To: The North Carolina Credit Union Commission
Jammison Applequist, Chair; Roger Montes; Caleb Malcom; Lafayette Jones; Christopher Dillon (Two positions are vacant.)
Dear Mr. Chairman,
In
July, 2023, we approached the Administrator with a concern that SECU
was violating State credit union laws by refusing to permit an eligible,
qualified SECU member to seek self-nomination to the SECU Board of
Directors. On September 1, 2023, the Administrator ruled that she found
no violation.
In September, 2023, we
subsequently appealed that decision to you and appeared before the
Commission at your Fall, 2023 meeting. We have heard nothing from the
Commission since that time.
The SECU Board
announced on March 19, 2024 (yesterday) that it intends to continue with
the exclusion of qualified, eligible members from
self-nomination during the 2024 election cycle. SECU election
procedures must be finalized by April 11, 2024.
Ms.
Ray, in her letter of March 20, 2024 - which you received, has refused
to clarify her decision and refused to respond further. Ms. Ray was also
vague as to whether or not we - and others - will be permitted to
appear before you as requested at your Commission meeting on April 9,
2024.
We are therefore once again asking you to
address our concern and appeal from September, 2023. N.C. law
specifically defines your authority and duty as: "The Credit Union Commission is hereby vested
with full power and authority to review, approve, or modify any action
taken by the Administrator..."
Ms. Ray apparently misconstrues "our complaint" and appearance before you last Fall.
Our concern with the illegal policy of SECU remains, but
our real complaint is with Ms. Ray's refusal to enforce North Carolina
law. That's why we asked for the N.C. Credit Union Commission to
exercise your authority to review and rule.
It
would seem that six months would be sufficient time for your thorough
consideration. All that is required is that you answer the following
three, simple questions, which Ms. Ray has refused to address.
- Is the N.C. Credit Union Division required by North Carolina law to approve,
monitor and enforce compliance by state-chartered credit unions with
their bylaws?
- May a N.C. state-chartered credit union adopt rules, policies and procedures which effectively amend its bylaws without approval by the NCCUD?
- May North Carolina credit unions deny eligible, qualified members the right to seek self/member nomination to serve on a credit union board?
That's
really all that has been asked of the Administrator over the last nine
months. We believe the Commission owes North Carolina credit union
members an answer to those three questions.
We
are now confronted with an April 11, 2024 deadline at SECU for
resolution. Would note that Mr. Adam Olls, SECU attorney, at yesterday's
SECU election procedure review meeting; justified continuing the
illegal practice of excluding eligible members from self-nomination by
repeatedly citing federal credit union laws. Mr. Olls was, however,
"selective" in the citations he used. "Overlooking" the following:
👉 "There are, however, no restrictions on the eligibility requirements that a nominating committee can use in selecting candidates for office. We have previously stated that the nominating committee is free to set reasonable standards as to whom it will nominate. Failure to be nominated by the committee, though, does not preclude a member from running for office."
👉 "Any other limitations on eligibility for election would be impermissible."
👉 "Existing officials can use standards as a way of perpetuating their own positions or limiting board membership to their own clique."
We hope that
the N.C. Credit Union Commission will take a more "comprehensive" view
of this issue. Federal law and N.C. law both concur on these questions.
Over 2.5 million North Carolina credit union members will be affected by
your decision.
Time truly is of the essence. This can has been kicked down the road as far as it will go!
We
welcome any questions you may have before the April 9, 2024 Commission
meeting. We would appreciate acknowledgement of the receipt of this
letter and your intention to rule before April 11, 2024.
Sincerely,
Jean and Jim Blaine
March 20, 2024
.... it's been fun, but it's now time to decide.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Please continue to be the squeaky wheel for all of the employees and membership, Mr. & Mrs. Blaine!
ReplyDeleteThe decision made regarding this matter is bigger than just SECU. It ultimately protects the integrity of all credit unions across the state of NC.
DeleteBelieve the decision has been made. You just continue to disagree with the decision.
ReplyDeleteDon't 'they' have anything better to do than being consumed with screwing the members?
ReplyDeleteI mean these people have some serious trust issues ...
Am I to trust them to do the right thing when nobody is watching?
They would sell you out in a heartbeat ...
Good point, but not sure which decision you mean.
ReplyDeleteIf its that the Board has already made the decision on new election procedures and that the AB sessions are more ruse than reality, might agree with you. Sure would be easy to post the proposed changes and the recording of the first session on the website. Can you think of any reason not to do that? Or not to post the financials? Or not to post the bylaws? Or not to post all rates on loans? Or not to allow any member to self-nominate? Or not to provide the "official petition" now? Or, or... what's to hide?
If you mean that the Administrator of Credit Unions may make a legal decision without disclosure or review then I might disagree with you. If you mean, that the Credit Union Commission is a non-functioning, rubber stamp body, I would disagree with you. If you believe that the Administrator, SECU, or you or I may selectively chose when to follow the law, would strongly disagree with you.
Think that's what folks call the current "Haitian Democracy".
ou.
The number of participants on the webinar was only 250! Great job board on your outreach to 2 million members on this important issue.
Deletesaw that number on the screen too. take out the board, execs, and a couple hundred managers and? Just more Board BS. they are no longer credible.
DeleteThank you thank you for keeping pushing.
ReplyDeletetalk to everyone you know about all this. Either we get our credit union back in honest and capable hands this October or it's all over. The Moonies will have won.
ReplyDeleteThis Board! Election procedure changes in 2023 and again Election procedure changes in 2024 and they said this change brings an additional cost of approximately 3 - 4 million dollars on snail mail ballots. Keep changing the rules until the results are in your favor? How can we have any confidence in these decision makers?
ReplyDeleteThey’re willing to spend that money because they know that members who are not aware of the blog or the issues will default vote for incumbent candidates. They need the uneducated to vote in order to win.
DeleteBINGO! We have a winner ...
DeleteThey are always willing to spend and waste on the things to profit themselves, but what about us Members? I think for our sakes and our credit union we need to see a total clean out of these people who have been running SECU into the ground for the past three years. Let them go waste somewhere else.
DeleteIs there an attorney among the membership to bring a class action lawsuit against the Board of Directors and Management? Among the 2 million members are there any elected state government Senators or Assemblymen to carry the SECU torch? If the members are denied ballot nomination access then it is time to remove the directors. It's called RECALL.
ReplyDeletelegal action is the only thing that will get their attention, it's time ....
DeleteHope Ms. Ray will be forced to do that.
DeleteFrom the Chair, N.C. Credit Union Commission
ReplyDeleteMarch 21, 2024
Good afternoon,
I want to let you know I have received your email, but am traveling this afternoon. I will get to work on a proper response as soon as possible. In the meantime I will let you know it is our intention to allow public comments as we have in the past. I'll include more details in the next email.
Thank you.
Thanks ...
DeleteWe shouldn't have to worry about these things ...
So the Board has now sent out an email for employees to take a survey about said proposed changes. We all learned a valuable lesson last survey we were asked to take. Not confidential folks!!!
ReplyDeleteThis. I opened the email, read it, clicked the link to see the 1st question, and closed it. I'm not falling for this BS again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...well....that ain't gonna happen!
DeleteSaw they released the changes. Looks like the big difference this year is the addition of paper ballots. Hopefully that will benefit by having more members be able to speak out with their vote.
ReplyDeleteSo, the new great Technology is paper ballots?
Deletehahahahahahahaha ... you can't make this stuff up if you tried?
Of course unless, they 'found' a way to, let's say, lose ballots, stuff the ballot box ... etc.
You get my drift.
I mean do you suddenly trust these folks? ...
Their past behavior says otherwise ...
Exactly! What happens to all these ballots going out to bad addresses which will be returned - who will have access to those? Nothing about this new procedure adds up? Too much distrust in this Board and Admin for this to be ok with SECU's members and staff. NC Credit Union Division needs to stop this now.
DeleteGood evening,
ReplyDeleteThe SECU Board of Directors is considering several changes to our Election Policies and Procedures to encourage greater voter participation and improve election processes. Recently, we provided a webinar: Introduction to Proposed Changes for Election Procedures for SECU Advisory Board members. You may view that presentation through this link.
Your feedback is important to us and we kindly ask that you take a moment to complete the survey via the link below.
Proposed Election Procedures Feedback Survey
Thank you for your participation and your membership with SECU
Proposed Election changes now available on website https://www.ncsecu.org/
ReplyDeleteThe URL to see the handouts from the webinar is
ReplyDeletencsecu.org/PDF/AboutSECU/Proposed-Changes-for-Election-Procedures.pdf
Expect (incumbent) to be printed next to the current board member's names.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably a thought that those who vote by paper ballot will not be blog-informed. So the paper ballots would tend in their favor.
How do you spell Boondoggle?????
ReplyDeleteB R A D Y A N D C O M P A N Y 4 more in '24!!!
Conned, bamboozled, hoodwinked ... duped
ReplyDeleteWhatever you name it, these board folks will be behind it!
The board and CEO rule by the desires or their heart and not those they are voted in to serve ...
ReplyDelete