BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Although long-time credit union critics remainskeptical, there are signs that the $1 billion Polish and SlavicFCU may be on the verge of settling some of its long timeconflicts. An institution which has become very well known to thePolish community in New York and New Jersey, it has been racked inrecent years by conflicts on its board of directors and allegationsof different sorts against individual board members and the creditunion board as a whole. As recently as December of last year, iratemembers tried to gather signatures for a special meeting in thewake of a board dispute which saw the firing of the credit union'sCEO, the latest move in a board struggle which had been going onsince 1999 when NCUA took control of the management of the then$595 million credit union. In the end nothing came of the petitionafter the credit union ruled it had not been presented according tothe CU's bylaws. In May, organizers linked to the Forum OrganizedTo Protect Poles (FOPP), who are involved in lawsuits with thecredit union and credit union board, sought to raise issues aroundthe lawsuits and the credit union leadership at a meeting of about50 credit union members, but credit union executives discounted themeeting, arguing that it had been called on false pretences. Butrecently there have been signs that the credit union may be turningthe corner to get past its immediately conflicted past. On Friday,Nov. 25 the Board unanimously elected Alex Storozynski, city editorat the New York Sun and a Pulitzer Prize winner as chairman of theboard. The Board members also unanimously elected Krystyna Massuraand Rev. Bogumil Chrusciel as first vice chair and second vicechair. This is the first time that the board had ever elected achairman or officers unanimously, the credit union said in a pressrelease. Storozynski thanked the outgoing chairman, KrzysztofMatyszczyk, for his service and then said the organization plannedto move forward on unity. "I want to thank the board members fortheir support," Storozynski said. "United, we can do a lot toimprove the financial performance of the PSFCU. This is the bestway that we can serve the credit union's members and our sponsoringorganizations. We will continue to look for the best and mostefficient ways to provide assistance to the elderly, students, homebuyers and others who depend on the services provided by the creditunion and our sponsors." In addition, one of the leaders of theformer board factions, Mark Zawisny, has resigned after the creditunion's supervisory committee determined that Zawisny had violatedthe CU's code of ethics and had provided inconsistent statementsabout the matter, the credit union said. Storozynski declined tocomment on the Zawisny resignation directly, but suggested thatcredit union members should take heart that he had moved againstthe first, and so far only, case of questionable ethics that he hadcome across. "As a journalist I want to clearly state that I amdeeply committed to transparency," he said. "I believe intransparency. I want to foster a credit union which conducts itsbusiness in as transparent a manner as possible." Storozynski plansto back up his intent by holding a press conference with the Polishspeaking media one hour before the board's next meeting and bydoing his best to open up as much of the board's operations to theCU's membership. Derek Michalski, a longtime critic of the CUboard, said that the board being unified should not bemisunderstood to mean the CU is unified. "We still have tens ofthousands of members who have been defrauded by actions taken bymembers of this board of directors," Michalski said. "They stillhave complaints and they still need to be heard." Michalski, hisfianc Margaret Chudziak and FOPP remain mired in a lawsuit with thecredit union that remains open even though both the CU andMichalski said they wanted to see it closed. One of Michalski'sdemands is that he be reinstated as one of the CU's 66,000 members,a status he held briefly this year. He has also asked for the CU topick up the costs of FOPP's legal fees from the suit, some $15,000.Myles Edwards, general counsel for the credit union wouldn'tcomment on the specifics of the case but said the CU remained opento settling the litigation. Anthony Chroscielewski is a creditunion member who had been one of those members who had gatheredpetitions during the 2004 drive, in the wake of the departure ofthe then CEO Danuta Sieminski. He was also one of the members askedto serve on the supervisory committee from 2000-2001 when NCUAtemporarily ran the credit union. Chroscielewski stressed thatwhile he has no ill will for Storozynski, there had not been enoughtime to determine if this represented real change or if it justrepresented the victory of one faction over another. "I will wantto see if he [Storozynski] is really independent and if he is goingto run the board or if the board is only going to run him,"Chroscielewski said. On a positive note, Edwards pointed out thatgradually the number of lawsuits involving the credit union hasdiminished, moving from a high of 14 at one point to merely fournow, the one with FOPP and three others which are related todifferent personnel matters. In one interesting note, Marcin Sar, afigure in both the NCUA's moves in 1999 and in the board fights inlate 2004, has returned to the board. CUMIS has reinstated his bondafter the loss of a lawsuit in which the judge found that theinsurer should not have removed it and that the CU should reinstateSar to the board. Sar will serve on the board until 2006, Edwardsestimated. [email protected]