Dear Residents of Westchester County,

It is with shock and regret that we, the Bronxville Scout Cabin Committee (BSC), find ourselves in need of writing this letter. Recent events by the County of Westchester have necessitated us to defend our stewardship of the Bronxville Scout Cabin against appalling implications of exclusionary practices, charity fraud, unlawful profiteering and particularly, the erroneous claim that we are not associated with the Scouts. This letter will serve to correct errors on what the County has stated in written documents, CE video, and Legislative Committee meetings.

Please find below a point by point rebuttal to the many faulty assertions claimed by the County that are currently circulating.

Westchester County Assertion:
The BSC does not own the Bronxville Scout Cabin or the land and has no documentation to prove they do.

Our Response:
Early 1900s, Frank Chambers, a charitable resident of Bronxville donated his land to the Bronx Parkway Commission with a requirement of allowing the building a cabin for the scouts. Scout Cabin was subsequently built through monies raised by the community – not the County. This was one of several cabins built along the Parkway.

In 1938 when the cabin burned to the ground, citizens rallied and had it rebuilt. After another damaging fire in 1988, the cabin was rebuilt yet again by citizens using their own donations. To our knowledge, in the 100+ years of stewardship, no County funds were ever used in the building or maintenance of the Bronxville Scout Cabin. This includes upkeep, insurance, heating costs, etc.

As argued in the present ligation neither side has provided a deed to prove ownership of the Cabin and the land beneath it, Westchester County has not produced proof that they own the cabin either. There is the public record however, of newspaper articles and documents that span the cabin’s 100+ year history that without a doubt show the Bronxville Scout Committee as owning the Scout Cabin. True, there have been successive committees/organizations that have taken over stewardship of the cabin. However, all have been affiliated with the scouts with the sole purpose of providing a venue for the scouts. In 1982 for example, the BSC was granted not-for-profit status with the express purpose of maintaining the cabin. We, the BSC, are the successor organization to the various groups who have maintained it since it was first built. We have this documentation along with IRS approval.

Westchester County Assertion:
The BSC is a profit-making entity that has approximately $600K of assets potentially accumulated from rents and rental fees.

Our Response:
The BSC is an IRS approved non-profit. The sole purpose of the BSC is to maintain the cabin in support of scouting. The $600K referred to by the County Attorney and the County Executive is an endowment which was created due to generous donors who left bequests and from annual fund raising drives raised from the community – not the County. The endowment was created to provide a cushion for major capital expenditures. The BSC runs the cabin as close to a break even capacity as possible. No one on BSC is collecting salary or any compensation. They are volunteers. The money the cabin generates from renting to the public for events and the per scout yearly membership fee all goes to cover heating, maintenance, insurance, etc. To reiterate, Westchester County has never contributed to the Scout Cabin.

Westchester County Assertion:
There is an illegal residence with a caretaker living on the property for an unknown amount of time; that there is no Certificate of Occupancy (CO) and that the BSC might be charging the caretaker family $2,700 a month.

Our Response:
A care-taker has been living on the property since around 1935 after the cabin first burned down. This is readily evident in several news articles. In 1988 after the second fire, it was reported that the caretaker and family escaped safely. After repairs were made to the cabin, a CO was obtained. The building inspector signed off on the building. As for the rental income from the caretaker, there is no rent collected. The caretaker lives in the residence rent-free and is responsible for overseeing the security and cleaning of the cabin.

Westchester County Assertion:
The BSC is not transparent with their books and are potentially running an illegal not-for-profit.

Our Response:
We are an IRS recognized non-profit formed in 1982. We filed and continue to file all necessary forms each year. These filings are available online. In our opinion we are exempt from certain NY State filings because our donations do not exceed $25K annually.

Westchester County Assertion:
The BSC is not officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America or Troop or Packs (as stated by the County Executive and by the county attorney and Nancy Barr at the Board of Legislators Parks Commission meeting).

Our Response:
All real estate like cabins and camps are owned by the local councils, not Boy Scout of America. In 1982, the Westchester Council was going to abandon the cabin due to the inability to pay for the upkeep. This is when the BSC moved to create a legal entity and framework to transfer ownership and maintain the cabin for scouting. This was done by current and former scout leaders. This is a red herring indeed. Are the people on the BSC board associated with BSA and the local council? Yes. Are the board members associated with Troops and Packs? Yes. Below you’ll find the current BSC’s resumes referring to scouts. The BSC also acts as the sponsoring organization for the Troops and Packs. Every unit has to have a sponsor to be affiliated with BSA. There was discussion in the Board of Legislators Parks Committee meeting about claiming the endowment for the County. To reiterate, the endowment was not generated by so-called rental profits; the endowment is a result of privately raised monies and monies that have been bequeathed. Everyone on the BSC is a Scouter.

Westchester County Assertion:
The BSC is not transparent about fees and charges.

Our Response:
Our website is very clear about how to go about renting for events along with fees and our rental agreement.

Westchester County Assertion:
The cabin is potentially dangerous with electrical and/or fire safety issues and with possible sewage leaks into the Bronx River.

Our Response:
We have a CO from the City of Yonkers. We have regular inspections by the Yonkers Fire Department and are up to date. Our maintenance chair and Troop 1 leader is a professional firefighter. Our cabin is connected to the sewer system. It’s also interesting to note that we regularly have Legislators attend our Court of Honor where scouts are awarded their advancements. We would assume if they saw dangerous conditions they would say something. We are fully insured through our own policy as well as BSA..

Westchester County Assertion:
The County has plans to improve the facility and make it more open to scouting. They offered a lease option and tried to be friendly.

Our Response:
The County requested that BSC sign a revocable license agreement. BSC declined to sign a license agreement for three (3) reasons:

1. the license agreement may be unilaterally revoked upon thirty (30) days notice
2. the term of the license agreement is for only five (5) years with the possibility of only two (2) renewals for a total of fifteen (15) years, similar to a vendor at a County Golf Course
3. the execution of a license agreement would imply that BSC’s ownership interest is subservient to the County’s interest in the property.

BSC has been an excellent steward of the cabin and surrounding property, and intend to continue such stewardship until Scouting is no longer of interest to the community. Further, prior to the litigation there was never any mention of improvements or a plan to improve the facilities by the County. On September 20, 2022, the County served BSC with thirty (30) days notice of ejection and directed that we vacate the Scout Cabin and surrounding property.

Westchester County Assertion:
The County Executive has stated, “This is run by the few for the benefit of the few.”

Our Response:
We have 3 Troops and 2 Packs, currently over 300 kids. The kids participating come from Bronxville, Mt. Vernon, Yonkers, Bronx, Crestwood, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Hartsdale, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and New Rochelle. We rent out to families from around Westchester for private parties.

We look forward to working with the County on resolving this unfortunate situation, but we must remain steadfast in our commitment to Scouting and our beloved Cabin.

Just to reiterate the history of Scouting among the BSC, the current members are:

• Howard Rakov – Member of Troop 4 Troop Committee from 1962 – 1965, 57 years as Scoutmaster of Troop 4, Charter member of BSC, Member of prior un-incorporated Cabin committee since 1966, lived in Yonkers since 1946.
• Howard Sklar – Den leader Pack 32 Yonkers 4 years, Committee Chairman Pack 32 Yonkers 3+ years, Assistant Cubmaster 3 years, Troop 2 Bronxville Assistant Scoutmaster 3+ years, Scoutmaster 10+ years, BSC Cabin member 30 years, BSC Treasurer 10+ years, lived in Yonkers since 1984.
• Joe Stineman – Currently President Emeritus of BSC after 32 years as President. Current executive chairman of Pack 353 and committee member of Pack 5. Prior Cubmaster of Pack 5, Scoutmaster of Troop 2 and on the executive committee of the Westchester-Putnam Council, lived in Bronxville since 1978.
• Martin Rego – Currently Secretary of the Bronxville Scout Committee, he has served the Boy Scouts of America as an Assistant Cubmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster since 1995, lived in Mt. Vernon for almost his entire life.

Respectfully,
The BSC
Howard, Howard, Joe, and Marty