EATON — Banking issues and interest rates were the topics of the discussion when Preble County Commissioners met with Treasurer Shannon Chappel on Wednesday, Aug. 14, and Chappel’s responses left the board unhappy with the current situation.
“I recommend that the county continue to stay with LCNB National Bank, that they have been supportive in the products and the services that they provide to our office and also to the auditor’s office,” Chappel told the board. “I had also reached out with one of the others, Somerville Bank, and they weren’t able to provide some of the things that we currently have with LCNB, with scanning checks, with our remote capture, they don’t offer that right at this time.”
Commission President David Haber corrected Chappel, noting Somerville does off the service. Chappel said she was told they had no one using it.
Haber also asked what the current checking account balance was. “A little over $22 million,” Chappel answered, “But we still haven’t gotten the tax settlement disbursed yet. After I get that, then I want to get that money into a Star Ohio account.”
When questioned about what she meant by putting the money into a Star Ohio account, Chappel explained, “After finding out what the rate is, what it’s earning at LCNB, and I know at Star Ohio it’s over 5 percent, so I want to try to get that money into back into that account, because that’s what the previous treasurer would do.”
“So your recommendation is for us to use an account that has a far lesser interest rate?” Commissioner Adam Craft asked.
Chappel said LCNB had not presented another product they had with a higher interest rate prior to the requested deadline.
“So, we are going to have to go to the taxpayers and explain to the taxpayers why the Preble County Commissioners granted LCNB a contract whenever we were offered $462,000 more in interest off of $15 million. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to make that case to the taxpayers, because I don’t think that it’s a logical case to make. That’s why I have a lot of problems with it, a big problem with what’s been done here. I understand they sent something in after the deadline, but I also question that too, because you didn’t put your best effort forward at LCNB, you didn’t put your best foot forward, and then you turn around and you try to cherry pick.”
“If I would have had more information that was given to me regarding the rates at LCNB, like I said, I thought I was still earning 5 percent there, I would have been transferring that money already to Star Ohio and that way we were earning the interest,” Chappel countered.
The county’s 5 percent interest rate at LCNB had been cut off in April, according to Chappel, based on what she said she was told by an LCNB rep who had a conversation with former treasurer Brenda White. “It was never passed on to me,” Chappel said.
“That’s pretty poor of LCNB to do that because they give other county offices, 4.65 percent and they cut us out,” Haber said.
“How are we to explain that to the taxpayers as well?” Craft asked again. “We can hire another person to just deal with the banks out of the interest for those and pay them $100 grand a year and still be money ahead. I’m just not comfortable with this.”
“We’ve got all our risk in one bank that’s not treating us right,” Haber said.
“I think they have treated us until maybe at this moment. We have had a bad situation,” Chappel said.
“They didn’t even bid it,” Haber said.
Haber and Craft noted, “they were just happy to go along with it as it is, and charging us extra fees.”
Chappel said she had a lot of things she was trying to manage in the Treasurer’s Office.
“I guess my, my thing is, you guys, you’ve asked me what I’ve been wanting to do with this office and with right now, my time frame, I’ve got enough other stuff I’m trying to manage,” she said. “Going out to another bank, and then also maintaining whatever we have left with LCNB, and trying to managing two different or possibly two to four, because I know currently we have two checking accounts at LCNB. One takes care of our buyers, the other one takes care of the general information checks, and then to have another bank doing the same kind of transaction, trying to doing that. I also don’t know what all it entails with the Auditor’s Office because of payroll and and all that kind of stuff, paying the checks and everything, how we’re going to have to set this up, and how quickly or anything like that. I don’t know how soon you’re wanting to go about changing banks and everything, and I don’t know how soon this can all get taken care of. I don’t know how this would be.
She continued, “I thought, I feel like I’ve got enough right now, learning my position and doing whatever I need in my time frame and that. But I understand what you’re saying about the interest rate. I’m not denying that.”
Chappel wanted to go back to LCNB based on the past and current working relationship.
“I think we’re in a unique situation. We’ve we’ve gotten some feedback related to what the market looks like,” Commissioner Rachael Vonderhaar said. “The banks have, should have put their best foot forward in this situation. We always have the opportunity of moving money to Star Ohio to get the higher interest rate, related to the LCNB situation, but we have the opportunity to be supportive of local banks at the same time, especially when they’ve given a good bid from the get go. So it’s not like we have to just bless a single bank for a working relationship.”
“We don’t have to do anything on it today, but when you do a little more research, because my opinion is, if they’re going to screw you before now, they’re going to screw you later,” Haber said of LCNB. “I mean, it’s the whole bid thing. That’s what really is upsetting. And they wouldn’t come back to this other interest if you hadn’t gone back to them.”
The board advised Chappel to gather interest rate information from other banks including Somerville Bank, and add it to a comparison spreadsheet, and then present a financial management plan recommendation for allocating funds across multiple banks based on the bid rates.
“If you get it sent over to us, along with a financial plan recommendation of where you would put money, based upon the rates that have been offered in these bids, because it’s a bid process, and that’s what we’re stuck with, is the bid process that we’re dealing with,” Vonderhaar said. “I would think there’s probably then going to need to be some discussion with your office, the Auditor’s Office, what that looks like related to the numbers that have been submitted this week.”
Commissioners also asked to have the information and a follow up discussion with Chappel by the Monday, Aug. 26, Commission meeting.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
