The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The 105th annual meeting of the Raritan State Bank was held on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the St. Patrick’s Community Center.
Bill Allaman gave a wonderful invocation and the meal was served by the St. Patrick Altar Society.
Following the dinner, Bill Simonson, President of the Bancorp, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He thanked the Altar 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 7,228 shares represented at the meeting in person, by the owners or their representative. 6,738 shares were represented by proxy.
Total shares were 13,966, and he declared a quorum present for the business meeting.
He reported that the meeting minutes from the 104th annual meeting were included with the proxy material.
A motion to approve the minutes of the meeting and waive the reading was made by Joe Krupps with a second to the motion by Greg Rankin. The 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, 2024. Total resources of the bank were $249,263,587.30. Total loans were $168,873,181.04 and deposits were $221,822,040.19.
She also explained the different types of loans offered by the bank that comprise the total loans as well as the different type of accounts offered by the bank that make up the total deposits of the bank.
Angela pointed out and discussed the loss from Market Gain on the report and indicated that it had grown smaller over the course of the last year by approximately $870,000.00.
She also explained why the loss from Market Gain shows up on the liability side of the Statement of Condition, albeit at a smaller amount due to the income tax effect of the potential of realizing the loss (i.e. the loss would save on income taxes thus the net effect of the loss is smaller).
Finally she reported that the banks’ unrealized loss was much smaller than other peer banks. She then introduced Bill Simonson to give a report on earnings.
Bill Simonson, then presented the Report on Earnings. Total operating income was $12,603,690.36 and total operating expenses were $10,482,754.14. Net earnings for the year of 2024 were $1,603,723.55 after allowance for income taxes.
He then pointed out the bank had grown from a $40M bank when he had started banking at the bank to almost a $250M bank today. He thanked the staff and the shareholders for their loyal service to the bank.
He reported that the average earnings for the bank for the past 17 years (those shown in the handout) was approximately $1.4M. He then introduced Robert Schleich, CEO of the bank.
Robert Schleich, thanked St. Patricks for allowing the bank to host the annual meeting and preparations of the meal.
Robert thanked the employees of the bank and the Board of Directors.
He introduced the three (3) newest employees of the bank, one of whom works at each of the banks’ branches, Jessica Cummings (ABC); Cheyenne Howell (RSB) and Cimberly Smith (BBC).
He reported the bank had a good year, and that the year had ended as expected. Income was down due to the rising interest environment causing a compression of the bank’s net interest margin.
He also pointed out that the provision for loan loss had been larger than expected and had hurt income. He explained that five of the largest categories that make up other operating expense include the cost of audits, FDIC Insurance, Correspondent Bank charges, office supplies/postage and telephone.
He made it a point to again warn the stockholders about ongoing fraud and scams that have become almost a daily occurrence for bank customers and he reminded the shareholders to be vigilant in their efforts to combat fraud and scams because the bank’s shareholder base is often exactly the type of people that fraudsters target.
He reminded the shareholders that the limit on the debit card application for the bank is $700.00 as a result of the potential for fraud with debit cards, but customers are free to ask the bank to raise that limit if they need it raised for a special purpose.
He told the shareholders that it is the bank’s goal to continue to grow with possible expansion but that the bank would continue to monitor its growth in light of the new political environment in Washington with the change in the administration. He then introduced Steve Wisslead, the Chairman of the Board.
Steve Wisslead, the Chairman of the Board thanked the loyalty and hard work of the employees of the bank and the shareholders.
He echoed Bill’s remarks about the growth of the bank over the course of the past thirty (30) years. He indicated that businesses either grow or get smaller. He reported that the FDIC reports there were 14,435 banks in 1980 with 38,780 branches. In 2023 the FDIC reports there are only 4,036 banks with 70,000 branches. The bank figure may shrink to 1,000 over the course of the next 20 years.
Illinois is second in the nation, after Texas, with 354 different banks located in the state. He informed the shareholders that these can be difficult headwinds for a small community bank like Raritan State Bank and that the bank needs to continue to grow and that one of the best ways to grow is for the shareholders to all be good ambassadors for the bank to help encourage a growing customer base.
Steve Wisslead then invited Robert Schleich back up to conduct the business portion of the meeting.
As part of the business meeting, Robert Schleich announced that three (3) directors terms had ended, namely, Marc Coursey, Bill Simonson and Marcum A. Spears. He then entertained a motion to nominate Marc Coursey, Bill Simonson and Marcum A. Spears to three (3) year terms for the Board of Directors. Joe Krupps made the motion and it was seconded by Bill Allaman. The motion passed.
A motion was then made to close the nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for the three (3) nominees, with said motion made by Eleanor Wisslead and seconded nay Greg Rankin. The motion passed.
Robert Schleich than asked for a motion to accept the actions of the Board of Directors for the 2024 calendar year ending December 31,2024, with said motion made by Terry Painter and seconded by Cecil Cox. The motion passed.
Door prizes were then handed out by Steve Wisslead and Angela Pollock.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Connie Sue Torrance and seconded by Bill Allaman and the business meeting was adjourned with Bill Simonson thanking everyone for attending.
Raritan State Bank Board members from left are: Marc Coursey, Bill Simonson, Jon Bowman, Monica Torrance, Marcum Spears, Rich White, and Steve Wisslead.