Schools Plus Community Credit Union has a new name and a broader operating base now that it’s merged with Oregon First Community Credit Union.

And now, Oregon First is considering a move into Morrow County.

Schools Plus has more than 9,000 members. Of those who voted, 92 percent favored the merger, said Wendy Osgood, former president and chief executive officer. She’s now the Eastern Oregon region vice president of Oregon First and remains based in Hermiston.

Osgood and the other two dozen employees of Schools Plus kept their jobs through the merger, she stressed.

The organizational meeting for Schools Plus was in Hermiston, but Osgood said the business was chartered in 1958 and began operations in Pendleton. It has branches in Pendleton, Hermiston and Milton-Freewater.

The credit union has grown steadily, especially in recent years, Osgood said. It expanded to Hermiston in 1990, renting space until it built a branch in 1996. In 2001, Schools Plus merged with Western Trails Federal Credit Union, which had branches in Pendleton and Milton-Freewater.

The larger business moved into a new branch in Pendleton in 2002 and last year built a new branch in Milton-Freewater.

Oregon First, based in Coquille, was chartered 1957. It has branches in 13 Oregon counties, mostly along the south coast and Willamette Valley, and in three south central Washington counties. It has more than 25,000 members.

Osgood said the advantages for former Schools Plus are expanded resources and better services. Oregon First has more than $281 million in assets, according to the National Credit Union Administration. Schools Plus by itself had more than $47 million, so the combined assets are more than $328 million.

For Oregon First, the merger allows a presence in an area the credit union wanted to move into, she said.

That area should include Boardman by this time next year.

“We’ve made the application to the state for the Boardman branch, and are in negotiations for a piece or property,” Osgood said, adding that her former employer started that process before the merger was completed. “That was something that Schools Plus was committed to either way.”