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Local directors plan hometown bank Organizers prepare to return community banking to Ashland with broad range of ownership By GREG STILES ASHLAND - The city's first hometown bank in 20 years hopes to open its doors here in a few months. Resurrecting a name from the past, Bank of Ashland plans to re-establish community banking in the town of 20,000 and open its doors in February with a broad range of local ownership. Of the seven banks with offices in Ashland, only two call Southern Oregon home and neither is based in Jackson County. The last Ashland-based bank was Heritage Bank, which was bought up in 1983. "Ashland is the only town of its size in Oregon that doesn't have its own community bank," said president and chief executive officer Tom Pickering, whose 25 years of banking experience include a stint as president of Crater Bank. "All of the banks in town are headquartered outside the area and it's time the residents of Ashland had an opportunity to do business with a bank where local directors and staff develop policies and make decisions based on what the community needs." The bank is scheduled to open in February in an office space adjacent to where its two-story, 9,000-square-foot building, on the corner of Tolman Creek Road and Ashland Street, will open late next year. Southern Oregon University assistant history professor Jay Mullen said state Sen. Lenn Hannon was a driving force behind the concept. "At some point, Lenn said there are community banks in La Grande, Albany, Beaverton - even in Portland. Why don't we? And why should we?" recalled Mullen, the bank board chairman. "Conversationally, people began to discuss it." In 1998, Pickering said, Hannon, Ashland Community Hospital administrator Jim Watson and others kicked about the possibilities of a home-grown bank arising where the original Bank of Ashland disappeared after merging with First National Bank in 1909. "The three of us got together and listed names of potential directors and investors in a series of meetings over a two-year period," Pickering said. The group applied for a state charter on May 8. On Sept. 26, the Department of Consumer and Business Services approved an application. The bank began selling stock on Oct. 16 and the offering will continue through the end of January. The stock, with a par value of $10, is being sold in 100-share blocks. Ownership stakes will be limited to 5 percent. Pickering, 64, has signed a three-year contract with a one-year option. His banking career includes stints in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, Iowa; a five-year tour with the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C.; and a position in Gallop, N.M. He moved to Jacksonville in 1986 to become president at Crater Bank. He left after five years to start The Thomas Group. "We plan to be the kind of business that supports the community in return - offering a community meeting room, educational programs and a variety of community-focused activities that will make us part of the fabric of the town," Mullen said. "A lot of people were involved. Some fell along the wayside - they had other priorities - and there were others that stuck with it." Mullen said the bank's intent is to cater to small business, small borrowers, small investors and small depositors. "We talked in one of our board meetings that we might be able to finance low-cost housing," Mullen said. "It's not the kind of things board directors at the big corporate banks in Minneapolis might be interested." The board includes Darrell Boldt, owner of D.A. Boldt Construction; Chuck Christopher, associate rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church; Ike Eisenstein, owner of Rogue Valley Billing and Southern Oregon Credit Service; Casey Mitchell, owner of Ashland Design Alliance; Paul Nicholson, executive director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and Susan Saladoff, partner in the law firm of Davis, Gilstrap, Hearn, Saladoff and Smith, P.C. Anyone interested in purchasing stock can contact the bank at 482-8383. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.