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At the 148th Annual Communication held in Polson. 2014 Contingency Strategy
MWGM Thom Chisholm presented a Grand Masters for Masonic Home of Montana
Recommendation dealing with the status of Masonic Analysis of Masonic Home Operations
Home.
Board of Trustees
GMR-2014-01 INTRODUCTION
During the history of the Montana Masonic Home
GrandMastersResolutionNo.R-2014-01(Amended): there have been periods when the financial condition
The Grand Lodge A.F.&A.M. of Montana directs the of the Home required the Home to receive support
Board of Trustees of the Masonic Home of Montana from the Masonic Home Foundation in order to meet
to prepare a plan for an exit strategy for the closure its expenses. In the last several years the assets of the
of the Masonic Home within six months and to Masonic Home are declining to the point where it may
include what assets should be sold, or kept, and what no longer be able to provide the financial subsidies that
should be kept, and how to properly shut down the it did in the past. Because the Foundation may not be a
Masonic Home. The incoming Grand Master create viable source for financial assistance in the future to help
a special committee to find a means to utilize the the Home, the Home Board in October, 2013, started to
remaining assets of the Masonic Home, including undertake an analysis of the financial health of the Home
the all the legal entities and funds owned and and to prepare plans for a contingency strategy in the
controlled by the Home, and the proceeds from the event that in the future, the Home was not financially
sale of the Home’s real property, to provide charity stable on its own. Since starting the study, the financial
to our needy brothers and family members in their health of the Home has stabilized and the Home has not
local areas. This committee is directed to report its needed to rely on the Foundation to financially bail it out.
findings and recommendations to the Grand Lodge During the 2014 Grand Lodge Session, the Grand
at the 2015 Annual Communication. This directive Lodge, in amending the Grand Master’s original
is issued under the authority granted to the Grand recommendation that the Home’s operations be
Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Montana in Paragraph 2 of the terminated within 6 months, required the Home Board
Articles of Incorporation of the Masonic Home of to present within six months a strategy for winding
Montana down the operations of the Home if the Home were to
The Grand Master’s recommendation as amended be closed in the future.
and passed: This strategy is the finalization of the analysis
• Directs the Masonic Home Board of commenced by the Home Board in October, 2013, and
the plan required by Grand Lodge in 2014.
Trustees to prepare an Exist Strategy for The Board decided that the strategy contains three
the closure of the Masonic Home within elements: 1) the conditions or circumstances that
six months the Exit Strategy is to include would trigger the execution of a plan to terminate
what assets should be kept or sold and how Home operations; 2) transitioning the residents from
to properly shut down the Masonic Home. the Home to other facilities with the least amount of
• It further directs the incoming Grand Master trauma to them; and 3) maintaining qualified staff
to form a special committee to find a means during the wind down period and to minimize the
to utilize the remaining assets of the Masonic impacts to employees facing being laid off the job. This
Home and the proceeds from the sale of the strategy sets forth a plan for each of these elements
Home’s real property to provide charity to but the Board recognizes that the plan may require
our needy brothers and report to Grand amendment in the future if the assumptions used in
Lodge at the next Annual Communication. plan are superseded by better information in the future.
Immediately following are the two documents EVENTS TRIGGERING EXECUTION OF PLAN
prepared as a result of GMR 2014-01: The following conditions or events would trigger a
1. The 2014 Contingency Strategy for Masonic hard look by the Board in whether or not to commence
Home of Montana, Analysis of Masonic Home execution of the plan for the cessation of operations by
Operations prepared by the Masonic Home Board the Home. The identifiable conditions or events are:
of Trustees. Submitted as the “Exit Strategy”. 1. Catastrophic damage or loss to the Home’s main
2. Masonic Home Of Montana Special Committee facility or necessary supporting infrastructure (water,
Report, with its findings and recommendations. wastewater, heat or power) of a severity that would
require the immediate evacuation of the residents
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