Newsletter from the Grand Secretary
Hollis G. Dixon, Grand Secretary
July 2008
Summer Arrives: It seems that summer has finally arrived in Maine and many of our Masonic lodges will be going dark for a couple of months. However, some lodges are starting to consider the high cost of heating their lodges during the winter months and wondering if they would be better off if they met during the summer and went dark during the cold winter months. If you already have air-conditioning in your lodge, that may be a good idea. The requirements for doing so can be found in Section 105 of the Constitution, which reads as follows: “A lodge ought to meet once in each calendar or lunar month but may with propriety stand closed during any three consecutive months once in any fiscal year, provided its bylaws so provide or the lodge so votes.”
Photographs of Grand Lodge Officers: For those of you who might be interested in purchasing a photograph of the Grand Lodge officers that was taken at the close of the 189th Annual Session of the Grand Lodge in Ellsworth, you can view the photos and place an order for what you want to purchase by accessing the following Web:
www.riversidestudio.com Once you have found the Web Site, you should:
- Click on Weddings and Events
- Scroll down to View your wedding
- Scroll down to Grand Lodge The Password is: lodge2008
Prices for photos are: 4X6 $ 10.00; 5X7 $ 15.00;
8X10 $ 25.00; 8X12 $ 28.00 11X14 $ 39.99
The Company that took the photos is as follows:
Riverside Studio Productions & The Maine Location
7 Riverside Lane
Ellsworth, ME 04605
Billy Brehm, Photographer
Telephone: 207-667-7200
Legislation passed at the 189th Annual session:
Please be advised that my June, 2008 Newsletter contained information concerning the change in the Per Capita Tax based on legislation that was passed at the 189th Annual Session of Grand Lodge. It has been noticed that I failed to round the increase to the nearest five cents as called for in Section 91.1. That makes a difference in the final figure of two cents. The following paragraph contains the corrected information:
The Per Capita Tax was increased by ten percent (10%) from $ 9.65 to $ 10.60; the Maine Mason Magazine assessment remains at $ 3.00; and the Insurance Cost has gone down from 78¢ to 72¢ per member. The total amount due to Grand Lodge for each of your members will be $ 14.32. If you have a plural member that affiliated with your lodge but still pays the Per Capita Tax to his home lodge, which is in this jurisdiction, you will not be required to pay a Per Capita Tax for that member. [Sec. 90.1A] Also included in Section 90.1 is an increase in the assessment for each candidate initiated in the lodge from $ 2.00 to $ 5.00 per candidate.
Membership Audit: Since 1984 the Grand Lodge office staff has mailed each lodge in the state a print out of their membership with instructions to review it, make any corrections that are needed and return it to Grand Lodge. This amounts to a, “Membership Audit,” and is required to be done every four years by Section 84 [third paragraph] of the Constitution.
However, during the past two or three years, we have been conducting workshops for Lodge Secretaries around the state, in order to prepare them to access the Grand Lodge computer via the internet. We now have the majority of them certified to enter and change data pertaining to the members of their lodge on the Grand Lodge server.
Once the Secretary has entered his data on the Grand Lodge computer, one of the ladies on our Staff reviews the entries that have been put in the computer to determine if they have been properly entered. We must remember, however, that she can only assume that the data is properly entered. She has no way of knowing if that Secretary has forgotten to enter a change of address or has neglected to delete the name of a Brother that died or has demitted. For that reason, it is still necessary that the Secretary review and make corrections on his membership printout.
It has come to light that some of those Secretaries have mistakenly thought that they no longer had to comply with the provisions of Section 84 because they are now entering their membership data directly on the Grand Lodge computer. Please note below the language contained in Section 84. (Paragraph 3)
“Each constituent lodge shall submit once in every four years a complete list of its members to the Grand Secretary, on numbered sheets provided by Grand Lodge, before the first day of February 1984, and each four years thereafter. If such a list is not received by the above dates, a fine of $ 10.00 will be imposed upon that lodge and a fine of $ 1.00 for each day the list is not received following the date of February 1st.”
Fraternally submitted,
Hollis G. Dixon
Grand Secretary
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