Annual Meeting Packet

Business Meeting called to order at 5:00 PM.

Good evening, I am Barry Roach, President and Chief Executive Officer of Water and Power Community Credit Union.  Welcome to our 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. There will be a question and answer period at the end of today’s meeting, and you may ask questions by using the Chat function at the bottom of the screen. At the conclusion of this meeting, a recording will be made available on our website wpccu.org. 

This Regular Meeting of the Members’ of the Water and Power Community Credit Union is being held pursuant to Articles 4 and 5 of the Bylaws, and notice of such meeting was publicized in the October 2020 issue of Currents mailed to members, the February and March eNewsletters and a Notice dated February 2021 distributed in all Credit Union Offices.

I would now like to introduce the officers of the Credit Union. The Board of Directors are:

• Venest Henry-Evans, Chair
• Gladys Berry, 1^st Vice Chair
• Craig Luna, 2^nd Vice Chair
• Nora Yusa, Treasurer
• Gerard Watson, Secretary
• Belinda Walker, Assistant Treasurer

And the Supervisory Committee members are:

• Cynthia Meekins, Chair
• Wing Wong, Vice Chair
• Sal Mancilla, Member
• Theron Rucker, Member
• Steven Starks, Member

Legal notice of the meeting has been given to the membership. State Bylaws requires that 50 members be present in person, or by proxy, who are entitled to vote, constitute a quorum for an Annual Meeting. We have 2,733 members present by proxy and 59 present by conference line and in-person.  The Annual Meeting is now convened. 

The Minutes of the Annual Members’ Meeting held Wednesday, March 25, 2020 have been distributed and were adopted as written at a Special Meeting of the Board of Directors on March 24, 2021. 

Also, the Chair’s Message, President/CEO Report, CFO & Treasurer Report and Supervisory Committee Report are contained in the Annual Report, which is available on our website wpccu.org, and has been distributed to our branch offices. These reports were adopted as written at a Special Meeting of the Board of Directors on March 24, 2021. 

On January 20, 2021 the Nominating Committee held a meeting to determine the best qualified candidates for the vacant Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee positions. The Nominating Committee selected the following candidates for the vacant Board of Directors positions:

• Venest Henry-Evans (3 year term)
• Gerard Watson (3 year term)
• Brian Lam (3 year term)

And at the January 20, 2021 meeting, the Nominating Committee selected the following candidate for the vacant Supervisory Committee position:

• Sal Mancilla (3 year term)
• Steven Starks (3 year term)

Per the credit union’s bylaws, Section 500, all persons present in person or by proxy at any election shall vote by ballot. The proxy votes shall be voted by Gerard Watson, who has been directed by the Board of Directors to cast those proxy votes.

2020 presented significant challenges for both the country and your credit union. The global pandemic caused many of us to shift our priorities and adapt to the evolving threats to the safety and health of our employees and members. A sudden drop in economic activity placed unforeseen financial pressures on our members. We immediately stepped in to help those who needed short-term emergency loans, or deferments on their home, auto and personal loans, and help navigating their day-to-day financial needs while in lockdown. Your credit union’s financial strength enabled us to withstand the impact of a rapidly declining interest rate environment and continue to provide our usual high-level of personal service to our members.

Our front-line employees – our financial first responders – fittingly grace the cover of this year’s annual report. These brave teammates of ours never wavered in their commitment to providing the best possible service to our members, and I am truly thankful for their contributions – every year – but especially in 2021. On behalf of our Board of Directors, we thank you profusely for your dedication and efforts.

We are happy to report that the skies look much brighter in 2021. The local economy is picking up and the public health response has helped us progress daily toward a return to a more normal lifestyle than we experienced last year. We continue to invest in innovations to make our members’ experience easier and improve technology so that we can address new security threats and keep our members’ assets safe and sound. We look forward to the day we can look back at 2020 as a mere bump in the road to fulfilling our vision of delivering cool banking solutions to our members.

Are there any questions from the attendees? Please use the question button on the Zoom page. Or if you like, please email ceo@wpcu.org and I can respond personally to your question. 

The official results of the election will be published in an upcoming edition of the credit union newsletter and on our website wpccu.org.

Thank you for your participation. The meeting is now adjourned.