ST. HELENS, Ore.-Members of St. Helens Community FCU have voted out the chairman of the board, a vote driven in part by a group of members upset over several events that took place in 2012.
The vote took place at the annual meeting at which SHCFCU was celebrating its 75th anniversary. It came following a tumultuous 2012 when an initial letter of intent was executed to discuss the possibility of merging with another credit union; a potential merger some members objected to. The merger talks never progressed, and were terminated when a new CEO, Brooke Van Vleet, was named. Van Vleet was hired after the former CEO, Jeff Schwarz, was terminated by the board. Those two moves upset a group of members who have been calling for changes to the board, including calling for recall of the board and a special meeting for that purpose, and a legal challenge to the 2012 election. One person involved in that legal challenge told Credit Union Journal he may consider dropping it following he most recent elections.
In that most recent election, two new board members, Steven Correll and Seth Holmes, won board seats. Vice Chairman Tom Tussing was elected as the new chairman, replacing Lea Chitwood, who as defeated for reelection. Holmes is a long-time SHCU member and former credit union employee. Some 915 ballots were cast in the election.
"The board remains unified and committed to the strategic direction of the credit union, and we look forward to working with Steven and Seth in the months ahead," said Tussing in a released statement.
SHFCU reported it has surpassed $170 million in assets and net income increased by $300,000 between December 2011 and the end of 2012.
