As announced late in 2016, a potential merger of CTSSA and MASSA has been in the planning stages. Work with an attorney who has experience working with business nonprofits began in January of this year. The goal is that CTSSA and MASSA will become one organization by fall 2017 and we are pleased to report that significant progress to that end has been made.
On May 10, 2017 the CTSSA Board and the MASSA Board held a joint Board meeting in Sturbridge, MA, to review the associations’ plan for a merger of CTSSA and MASSA. The merger is taking place under the auspices of the State of Massachusetts and in order to move ahead, several documents required by the State needed Board approval. Both Boards reviewed and discussed the attorney-generated documents. Each Board had to approve the merger for their organization, they both then had to approve an agreement to merge, and two other State-required forms. Additionally, a new set of bylaws based on the very similar bylaws each organization already had in place, were considered by the joint Boards.
It is exciting to report that both Boards approved all documents unanimously. The unanimous approval is testament to the fact that this merger is good for both Connecticut and Massachusetts members as well as the self storage industry in general.
While the merger is between the two active state associations, the goal of the merger is to expand our geographical reach by also including the Rhode Island self storage industry. Rhode Island has been inactive for many years and there have been requests from many of the facilities there to become active. The steps necessary to include Rhode Island are also being addressed so that Rhode Island facilities will now also have an association they can call their own.
The new merged organization’s name will be the Northeast Self Storage Association, or NeSSA. This name continues the branding we have already established for the Northeast Storage EXPO and the Northeast EDGE (our joint, quarterly newsletter). The tagline under the name of the association will list the three states that the newly formed association will serve.
The next step is for voting members of both CTSSA and MASSA to approve the merger. A ballot is being developed under the guidance of the attorney and will be distributed to members with voting rights. It is of the utmost importance that members vote and return their ballots to the office. We will notify you when the ballots are distributed and will stay in close contact with you about this critical component of the merger.
All members and potential members are invited to call or e-mail the office if you have questions, concerns, or discussion about the merger. Contact information is below. Additional information on the merger is available at: Merger Details.
The national Self Storage association (SSA) is very supportive and is behind our efforts to unite three small northeastern states into one larger, unified association. One regional association is more likely to increase the number of members, the number of attendees at events, and give our vendor members more visibility with their primary audience.
Contact us with any questions, concerns, or further discussion. We’d be happy to chat with you about the merger.
