I would like to thank you, the members of this Grand jurisdiction, for the confidence and support you have exhibited by re-electing me as your Grand Commander for another year. This will insure that the new programs, policies and procedures, which I established during my first term, will continue to be encouraged and enhanced in-order to bring improvements to our great fraternity, and hopefully to breathe some new life into our Commanderies around the State of Maine.

One of the recommendations I made at our annual Grand Conclave, in April, was to continue to encourage Commanderies to establish Order "teams", consisting of members of their own Commandery, similar to the team approach used in the Order of the Red Cross and the Order of Malta - whereby individual members are assigned specific parts in the Order of the Temple, and they fill that role year-after-year at every conferral, regardless of the office they hold in the Commandery, which MAY help to encourage more members, who might be hesitant to step into the progressive line because they don't feel able to learn a new part in the Order every year, to step-up and get involved in the running of the Commandery as a Line Officer, and eventually achieve the office of Commander, and be able to reap the honors and rewards of that high office.

We have MANY qualified members who are sitting-back, waiting, because they don't feel they're capable of learning the new ritual part, and many feel that they may NEVER reach the Commander's position because of it. This program will allow them to continue to progress through the Commandery line, by taking the same role in the Order of the Temple at every conferral, allowing them to focus their attention to learning and performing their new role in the opening of the Commandery. And once they've learned the ritual and floor-work associated with their role as a member of the Order of the Temple "team", they can start "polishing" it, and improve their delivery. With this approach, the quality of the work is bound to improve for all Commanderies, as team members get more comfortable with their roles. And this benefits our candidates, because they see better work and are more encouraged to return and take an active role in the Commandery, themselves.

The second recommendation was for Commanderies, especially those at a distance, to consider adopting the "Saturday Inspection" format. As more and more of our members start reaching advanced years, many find themselves unable or unwilling to make long journeys, at night. And many of our younger members, who are still working full-time schedules, also finding it increasing difficult to attend nighttime Inspections, from which they don't arrive home until 10 or 11 PM, and have to be up for work, early the next morning. Because of these situations, the attendance at many Inspections starts to drop-off - a loss for both the Commandery AND the members who are unable to attend. By scheduling a daytime Inspection on a Saturday, it is more likely that members both young and old will find it more convenient to attend, AND participate, and we SERIOUSLY have to start accommodating the member's needs, rather than expecting them to accommodate US into THEIR lives. It's simply a sign of the times.

These are just a couple of the programs which I have been working to implement over the past year, and by re-electing me as your Grand Commander, I will continue to encourage their adoption by those Commanderies who might find them to be a beneficial alternative to "the way we've always done it".

Again, I thank you for the high honor you have bestowed upon me, and I pledge to you the same level of dedication and devotion I have given to you for the previous 5 years.