Listed below you will find the changes to our lodge’s By-Laws as they have been suggested by the Lodge Executive Board. These changes are things we have discovered that we believe will make our lodge run better and follow the national standards set by the Order of the Arrow. The youth of the lodge will conduct a vote on these changes at our Annual Banquet. Youth and Adults should look over the changes and consider their impact, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact one of the lodge officers, their contact information can be found on the lodge website. Youth will be asked to vote on these changes and adults are asked to review and advise the youth accordingly.

Please review these and be ready to vote on them at the Annual Banquet. To see a more complete text of the by-laws that are being affected please view the current bylaws online.

1. Remove “459” from the first line of the bylaws. The National OA committee recognizes us as, Catawba Lodge chartered to Mecklenburg County Council 415, and so they have made the lodge numbering system null and void.
2. Remove “making a set” from article III section D. The memorabilia of the lodge is usually not made in the interest of making a “set” and so this would clarify and remove confusion.
3. Change all listing of nationally produced materials to there current publication names. Some of the materials we use such as “The guide to Inductions” have changed names and so this change would allow us to use the current printing of those materials as suggested by national.
4. Remove number 3 from article IV section D which states “A Catawba Lodge Brotherhood Pocket Flap”.
5. In article IV section F remove “the lodge adviser appoints an adult adviser in consultation with the lodge chief and staff adviser” and “members should be vigil honor members: however, any member of the lodge may be selected to serve on the committee . This committee should be composed of 5 to 10 members” and replace with “shall consist both of youth Vigil Honor members and youth member of the lodge ineligible for receiving the Vigil Honor in the current year, under the supervision of the Vigil Adviser”. Also in the same section replace “The vigil Honor nomination selection shall take place during Spring Fellowship” and “the scout office by the march LEB meeting” and replace with “the vigil adviser or submitted online by the time of the spring fellowship” This would make our vigil honor selection run more smoothly and fallow the national guidelines better.
6. Remove “a welcome letter from the chief” and “a current schedule of activities from Article IV section G. We send these new members a copy of the planbook and the legend which include a welcome letter and a schedule of activities. So this would simply save us time paper and money.
7. Remove “member of the lodge” and replace with “lodge member in good standing that meets the age criterion” from Article V section B. This ensures that no one can run for lodge office unless they are to be under 21 under their entire term.
8. Remove “elected” from Article V section B. This is merely a grammar problem and makes the document easier to read.
9. Change “should, for any reason, the lodge chief not be able to fulfill his entire term of office or obligations” to “should, for any reason, the Lodge Chief not be able to serve his entire term of office or fulfill his obligations”. This clarifies the removal process of the lodge chief.
10. Add section B under article VI and have it read “The Lodge Executive Board (LEB) will consist of the Lodge Executive Committee, Lodge Committee Chairmen, past Lodge Chief, Lodge Adviser, Lodge Associate Advisers, Chapter Advisers, Chapter Associate Advisers, Committee Advisers and Staff Adviser.” This change describes the LEB and clarifies who is on the board.
11. Remove “The duties and assignments of the lodge and chapter officers and committee chairmen are determined by the LEB” under article VI section E. All of this is outlined in addendum #1 and so it is not necessary for the LEB to determine.
12. Change “Two (2)” to “Three (3)” and remove “have a display at the scout show” under article VI section H. This describes how many ordeals we have a year, as most of you know in the past couple of years we have begun to hold three ordeals a year as apposed to two. And removes our requirement to present a lodge display at the annual scout show, because the scout show no longer exists.
13. Under article VII section C remove “the Procedure for adjusting membership annual fees is as follows: recommendation by the Lodge Financial Committee and approval by the LEB.” And replace it with “Annual membership fees may only be adjusted after recommendation by the Lodge Finance Committee and approval by the LEB.” This simplifies the wording makes it easier to read.
14. Under article VII section D Capitalize ”no” and remove “life member fees” also replace “from Life Members currently in good standing with the Lodge” to “for Life Membership or for any related specialty item” also change “pocket flaps” to “patches” and add “scouters” to include adults. And finally, remove “the procedure for adjusting new Life Member fees is as follows: recommendation by the Lodge Financial Committee and approval by the LEB”. This just clarifies how the money from the life members is used. And allows us to us any patch as a life member patch as apposed to only a pocket flap.
15. Under Article VIII section A remove “several awards” and add “the following awards”. This is cleaning up the grammar and flow of the article.
16. Under Article VIII section A number 1, remove “awards may be presented” and change “September” to “October” also change “Vote” to “select” in two spots. Also change “the scout office” to “the Lodge Adviser or his designee” This adjusts the process for OA Crenshaw selection to what we have discovered works better for the lodge.
17. Under Article VIII section A number 2, remove “Catawba Lodge petitions to the national committee to present up to two awards annually” and change “scout office” to “lodge adviser or his designee”. This would allow us to potentially give more than two founders awards each year and changes part of the process to follow what we have found works best for our lodge.
18. Under Article IX section A remove “general assembly” and replace with “lodge”.
19. Under Article X section C change “The supreme Chief of the Fire is the local person who has final say in all lodge matters” to “The Supreme Chief of the Fire is the local person who has final authority in any and all lodge matters” This clarifies the article and defines it more.
    

Respectfully submitted for approval,

Sean Smith
On behalf of the Lodge Executive Board

Revised: November 22, 2004