Fraternal Order of Police Lehampton Lodge 35

“Form 990, part vi, section a, line 6:the organization is a fraternal order that only has members. The members must be a member of law enforcement. A new member is voted on after their application is read. A committee does background checks on the applicant and submits their findings before the board on the next reading. The applicant is then voted on and either approved or denied membership.”

“Form 990, part vi, section a, line 7a: the members in good standing with the organization are allowed to vote during the election period for members who are running for office. The members majority vote decides each officer position for the election. A member who is not in good standing with the organization may not vote during that election. A member who is not in good standing is any member who has done something unbecoming of the organization such as not current with their dues, suspended due to misconduct within the organization or outside the organization that associates into the organization, any member who leaves law enforcement without retiring.”

“The committees that meet for the organization do not take minutes at each sub meeting, rather they report their activity during the general meeting which is being contemporaneously noted during the entire meeting.”

“The organization receives the form 990 to review before filing to examine for accuracy and completness. The lodge receives the form 990 from an independent third party cpa firm that prepares the return based on the financial information that is provided by the organization.”

“The organization currently does not have a written conflict of interest policy however they do have a verbal policy and do monitor and recognize if/or when a conflict of interest does arise before the board and take measures to handle said conflict of interest accordingly. The organization is taking steps to have the verbal conflict of interest policy become written and part of their bylaws.”

“The organization makes all public items available upon request to be viewed. The requests need to be in a timely manner. The form 990 is also able to be viewed on a third party website: www.guidestar.org when it is released to be viewed by the irs.”

“The fraternal order of police lodge 35 keeps all financial records with the officers of the organization. The public may request any information allowed to be viewed by the open records law and any request made to view the records is acknowledged and granted in a timely manner.”

“Form 990, part iii, line 1, description of organization mission: to support police and their families and improve their performance of their duties; to encourage fraternal, educational, charitable, and social activities among law enforcement officers; to advocate and strive for uniform application of the civil service merit system for appointment and promotion; to support the improvement of the standard of living and working conditions of the law enforcement profession through every legal and ethical means available; to create and maintain tradition of espirit de corps ensuring fidelity to duty under all conditions and circumstances; to cultivate a spirit of fraternalism and mutual helpfulness among our members and the people we serve.”