Threatened Directors Change the Rules at Lafayette FCU

KENSINGTON, Md. – Directors at Lafayette FCU, facing a recall petition by members, have changed the credit union’s bylaws to require voting be done in person. The bylaw change will make it easier for directors to retain their seats by mobilizing the credit unions paid employees on their behalf, just as threatened directors at DFCU Financial and Columbia CU did after failed attempts to convert to savings banks angered members. In the credit union’s most recent voting, a 90-day ballot on the conversion, the vast majority of the 5,100 votes were cast by mail, with fewer than 75 members attending the special meeting where the vote was culminated. The proposal to switch to a bank passed by just 18 votes but was later rescinded when the credit union’s outside auditing firm found potential irregularities in the vote. The board of the $330 million credit union, which barred the head of the petition drive from access to his accounts after the failed vote, also passed a new bylaw that allows it to limit services and access to credit union facilities for “a member who is disruptive to credit union operations.”