Cobb County Masonic Low Twelve Club
Meeting: March 3rd at 11:00AM
Location: Samuel S. Lawrence Lodge No.721 Lodge Dining Hall
Officers Present: Vice President: Worshipful Brother Cabot Rohrer, Secretary/Treasurer: Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz
Members Present: Cabot Rohrer, Dana Schwarz, Richard (Dick) Cunningham, Donald Wilkes, Mike Pappafotis, Bill Stephens, Jim Moore, James Osborne, Lee English, David Green, Doyle Martin, Bill English, Tom Chadwick, Richard Ayers, Skip Grounds
Club Members present were from the following Lodges: Latham No.12, Kennesaw No.33, Meyerhardt No.314, Nelms No.323, Battlehill No.523, and Samuel S. Lawrence No.721
Meeting Minutes
Meeting was Called to Order at 11:02AM by the Vice President Worshipful Brother Cabot Rohrer.
Opening Prayer was conducted by Brother Mike Pappafotis. The Brethren then recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of our Country.
The first order of business was the election of Club Officers.
The following Officers were elected:
President – Worshipful Brother Richard Cunningham
Vice President – Worshipful Brother Cabot Rohrer
Secretary/Treasurer – Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz
Chaplain – Worshipful Brother Doyle Martin
Secretary/Treasurer Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz provided the following information:
Club Membership: 302
269 Members with a Positive Balance in the Club
21 Members with a Negative Balance in the Club
12 Members require some sort of research that Dana Schwarz will research and advise the Club
Secretary/Treasurer Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz stated that he will send out semi-annual statements to ALL Members reporting their current balance in the Club. For those members who are in a Negative Balance, the Secretary/Treasurer Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz will send a statement each quarter to inform the Brother of the amount due to become current in the Club to avoid suspension from the Club.
Secretary/Treasurer Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz reported that he has been paying the death benefit even if a Brother has a negative balance in the fund. Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz has been deducting the shortfall in the amount of the payout.
President Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham made a motion (as per the By-Laws) not to payout the death benefit to a Club member if he is in a negative balance. There was much discussion by the members present on this topic and Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham amended his motion to state that a ‘grace period would be allowed until the next quarterly statement for the Brother to catch up to a positive balance in the Club’ before he would be suspended. The motion was seconded by Worshipful Brother Doyle Martin and passed.
Several members present recommended that a By- Laws Committee be formed to review the current By-Laws and recommend changes in the By-Laws to the members of the Club. Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham appointed Worshipful Brother Bill English (Chairman), Worshipful Brother Don Wilkes and Worshipful Brother Skip Grounds to the By- Laws Committee.
Secretary/Treasurer Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz reported that the Club has in the investment account $80,130.30 and approximately $12,000.00 in the checking account. He further stated that based on the current death payout formula in the by-laws, the Club has in the investment account approximately 50% to meet the by-law requirements of payouts to the number of current members based on their number of years in the Club.
President Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham appointed Worshipful Brother Cabot Rohrer ( Chair), Worshipful Brother Lee English and Worshipful Brother Dana Schwarz to the Finance Committee and requested Worshipful Brother Cabot Rohrer to schedule a meeting with our financial advisor to discuss the investments and to make recommendations of any changes in our investments to the Club.
There was much discussion by the members present about how to increase our membership. President Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham appointed Brother Mike Pappafotis (Chair), Worshipful Brother Doyle Martin and Worshipful Brother Jim Moore to the Membership Committee and requested they prepare recommendations to the Club to increase membership.
President Worshipful Brother Dick Cunningham announced the next meeting of the Club to be held on April 4th 2018 at 7PM at Samuel S. Lawrence Lodge. He requested that each committee chair report on their recommendations to the Club at the next meeting on April 4th, 2018.
The Chaplain, Worshipful Brother Doyle Martin delivered the closing prayer.
The Cobb County Masonic Low Twelve Club Meeting was adjourned at 12:19PM.
Worshipful Brother Cabot M. Rohrer
Cobb County Masonic Low Twelve Club