Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays, and looks forward to 2012 as much as I do. As most of you know, your board of officers has been planning a lot of projects to complete in the New Year. With the approval of the general membership, the projects have been given the green light; now it’s time to get them completed!

The first project that will occur will be the installation of a new security system in the lodge. While this may not have a direct impact to our members, it is a needed project that must be completed to secure our lodge’s assets. The planning and purchase did take some time, but that time was used to get multiple quotes and have an independent security expert review them. I would like to thank our Administrator, Mark Smith, for taking the time to show the bidding companies what we need. In addition, our Trustee Bill Stollhans was instrumental in completing the bid review process. With his expertise and his connections with other security experts, I am confident that our lodge has purchased the best security system money can buy. Your board of officers anticipates this project to be completed in early January 2012.

The second project that will be occurring in early 2012 is the replacement of the bar stools in the social quarters. This may sound like a simple task, but was more difficult than anticipated. We have decided on the model and color of the new stools and they will be delivered and assembled soon at the lodge. If you are in the social quarters anytime soon, ask the server on duty where the sample chair is, and take a test sit. Please understand that your board of officers tried to get as many member’s opinion about the new stools as possible, but we can’t please every member 100%. We decided on a chair that will seat you as comfortable as possible while maximizing precious bar space. I anticipate these new stools will serve us well and will be around for several years.

We have several other projects that need to be completed and are in the works. These projects include the installation of a donated computer in the lodge for members use, getting the Queen of Hearts game up and running, removal of the temporary walls in the main hall for more storage space, and looking into installing a new wet bar in the main hall. Thank you for your patience while we continue to work on these. I only mention these items to let the members that brought these great ideas at the general membership meeting know that they have not been forgotten, and are on the slate to be completed. With everyone’s busy schedules, we can only do so much with the time we have and must prioritize what needs to be done.

Finally, I would like to congratulate our entire lodge for obtaining a "superior" rating on community service for the third quarter of this fiscal year. I am glad that Moose International has recognized the Centreville Lodge for its hard work donating time and lodge funds to worthy charities. Our Community Service Chairman Mike Cogburn has been incredible at finding great charities in Fairfax City/County that can use our help. I believe that if we continue the hard work, we’ll reach many more superior ratings and will achieve a Lodge merit award.

Please have a safe, productive, and happy 2012!