In a review that began in summer 2016, the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland Board of Directors determined the best course of action for stewarding the council's property assets.
"It was decided to leave the five offices in the current locations," Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland CEO Anne Soots said. "The council has the flexibility to manage staffing and hours of operations based on organizational needs."
The decision comes after reviewing items such as expenses and revenue related to the service centers, the need for local staff office space, how membership uses these facilities and community presence.
The five service centers are located in Springfield, Joplin, Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau and Dexter.
"The council service centers are a visible reminder of the Girl Scout presence in the community," Soots said.
Council service centers provide services to membership, provide office space for staff, house the retail shops where members can purchase Girl Scout handbooks, uniforms, badges and gift items and to provide meeting space for trainings and troop meetings.
The futures of Cherokee Ridge Program Center and Latonka Program Center, both located in Wayne County, are still under review.
"The board of directors has the fiduciary responsibility to manage all of the council's assets so that we can deliver the Girl Scout program to all girls across our 68-county jurisdiction. Property is one of those assets," Soots said. "We are working to determine what assets the organization needs in order to deliver an outdoor experience to all girls across our council. The key word in that sentence is needs."
Soots added the board did not set a timeline for this work, but expectation is needs will be determined over the next several months.
During the meeting, it was also determined Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland will retain Friendship Fields Program Center, in Crawford County, Kan., in its current state and establish reporting and usage requirements for Friendship Fields. If established requirements are not met on a consistent basis, the property will be rested.
The Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland will also retain the Suzanne Program Center in Newton County in its current state.
In addition, the board will take the time necessary to determine the property assets the council needs on all other program properties. Those include Finbrooke Program Center in Christian County, Mintahama Program Center in Newton County, Sacajawea Program Center in Pettis County and Silver Meadows Program Center in Boone County.
As with Cherokee Ridge and Latonka, once needs have been determined the board will take the necessary action to retain only the property assets needed to effectively deliver an outdoor experience for all girls.