ODESSA, Texas – In a scenario reminiscent of previous battles over credit union conversions, employees of First Basin CU turned out in large numbers to help three volunteer directors reclaim their seats in an election held at last night’s annual meeting.
The three incumbents each won more than 300 of the 414 votes cast, seeming to end a long controversy over the failed conversion to mutual savings bank.
The incumbents were challenged by members of the self-styled Save First Basin, a group of members which led the effort to defeat the conversion and is still seeking an accounting of the would-be charter switch.
The $125 million credit union suspended the vote to convert charters in mid ballot, then abandoned the bank bid altogether last month, amid allegations of improprieties on the part of the opposition group.
First Basin is the fourth credit union to abandon its conversion to bank after the member ballot has commenced.
Last night’s crowd, almost 10 times the size of a regular annual meeting, appeared to be split between those against the conversion and an opposing faction that was heavily made up of employees and their family members, according to Danny Armstrong, one of the Save First Basin members running for the board. "All the employees were there, I guess," Letty Moreno, another member of Save First Basin CU, told The Credit Union Journal after last night's meeting.
The Save First Basin group tried to boost member turnout by offering free hot dogs for dinner prior to last night's meeting and by hiring a plane to fly a banner over the city yesterday urging members to attend the meeting.
Shem Culpepper, president and CEO and a member of the First Basin board, spoke for almost an hour and explained the board and management’s reasons for seeking the conversion, among them to make more business loans. He criticized the Save First Basin group and said they appeared to be controlled by an out of state group, the National Center for Member Trust, which has helped engineer the defeat of other credit union conversions.
Last night’s meeting was monitored by an Austin, Texas, law firm and the ballot were being counted last night by an El Paso Inspector of Elections.
