December Minutes12/28/2025 The Maplewood Grange #662 general NOVEMBER/DECEMBER meeting was called to order on December 14, 2025 downstairs at 1:40 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, Vicki Pounds, Mindy Ferris, Betty Chipps.and Sandy Shew. . Visitation: none Guest(s): none : Members acting Pro-Temp: JoAnn Keeley, Overseer; Gatekeeper; Mindy Ferris; Betty Chipps, Chaplain PROPOSALS for MEMBERSHIP (Dan Keeley) – none MINUTES (Secretary, Betty Chipps): The December 2025 meeting minutes were emailed January 24, 2026 for your review. The October meeting minutes were emailed 10/26/25 (await member comment after review). SECRETARY’S REPORT (Betty Chipps): COMMUNICATIONS (Betty Chipps, Secretary) Quick way to find out what is happening at other Granges is go to Oregon State Grange website under Online Calendar and News Events: https://orgrange.org COMMITTEE REPORTS HALL REPORT (Dan Keeley) 2 party rentals scheduled, one is gratis. Chaps and Zumba still have long term contracts. HALL PROJECTS - in priority order (Dan Keeley) Yard light Couple of dining room benches getting wobbly Bathroom exhaust fan Remove old meter base and patch roof Insulate crawl space under bathrooms (1/2 done) Northeast side roof needs additional screws. (NW & SW roofs too) Kitchen counters need refinished Kitchen needs exhaust hood and fan Repainting needed under eves of hall Bathrooms and dance hall benches have been cleaned by Stanley Steemer and look better. Peeling paint and dirty walls and doors not so much. Paint is also failing on NW and SW sides of the hall. Scrape and paint or replace siding? A movie screen on a portable stand is now available. It resides behind the stage. Shelving/clothes hangers behind stage appear to have no further use. Asked Chaps to dispose of and clear the isle - Betty will work on the task. SECRETARY - COMMUNICATIONS (Betty) – To search what is happening at other Granges, the OSG calendar is well populated with dates and events, to go: https://orgrange.org Online Calendar and News. COMMITTEE REPORTS AGRICULTURE (Dan Keeley) – Federal rules regarding wetlands and waters of the state are in the process of being relaxed and maybe discarded altogether. Assuming this goes ahead, a farmer who digs a hole to repair a field drain or plant a tree in wetlands or former wetlands will no longer be breaking the law. Under some current proposals a farmer or developer who turns an intermittent meandering stream into a concrete ditch would also be legal. Major crop prices (corn, wheat, soyabeans etc) have improved a bit with announcement of several trade agreements at the federal level but as yet not enough to be profitable for farmers. Removal of some American tariffs on food products also appear to be poised to reduce upward pressure on grocery prices but at the cost of higher trade deficits. I have not heard anyone talking about needing to hire back some fired ag product inspectors to cover the increased imports. COMMUNITY SERVICE (JoAnn Keeley) – Bring donations for Rescue Mission & Veteran’s Village to meeting. Continue with milk cartons (18 cartons/case) for Backpack Buddy Program through the end of this school year? Yes, milk is greatly appreciated. Who wants to help fill backpacks at the Church? – would be once every 5 weeks DEAF and BLIND (Roberta Elders) – absent EDUCATION (Dan Keeley) – A good article in Jessica Grose’s newsletter, too long to print here about challenges of rural schools in poorer areas and how to improve them. The gist of it is that public schools are sometimes the last institution standing in areas, particularly rural areas, where jobs have vanished due to various reasons such as overseas competition, governmental over regulation, technology changes and etc. Having services such as a school nurse, counselors, coaches, mentors and food available is critical to not lose the kids to drugs and gangs. Paste the address into your browser. The newspaper will require establishing an account but it is no charge. Happy reading. https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters?campaign_id=118&emc=edit_ptg_20251119&instance_id=166698&newsletter_signup=true&nl=jessica-grose&product_code=PTG®i_id=119847366&segment_id=210888&user_id=c47d16d1672befc79bab7560f55067fe LEGISLATIVE (Dan Keeley) – Opponents of the road maintenance funding bill passed during the last short session of the legislature have been successful gathering enough signatures to refer the bill to a vote and thus will at least delay its implementation. Given the multi billion dollar holes already blown in Oregon’s budget outlook due to federal cutbacks and grant cancellations plus the predictions of a decline in economic activity in general, it is going to be difficult bordering on impossible to restore funding for road maintenance (i.e. cannot run snowblows) without this bill or something like it. Opponents of the tax increase point to the cost of several mega projects as wasteful, with some justification, and advocate their cancellation with money reallocated to maintenance. They unfortunately ignore the fact that those projects are largely grant funded, and cancelling them would save Oregon much less than their sticker price, would expose the state to federal claw backs for breaking the terms of the grants and to liability toward contractors if contracts have already been let. Alleged wasteful spending on ODOT overheard is, in my opinion, largely (but not entirely) an attempt by the legislature and governor’s office to deflect responsibility away from themselves. ODOT is mostly composed of engineers and maintenance folk who do what they are told. If legislators change their collective mind multiple times about regulations, priorities or particular projects then money (big money) gets wasted. Boiled down, the people of Oregon need to come to some kind of consensus on what they want and are willing to pay for. POMONA Report (Dan Keeley) – Next meeting Jan. 24, 2026 at Abernethy Grange at 9:30 AM. Main topics will be resolutions for state convention, scholarships and cookie booth fund raiser (it’s a go). Anyone who has attended a 5th degree exemplification is welcome to attend. Password is required. Dan will head the Cooke Booth in 2026 and would appreciate our volunteer support & sign-up. SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE (JoAnn Keeley) – (Add Saint Paul school to eligible list? YES After second year of Scholarship out-reach, Maplewood received only one-applicant. Shall we change the focus from Ag/Forestry to include other programs? Including Trade Schools not just College enrollees was suggested. Shall we keep the single scholarship at $2,000? YES TREASURER’S REPORT (Vicki Pounds) The Treasurer’s Report for December 2025 Maplewood Grange meeting was emailed 12/12/2025. . The opening balance, as of 10/24/2025 was $12,099.10. and the ending balance on December 11, 2025 was $13,433.29. Hearing no comments or corrections, the report shall be filed for audit. UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Dan Keeley) The basement floor still needs touch up paint. The contractor is ignoring me. Shall we buy a quart of the polyurethane floor paint (around $50)? JoAnn will try - perhaps a new voice will get through. OSG Log Cabin committee – meeting needs to be set AND volunteers to help rebuild. NEW BUSINESS (Dan Keeley):
Wrench for septic tank $6.99 Batteries for combination lock $9.54 2 hand soap dispensers $3.98 Backpack Buddies Milk $333.69 (approx. 2-month supply of Milk) Total $744.20 Also our website domain name rental is about to expire. Renewal costs $67.90 All 6-members present were in favor of paying the bills.
MEMBERS SICK OR IN DISTRESS: No report.. GOOD OF THE ORDER: No report HEIRLOOM PROGRAM (picture: Family - sitting comfortably a man, hugging mother and baby) …ESPECIALLY ADORN THE FAMILY CIRCLE WITH THE NOBILE TRAITS OF A KIND DISPOSITION - FILL ITS ATMOSPHERE WITH AFFECTION, AND THUS INDUCE ALL TO LOVE AND NOT TO FEAR YOU; FOR LOVE IS THE ONLY ENDURING POWER. (Grange Heirloom Prayer: Winter Year D.1 - Vice President, Fourth Degree) NEXT MEETING: January 25, 2026 at 3:30 pm at Maplewood Grange. MEETING ADJOURNED at 2:14 pm. Respectfully submitted, Betty Chipps, Secretary Comments are closed.
AuthorBetty Chipps, Secretary. Edited by Dan Keeley Categories |
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