Media Getting More Active In Lake Michigan Vote

GRAND RAPIDS, MI. – At least one television broadcast station in the Grand Rapids area is working on a detailed and somewhat investigatory piece on the current vote at Lake Michigan Credit Union over whether the $1.1 billion credit union will change its charter to that of a mutual bank. The credit union members are voting by mail until the special meeting to discuss the issue which is scheduled for December 8. At least one credit union member opposed to the conversion reported being scheduled for an interview with the station. No one claims any inside knowledge about the vote but the general sense among many sources is that the overall mood among Lake Michigan members is against it. “People around here are pretty conservative,” explained one member of over 20 years who declined to give his name for the record. “We just went through a time when we lost a local bank that left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. People want more control, not less,” he added. Another member who had worked for the credit union said that she thought that the disclosures she received in the mail did not fairly represent the options the credit union faced. She stressed that she was not a disgruntled former employee and said she had left for a higher paying job of her own accord. But while she strongly asserted the members’ right to change to a bank if they chose she explained that she thought Lake Michigan had mishandled the conversion issue by not presenting information fairly. “All the area credit unions understand that capital is a concern and has been for a long time,” she said, asking not to be identified, “but there are new lines of business such as trust services and health savings accounts which can represent alternative approaches to getting to where the credit union wants to go. I just felt that the disclosure made it sound like converting charters is the only way the credit union can go about meeting its goals.” She also said that she thought Lake Michigan had not been realistic when it had talked in the disclosure about the tax burden it would face as a bank. “That’s going to be a much bigger deal than they let on,” she added.