Sunday With The Secretary 2022 #27

[Daniel Giacomelli]

Good Morning Brethren and a Happy 4th to you all-

I will be sending an email to the Brethren registered for Top Golf this Thursday at 7pm at their new facility off Byberry Rd. There has been some additional interest so I am trying to secure a 3rd bay. I’ll keep you posted.

Just a reminder that we will be having an Extra Meeting on 7/13 at 7:30pm at the Masonic Temple on Broad St. in Oriental Hall. Dinner will be served at 6p at Maggianos. We will be conferring the EA Degree on Dominic Arp, Paul Mogianesi and Ian Grau. Please join us if you can.

This past week we had our 2nd Merger meeting with full committees from both St. Alban and Equity Lodges. Our DDGM, Sam Freeman was in attendance to answer any questions we had. The meeting was extremely productive and it appears we have nailed down all of the necessary topics moving forward. Some of the details of the discussion included-

• St. Alban will retain our name and number. Our Lodge Notice cover sheet will be redesigned adding Equity’s logo in the appropriate place.
• St. Alban will retain all Elected Officers including the incoming J.W., however Equity will bring several interested members seeking to learn ritual to advance in Appointed Officer chairs. The existing Equity Secretary, Br. Andrew Shure will serve as Asst. Secretary for at least the first year or two and is fully capable of succeeding me as Secretary when the time comes and we already have a succession plan with an interested Brother becoming Secretary after that. Honestly, what Lodge has a Secretary and 2 in the bullpen!!!
• We will be merging Trustees with Br. Ed Cole, P.M. giving direction in this area.
• Equity’s funds will be merged into our existing investments, nearly doubling them. We will also continue with our current bank for operating checking accounts
• Equity is bringing a little over 300 members with an active base in the 40+ range. They also have several candidates in the making in addition to the 8 we are working through the Degrees.
• We will keep the same meeting night and time as Equity also meets on 2nd Wednesday right down the hall from us.
Your committee feels this is a great merger for both Lodges. Equity brings a level of enthusiasm equal to our own which in the end is going to result in a thriving, energetic, financially stable Lodge with a very bright future as we move into our 150th anniversary year, hosting the Gathering of World Lodges named St. Alban and hosting the RWGM also in 2024. Very exciting!

All this is contingent on a favorable vote from the Lodge. Equity has already voted in favor. We will place the Notice of Intent to Merge in the September Lodge Notice and will conduct a formal vote to merge at our October Stated Meeting. Pending Grand Lodge approval, it should be a done deal at the Annual Communication in December and we will begin our new journey together come December 27th. Please contact the WM or me if you have any questions regarding this.

Enjoy the rest of your Holiday weekend and please stay safe. See you all soon..

Frats- Jim

—
James T. Clancy, P.M., Secretary
St. Alban Lodge No. 529

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