When Bank of Clark County opened its doors in 1999, Vancouver business owner John Deane was one of its first investors.
“I said if the opportunity came up, I wanted to be part of it,” said Deane, who has owned Deane’s Graphic Design and Assoc. Inc. with his wife Debbie for 28 years.
He became a BOCC customer and, over time, bought more than 10,000 of the bank’s shares while it became one of his biggest clients. Deane’s Graphics provided extensive and ongoing graphics services to the bank, including design of its logo, website, printed materials and advertising.
So on Jan. 16 when the Washington Department of Financial Institutions closed BOCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named the receiver and entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Roseburg, Ore.-based Umpqua Bank, Deane suffered a substantial loss both personally and professionally.
“I was invested pretty heavily,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll get a chance to save anything from those shares. It will certainly change my retirement plan.”
Businesses like Deane’s Graphics that were vendors or contractors for the failed bank can attempt to regain losses by filing a Proof of Claim form with the FDIC by April 23.
But bank vendors seldom get a payoff from the claims, according to an FDIC supervisory councilman, because federal law puts them in third place on the payback priority list after administrative costs and depositors.
The number of businesses awaiting BOCC payments was not available at press time.
Making the best of what’s left
Vancouver Sign Group built and maintained BOCC’s exterior signs throughout the bank’s lifetime.
“We worked with the bank since day one,” said Co-owner Dick Miller. “It was a good client, and for a couple of years, it was a notable percent of our volume.”
Miller, a cousin of former BOCC Chief Executive Officer Mike Worthy, owned shares, had personal accounts with BOCC and was friends with bank employees, board members and shareholders.
Since the closure, he moved his accounts to Vancouver-based Riverview Community Bank, rather than stay with Umpqua.
“Umpqua doesn’t use local sign companies, so I’m going with our business bank, who does use them,” Miller said.
Umpqua Spokeswoman Lani Hayward said the bank uses local vendors when possible.
The Deanes have yet to decide where they will bank for the long-term. They have been bombarded with letters from banks seeking his business, and think those banks have a tall order to fill, said John Deane.
Miller said he will miss the “major scale” community contributions of BOCC.
“I hope the other institution will pick up the void,” he said.
Vancouver Sign Group is holding steady in the recession, and staff numbers were boosted from about 25 to 32 in 2008 because of increased demand.
“It is a difficult time, but we’re weathering it,” Miller said. “We’ll have to move on and make the best of what we’ve got left.”
Smaller impacts
Eric Olmstead, owner of Vancouver-based On Line Support, provided technical consulting to the bank for nearly two years and held business and personal accounts at BOCC.
The bank’s failure is a loss for the community, he said, but it’s less significant for his business because he has made a point not to rely heavily on any one client.
Although Olmstead held business and personal accounts at BOCC, he wasn’t a shareholder.
“I would have liked to have been,” he said. “I never took the time to figure out how to purchase shares, but it was lucky for me I didn’t.”
Paul Hodge, president of Vancouver-based Team Construction, also held business and personal accounts with the bank, but said he had no risks associated with its failure. Team finished building BOCC’s second location in January 2008, and has no bills outstanding with the bank, Hodge said.
With the BOCC takeover, Umpqua now has four Clark County locations. The bank entered the Vancouver area in 2002 with the purchase of Centennial Bank. A fifth Umpqua location is expected to open this spring or summer near Esther Short Park in Vancouver.
Vendors and contractors of failed banks can file claims for their losses by contacting the FDIC at 800-568-9161 or www.fdic.gov.
Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com.
