Duane Mertz

Trestleboard Article

February 2026 – vol.1

 

From The East 

Duane Mertz

Worshipful Master 

 

Brethren:

I’d like to thank the Craft for the opportunity to lead our Lodge this year.  This is an honor and a responsibility that I take with a due measure of anticipation, pride and humility.

To that end, we have identified several goals for this year which I want to share.

We want to:

• Be sure the Lodge is on a strong financial footing

• Ensure Lodge property is in good condition

• Continue to Improve communications to all of our members both near and far away

• Improve member engagement and retention

• Drive new member recruitment 

• Strengthen the Lodge support of local charities

 

We have structured our lodge committees to accomplish these goals and will provide progress reports to the Craft as appropriate.  

As of this writing we have:

• Put the Lodge on a strong financial footing by adopting a sensible budget for 2026. We will stick to our budget this year.

• We have re-built the roof of our building so it will be in good shape for twenty years. Kudos to our Senior Warden Gerry Mccune for overseeing the job.  Nice job Gerry! (See Gerry’s article for more about this.)

• We have provided our members with a calendar of our events for 2026 via email. Hard copies are available at TBL. If you have not received your copy, or don’t have access to email, please contact me at 203.981.9243 and we’ll get you a copy. Please remember all dates are tentative and subject to change. Please refer to the lodge website for calendar updates.

• We will publish four issues of the Trestleboard

• We will advise the brethren about upcoming events with regular messages via email and on Facebook.

We ask all of our members to:

• Be sure the lodge has your current email and mailing addresses. If either of your addresses has changed please contact me.  

• Please be sure that you are on our Signal communications portal.  This is our primary communications tool and the best way to keep abreast of what’s going on at TBL.  If you are not on Signal, contact me.  

• Please make every effort to attend our Stated Meetings. I will do my best to keep the length of our Stated Meetings reasonable. 

• If you need transportation to a lodge meeting or social event please contact me.

• Please consider being involved in at least one Lodge activity. We need help in a variety of ways, if you don’t have a committee assignment let me know and want to help out let me know.

• Please contact me or our Chaplain, R.H. Joe Griffith if you become aware of any sickness or distress amongst the Brethren.

• Please feel free to contact me at any time with any concerns you may have.  You can contact me via email (at Mertz.duane@gmail.com or via phone at:  203.981.9243). I get back to you as soon as I can. 

Please visit the calendar on the Lodge website at www.Tampabaylodge.org to keep abreast of all Lodge activities or contact the WM for your annual calendar 

How to contact Worshipful Master

Phone:  203.981.9243

Email:  Mertz.duane@gmail.com

Text:  203.981.9243

 

We hope you have a great Masonic year and look to be of service to you and Tampa Bay Lodge for the coming year.

 

Best regards,

Duane Mertz

Worshipful Master