unit members having multiple roles that could deny their access. That issue is now resolved.

It can also be related to units that have a charter expiration date sooner than December 31, 2021, and trying to use the new IR 2.0 system to renew their charters. If a unit’s charter expires earlier than December 31, they need to use the current Internet Recharter system.

One additional explanation is that is that if a non-Key 3 unit adult is trying to access the IR 2.0 system and is not a Key 3 designate, they will not have access to the system. Only unit Key 3 members and their designates have access for charter renewal.

Q – Why does the approval email that is sent to each Key 3 member imply that any Key 3 person can approve the charter?

A – The COR is the preferred approver of the charter.  However, if there is an issue or the COR prefers, any member of the Key 3, or their designate, is authorized to approve the charter.

Q – The email to my COR was never sent and now my recharter is locked.  How do I resend the email?

A – If your email was not sent, you can return the recharter page and a button will become visible.  This button will regenerate the email without reopening the recharter.

Q – Prior to printing a charter, all renewed and dropped members are grouped together and not viewable in their separate categories prior to submittal.

A – This issue is being addressed and an answer will be available shortly.

Q – Scout Life is not able to be changed on the charter, either to add or delete.

A – Multiples will not be able to toggle on/off since there is no registration fee associated with a multiple.

Q – Users are encountering a “Whoops!  We are unable to generate your charter.  No payment was taken, Please try again.” error message.

A – This is now resolved.

Q – My Exploring club is unable to access its charter information.

A – This issue is being addressed and a fix will be available shortly

Q – How do I move a participant to an adult?

A – This issue is being addressed and a fix will be available shortly.

Q – When I print my recharter roster it does not reflect all the changes made.

A – This issue is being addressed and a fix will be available shortly.

Q – I transferred a Scout from my pack to my troop but there are no registration fees showing.

A – This issue is being addressed and a fix will be available shortly.