BOULDER, Colo. Although credit unions here experienced little physical damage from the record storm that slammed the city and surrounding areas, CU executives say they did learn a vital business-continuity lesson.
While no disaster recovery plans were activated as early reports indicate most CUs suffered little more than leaking roofs from the rain and flooding many already are planning for how they can better deploy human resources in an area in which roads are in shambles.
The storm that killed at least seven people and left hundreds unaccounted for took out roads in and around Boulder including 30 bridges cutting off entire towns and leaving thousands stranded.
Two credit unions executives say their biggest problem during the two heavy days of rain last week was getting employees safely to work at their branches.
Dennis Paul, AVP of business development and communications at Elevations CU, which has 11 offices in the Boulder area and surrounding counties, said at one time 70 of the city’s intersections were closed. Paul said future business-continuity plans will include ways to quickly align human resources to branches closer to where staff reside.
“That means if you work on the south side of town but live in the north side and access is difficult, you will work on the north side during times of emergency,” explained Paul, who said all of $1.3-billion Elevations CU’s locations were closed Thursday and Friday.
Carlos Pacheco, CEO at $450-million Premier Members FCU, which has 11 branches in this state, several in the flooded areas, said he felt his credit union’s disaster recovery plan is sound and would have performed well had it needed to be employed last week. Spotting no “technology gaps” in the plan, Pacheco also pointed to a human resources issue.
“The biggest challenge was trying to get employees where we needed them,” said Pacheco. He added the CU’s locations that were open Friday saw a lot of traffic with shared branching volume exceeding member transactions.
Pacheco said the flooding and road closures took Boulder CUs by surprise, recalling the last major flood in the region coming in 1976. “But if we face a similar disaster in the future, it won’t be an issue, and certainly not for our call center,” he said. Most of PMFCU’s call center staff was cut off from their Longmont office last week. “That area was hard hit.”
But the credit union will soon move away from having its 21 call center members at the same location in favor of spreading the employees over three separate offices.
The $62-million Boulder Municipal Employees FCU was right in the middle of the flooding in this city but escaped without much damage since its one office sits on stilts. The CU suffered only minor damage to its drive-up ATM and three other ATMs around town.
“The most difficult aspect of the flooding was navigating,” said CEO Ann Babiak. “I have employees who come from all over the area, including Longmont. We had staff who had to be evacuated twice from their homes.”
All three credit unions are assembling programs to support members affected by the flooding, such as low-rate loans, waiving fees, and simply being flexible to meet the unique needs of members facing hardships. Elevations announced a $100,000 challenge grant, guaranteeing to match up to $100,000 donated by local residents and businesses for aid to victims displaced by the flooding.
