NORWICH – After four months of struggling to regain their revoked charter, Elk’s Lodge #1222 leaders have announced the successful appeal of an executive order which shut down the East Main Street fraternal organization in late February.

According to the original executive order issued by the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elk’s Grand Lodge, the local chapter had failed to make the proper reports required by the laws of the order and had not complied with the auditing and accounting manual, a decision Norwich Elk’s Lodge Exalted Ruler Jeff Cola said was “based on past leadership and financial reports that weren’t filed” prior to his appointment in April of 2009.

Attorney Frank B. Revoir, who represented the local lodge throughout the appeal process, stated a new executive order, received on June 16, gave lodge officials permission to reopen on a probationary basis.

This probationary period typically lasts a minimum of two years, but can “sometimes extend as long as four years, based upon performance,” said Revoir.

Due to the “strict and stringent” accounting rules of the Elk’s Grand Lodge, compounded by the local lodge’s inability to provide required financial accounting between the years of 2004 and 2008, Elk’s Lodge #1222 was found to be in “direct violation” of specific statutes and rules, according to Revoir, who said a “significant turnover in leadership,” in addition to the loss of financial records, made it “impossible for the new leaders to file the proper paperwork.”

“The current Elk’s leadership has been very forthcoming with everything they could find,” stated Revoir. “This allowed us to piece together enough information from that four-year period to satisfy the national Elk’s leadership.”

According to Cola, the most recent forms have been filed and all of the organization’s paperwork is now up to date.

“It’s almost like starting a new Elk’s Lodge,” he said.