For years, Oklahoma has been rumored to eye Texas as a possible partner under the typical management pact put together years ago between California/Nevada, Colorado/Wyoming or Massachusetts and New England states.

In Oregon, Shirley Cate, the chair of the CUAO, said her trade group would entertain proposals for management agreements to help run the organization while it also recruits for a new president/CEO to replace the veteran Gene Poitras who last month announced his Nov. 30 retirement plans.

"We're going through a very good process right now to examine all our options," explained Cate, who also is president/CEO of Providence Health System Federal Credit Union of Portland, Ore.

Both the California and Washington State Credit Union Leagues, she forecast, could eventually wind up being interested parties to submit management contracts.

For more than two years, the California League has handled a number of back-office functions for the CUAO in education and annual convention planning. Likewise, the California League has handled similar tasks for the Arizona Credit Union System.

Cate said CUAO committees have been studying both the management agreement concept while the trade group goes about placing recruitment ads in national publications to replace Poitras.

But on the management pacts, the CUAO has been "in contact with other leagues like Oklahoma and received documents from them" she said, noting that league has been undergoing "a similar process" as the CUAO having lost its CEO.

While searching for a replacement for Lisa Finley, who departed in June, the Oklahoma League said it also has been making plans to relocate many of its staff to the organization's new headquarters in the state capitol. Oklahoma City.

The league's interim president/CEO, Debra (D.J.) Morrow Ingram said the league leadership has "every expectation that we will hold onto our independent status and we still will be the Oklahoma Credit Union League."

At the same time, said Ingram, "we are open to partnerships with any league that would serve to strengthen the Oklahoma League and its service to its members. Geography alone makes Texas and Colorado obvious possibilities."

Discussion of league structure and services was a prime topic for CU executives during the annual CEO Roundtable Oct. 2 in Stillwater, she said adding, "our membership believes we have a good, strong league."

Ingram, an attorney, said, for example, the lobbying and political action activities of the league remain top-notch, but there are other service areas where partnerships with other leagues might be a good fit.

"What we're doing in Oklahoma is no different than what many other leagues or even credit unions do in looking at consolidations and finding new ways to deliver services to our members more efficiently and at lower cost," said Ingram.

State league officials across the U.S. have frequently cited what one called "those huge mergers by the corporates" as influencing what is occurring at the league level and in other trades.

For months, the Oklahoma League's board and a subcommittee have been exploring structure and service options examining "the kind of product outsourcing we do well and those areas that need improvement," said Ingram adding, "we have to decide if we need to reinvent the wheel on our own."

Also being looked at, said Ingram, have been the regional mergers across the U.S. They have included the North and South Dakota leagues into Mid-America Credit Union Association and the Maryland/D.C. Credit Union Association culminated a year ago. .

As for Oklahoma, Ingram said "the possibilities run the full gamut from staying the way we are now to a merger but I expect we'll find something in between to make the most sense for the League and our members."

The changes for Oklahoma take place as the league plans to move its headquarters and some staff from Tulsa to Oklahoma City within 12-18 months. The Oklahoma City site, in view of the Capitol building, will be the long-planned Credit Union

House patterned after the same facility in D.C.

Funding and construction for Oklahoma CU House, informally announced nearly three years ago, has been fraught with delays as league leaders sought to come up with a viable means to finance the $1.3 million showplace headquarters and advocacy center.

A stock offering for 23 participating CUs under a limited liability corporation was devised more than a year ago, but the plan ran into regulatory delays and occurred as Finley, the long-time league staffer, resigned the CEO post for personal reasons.

Ingram said an architect for Oklahoma CU House was to be selected this week. CU House, located in the so called Lincoln Corridor of Oklahoma City, will be used for education and training sessions as well as serve as a conference hub for CU boards and to entertain lawmakers and business leaders.

Meanwhile, the state banking commissioner, Mick Thompson, said his office has already broken ground on what will be a state-of-the-art $1.9 million State Banking Department building also in the Lincoln Corridor and which can also be used for CU and bank meetings.

Thompson said he "is very surprised we came out ahead in putting up our building ahead of the league" noting the league is "just now hiring an architect."

Beside serving as a conference hall for examiners and lawmakers, the 8,000 square foot Banking Department Building will have up-to-date audio visual equipment, said Thompson stressing funding for the facility comes from financial institution fees and has no state appropriation.

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