ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA staff has put together a proposal, approved for comment by the board at last week's meeting, to clarify the agency's expectations for a community charter application following the board's denial of an appeal for the same community charter for two credit unions in March.

In issuing the proposal, NCUA Deputy General Counsel Mike McKenna said the agency was trying to fulfill the task charged by the board for a more objective and clear explanation of what is needed for community charter approval. He said that under the proposed revised definitions for community charters, NCUA would retain the single political jurisdiction, such as county or smaller.

NCUA has also proposed a new Core Based Statistical Area requirement. NCUA Trial Attorney John Ianno explained that CBSA is defined by the Office of Management and Budget as a geographic area with at least one core or urbanized area or cluster of at least 10,000 in population plus adjacent counties with high levels of social and economic interaction. The two categories of CBSAs include Metropolitan Statistical areas and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined in the proposal and by OMB.