[MAY 23, 2000]  Central Illinois Bank had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning at its new Lincoln branch, located at 428 Keokuk St. The bank has been operating since April 17th. The red ribbon was cut by Wally H. Reese, the senior vice president of the Lincoln branch, with Mayor Joan Ritter and the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors in attendance. The bank occupies the former site of Little Caesar’s Pizza and is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Central Illinois Bank’s (CIB) parent company, Central Illinois Bank Marine Bancshares Inc., began in 1987 primarily as a commercial bank offering business loans to finance start-up costs, working capital, and reinvestments in facilities and equipment. It now offers credit cards, cash management services and automated clearinghouse capabilities. In recent years, CIB has expanded to include all of the retail customer services. There are approximately 40 CIB banking facilities throughout the Midwest.

[CIB's employees and the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce ambassadors at Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony]

Julie Dreesen, president and chief operating officer of CIB, said, "I’m very excited. We’ve got a great group of people from the community working here. We picked the people first and then the facility site. We are going to be a good fit in Lincoln."

The Lincoln branch will have a staff of four and will receive direct support as needed from its Peoria and Springfield locations. Four full-time employees from Lincoln will run the branch office: Wally Reese, senior vice president, business development; F. Kay Bauer, office manager; Cindy Anderson, teller supervisor and customer service representative; and Ginger Bryant, teller.

[Wally H. Reese, senior vice president, business development, settles into his new CIB office.]

Reese, an experienced banker, came out of a year and a half of retirement to accept the helm of the new venture. According to Reese, he was offered "a significant challenge." He had opened many branches before but had never opened a bank. He said, "The circumstances were right for me to spend another period of my life in banking. I don’t know how long it will be, but as long as it’s fun, I’ll probably wake up every morning and do it."

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CIB’s philosophy is to put the customer first, which Reese said is needed in today’s banking environment. He sees CIB’s Lincoln branch as a deposit-generating facility, with deposits used throughout Central Illinois. Renna Hadsell, customer service operations manager from Peoria, said, "It’s been very interesting to see a bank grow so quickly. I’m excited about having a new office in a new area."

[CIB, the new bank in town]

Lincoln has many fine banks already, Reese added, as a former Magna Bank officer. "We hope to generate new business," he said. "Although we are small in our attitudes toward how we care for people, we are large enough to handle any lending need. We have sufficient lending limits for any size project. We have 750 million dollars in assets and corporate holdings of two billion dollars."

"We are unique in that we are a small bank with the capital and strength of a large bank," Reese concluded.

[Kym C. Ammons-Scott]

Wear your seat belt: Click it or ticket

[MAY 22, 2000]  May 22 through June 4, which includes the Memorial Day weekend, is the first enforcement period for the "click it or ticket" campaign to enforce the state of Illinois mandatory seat belt law. According to Trooper Dan Beck of Illinois State Police District 9, 305 state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies are taking part in the campaign.

Any person stopped for any traffic offense who is not wearing a seat belt will receive the $55 fine for non-compliance with the seat belt law, as well as the fine for the original traffic violation. Trooper Beck said the campaign is an effort to increase seat belt use, which is only 65.9 percent in Illinois.