Ukiah, Calif.-based Mendo Lake Credit Union and Santa Rosa, Calif.-basedCommunity First CreditUnion agreed to merge, which will lead to a combined not-for-profitfinancial cooperative with assets of $423 million and a membership of almost48,000, according to a news release.

The ongoing cooperative will use the Mendo Lake charter.Community First CU members will vote on the merger because they must choose toadopt the Mendo Lake CU charter.

After the vote, the California Department of BusinessOversight and National Credit Union Administration will review the merger,which is expected to close in early 2017.

Community First CU CEO Todd Sheffield will run the combinedinstitution, which will adopt the Community First name.

All branches, ATMs, employees and managers are needed andwill remain in their current locations.

The release said that the "genesis" for the mergerwas the planned retirement of Mendo Lake CU CEO Richard Cooper, who will endhis 41-year career in financial services in January 2017.

Mendo Lake CU had assets of $222.5 million while CommunityFirst CU had assets of $196.1 million as of June 30, per SNL data.