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Members vote in favour of removing Director Districts from Access Credit Union bylaws.
On Tuesday, November 28th, a Special Meeting of Members was held allowing members to ask questions and to vote on the proposal to remove Director Districts from Access Credit Union bylaws.
Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposal with 93% of members voting in support.
Members heard from Board Chair Curt Letkeman on four major points regarding the removal of Director Districts:
The Board of Directors is a group of elected representatives that collectively oversee the activities and strategic direction of the Credit Union on behalf of the Members. The proposed By-law changes remove Director Districts to provide for more equal representation on the Board as it relates to the growing territory of the Credit Union. Currently, the Board consists of 15 Directors from four districts, as defined in the Credit Union’s By-laws.
- The current by-laws set out districts based on Access, Crosstown Civic, Noventis, and Sunova branches. A member could only run for the Board based on their membership within those specific districts. This would exclude Carpathia, Casera, and Amaranth members from pursuing at the Board and does not reflect our intention enabling the Board to represent our members across all of Manitoba. The proposed amendments remove these district requirements and allow eligible members from any branch and any legacy Credit Union to run for the Board.
- Directors represent all members, not just members from their District. While their local perspective is an important component to our collaborations as a Board, their decision making perspective is across all of Manitoba. The current district design suggests that Directors only represent their District. That local district only sees one Director change per year, even if there is increased interest from an area in participating on the Board.
- Member engagement is important to any Credit Union. The democratic design of credit unions is based on one member, one vote. Members and memberships that are engaged and vote in director elections should be expected to have their issues and concerns reflected in the makeup of the Board. The District design, which only existed at Access Credit Union, not at any of the other legacy Credit Unions of Noventis, Sunova, Amaranth, Casera, Carpathia or Crosstown Civic, restricted members to having their democratic power reflected in only one candidate per year from their District, even as they voted for Directors in other districts. Removing this restriction allows members the opportunity to vote for multiple local representatives.
- The district model also artificially limited the ability for members to recruit talent onto the Board. A member with extensive IT talent, for example, would have to be a member within a specific district, and then be elected against other members within that District. If members recognize specific talents are important to the Board, and that three members from one District are important additions to the Board, they would only be able to elect one of them. The removal of the Director Districts allows members to vote for candidates on their qualifications, and not their home address.
Wednesday | November 29, 08:46 AM