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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2020)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, September 23, 2020 First Community Credit Union makes way into John Day By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle First Community Credit Union became a part of the Grant County community in August as they acquired Umpqua Bank in John Day. FCCU President and CEO David Elmer said when Umpqua Bank reached out through a broker, stating they were planning to sell the office in John Day, FCCU jumped at the opportunity to come to Grant County. “We’re all about serving rural Oregon, and we have 32 branches now, and most of those branches around the state are in small communi- ties,” Elmer said. “We love to serve the rural communities in rural Oregon.” He said FCCU does have some offices in bigger towns as well. Ethan Haney, who is the Manager at FCCU, said he has been working in the build- ing for almost 14 years. When Haney started, it was a Ster- ling Bank and then an Umpqua Bank and now FCCU. He said that acquisitions are a very common thing in the banking industry. He said this is the first time he has been a part of an acquisition — where three locations were sold, rather than two compa- nies merging. “Umpqua was looking to readjust it’s footprint and move out of these areas (John Day, Lakeview and Burns), and Credit Union wanted to be here so they made the con- scious choice to come here and be a part of the community,” Haney said. “Their whole goal is to be a long time part of this community, and that’s good, some stability.” He said FCCU has compet- itive loan rates and does lots of business in small towns. “The first day that they Eastern Oregon leaders talk about fires and legislature By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Rudy Diaz The Eagle/Rudy Diaz First Community Credit Union became a part of the Grant Coun- ty Community on Aug. 15 when they acquired Umpqua Bank in John Day. were here (Aug. 15) happened to be the same day they were doing the 4-H auction,” Haney said of FCCU. “They made a pretty sizable contribution to the 4-H auction on the first day they were here.” FCCU, which has a main office in Coquille, is a credit union with 32 offices, about 320 employees and over 80,000 customers, accord- ing to Elmer. They have about $1.4 billion in assets and can serve small businesses, fam- ilies and individuals with all their banking needs. Elmer said some of his favorite aspects of being in rural communities is the chance to help the community and fill in the gaps where peo- ple need help. “We want to grow with the community and grow our market share within the com- munity,” Elmer said. “People can get lost perhaps in the big metropolitan market, where in those small rural communities we can make a difference, and we do it in a number of ways.” He said FCCU has part- nered with school districts, from funding computer labs to extracurricular activities. “We also focus on the youth in numerous county fairs around the state, and we will be participating their in John Day in the coming years,” Elmer said. “We pur- chase 4-H animals at those auctions and help the kids in the 4-H program in a number of ways.” In FCCU’s acquisition of Umpqua, no employees were laid off. Elmer said FCCU promises their employees that they will never be laid off, and the promise is in the advertis- ing for new positions when they are hiring. “If something happens in the economy that our business plans can’t adjust to, then that isn’t the fault of our employ- ees, that is the fault of peo- ple like me and so I’m the one that should be affected by that financially,” Elmer said. “We’re delighted to have Ethan and his team stay on and be a part of our team.” A change that custom- Ethan Haney, who is the man- ager at First Community Cred- it Union, has worked in the building for almost 14 years. ers will notice is, when call- ing FCCU in John Day, 541- 575-0257 and 541-575-5950 are both numbers that will go through the FCCU office in John Day, but if nobody in John Day can take the call, the number will roll over to another person in the company, according to Haney. Haney said the company wants to give customers more options for help than leav- ing a voicemail and wants to provide an employee to give assistance. The lobby to the bank and the drive-through is also open, and the business hours have been adjusted to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Haney also clarified that an employee went to open their own business around the time of the acquisition, so a new person was hired in his spot. “We’re here as part of the community, and we’re still the same folks ready to help with whatever we can,” Haney said. “That’s the heart of it. Give us a shot to see how we do and see if we can earn your trust and do business.” A3 Legislators in Eastern Oregon voiced their grati- tude for the firefighters bat- tling fires around Oregon as a revenue forecast, which provides insights of where the state is financially, will be provided this week. State Reps. Mark Owens, R-Crane, and Daniel Bon- ham, R-The Dalles, and state Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, gathered during their vir- tual town hall meeting on Thursday, Sept. 17, to talk about fires, the legislature and answer questions from viewers. Owens said there have been many things that have caused the fires and many policies that need to be fixed, but the issues can be addressed once the smoke clears. “Most of us are fight- ing a couple days of smoke, but everything that some of these people worked for (for) a lifetime has been destroyed,” Owens said. “... My heart goes out to those and also for the protection of ODF and the rest of the firefighters.” He said the communities around Oregon, helping each other no matter the political affiliation, made him proud to be an Oregonian. “Nobody cared if it was a Republican or Democrat,” Owens said. “Nobody cared about that, and they went and tried to help.” Findley said this week will see several legisla- tive days with the Sen- ate meeting on Friday to consider executive appointments. He said there will be two important committee meet- ings this week with the Emergency Board meet- ing on Friday and when the House and Senate finance and revenue committees meet jointly to discuss and have a presentation by the state economist on Wednes- day morning. The revenue forecast for the state will be presented and show where the state is in terms of actual receipts versus projections, which will determine if cost cuts will be needed. “There’s some of us that think our forecast will be scary,” Findley said. “Some think it’s not.” Bonham said most of work on the legislative days will be focused on look- ing forward as chairs in the House begin designing their policy plan for 2021 with the deadline of Sept. 25. Findley responded to a question about rumors of a special session and dis- cussing federal and Oregon income tax disconnect. “I have heard those same rumors. I’ve heard a lot of discussion about the discon- nect from the tax break and the CARES act,” Findley said. “My position on that is absolutely not. We have banged these businesses up so much that we cannot con- tinue to harm them.” Findley hopes a special session does not happen so this bill does not come forward. C L A R K’ S TRANSFER STATION Wednesday–Saturday 9am to 4:30pm BAG SALE $5.00 per bag FRIDAY 9/25/20 9AM-3PM Bags will be provided S204803-1 541-573-6377 DISPOSAL We look forward to seeing you & keeping you safe! 126 NW Canton, John Day 541-576-2160 541-575-0432 S207513-1 Steel on the inside where it matters most. Serving Eastern Oregon since 1959! 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