Tidewater Council offers counter proposal to CVC-HOVC merger

As mentioned in a prior post here, Colonial Virginia Council of Newport News and Heart of Virginia Council based in Richmond announced on November 14 a proposed merger to be submitted to the National Scout Office by the end of December, and after approval to be completed by July/August of 2026.
 
On November 18 Tidewater Council issued a response in their “Electronic Knapsack” newsletter stating that “If Colonial Virginia Council seeks consolidation, Tidewater Council is the stronger and more logical partner.”
 
The newsletter article links to a summary document that includes a feature comparison table between Tidewater and Heart of Virginia Council, as well as what Tidewater Council terms “Six Fundamental Truths.” These sentiments have been communicated by Tidewater Council President John Scheib to Colonial Virginia Council President Will Sampson inviting further discussions about consolidation.
 
The summary document states “there is limited if any benefit for CVC’s Scouts and
Scouters (although there may be benefits for its Scout Executive) through a CVC-HOVC merger.” This appears to be in reference to the part of the merger announcement that states:
 

When the proposed merger becomes effective, Mr. Clinton Hammett, current Scout Executive of the Colonial Virginia Council, would become the Scout Executive of the newly merged Council. This transition coincides with the planned retirement of Mr. George McGovern, current Scout Executive of the Heart of Virginia Council.

 
So far the joint announcement by Colonial Virginia Council and Heart of Virginia Council of the proposed merger and counter proposal by Tidewater Council have not reached mainstream media, but comments can be found on Reddit and Facebook forums.
 
As news develops I will attempt to document it here. If you have information to help me better understand the circumstances and proposals, I encourage you to share it with me via email.

 
UPDATE 11/21/25 – Well it didn’t take long for CVC to respond to the merger counter-proposal by Tidewater Council. I received the following document via email today signed by CVC President Will Sampson indicating they will consider the offer.  I’ll withhold comments for now except to say that this does not appear to be the quick and simple marriage that CVC and HOVC expected it to be.