Cooper confirmed yesterday he was in the process of stepping down as chairman and it was likely to be within a month.
A special meeting of the Otago Rugby Football Union on Wednesday decided two new representatives would be appointed to the board, one representing Metropolitan clubs and another representing Otago Country. The board had opposed the move for two additional members but the clubs and other affiliated bodies got their way.
The union had also wanted to streamline the appointment panel so that no-one from the affiliated bodies of the Metropolitan Rugby Council, the Otago Rugby Referees Association, the Otago Secondary Schools Rugby Council and Otago Country could stand for the appointment panel.
That motion was defeated in a vote.
Cooper, the longest-serving board member having been involved for seven years, said there were no hard feelings about the decisions made as that was democracy in action.
But he said the disappointing thing for him was there was some misunderstanding involving the panel changes as it was about total independence of the process rather than the independence of the directors.
He said the board structure was conceived by New Zealand Rugby and everyone agreed on it in the tough times of early 2012.
The new structure was introduced that year after the Otago union almost went broke but was saved with a last-minute rescue package.
The board was more aligned with a business model and club representatives were no longer directly appointed.
Cooper said NZR was the architect of the new structure and it was being repeated with other unions.
"They [NZR] have removed us from the watch list but now that has changed. I'm not saying we are the problem child but they will be watching."
He said in all the conjecture and debate over the need to have more representation on the board in past months, the union was fully aware of the issues raised.
"We all know club rugby numbers are down and there is a drop-off at schools. Every provincial union in the country has the same issue. I'll be interested to know how two new directors from out there are going to solve it."
He said NZR had done a huge amount of research into the declining number of players and was working on initiatives to try to address the issue.
Another issue the clubs were upset about was players going to overseas competitions and then coming back to play for Otago, having not played for clubs.
Cooper said it was impossible to stop players coming and going and it had been carrying on for many years.
He said the role of the board was to set policy and the staff carried it out.
The clubs were looking at agreeing on some guiding principles to outline who would represent them on the board.
The principles would involve the successful candidate being well respected in club rugby, possess solid commercial acumen and have previous board experience.
Once the principles are agreed, nominations will be called for prospective candidates. A meeting will take place with the successful candidate winning by a majority of votes.
It was hoped the whole selection process will be over by the end of the month.
Otago Country board chairman Bob Perriam could not be contacted yesterday to outline the process to get the country board representative.
The board is made up of Cooper and Ross Hansen (deputy chairman), Rowena Davenport, Garry Chronican, Alex Turnbull, John Latta, Peter McCormack and Nick Fisher.
The new chairman will be voted for by the board at the meeting after Cooper formally resigns.
