Angry residents of three island communities hope fellow members of Coast Community Credit Union will vote to stop the financial institution from closing branches and removing automated tellers in their towns.
But it’s not clear that the closing of branches in Alert Bay, Sointula and Cortes Island will come to a vote.
Susanne Jakobsen, chairwoman of Coastal Community’s board, said Thursday the credit union will review the resolution and “see where it takes us.”
The decision to close branches was difficult because of the impact on members, employees, and the communities, Jakobsen said. The credit union found the branches are all losing money and will be closed July 5.
“It was just the right decision to make because we have a responsibility as a board to look after all our members as a whole and to ensure that our organization continues to be financially successful,” she said.
The three threatened branches serve about 2,000 members. Coastal Community Credit Union has 24 branches, about 80,000 members and handles more than $2 billion in assets.
“The board has looked long and hard over everything that we can do. We’d considered hundreds of options. We looked at everything. As much as it pains us, we know that this is the right decision to make.”
At a meeting on Wedneday, a delegation failed to convince the Vancouver Island-based credit union to change its plan.
Members also presented a special resolution calling for a July 19 meeting aimed at reversing the closings. It was backed by 944 signatures, said Jeff Jones, a Sointula-based lawyer.
“They have to hold this meeting,” he said Thursday.
The credit union will send information to all members to allow them to vote on the issue either by a mail-in ballot or in person at the meeting, he said. The information package would include perspectives from each side, he said.
Residents, businesses and local government officials are fighting the plan to close the branches and their associated automated teller machines, saying it would cause personal and economic hardship to their ferry-dependent communities. Only fee-for-service, cash-dispensing ATMs would remain on the islands. Alert Bay has about 1,200 residents, Cortes Island approximately 1,000 and Sointula about 700, Jones said.
When it comes to credit unions, the idea of fiduciary duty extends beyond making profits and applies to other principles, such as members and the communities, Jones said.
“This is not a bank or a corporation.”
Communities started these branches in the 1940s and, through mergers, ended up part of the current credit union, said Jones, who sat on the Sointula credit union board for a decade.
Bruce Burrows, a Sointula resident, worries the local co-op will close if the branches close because people will shop in Port McNeill, where the closest financial institution is based. The co-op is already on the “razor edge” of profitability, he said.
A strategy, including an online campaign, is being developed to fight the closings, Burrows said.
Jakobsen said credit union branches in the island communities have been losing money for years. Recent attempts to improve their performance failed, she said. The board looked at each branch individually and the numbers just didn’t work, she said.
“It ripped my heart apart.”
