(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Credit Union Merger Vote

Cornerstone, Horizon and Plainsview Credit Union merger vote this week

Jun 16, 2020 | 12:30 PM

Members of three regional credit unions are voting this week on whether to merge into one financial institution.

Cornerstone, Horizon, and Plainsview Credit Unions began to pursue a partnership last December, and the boards of all three institutions approved the business case in March.

Should members vote in favour of a merger, the new Cornerstone Credit Union would be led by current Cornerstone CEO Doug Jones. The 12-member board would consist of six representatives from Cornerstone, and three each from Horizon and Plainsview.

The vote is being held online through Friday on each institution’s websites. Jones told northeastNOW each vote is important.

“We are obviously looking for strong member participation, it is their opportunity to participate in this process,” Jones said. “Feedback we’ve received from our employees and members so far has been very positive.”

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Results of the vote are expected to be announced to the membership by Monday, June 22 at 5 p.m. Jones said scrutineers have been given some time after the vote to tabulate the results, in case the vote is close.

Jones said the voting process hadn’t been fully decided before COVID-19 forced the vote to go online.

“We were planning to engage in that process before COVID-19 hit, and so then with COVID-19 of course it became a question of how best to do this, the timing for it,” Jones said.

He said the credit unions sought input for employees and members and had overwhelming support to proceed with the online vote.

“Knowing the results is really important given the uncertainty, because we need to know, really how are we moving forward as credit unions, are we moving forward on our own or together,” Jones said.

Having the vote in June gives the credit unions a chance to plan for the rest of the year, Jones said, no matter the results. He said the online vote gives people an easy way to participate, as opposed to having to hold special traditional in-person meetings.

Jones said the boards and management of all three credit unions are like-minded, and all are grasssroots institutions. An amalgamated credit union would be larger, Jones said, which would allow them to make investments in the future, but it would remain a local, rural-based credit union with roots in eastern Saskatchewan.

Cornerstone Credit Union currently has nine branches in local communities like Archerwill, Rose Valley, Tisdale, and Wynyard.

Horizon’s branches are located in Melville, Grayson, Neudorf, Grenfell and Wolseley. Plainsview has branches in Arcola, Kipling, Glenavon, Vibank, Montmartre, Odessa, Indian Head, Emerald Park/White City, and Govan.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974