The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The 104th annual meeting of the Raritan State Bank was held on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at the St. Patrick’s Community Center. Dinner was served by the St. Patrick Altar & Rosery Society.
Following the dinner, Steven Wisslead, President of the Bancorp, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He thanked the Altar & Rosery Society for preparing an excellent meal. He then introduced Marcum Spears, Secretary of the Bancorp.
Marcum Spears presented the report of shares represented at the meeting with 5,511 shares represented at the meeting in person, by the owners or their representative. 8,258 shares were represented by proxy. Total shares were 13,769, and he declared a quorum present for the business meeting. He reported that the meeting minutes from I 03rd annual meeting were included with the proxy material. A motion to approve the minutes and waive the reading was made by Al Renken with a second by Greg Rankin. Motion Carried. He then introduced Angela Pollock, the CFO/Cashier to provide the Report of Condition.
Angela Pollock, presented the certified statement of the Report of Condition of the bank on December 31, 2023. Total Resources of the bank were $255,774,664.29. Total Loans were $163,105,296.37 and Deposits were $231,288,395.59.
Angela pointed out and discussed the loss from Market Gain on the report and explained that it was due to rapidly rising interest rates and that loss had become smaller over the past year due to the short duration of the bond portfolio held by the bank. She pointed out that the Bank’s umealized loss was much smaller than other peer banks.
Steven Wisslead, then presented the Report of Earnings. Total Operating Income was $10,661,658.01 and Total Operating Expenses were $7,854,150.04. Net earnings for the year of 2023 were $2,091,646.37 after allowance for income taxes. He thanked the staff for their loyal service to the Bartle. He then introduced Robert Schleich, CEO of the Bank.
Robert Schleich, thanked St. Patrick’s Church for allowing the Bank to host the annual meeting and preparation of the meal. Robert thanked the employees of the Bank and Directors and introduced the two newest employees of the bank, both of whom work at the Raritan Branch, Emily Harden and Jannah Walk. He reported that the Bank had a very good year, not its best year as far as earnings, but the earnings for the Bank were stronger than had been originally expected.
He thanked Angela for explaining the loss from Market Gain. He further reported that the Solar project at Raritan has been successful so far and that the Bank had strongly considered installation at the Abingdon Branch, but there was not enough space for the project to be feasible. He reported that the geothermal heating and cooling unit at the Bushnell branch made it very efficient and that Solar in that location was not a good fit.
He continued to warn the shareholders about ongoing fraud that they may become targets of and that they need to be aware of such scams. The Bank will do its best to educate the public regarding these scams and try to prevent customers from becoming victims to them. He then introduced Joe Krupps, the Chairman of the Board.
Joe Krupps announced he would be retiring from the Board. Joe will not seek reelection for the board due to age restrictions. He thanked the shareholders for their confidence in his 16 years of service on the Board. Joe thanked the employees of the Bank and then thanked each member of the Board of Directors adding a personal comment about each of their strengths and how they improve the Board and ultimately the Bank. Jan VanArsdale then was introduced by Steven Wisslead to run the Business portion of the meeting. He announced that Monica Torrance and Joe Krupps directors’ terms were expiring and that Joe Krupps would be retiring leaving an open position. He then entertained a motion to nominate Monica Torrance for another term and Jon Bowman to fill the vacancy left by Joe Krupps. Steve Brokaw made the Motion and it was seconded by Rodney Dowell. Motion passed.
A Motion was then made to close the nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for the two nominees, with said motion made by Richard Brokaw and seconded by Rodney Dowell. Motion passed. Jan VanArsdale then asked for a motion to accept the actions of the Board of Directors for the 2023 calendar year ending December 31, 2023, with said motion made by Joe McCleary and seconded by Al Renken. Motion passed.
Robert Schleich then presented Joe Krupps with a retirement gift and provided an anecdote of his first meeting with Joe over 40 years ago. Robert thanked Joe for his service to the Board and the Bank.
Door Prizes were then handed out and a motion to adjourn was entertained by Steve Wisslead and the Business meeting was adjourned with Steve Wisslead thanking everyone for attending.
Marc Coursey, Joe Krupps retiring, Bill Simonson, Monica Torrance, Marcum Spears, Rich White, Steve Wisslead