October Minutes10/27/2024 The Maplewood Grange #662 general Meeting was called to order (downstairs) at 3:45 pm by Master / President, Dan Keeley. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
ROLL CALL (Secretary): Members present: 6 (Mandatory – Quorum “7”) Dan Keeley, JoAnn Keeley, Roberta Elders, Vicki Pounds, Sandy Chew, and Betty Chipps. Visitation: none Members acting Pro-Temp: N/A PROPOSALS for MEMBERSHIP (Dan Keeley) – none MINUTES (Secretary, Betty Chipps): The September 22, 2024 Grange Meeting Minutes were placed on the Grange website, read/summarized by the Secretary, and were available to members and visitors from Clackamas Pomona Grange. COMMUNICATIONS (Betty Chipps, Secretary) 3rd Qtr Report to OSG due 10/31 Fidelity Bond Form & payment due Nov.15. (Confirm who is covered, limits) Audit Committee: notes/recommendations: - : cannot include check signers on committee. - Bank statements to be reconciled monthly by non-signer. Fidelity bond coverage limit of $25,000 - $75 premium same as last year:
COMMITTEE REPORTS HALL REPORT (Dan Keeley) – 7 party rentals scheduled (one gratis). Noted the 7 rentals included: Nov. 2, mini horses; contracts Dec. 7th; one deposit pending for Christmas party contract signed this AM and one other pending signature. Chaps and Zumba still have long term contracts. HALL PROJECTS - in priority order (Dan Keeley) Loose toilet in women’s bathroom - flange may be rusted. Couple of dining room benches getting wobbly Remove old meter base and patch roof Insulate crawl space under bathrooms (1/2 done) Northeast side roof needs additional screws Kitchen counters need refinished Kitchen needs exhaust hood and fan Repainting under eaves of hall Kitchen and dining hall floors need refinished Lawn sprinkler tractor has been repaired and is stored under the stairs with the hoses and weed sprayer. Water leak found in museum around sliding door. Dan wonders if there is a ground squirrel that has chewed through the line or a repair issue with the pipe (possibly has filled with sand). Certainly will need fixed though repair costs unknown - Dan suggests to handle future repair issues, a budget could be established for normal maintenance. Oregon State Grange has asked for a bit of help looking after Fairfield grange hall since its closure. Dan will be looking in on it periodically. Anyone seeing abuse or damage please let Dan know. AGRICULTURE (Dan Keeley) – Harvest is really over! Our nut crop was very good. Industry wide the crop was above average but not a record. Prices are also up a bit, edging into the profitable range. This is important because many other major crops remain unprofitable or barely profitable. Ag industry is also on edge due to tariffs proposed by both major political parties. Republican party proposals are higher and thus more alarming but both sides seem intent on damaging Ag exports. From news reports it appears that insanity will prevail in eliminating glyphosate (roundup) as an herbicide despite the lack of any significant evidence it impacts human health. Multiple studies show no correlation between legal use of roundup or its generics and incidence of any sort of cancer. COMMUNITY SERVICE (JoAnn Keeley) – Bring in winter clothing, blankets for donation to Portland Rescue Mission and Veterans Village - can use toiletries and hygiene items too. EDUCATION (Dan Keeley) – A major push is emerging to require more civics instruction, at least in public schools (i.e. constitution review, legislative and election education). It appears this may be one issue that both sides of the political spectrum can agree on. Devil is in the details of course. Other subjects showing some signs of bipartisan agreement are technical education and college credit classes in high school. Saint Paul School District for example is building a new technical/industrial education building. We will see whether the budget will allow its operation long term. LEGISLATIVE (Dan Keeley) – Small number of measures but important issues on the ballot in November. I will open the floor to any who want to discuss the measures. The following is a repeat from September for those just getting around to investigating the measures. Type Title Description LRCA Measure 115 Allow the Legislature to impeach elected state executives LRCA Measure 116 Establish the Independent Public Service Compensation Commission to determine certain public officials' salaries LRSS Measure 117 Establish ranked-choice voting (RCV) for federal and some state offices in Oregon CISS Measure 118 Require Oregon issue payments to residents from increased corporate taxes. CISS Measure 119 Require cannabis businesses to submit to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission a signed labor peace agreement between the business and a labor organization with its licensure or renewal application I researched a few complaints about my favorite, ranked choice voting (RCV), that have cropped up online. First is why the legislature exempted themselves from the use of RCV in the measure. Turns out the county clerks association requested that less competitive races be exempted. Legislative races are often less competitive and were duly removed from the measure. Idea was to ease into the new system instead of jumping in all at once. Second is the cost of the new system. The states that have implemented RCV have seen up front costs in the one million dollar neighborhood, exclusive of educational and promotional efforts. In Oregon that would amount to around 50 cents per voter. In addition there will be some costs associated with the longer ballots. Estimates I have seen for that are in the 30 cent range. Another is complexity. Counting is indeed more complex, but is handled by computer. Some argue it is less secure due to the need to process statewide votes at one location. Others argue it is more secure due to tighter security at the state level and the difficulty of hacking into a more complex program without leaving evidence. Researching more than one candidate and then deciding who you like for second or third place is also more work, but it is optional. Voters can continue to vote their first choice and have the same input on the election they have always had. Actually filling out the ballot is no more complicated than a multiple choice test back in the school days. I hope most voters can handle that. SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE (JoAnn Keeley) – There were no applicants this year under the Agriculture and/or Forestry programs. More discussion needed on who should receive - we have to talk with Counselors - get them to circulate. In Molalla, if no one applies for the designated Scholarship then the field is open to anyone who requested another scholarship (according to Pam Furlan). Betty volunteered to talk with North Marion counselors. TREASURER’S REPORT (Vicki Pounds) The Treasurer’s Report for the October 2024 Maplewood Grange meeting was emailed 10/24/2024. The opening balance, as of 9/20/2024 was $$13,805.51 and the ending balance on October 24, 2024 was $15,860.93 Report will be ‘filed for Audit.’ UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Dan Keeley) - Troy Bayless will continue his membership in 2025. NEW BUSINESS (Dan Keeley)
Garbage bags 10.99 Light string (upstairs) 10.98 2 light strings (LED) 21.96 Paper products (towels & TP.) 157.77 TOTAL: $205.29 Vicki Pounds moved to pay-the-bills, JoAnn Keeley seconded, - no discussion, motion carries, VSO
MEMBERS SICK OR IN DISTRESS: none reported GOOD OF THE ORDER: The underlying essence of science is questioning. Ask an impertinent question and you are on your way to a pertinent answer. (Jacob Bronowski, Mathematician and philosopher) (member) “Ship-Mates program is a National Grange fundraiser - developed for Grange by Calif. company. see October Bulletin: Denim shirts, T-Shirts & Hoodies S-XL $30/ea. HEIRLOOM PROGRAM (pictured a waving red, white and blue FLAG) WE DESIRE A PROPER EQUALITY and FAIRNESS; PROTECTION FOR THE WEAK; RESTRAINT UPON THE STRONG; IN SHORT, JUSTLY DISTRIBUTED POWER. THESE ARE AMERICAN IDEALS, THE VERY ESSENCE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, AND TO ADVOCATE THE CONTRARY IS UNWORTHY OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF OUR REPUBLIC. (Grange Declaration of Purposes) NEXT MEETING: chose Sunday, DECEMBER 1, 2024 at 3:30 pm (NO November mtg) CLOSING: Meeting adjourned at approx. 4:43 PM.. Respectfully, Betty Chipps, Secretary AuthorBetty Chipps, Secretary. Edited by Dan Keeley Categories |
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