Lodge Secretary Blog
- Written by Donna Powers
Dear Secretaries,
I hope that this letter finds all of you breathing a little easier in your job. By now you should have yourself in a good working schedule and moving things along smoothly. There will still be some bumps, but the hardest part is now easing up. Dues time is always the busiest! This year is particularly hard with many lodges closed due to COVID 19. Hang in there!
Your District Deputy Council is slated for some time this month. Remember that this is mandatory for you to attend. You get tons of information at these Councils – put that information to good use!
You should also be updating your Charity Book often; list all that you do! You should try to update at least once a month. Look at what your Lodge has been doing – even during the pandemic many of us are continuing our charitable work….Record it!
The Dog Days of Summer are hard for all Lodges – snowbirds have flown north until the Fall, and we are faced with non-renewals of membership. Don’t discount your snowbirds; many of them don’t think about dues until they have come south. Give them a call or drop them a letter.
Your Membership Committee should be concentrating on Lapsation. Hopefully you, as the Secretary, have sent out at least two (2) dues reminders to your delinquent members. Don’t stop there! Have some of your Committee members start calling! Perhaps you have members who have financial difficulties; remember that you are part of the Standing Relief Committee and can help them out. Some members may need transportation to and from meetings and functions. What a great way to get other members involved! Ask them to drive another member to the Lodge!
The Grand Exalted Ruler usually constructs a GER Delinquent Appeal letter that you can send out to your delinquent members. Once Grand Lodge has created it, you will find it in CLMS PC under Mail Merge. It is a very well written, personal letter which describes how their dues are being used and how valuable they are to their lodge. It will automatically print out for your delinquent members. Be on the lookout for it!
Please remember that we DO NOT drop any members for non-payment until mid-March. Give them the opportunity to renew and become active again. If a member tells you that he/she is no longer interested in continuing their membership, go into their record in CLMS and select SEND NO MAIL. This will stop all communication with them and then they can be dropped in March. You never know who will change their minds!
DD visits are probably beginning. Make sure that you have all your Meeting minutes, House minutes, and Board of Directors’ minutes available for inspection. You will be asked to access some manuals via the website – you should have copies of all GL manuals in the office also.
Exhibit B on page 18 in the Secretary’s Manual (attached) will help you to organize your information. Bear in mind that the DD may have questions not necessarily listed on the guideline. Be sure that you know how much your Lodge has donated to ENF and Harry Anna to date…. the DD and/or VP will want this information. The VP will also need to examine your Charity Book….you may want to print out a copy.
You should also be preparing your Lodge Transaction Report, Exhibit M on page 31 of the Secretary’s Manual (attached), per Statute 12.050, for the period ending September 30th. This should be read on the Lodge floor and posted.
Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. If I don’t have the answer, I will get it for you.
Sincerely and fraternally,
Donna Powers
SSE DDGER
(201) 674-4564
Dpow352@gmail.com
- Written by Donna Powers
It is nearly March. By now all of your elections have been held and officers for next year are being put into CLMS.
To those of you who are retiring from office - Thank you so much for all of the hard work done for your Lodge. I know that your members appreciate all of your efforts.
To those of you continuing on in office - Welcome back! Your expertise and dedication to the position is duly noted!
This is a very busy time of the year with dues pouring in (I hope). Be sure to keep up to date with logging those paid in CLMS. I used to keep a paper record also - just as an insurance policy for myself.
March 15th is your clear date to drop delinquents, but please give them at least one more communication to bring them back in...we really don't want to drop anyone if we even have the slightest chance of keeping them on the rolls.
Year End Clean Up Issues:
- Be sure to enter the new ER and Secretary into CLMS
- Enter your Chairman info as soon as possible....you can always add and change
- Be sure that your Charity Book is up to date.....if you are not sure of what to put in, consult your meeting minutes and talk to the ER and committee chairs
- Be sure that your PER list is updated and accurate in CLMS
- Make sure that you have updated and submitted your Lodge information in CLMS
- IMPORTANT! Make sure that your candidates are moved along and dated accordingly in CLMS. I have had a few people ask about this, and have found that some candidates are now new members (have been initiated) but are still listed as candidates!!! Clean it up now! Your records will be off and it will cause much more work to get it corrected later.
One last thing - If you are not returning as secretary, please go into CLMS web and under the Staff tab, assign the newly elected secretary as a CLMS Staffer READ ONLY. This will allow the new secretary access to CLMS to be able to follow along at Officer Training. He/She WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE ANYTHING, so there is no risk to your records. On April 1st they will automatically be in the system as the acting secretary.
I thank you all for working hard this past year, and am looking forward to working with you and new secretaries again next year.
Again, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Donna
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