East Oakville Grange

Following years of inactivity, a dwindling membership, and a dilapidated Grange hall that hadn’t been used for a few years could prove to be a major liability for our organization and the communities we serve. Not so for the residents of the tiny town of Oakville, WA. Upon reorganizing East Oakville Grange #902 with 17 new members, the new Grangers went to work on health and safety improvement to their hall. Their efforts to improve their hall have garnered the members of East Oakville Grange the first-place award in the Washington State Grange’s Grange Hall Improvement Contest.

Upon receiving the keys to the Grange Hall, the new Grange members unlocked the doors on January 30, 2019 accompanied by State Grange Master Tom Gwin and National Grange Communications Director Amanda Brozana-Rios. Upon making a list and prioritizing health and safety issues, Grange members found a local funding source to assist in financing the needed hall repairs.

The first step was the reconnection of electrical power and reestablishment of water and septic service to the hall. The first work party was scheduled and advertised throughout the town and on the Grange’s facebook page. A large group of both Grangers and non-Grangers showed up to wash walls, scrub floors, and check water lines.

Over the course of the next few months, Grange members completed several projects:

• Replacement of the hot water heater and reconnecting water to the restrooms

• Grading and smoothening of the parking lot

• Cutting brush that had grown up around the hall

• Cleaning the kitchen, including obtaining a refrigerator and freezer

• Repairing the handicapped access ramp, including replacement of rotten boards and installation of a non-skid flooring

• Repairing the kitchen entrance to the hall, including replacing rotten boards, installation of handrails, and new non-skid flooring

• Repairing and repainting doors and walls of the front porch

• Shoring up the foundation, replacing boards as necessary to level the floor of the hall

• Removal of a non-working boiler and converting the former boiler room into a storage room

• A complete remodel of the women’s restroom, including new fixtures, vanity, tiled floors, painted walls, and installation of a baby changing table

BeeHive Grange

Taking second place in this year’s hall improvement contest was BeeHive Grange #385. Located five miles outside of Wenatchee on the Mission Ridge Highway, Grange members spent hours and hours painting inside of their hall. Before painting could begin, the Grange hired a contractor to repair the ceiling. The ceiling had been damaged several years earlier before the rood was replaced. The ceiling repair improved the acoustics of the meeting room.

The contractor also repaired a hole in the ceiling of the men’s restroom. The hole was caused by a leak from the vent, which then leaked into the crawl space, creating major problems in that area. Upon repair, the ceiling in the restroom was repainted.

Grange members busied themselves by painting the trim in the main hall and a complete painting of the entry hall. They first painted a few different sample colors to determine which color would be best in providing a warm welcome to all who enter. One of the goals of the Grange members was to completely cover the “mint green” paint found in so many of the Grange halls in the area.

Doors throughout the hall were repainted, along with the trim around them. With any improvement project, this included necessary small repairs to the door jams and striker plates. New doorknobs were purchased for all the doors.

The final project for BeeHive Grange was the repairs and repainting of a display cabinet in the main hall. The cabinet was built in a modular format. Upon dismantling and repainting, Grange members made additional shelving for the display area.

Humptulips Grange

Humptulips Grange #730 was awarded third place in this year’s contest. The Grange hall is located in a rural community in Grays Harbor County. Due to finding paraphernalia in their parking lot, Grange members suspected possible drug deals taking place on Grange property. The Grange took swift action to curtail this potential activity be erecting a chain link fence across the front of their parking lot. With swinging gates at each end, the fence also protects the gravel parking lot from other types of damage.

Seeking to improve safety in their parking lot, Humptulips members also installed new motion lights in the parking area and at each entrance into the hall. The lights improved much need visibility for those entering or leaving the hall after dark. To protect their septic drain field, Grange members installed barriers to prevent people from driving from the parking lots onto the septic tank and drain fields.

The final project for Humptulips was the installation of baby changing stations in both the men’s and women’s restroom. This project was a service to the young families who attend Grange and community events at the hall.

The fourth-place award is a tie between Fruitland Grange #999 and Moses Lake Grange #1151.

Fruitland Grange

Fruitland Grange, located on the outskirts of Puyallup in Pierce County, replaced 27 windows in their hall with thermal paned windows.

Fruitland also remodeled the first floor women’s restroom. Working to make the restroom ADA compliant, Grange members enlarged the entry door, tore out the old toilet and sink, and then found an infestation of termites. Upon clearing the infestation, the project was completed with new toilet, changing table, sink, flooring, lights, mirror, and repainting.

The main hall improvements on the second floor completed the work of Fruitland Grange. The walls and ceilings were repainted. The hardwood floor was refinished, repairing the damage caused when a hall renter used bleach on the floor. The refinishing of the floor greatly improved the appearance and rentability of the hall.

Moses Lake Grange

Established in May of 2017, Moses Lake Grange #1151 inherited the old O’Sullivan Grange Hall near the City of Moses Lake in April of 2018. Grange members cleaned up the hall’s exterior yard, grass and shrubbery. Grange members quickly moved to their well house. The birds had built nests in the roof and much of the roofing material had blown off. Grange members designed and constructed a new roof for the well house that can easily be removed, if necessary. Electrical breakers were replaced in the well house and a temperature switch installed to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter.

With a roof on their hall that was not properly attached, Grange members reroofed portions of their roof. Grange members found water damage to the insulation. The spray-in insulation was removed and after the attic was allowed to dry out, a new roll-out insulation was installed. Members then reroofed the hall by realigning the metal sheeting and replacing sheets that were too damaged to reuse.

Repairs to the restrooms completed the projects. Due to water leaks, the flooring needed to be replaced. New floor tiles were glued down. One of the toilets was replaced and soap and paper towel dispensers were installed.

The Grange Hall Improvement Contest is designed to encourage Subordinate Granges to improve and beautify its hall and grounds. Participating Granges submit a narrative report, including a description of the projects completed. Pictures (before, after, and during the projects) are included with the narrative.

Criteria for judging the contest includes:

• Do the completed projects create a positive impact on the appearance of the hall?

• Do the improvements boost the effectiveness of the local Grange?

• Are the improvements relative to the size of the community and the Grange membership?

• Did the Grange state their source of funds and/or how were the projects financed?

The contest is sponsored by the Washington State Grange Cooperative Group. Cash prizes and plaques are awarded to the top four entries. Each Grange that enters the contest also receives a Metal Grange Town Marker Sign.

The 2018-2019 Membership team created an Outreach Activities Year End Report. The new member gains and Grange activities were to be from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. Each Grange was encouraging to submit the Outreach Activities Report which could include photos, news clippings, newsletters, flyers, or any other forms of promotional items. Cash prizes were set in the amounts of $100, $75, $50, and $25 which would be awarded to the top four Subordinate Granges based upon these criteria:

• % of new members gained = 50%

• Grange promotional activities = 10%

• Community Service provided = 10%

• Grange oriented activities = 10%

• Communication with Grange membership = 10%

• Utilization of membership resources = 10%

We had three entries in this contest. Our 1st-3rd winners are:

First Place winning $100 is:

East Oakville Grange #902

Second Place winning $75 is:

Oakview Grange #311

Third Place winning $50 is:

Skookumchuck Grange #584

Congratulations to our winners! And welcome to all the new Grange members! Awards will be presented at the State Convention in October.

By Tom Gwin State Grange Master/President

As I write this column, I reflect on what I should normally be doing this time of year. In a normal year, I would have been fraternizing with many of you at the Annual State Grange Convention. We were all looking forward to our summer return trip to Walla Walla for the first time in over 60 years. We would have just completed all the preparation that goes into a convention. We would be nearly done with our deliberations, thinking on our drive home about the upcoming picnics, fair displays, and summer camps.

Instead, 2020 is the year that has disrupted our normal lives and presented difficulties in our Grange work. This reminds me of the Installation Address for all Grange Masters:

“You may encounter difficulties. Overcome them, remembering that difficulties are but opportunities to test our abilities. As Master of this Grange, your fellow laborers will look to you to devise work. A judicious Master will use due care that no time is lost in useless labor. Let all labor and all time tend toward improvement. Your laborers may not at first comprehend the value of this; but it is your duty to instruct them.”

As your State Grange Master, I am continually looking at ways we can overcome obstacles and move the Grange forward. This pandemic is forcing us to change the way we operate as an organization. In my 2019 Master’s Address at the State Grange Convention, I delivered the following statement:

“The future is before us front and center. We can rest on the laurels of our past and the present, or we can adapt to the challenges of the future. My choice is to accept the challenges one by one, to remove the obstacles, and to build a bright future for our great organization. I invite you to join me as we continue discovering the opportunities that will create an organization that will last for several more generations.”

In accepting the challenges brought forth by COVID-19, we moved our Annual State Grange Convention to late October. The convention will primarily be a business session and will look much different than previous years. We will follow the State Grange Bylaws and complete the items as required. We may need to make further adjustments down the road as we get closer to October.

At the State Grange level, we are looking at what tools we can provide to our Subordinate and Pomona Granges to assist them. The WA State Grange has a free conference call account. If your Grange would like to utilize this service, contact Sophia here in the office. She will schedule your call and provide instructions on using the account. It is important that we keep an accurate listing of calls, so we don’t have two calls happening at the same time.

An additional service that we will be able to provide will be Zoom meetings. Zoom meetings are conducted via computer and/or telephone and will allow you to have meetings, workshops, and discussions on a variety of subjects. Again, if you want to utilize our Zoom account, you will need to be schedule this with Sophia.

Over the next year, you can expect to see a variety of workshops and discussions over the Zoom program. I envision training for Grange Masters, Secretaries, and more. I can see committee meetings and discussions on resolutions. A monthly “New Member Orientation” would allow us to provide information on the structure of the organization and services offered…. and give new members an opportunity to ask questions. The opportunities are endless as we work to improve communication in Granges across the state.

I do want to remind our members that nothing will take the place of our face to face meetings. This pandemic has moved some of our obstacles to the forefront. Your State Grange is committed to assisting our Subordinate and Pomona Granges in overcoming these obstacles and improving the communities in which they serve.

By Heather Hansen

Legislative Lobbyist

Washington State has a two-year budget cycle. The last state operating budget was passed by the legislature in the spring of 2019. It was updated in March of this year just as the COVID pandemic was beginning. Before July 1, 2021, a new state budget must be written, but with the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, the current budget will probably be adjusted before then. Only the legislature can change the budget. The Governor does not have that authority. The Governor can call a special session to update the budget or wait until the legislature convenes in January.

The state’s current two-year budget is approximately $53.5 billion. The June 17, 2020 forecast estimates state general fund revenue for the current biennium to be $46.129 billion. That leaves a $7 billion shortfall. Since the current biennium is half over, the shortfall must be made up during the second half. That is between now and June 30, 2021.

On March 12, 2020, the state legislature passed a budget that increased general fund spending by $921 million for the coming fiscal year that begins July 1, 2020. They increased the total budget — which includes federal money and fees the state collects for specific purposes — by $2.37 billion. Governor Inslee vetoed $235 million in new spending when he signed the budget as the COVID crisis was beginning to take shape. The current two-year operating budget is more than 19% higher than the previous one passed in 2017.

In June, the Governor’s office asked all state agencies to prepare a plan showing the programs and personnel their agency would cut if they lost 15% of their general fund dollars. A 15% reduction still leaves the budget the largest in the history of Washington State.

Certain parts of the budget, including K-12 education and some Medicaid spending, is protected from cuts due to constitutional protections or federal rules.

Higher education is not constitutionally protected so it is vulnerable to budget cuts.

In the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s (WSDA) 15% cut proposal, $995,000 was cut from the Fair Fund. That would eliminate distributions to agriculture fairs in 2022. If the 15% reduction were spread evenly across all WSDA programs, the Fair Fund would largely be spared. It is sacrificed to protect other programs including marketing and plant protection.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife, proposed spending $117,000 less on hay to feed elk in the winter to keep them off agricultural lands.

The Department of Natural Resources did not submit proposed reductions. They submitted a memo saying they will propose cuts in the coming weeks.

Only the legislature has the power to change the budget. These proposals can be used to help guide the legislature.

The forecast council believes the impact of lost economic activity from the COVID crisis will extend for many years. The Governor’s office and some legislative leaders are already talking about new taxes to raise more revenue.