IOWA CITY -
At press time, the credit union was gearing up for a board meeting to consider the member petition calling for the revote.
The name change passed by a razor-thin margin of six votes. Members against the name change have delivered a to the board citing Article IV, Section 4.4 of the Iowa State Credit Union Statutes, and quotes Rebecca Behrens, executive officer of the Iowa CU Division. It alleges the Oct. 4, 2006, member vote which approved changing the credit union's name to "Optiva Credit Union" was improper because: "An undetermined number of completed ballots were accepted prior to commencement of the 6 p.m. membership meeting."
Organizers of the protest demanded a new vote be held at a meeting on Feb. 28, the day before the name change is to be implemented. However, the petition was delivered to UICCU management Feb. 6, meaning by law the credit union has up to 30 days to schedule the requested meeting.
Election Flaws Alleged
The October vote of 198-to-192 favoring the name change had numerous flaws, according to Tim Taffe, a member of UICCU and self-described community activist.
"It was a totally fraudulent election," he declared. "Credentials were not checked on the way in-people only needed a credit card or a checkbook. No one checked names against a list. They did not use boxes to collect the ballots, they used paper bags. And when we got there, the bags were already one-third full. There were more votes cast than people in the room."
Taffe said he has contacted numerous state agencies and officials regarding the vote and the name change, including James Forney, the Superintendent of Credit Unions for the Iowa Division of CUs, which operates under the state's Department of Commerce. He was told the state's grievance procedure compels a special meeting to be held to address a specific issue if 100 signatures are presented to a credit union. Taffe said 151 names were submitted, 137 of which were certified by the credit union's management.
"We told them we were not attorneys and not accountants, but we wrote the petition from the heart," said Taffe.
Jim Kelly, UICCU's senior vice president of marketing said the credit union had followed all rules concerning the petition, had validated the names, and referred the matter to counsel.
CEO Jeff Disterhoft, noted the board would take that matter up at its Feb. 15 meeting, saying, "It is a board decision, and the staff will execute the decision. The board will look at every resource possible later this week. I'm confident they'll have a decision."
Taffe questioned the need for a name change and decried what he said is a "waste of money."
"I am a big believer in credit unions, cooperatives and the camaraderie that goes with those organizations, and that's why this has been so disastrous. The credit union's management has been a runaway train with mismanagement. They've blown almost a half-million dollars of our money on this stupid name," Taffe said. "They say it will expand markets, but every day, people are closing their accounts because they feel steamrolled. This is how you treat stockholders in a corporation, not members of an organization."
Legal Issue with Optiva Name Raised
One of the contentions raised by UICCU members opposed to the name change is "Optiva" already is in use by many business entities. One of those is Optiva Mortgage in San Diego, which has sent the CU a letter expressing the company's displeasure over the CU's plan to use the "Optiva" name.
Credit Union Journal obtained a copy of a letter dated Feb. 13 from Optiva Mortgage CEO Jose Garcia to Disterhoft, Board Chairman Eldean Borg, and the other board members. In this letter, Garcia states his company markets mortgages as well as consulting and financial services to clients throughout the United States.
"At this moment we are marketing as OPTIVA in the state of Iowa," Garcia said in the letter. "We understand that the University of Iowa Community Credit Union is in the process of converting your name to our name, 'OPTIVA.' We have never been contacted by you or by anyone representing your institution. You have never asked our position on your planned re-naming, nor have you asked our permission to use our name, "OPTIVA.'"
Garcia's letter to UICCU's management closes with: "It is our hope that you will simply accept this as fact and cancel the use of our name, which is in daily use by OPTIVA. We sincerely hope that legal action for federal violation of our trade name, to be filed in United States Federal Court in San Diego, California, will not be necessary."
Garcia could not be reached at deadline for further comment.
Taffe said he would be delivering copies of Garcia's letter to each of the board members prior to the Feb. 15 meeting.
Seattle-based Weber Marketing facilitated the CU's name change process.
FOR MORE RESOURCES
Read more about the fight over Optiva and other name changes at cujournal.com and searching the following bolded terms in the archive: Optiva, Red Canoe and name change.
