| May 1, 2022 -- It’s springtime… finally! I know
some of our Secretaries have the urge to do some “Spring Cleaning” but we do have to make sure we are following proper procedure. Maintaining an accurate membership list and getting all of our members to pay their dues is a daunting task. It’s no different at the State Grange where we have a number of Granges that fall behind on their quarterly reports.
In the past, the knowledge of procedures and practices for working as a Grange Secretary had been handed down from one secretary to the next. Unfortunately I am finding that inaccurate information has fi down through the generations creating a lot of confusion and problems to correct today.
In an effort to get all Grange Secretaries on the same page, I am scheduling a Secretary’s School of Instruction to be held on Sunday, June 5 beginning at 7:00 P.M. on Zoom. This meeting will be open to all but I strongly encourage every Grange Secretary (Pomona & Community) to attend this meeting. If the Secretary cannot attend, I would also strongly encourage a representative of that Grange to attend in their place.
We will review the classes of membership, the quarterly report form, tax filing, Grange record keeping procedures, use of the Digest and State By-Laws, and much, much more. We will also answer any and all questions members may have.
If there is one term I wish I could eliminate from the Grange vocabulary it’s the word “drop.” I have heard this term thrown around by Grangers for as long as I have been a member. When used in a sentence, it usually sounds something like “We dropped (insert name) from our Grange” or “(Insert name) was dropped for non-payment of dues.” There is no (legal) procedure for dropping a member from the Grange. A member can be suspended for non-payment and in extreme cases a member can be removed from membership but that usually is the result of a Grange trial.
The procedure for suspending a member requires proper notice (at least two notices with one being in writing). Once proper notice has been given, the Grange may
then vote to suspend. Once the suspension has been approved by the membership, the Secretary must send a Notice of Suspension to the member. The member then has up to one year to apply for re- instatement. If this is done during the one year, the member will retain their continuous membership.
It is commonly misunderstood that a member who is suspended loses membership in the State and National Granges. This is also untrue. They retain their membership in State and National but are unable to participate in the respective degrees.
All of this information is readily available in the State Grange By- Laws and/or the National Grange Digest. All Granges have been sent at least one copy of both volumes. Please keep them available to your Grange whenever a question may arise and I strongly encourage as many members as possible to become familiar with both volumes. Many difficulties can be avoided by consulting the Digest and By-Laws. Copies of the State By-Laws and the National Digest may be ordered from the State Grange Office. The National Digest is also available for download from their website: www. NationalGrange.org. It does require registration with a username and password, but well worth the effort. Until next time… don’t forget to mark your calendars for June 5 on Zoom. The Zoom information will be provided to all Secretaries and is also printed in this issue. An electronic copy with the hyperlinks may be obtained by emailing me at:
Secretary@CTStateGrange.org |
