CU Firebrand Promises Reforms At ColumbiaCU

VANCOUVER, Wash. - (09/17/04) -- Hours after Columbia CU membersthrew out three of the directors responsible for last year's failedbid to convert to a bank, the liberal activist who helped organizethe revolt was promising one of the results will be a moredemocratic credit union. "We're proposing some changes in thebylaws that will give us an opportunity to preserve some of thedemocratic process," Lloyd Marbet, a well-known community activistwho helped found Save Columbia CU, said Thursday. Marbet, one ofthe Save CCU members elected to the five-person supervisorycommittee at Wednesday's annual meeting, said he will propose anumber of bylaw changes that would assure open board meetings,member access to internal minutes and expense reports, and atwo-thirds vote for conversion to bank. Marbet also said his group,which also won four seats on the board, will continue to pursue anaccounting for the failed conversion and its aftermath, which theysay cost the credit union as much as $1.5 million. "I'm sure therewill be some kind of investigation on what went on," he told TheCredit Union Journal.