NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz will bring her appointment of RickMetsger as vice chairman to a vote at the next board meeting.

The formal vote on the vice chairman appointment will occur inSeptember because there is no board meeting in August.

“Given the concerns raised, the chairman has decided that theboard will take action in September to affirm the designation,”said Todd Harper, director of NCUA's Office of Public andCongressional Affairs.

Matz said on Monday her appointment was cleared by the general counsel. She alsoexplained why she decided to name a vice chairman at this time.

“When I came in, Board Member Fryzel had been the chairman and Ijust did not feel it was appropriate for him to be the third memberand have a vice chair. It would be somewhat disrespectful so Ithought it would be better to wait until he left,” Matz said.

CU Times asked Fryzel on Wednesday for his response toMatz's comments. Fryzel said the full board is required todesignate Metsger as vice chairman.

“I'm not going to question her timing on doing something thatwas a decision made by her as to when she wanted to do it. I thinkwhat's come into question is the legality of how it was done. Ithink it's very specific in our regulations that the second memberto be vice chairman is a designation by the board,” Fryzel said onWednesday.

“Now, certainly, the chairman puts forth the name of theindividual she would like to be vice chairman and I have no problemwith the name she has put forward, but that should have beenbrought to a board meeting for a board vote and that was not done.It's very clear that's how a vice chairman is selected,” headded.

“The Federal Credit Union Act is silent on the vice chairmanissue. The Act gives certain functions to the chairman and talksabout assignments and responsibilities. It doesn't mention vicechairman. When the act is silent, it cannot trump a regulation thatis specific to the vice chairman issue,” Fryzel said.

“Once the regulations are put into place, they have the impactof law. You have to abide by the regulations. If the NCUA is goingto ask credit unions to abide by the regulations we put forward, wemust abide by the regulations we have in place. We cannot overlookthem,” he added.

According to section 790.2 of the code of federal regulations,“the chairman shall be the spokesman for the board and shallrepresent the board and the NCUA in its official relations withother branches of the government. A second member is designated bythe board to be vice chairman.”

Relaying information from the NCUA Office of General Counsel,Public Affairs Specialist John Fairbanks said the Federal CreditUnion Act, which legally trumps federal regulations, allows theNCUA Chairman to define each board member's area of responsibility,regardless of the regulatory language.

Fairbanks said the legal basis of the appointment comes from 12U.S.C. §1752a(e), which states the “Chairman shall determine eachBoard member's area of responsibility and shall review suchassignments biennially. It shall be the chairman's responsibilityto direct the implementation of the adopted policies andregulations of the board.”

Fryzel will not be voting in the September board meeting. Atpress time, the White House had not confirmed reports thatMcWatters resigned from his job as dean for graduate programs atSouthern Methodist University's School of Law in Dallas and will besworn into office this month.

Fryzel said Matz was given “poor legal analysis” and regardlessof the political party in power, the vice chairman has to bedesignated by the full board.

“The legal research on this was not done properly,” Fryzel said.“The advice given to the chairman was not good and as a result ofit, we've got a situation that needs to be corrected.”