WASHINGTON – Rich Meade, CUNA's chief operating officer, acknowledged during a GAC break out session Monday that there is no Plan B if the national membership votes against the proposed CUNA bylaw changes.

About 35 people attended an overview of the proposed bylaw changes that would allow for the first time credit unions to join either their state league, CUNA or both organizations.

Additional bylaw changes would allow CUNA's board of directors to develop a dues formula that would favor neither small or large credit unions as well as permit the CUNA board to adjust its board from its current maximum of 24 members to a minimum of 12 members.

In addition to Meade, Pat Jury, president/CEO of the Iowa Credit Union League and Susan Parisi, CUNA's chief legal counsel, provided an overview of the proposed bylaw changes that the national membership is voting on to about 40 people who attended the break-out session.

During the Q&A, Kenny Harrington, president/CEO of the $193 million Member Source Credit Union in Houston, Texas, asked what would happen if the membership rejects the proposed bylaw changes.

“So what's Plan B if these (bylaws) don't pass and the short answer to that question is, I don't know because our plan is to pass them and hopefully, like I said, pass them and move on,” Meade said. “If they don't pass, we'll have to re-evaluate. Maybe we'll have to do another survey to learn from our members why they were not supportive.”

George Jewett, a board member of the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas, pointed out that if the bylaws are rejected, then CUNA may stand to lose members among leagues that currently offer membership choice.

Jewett said the Dakotas' league prefers the dual membership requirement but would accept membership choice if it is passed by the membership.

It's unknown whether some leagues would still require credit unions to maintain dual membership even with an approval of the proposed bylaw changes.

In those cases, CUNA said it will “work with all state leagues whether they are offering choice or joint membership.”

Leagues that have publicly supported maintaining CUNA's dual membership requirement included the Utah Credit Union Association, the Wisconsin Credit Union League, the Cornerstone Credit Union League, the Mountain West Credit Union Association, the Northwest Credit Union Association, the Maine Credit Union League, the Credit Union Association of New Mexico and the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas.

Meade said the best choice for credit unions is to join their state league and CUNA and is working very closely with all state leagues to try to get credit unions to join both organizations.

Last year, the boards for the Michigan Credit Union League, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, the Ohio Credit Union League and the Carolinas Credit Union League voted to allow member credit unions to join their state leagues without requiring them to join CUNA beginning in 2016.

In its February newsletter, the Nebraska Credit Union League board of directors announced that it voted to amend the association's bylaws that would allow credit unions to join either the league, CUNA or both organizations.

The amended bylaws will be presented to affiliated credit unions during the league's annual meeting on June 2 in Lincoln.

The boards from the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues voted in January to give credit unions the membership choice as did the Virginia Credit Union League in December.

About 40% of the CUNA membership is expected to vote on the bylaw changes, Meade said. Participation rates have exceeded 40% of membership in past several votes, according to CUNA.

The deadline to vote via email or mail ballot is March 18.

A credit union member asked if the bylaw changes are approved would it would trigger a CUNA reorganization.

“The short answer is no,” Meade said. “The long answer is hopefully you've seen changes already under way at CUNA. Part of this is reforming our bylaws, but part of this is (that) we've got to deliver better value and perform better. One of the things we got from the survey and focus groups is, quite honestly, our members were frustrated by CUNA, how we perform, how we operated, our accessibility, our responsiveness. We got to change that regardless — and we are. We are putting things in place to do that. When Jim and I first arrived at CUNA a little over a year ago, we reorganized the staff, we cut the leadership team from 24 to 13.”

Meade said the leadership team also has been working to break down organizational silos within the CUNA organization.

“We're putting that in place regardless of what happens with the bylaws,” he said.

Instant Insights /

No Plan B for CUNA Bylaws: Onsite at GAC

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