Five months after a recall vote failed to remove five boarddirectors at the $161 million St. Helens Community Federal Credit Union , a member is suingthe credit union in federal court to oust the board directors.

The lawsuit, filed by 10-year member Steven S. Knebel ofScappoose, Ore., claims that the St. Helens, Ore., credit union hasrefused to comply with its bylaws, permitting the five recalledboard directors to continue serving.

SHCFCU CEO/President Brooke VanVleet said the credit unionwholeheartedly believes the lawsuit is without merit.

“We are prepared to vigorously defend our position and areconfident we will prevail,” she said.

Knebel was part of a group of members who started a recallpetition in June 2012 to remove five of the seven board directorsafter members became upset with the dismissal of former SHCFCU CEOJeff Schwarz. They also had concerns and questions about a proposedmerger with the $152 million Wauna Federal Credit Union inClatskanie, Ore.

Merger discussions between the two credit unions were called offlast year. VanVleet said Tuesday those merger discussions have notresumed nor are there any plans to resume them.

The recall petition led to a special meeting of the members inSeptember 2012 to vote on whether to retain or recall the fiveboard directors, Lea Chitwood, Michael Hafeman, Richard Louie,Marty Borrevik and David Graham. According to SHCFCU, the members voted to retain the boarddirectors.

Knebel contends in his lawsuit, however, that the SHCFCU“counted votes which were not eligible to be counted” under thecredit union's bylaws.

For example, the credit unions counted mail-in ballots ofmembers, which were ineligible, according to the lawsuit. Knebel said the bylaws allow mail-in ballots to be counted as avote but only if members request in writing that a ballot be mailedto them. Instead, ballots were mailed to credit union memberswithout their request, said Knebel.

What's more, the credit union's bylaws also state that anydirector or committee member may be removed from office in anaffirmative vote of a majority of members present at a specialmeeting but only after an opportunity has been given to beheard.

Knebel said he believes the five board members would have beenrecalled if the credit union counted only the votes of members whoattended the special meeting and the mail-in votes from members whorequested the mail-in ballots.

“Since they did not reveal the vote break down, then obviouslywe prevailed,” he said.

However, VanVleet said the membership voted to retain the fivedirectors by a margin of more than 70% for each director.

Knebel's lawsuit is asking the federal court for a declaratoryjudgment that would recall the five members.