Supervisory Committee Shut Out FromRecords On CU Conversion

VANCOUVER, Wash. - (08/22/05) -- When dissident members of ColumbiaCU requested records showing credit union plans and expendituresrelated to the failed try to convert to mutual savings bank creditunion officials told them the records would not be divulged. So thedissident members decided to run for the board and supervisorycommittee in order to obtain a full accounting of the failedconversion, said to cost more than $1.5 million. But those members,the self-styled Save Columbia CU have been barred from the recordson the conversion even though they now hold seven of the board'snine seats and all five seats on the supervisory committee. That'sbecause state regulators have ruled that a lawsuit filed by SaveColumbia CU to get access to the documents puts those board andsupervisory committee members at odds with the credit union."Throughout my involvement with the credit union, either before orafter my election to the supervisory committee, I have never hadaccess to anything that has to do with the conversion," said LloydMarbet, one of the founders of save Columbia CU who was elected tothe supervisory committee last year. The seven board members whoalso originated from the dissidents' group have also been barredfrom those records, according to Marbet "This makes me wonderwhether I can fulfill my fiduciary duty to the credit union,"Marbet told The Credit Union Journal, of the unusual legal dilemma.A state court has rejected the group's request but that ruling isbeing appealed to the state appeals court.