Just "Do The Right Thing"!
✅ Need to pause and respond to questions sent by Ms. Warren yesterday:
June 17, 2025
Dear Mr. Blaine,
Thank
you for your email below and your email dated June 13. We strive to
resolve all complaints within a reasonable time frame as referenced in
our response to Consumer Questions on the
NCCUD website. After we receive a complaint, we investigate the
complaint by corresponding with both the complainant and the credit
union and by reviewing all documentation provided by both parties.
As we continue to investigate and gain a better understanding of your complaint, could you please respond to the following:
A: The SECU Annual Meeting has normally been held on the second Tuesday in October of each year.
2. You
reference a June 17 deadline. Do you have any documentation showing
this is the legally required deadline for submission of nomination
packages (bylaws, etc.)? If so, please provide documentation and
highlight the dates or calculation method.
A. No. The @ June 17 date was an estimate based on the 2024 EPAP , which SECU asserts was unchanged in 2025. Tried to outline this in the June 17 letter to you [see here - link]. In the 2024 EPAP SECU members could submit candidate packages up to 123 days prior to the Annual Meeting. The 2025 EPAP changed the deadline by requiring an earlier filing (134 days) No reason nor notice was provided to the membership for this further restriction. Again, please compare the 2024 & 2025 EPAPs [see here - link] to confirm that: "The EPAP [2025] is identical to last year's version." is not an accurate statement.
3) You
alleged that the “SECU CLO changed the 2025 SECU Board Election
Policies and Procedures, reducing by 15 days the time period in
which SECU members could file independent nomination packages to the
Nominating Committee.” We reviewed the SECU Board Election Policies and
Procedures and did not find any dates or time periods associated with
submission of the Candidate Package. Are you
aware of any policies, procedures, bylaws that specify a deadline for
receipt of the Candidate Package?
A) Please see answer to #2 above and the comparison of changes between the 2024 EPAP and the 2025 EPAP [see here - link] . As you will note while numerous changes in the 2025 EPAP involve shifts of 15 days, perhaps the best number of days to focus on is the 11 day difference (123 days in 2024 EPAP and 134 days in 2025 EPAP). The SECU Board's own rules require at least 180 days notice to change SECU Board Election
Policies and Procedures. Shouldn't SECU members, as a matter of basic governance rights, expect the SECU to abide by its own rules?
4) You
said you checked the SECU website around the “180 day required,
record-date for changes and found none.” At any point after this
date, did you check the website? If so, did you see the 2025 Board of
Director Election Procedure Schedule?
A) Yes, I first noticed the 2025 SECU Board Election
Policies and Procedures posting after the changed submission deadline date (6/2/2025) and wrote to you on June 9, 2025 [link] to advise you of the error.
5) You
referenced “several, independent SECU members” that were prevented from
timely filing application packages to the SECU Nominating
Committee. Who were those members? What prevented those members from
timely filing the applications? Were they able to access the website or
branch offices?
A) The conversation about potential candidates began back in March, 2025 and included the four 2024 candidates (Hawes, Ford, Parrish, Blaine) and others involved in that election. The SECU Board Chair, Ms. Moon, and CEO had already been put on notice that a contested election was anticipated in 2025 in a 3/31/2025 letter [link - see next to last paragraph]. Interested members were not able to file candidate packages because none were aware that the filing deadline had been changed - moved back by 11 days without the notification required under the SECU Board's own rules!
6) The
SECU Board Election Policies and Procedures #2 Candidate Information
states that members may submit the Candidate Package to SECU
“by the deadline in the current year Election Procedures Schedule.”
Which year’s Board of Director Election Procedure Schedule were the
affected members following?
A) In planning for the announced 2025 contested election in the absence of any notification of change from SECU at the required 180 day mark; it seemed reasonable to believe that the 2024
SECU Board Election Policies and Procedures would be a reliable guide - after all, the SECU's CLO asserts that: "The EPAP is identical to last year's version." [link - see first paragraph] Who should the SECU member believe?
7) Is
it your interpretation that the current year Election Procedures
Schedule would stay the same year to year if no notice of change
was given? If no notice of change was given, which year’s Election
Procedures Schedule are you proposing applies?
A) It is clear that the SECU Board Election Policies and Procedures are a unified document consisting of 4 pages - and has been posted as such in all prior years. The Board Election Policies and Procedures are posted by the SECU Board to appropriately inform all SECU members of the protocols under which their most basic member governance rights - nomination, elections, and annual business meeting - will be exercised. The SECU Board, by its own rules, is required to notify members of changes 180 days in advance. No such required notification was posted. Changes made in the 2025 SECU Board Election Policies and Procedures altered and restricted the ability of SECU members to file nomination packages for the 2025 election. Actual harm to an open and fair election process has been incurred.
✷ Would again ask that you look to the SECU written minutes and talk directly to SECU Board members on the discussion/vote on these "no change changes".
✅ Apologize for the length. Happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Will submit an additional series of information for your consideration in this process tomorrow
Thank you. Jim Blaine, SECU Member
Thank you for your responses and additional information.
Caroline C. Warren
Investigations & Chartering Manager
First, "no formal proposal proposal", now "no changes changes"... here we go again!
