SECU democratic member control (b. 1937, d. 2022)
🔆 The SECU Board has illegally stripped the SECU membership of the right to democratically participate in the annual meeting of the members!
✅ The SECU Annual Meeting Agenda was codifed in the SECU bylaws for the last 85 years, until 6/30/2023!
✅ "New business" for example is where members could introduce "polite resolutions" and make motions requiring Board action.
✅ Here was the required agenda in 2022 and all prior years:
(a) Ascertain that a quorum is present.
(b) Reading and approval (or correction) of the minutes of the last meeting.
(c)
Report of directors
(d) Report of the financial status
(e) Report of the loan activity
(f) Report of audit/examination
(g) Unfinished business.
(h) New business other than elections (i) Report of nominating
committee (k) Elections (l) Adjournment ... no other rules!
✅ The "new rules" agenda for the SECU 2023 Annual Meeting.
✅ The SECU Board changed the bylaws 6/30/2023 (3 months ago!) to assure SECU members - that means you and all 2.7 million SECU members - no longer have any opportunity to introduce "polite resolutions" nor make "substantive" motions at the Annual Meeting. If you haven't googled the word "substantive" recently, it means anything important or meaningful! So, the SECU Board still welcomes members to attend the Annual Meeting, as long as you don't plan to do anything important or meaningful.
1) Call to Order/Confirmation of Quorum/Polls Open
2) Approval of 2022 Annual Meeting Minutes
3) Recognition of Board members and current and retired SECU employees
4) Report of the Chair & Bylaws Update
5) Report of CliftonLarsonAllen
6) Report of Nominating Committee
7) Report of SECU Foundation
8) Report of the President and CEO
9) Voting Concludes
10) Member Feedback Forum***
11) Election Results
12) Adjournment
*** Plus these new rules [link to all new rules - see pg. 6]:
Rule 5. Up to one hour will be set aside during the meeting for comments from members.
Rule 6. Before a member can speak, the member must seek recognition from the presiding officer. Upon recognition, members shall provide their name and city of residence and then make their comments. All comments should be directed to the Chairman.
Rule 7. To permit as many members to make comments as possible, and to conclude the meeting within a reasonable time, no member may speak more than twice on the same day or longer than two (2) minutes each time, without permission of the Chairman. No member is entitled to the floor if another member who has not spoken desires to speak. Unused time may not be yielded to another member. Due to time constraints, we cannot assure that we can recognize every member who desires to make a comment.
Rule 8. No substantive motions shall be permitted from the floor other than those provided in the notice of the meeting.
Rule 10. No materials, other than materials approved in advance by SECU, may be distributed at the Annual Meeting.
Rule 11. Phones shall be turned off or placed in silent mode. Unauthorized videoing or recording of the Annual Meeting is prohibited.
Is Chris Ayers chairing the 2023 SECU Annual Meeting or the "1984" SECU Annual Meeting? "This Board" never ceases to amaze...
Are we going to be padded down and strip searched?
ReplyDeleteAnd the NC Credit Union Division is ok with Member Owners' voices being stifled at their own credit union annual meeting of the membership? What country are we living in?
ReplyDeleteMs Ray and those other folks in the Division might want to be thinking about the day after the Annual Meeting. Egg on some faces come to mind.
Unbelievable! This Member has been stressed and suppressed by This Board far too long - Annual Meeting Day come quickly and let's get our SECU back in order.
think about it. This board is in a echo chamber with a bunch of consultants and lawyers telling them what to do. Everything has to be industry standard except when it doesn't, (look at the fed rules on agendas at annual meetings!) Rules for this board are whatever, whenever, however, we say, because we said so. And the North Carolina State Commissioner of Credit Unions has said Amen. Not much hope for us members is there?
ReplyDeleteThis Commissioner has failed the membership. I am still counting on that "small faction" to right these wrongs. This Board chose to listen to outsiders and consultants when they should have been listening to the SECU Member Owners.
DeleteWho is on the side of the member? Maybe the NC Senate? At least the senate has not advanced that horrible H410. Why is this so difficult for the member to have a voice?
DeleteAuthoritarian and disgusting...
ReplyDeletesomebody a few comments ago said "It takes a lot of lawyers to circumvent the law..." There is an entire legal department at SECU now in addition to three board members being lawyers. No appearance of using that expertise to follow the law--they go around it or change it in the middle of the night with the regulator's (prior?) approval. It is not a good look for North Carolina. Always thought we were better than this. Fair at the minimum. Now we just look like everyone else. Me me me--or cover your A$$. Don't know if their is any hope to beat these guys, and voting is over unless you drive to Greensboro next week.
ReplyDeleteunless you pre-registered you won't get in the room :(
Deletethis board does not like cooperative principles--looks like the NC credit union regulator doesn't like them either. Of course when SECU converts to a bank or sells to one in a couple of years, after passage of H410, the NC credit union regulator and commission will cease to exist. there is a whole lot more money in banking for board members, and administrators. Very little in an organization dedicated to co operative principles--which NCSECU under current this board is not.
ReplyDeletethey won't seek to exist, they have plenty of small credit unions they can bully ... someone has to pay for their existence ... you know the members they could care less about!
DeleteBut they aren't going to live stream the meeting? I thought they were bringing us into the future with their new technology. The technology existed last year....I saw every single attendee pulls out their cellphone and starts live streaming. what are they gonna do arrest us?
ReplyDeleteSounds like you need to pay Ms. Ray another visit!
DeleteLive stream may be back in the plans for the 2023 meeting but do "fact check" that. It seems their choice to not live stream this meeting brought some national attention and comments. Possibly someone on the Board is concerned with the optics and made the decision to allow member viewing.
Delete