By Ray Birch
TAMPA, Fla.—The chairman of the task force that originally recommended CUNA allow its member CUs a “choice” to belong to CUNA or their state league—a recommendation initially rejected by the CUNA board—does not foresee a large number of CUs abandoning dual membership even though the CUNA board has now reversed course.
Last week the CUNA board voted in favor of presenting to its affiliated member CUs the most significant revision of its bylaws since the association was formed in 1934. Under the proposed bylaws changes, credit unions will likely be given a “choice” of belonging to their state league only, belonging only to CUNA, or having membership in the traditional league/CUNA model.
“My immediate reaction is that I am quite pleased the CUNA board chose to revisit the issue and took the time to study it again, ultimately kind of reversing their course,” said Tom Dorety, chairman of the now disbanded CUNA System Structure and Government Task Force and CEO of Suncoast CU. That team delivered many of the recommendations—including membership choice—that are likely now being used to redo the bylaws.
Stronger From The Process
Looking ahead, Dorety believes the leagues and trade association will both be stronger as a result of the announcement made by CUNA on Dec. 10. He does expect some CUs will choose to go with the league and not CUNA, and vice versa, with others leaving both—an option CUs have always had.
“I think the majority of credit unions will choose to remain with both CUNA and the league,” said Dorety. “But some will not. I hope credit unions give the leagues and CUNA a couple years to see how this new system works. The whole idea of choice is that credit unions get to evaluate the performance of CUNA and the leagues, and if both do a good job—if they carry this new structure forward and do great job of communicating—I think we will all see a much stronger system. We have to connect at the local, state and national levels and we do that through the leagues and CUNA.”
Following CUNA’s September decision to dismiss much of the task force’s work—a decision many within credit unions thought was made too quickly—the issue of choice fast became divisive, with a number of leagues adopting “choice” positions.
The League of Southeastern Credit Unions, the Ohio CU League, the New York CU Association and others are among those where the board has already voted in favor of giving their member CUs the option of belonging to either the state or national association.
No Shock
Dorety said he was not surprised by the CUNA board’s decision last week, and that they faced a new set of circumstances in December that were not readily apparent three months ago.
Tom Dorety, Suncoast
“I think it is a different question now, an entirely different set of circumstances than when the board looked at the issue in September, given all that has gone on with several leagues electing to move toward membership optionality,” said Dorety. “It became a question of how to deal with this issue of choice, not really a question as to whether choice was an option. They made the right decision.”
Dorety disagrees with those who think the CUNA board rushed to a decision in September. He explained that the board felt they needed to make a decision regarding choice during the September board meeting to quell the chatter and discussion among credit unions regarding the CUNA/league structure. Dorety said he supported making the decision during that meeting.
“In fairness, I don’t think the CUNA board made too quick of a decision. They had basically a week to make a decision and did that without being able to vet the decision among the credit unions they represent,” said Dorety. “So I don’t see what happened in September as a rush to judgment. I think the CUNA board was reacting to the situation at the time. They felt it was important to make a decision from that meeting, and based on their analysis (of the current situation) that is why they chose the course that they did.”
Dorety commended CUNA CEO President and CEO Jim Nussle and the board for quickly reevaluating the matter.
“I think in the end the process worked very well. It was little bit messy. It’s a messy system, we have lot of different opinions, personalities and people within the credit union system,” said Dorety. “And while it is not always pretty, at the end of the day—while we had this huge issue that generated a lot of discussion, a lot of press, and a lot of soul searching—we got it right. And that speaks well of the credit union system.”
No Predictions
Dorety added that he never made any predictions on what might result from CUNA leaving the dual membership structure in place.
“I never thought about that, because I have been guardedly optimistic the past two months that this latest decision by CUNA would happen,” said Dorety. “This is a long-term decision, and there will still be some disruption within the CUNA/league system. But I think this is the best opportunity for CUNA and the leagues to be successful going forward.”
All of the bylaws changes—including opening membership beyond just natural-person credit unions to not just other organizations but perhaps individuals themselves—are expected to be presented to credit unions for a vote sometime in early 2016.