wwinger
Registered User
Like the Lodge mentioned in another thread, our stated meeting is specified in our by-laws as being the fourth Thursday of the month. That always means Thanksgiving and this year it also means Christmas eve.
Our by-laws do not currently provide for alternate days in case of holidays.
We do plan to change the by-laws after the first of the year to keep this from happening in the future. However, we have had to deal with it this year.
We did hold a meeting on Thanksgiving night, (nine attended), primarily because we had a petition that needed to be balloted upon. However, no-one that I know of really wants to meet on Christmas Eve.
Another member of our Lodge and I called the Grand Lodge of Texas and asked about changing the meeting date for December. We were put through to the Grand Secretary's office and talked to an employee there.
She told us that we could not change the date of a stated meeting except through a properly made by-law change. She did say however that we could simply "go darK" and could do that three times a year.
Three questions:
1) The other Brother, a Past Master and recently a District Deputy Grand Master, contends that article 221, paragraph 2C, gives us the right to change the date when convenient. The Grand Secretary's office said that would require a by-law change. Who's right?
2) We don't have any business that needs to be done before the January stated meeting so the "go dark" admonition from the Grand Secretary's office is probably our best. But where did she get this? I can't find anything that gives us the specific right to "go dark" and where does she come up with the thing about three times a year?
3) Assuming that we do "go dark", what notification has to be given to the members, Grand Lodge and/or others.?
Our by-laws do not currently provide for alternate days in case of holidays.
We do plan to change the by-laws after the first of the year to keep this from happening in the future. However, we have had to deal with it this year.
We did hold a meeting on Thanksgiving night, (nine attended), primarily because we had a petition that needed to be balloted upon. However, no-one that I know of really wants to meet on Christmas Eve.
Another member of our Lodge and I called the Grand Lodge of Texas and asked about changing the meeting date for December. We were put through to the Grand Secretary's office and talked to an employee there.
She told us that we could not change the date of a stated meeting except through a properly made by-law change. She did say however that we could simply "go darK" and could do that three times a year.
Three questions:
1) The other Brother, a Past Master and recently a District Deputy Grand Master, contends that article 221, paragraph 2C, gives us the right to change the date when convenient. The Grand Secretary's office said that would require a by-law change. Who's right?
2) We don't have any business that needs to be done before the January stated meeting so the "go dark" admonition from the Grand Secretary's office is probably our best. But where did she get this? I can't find anything that gives us the specific right to "go dark" and where does she come up with the thing about three times a year?
3) Assuming that we do "go dark", what notification has to be given to the members, Grand Lodge and/or others.?