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Commissioner Gill, absent, Commissioner Luciano, absent, Commissioner Mercado, absent, Commissioner Murray-Thomas, absent, Commissioner Richardson,

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Commissioner Siebold, absent, Commissioner Sermons, absent, Commissioner Vice President Cooper, here, Commissioner President Palmaris.

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Here. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I have before me certification of clerk that this meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting.

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The purpose of this meeting is to meet with the financial institutions that the county have

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all of our deposits and investments with and discuss their reinvestment activities

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and their impact here in the county of Essex. So tonight we're going to meet three banks and

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the first bank up is Providence Bank. Can we please have them come in? Thank you.

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Good

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evening.

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Don't be shy.

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Come on up.

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Come on up to the mic.

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Yes.

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Code

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off.

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Make yourself comfortable for a couple of minutes.

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We don't bite.

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Hi.

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How are you?

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How are you?

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Good.

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Please state your name and affiliation for the record and you can introduce the other

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folks that you have with you today.

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Sure.

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My name is Leonardo Ramos with Provident Bank and I have with me Roxanne Camejo.

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I'm the CRA Officer for Provident Bank and Roxanne is the Community Development Officer for Provident Bank.

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Well, thank you so much for coming this evening. Please give us an overview of your

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reinvestment activities here in the County of Essex. Please highlight for us,

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especially the community investments

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with the community-based organizations,

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your programs and services,

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any loans that you've made to small businesses,

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LGBTQ community or veterans are the things

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that we're really interested in hearing about this evening.

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Okay.

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I have more, but definitely yes.

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So from the survey that you said,

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we've done 42 small business loans

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for about 15,424,000 in Essex County.

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We've also done 126 mortgage loans for 104,710,000.

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When it comes to community development loans,

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we did five loans, five community development loans

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for 45,950.

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We did one large loan for a revitalization loan for $43 million to DNR Orange to Urban Renewal

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LLC.

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It is an orange, this is a real-state development firm, and it was a project for the redevelopment

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of Main Street and the rehabilitation of Main Street in the city of Orange. That project

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built 200 units, multi-family rentals and about 353 parking for 353 vehicles basically.

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With four community development loans that are community service, two loans for Jewish

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service for the developmentally disabled of Metro West in Livingston, one to support their

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activities and the other one was more for capital needs.

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We did a loan for $250,000 to Glass Roots, incorporated in Newark, that is a non-profit

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organization who teaches glass making to youth.

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And then we did a loan for $1.9 million to DV, Mac, Buildings, LLC, which is a family

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urgent care.

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You

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know, we've done about 32 grants in the Essex County as well for $54,465.

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Two grants for affordable housing, two grants for economic development, and seven grants

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for community services.

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Thank you.

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Does your colleague want to add anything to your presentation?

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Please state your name and affiliation on a record, please, before you begin.

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Roxanne Cameo, Senior Vice President, Community Development Officer for Provident Bank.

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I do want to add all the activity as the community development officer for the bank.

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It is my job to make sure that we engage with the non-profits, schools, small businesses

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in Essex County, but also throughout our footprints.

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and I personally sit on a board here in Essex County for greater Newark for Habitat for Humanity

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that provides affordable housing throughout Essex County, but they also extend housing in Union County and Hudson County.

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My employee, Lana Molina, she also sits on a board here in Essex County called GEM Project,

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which also provides services to the youth here in Essex County,

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specifically in the city of Newark.

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But we also have other board, other affiliate, other employees at Provident Bank

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that serve on boards and provide services

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throughout our footprint and here in Essex County.

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In addition to board service, we also conduct financial literacy workshops.

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My coworker, Leo, had provided a list of all the workshops

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workshops we've completed here in Essex County, I want to say there was at least 30 workshops.

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This includes financial literacy to the youth, to seniors, and also to adults.

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We also provide small business education to entrepreneurs here in Essex County.

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And we also provide scam presentations for the seniors here in Essex County.

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Tonight, down in the Ironbound section in Lafayette Avenue, we are conducting a

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home-buyer workshop with the City of Newark's grant program.

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So we can discuss about our special mortgage products

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that we currently have here in Essex County.

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One specifically is called the Community Advantage Program.

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That mortgage program provides a discounted rate

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to individuals looking to purchase in Essex County,

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specifically in majority black and Hispanic census

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track areas, and then we also have another program called the Welcome Home Loan, which

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offers a discounted rate of fixed mortgage for first-time home buyers who are considered

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low and moderate income looking at the HUD medium income guideline.

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So we have those programs.

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In addition, we also have the Small Business Advantage Program, which if the business

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is located in a low and moderate census track area, then we'll offer them a discount

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up to 2% for a small business loan and they could be anywhere here in Essex

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County or anywhere within our footprint at Provident Bank. So these are some

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special programs that we offer and we also have a foundation, the Provident

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Bank Foundation that has new pillars that are rolling out in 2025 that will

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focus on education and that's separate than Provident Bank but it is

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is part of the Provident Bank Foundation.

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Thank you.

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The grant-making activities that's listed in this report here,

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was that through the foundation?

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That is through Provident Bank.

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That's not through the foundation, that is separate.

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We have a separate Board of Directors for the Provident Foundation,

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but it is an extended arm of Provident Bank.

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Thank you.

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Commissioner, is there any questions?

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Thank you for coming today and also thank you for having your staff, my volunteer and local

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boards.

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I'm a non-profit guy so I speak in that language.

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So I want to go back to

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about,

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so that's an average ward of about $1,500 or so.

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Is that likely?

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Does that sound about right?

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It sounds about right.

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Okay.

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So can you tell what kind of organizations you are funding like that through your bank

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directly?

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What are the nature of those organizations?

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Sure, the majority are non-profit organizations.

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One of the organizations that we actually fund is Focus.

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And we're funding more of those as well.

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So I am actually, I do sit in the board of Focus as well.

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I forgot to mention that Hispanic Center

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for Community Development here in Newark.

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And then other organizations that will come to us

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also come to the branch requesting funding.

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And then like Roxanne mentioned, for larger grants

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that we utilize the foundation.

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The foundation is the one that actually

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provides the very large grants.

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What are the other kind of organizations

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that you give on the educational ones?

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I mean, I know they're not profit,

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so they wouldn't be qualifying for it anyway.

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Yeah, they do community work, educational.

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They work with children with disabilities.

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So there's a proliferation

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of the organizations that we actually work with.

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We don't work with one.

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Curious, do you have any arts and museums

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and organizations?

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We do, actually.

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We provide for the arts as well.

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You mentioned the foundation pillars.

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I know you're not representing the foundation,

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but some of those changes to the pillars

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of foundation for next year.

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What are they, are you aware of what those pillars are?

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Not 100%.

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They're actually because of the merger.

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they're in the midst of re-bamping the foundation so I don't know exactly all the

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pillars that there will be actually focusing on but you know we can come

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back next year and then kind of like give you a little more on the foundation as well.

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I think that's a great event a great interest of the committee you know as a

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whole and specifically I will be focused on the arts because they are

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the top of all the non-profits seem to get to less

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because it's hard to compete with homeless issues

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and things like that.

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When they're all locked in that group,

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they get prioritized, and the arts usually suffer

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as a result of being kind of a larger group.

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So I'd be curious to see what they are,

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what your pillars would be on the foundation side

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and a robust list of the kind of musicians

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you're funding through the bank side.

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Okay.

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Thank you.

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Commission of Richardson any questions. No comment. I like your presentation. I like the fact that you

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deal with a lot of non-profits and give loans to small businesses

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Those are the things we'd like to hear and you didn't come in with the same usual

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list of suspects that the big guys who give

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All of the grants so I was happy to hear that we need more place to do what you guys do

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By the way, something I forgot to mention, we do partner through EverFive with schools

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in Newark and we have a program that we give away to schools.

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Majority of those are sitting in LMI areas and through that they get self-guided financial

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literacy.

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So, we get teachers to kind of like sign up for that, we give them the program and

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And then they're able to go in and look at self-guided financial advice.

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So they're able to look at videos and then learn about the basics of banking, how to

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borrow money, how to spend money, all of that.

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This year alone we had 685 students that have signed up and they've completed 3,686

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modules.

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So, I agree with everything that my colleagues said.

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One of my questions is how do people find out about your products?

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You know, if they don't walk into a bank, how would they know?

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And especially the grant-making side, where I often always ask,

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how do we go about applying for grants?

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And sometimes you go to some of your websites,

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and it's like a cat and mouse chase.

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You've got to really drill down to figure out where the links,

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who are the contact people.

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So the public is at home watching this program tonight.

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So how do they find out about your loan making activities

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and your grant making activities?

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So I mean, I'll head to direct you to the website,

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but it's all in the website, yes.

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And then also, you know, we have people like Roxanne

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that is in the community always having conversations

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and talking with the community advocates

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to let them know how all this works,

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the programs that we have.

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We also have community, or not community,

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but CRA, law and officers, they do the same, right?

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They're in the community having conversations

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with community organizations,

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having conversations with the borrowers,

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explaining the products, the services,

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and then I'm there as well, right?

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So reaching out to the organizations

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that we think are deserving

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because of all the things that they're doing

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and uh

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Ensuring that they know how to apply for the grants and the grant making and where the money is.

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So if I go to your website today, is it clear that if I poke around some, how to find out about a grant, how to find out about your living services?

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There is a section for the foundation specifically where you actually click and you can see everything that the foundation does.

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If I can add?

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State your name and affiliation for the mic.

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Please, Roxanne Cameo with Providence Bank.

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Just to add to how we get all the information out,

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we also have a huge, not a huge marketing department

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that specifically go into magazines like Positive Community

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which is known in Essex County with the churches

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and we put our product on that magazine

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along with Urban News.

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We also post our information in radio stations, larger newspapers, in billboards throughout Essex County.

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I don't know off the top of my head, but it is out there through our marketing department,

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and we can provide the locations if needed, but we do have different ways, train stations, transportation,

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where individuals are waiting for their bus or train. They will see our ad.

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We've also tried a solar bench on the campus in the past,

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but it didn't really generate so much, so we tried the magazines.

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So magazines like Community Positive, Urban News are some just in Essex County

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that we announce our mortgage product so other people can reach out.

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But like Bill said, I'm out in the community.

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I'm meeting with nonprofits throughout Essex County like Urban League.

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they invite us to their workshops, we attend their workshops, invest new work, New Jersey

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citizen action. Any organization that's HUD certified gives us an opportunity to discuss

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our product and invite individuals to come work with our CRA MLOs so they get additional

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information.

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Thank you. Commissioner Richardson?

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Yes, I just wonder how much bank information you actually teach folks. Do you teach

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them about when they make a deposit in your bank and let's say a check-in account that

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say they put in $10,000 in your bank, you loan that out at a high interest rate to the

247
00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:33,860
borrowers, but the person who puts the money in the bank is very looted for putting their

248
00:17:33,860 --> 00:17:37,020
money in your bank. How do they get a better rate?

249
00:17:38,870 --> 00:17:41,410
So, like, name an affiliation for the record, please,

250
00:17:41,470 --> 00:17:42,050
before you respond.

251
00:17:42,210 --> 00:17:45,290
Leonardo Ramos, C.R.A. officer at Provident Bank.

252
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:54,180
So, we do, like, we do have, first of all,

253
00:17:54,260 --> 00:17:55,620
we have an affiliation with Everfi.

254
00:17:56,140 --> 00:17:59,480
We have about 20 financial literacy seminars

255
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,480
that we do on a very regular basis.

256
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:04,220
They go from the very basic,

257
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:06,420
all the way up to more complicated things.

258
00:18:06,580 --> 00:18:09,260
So, the very basic of how do you establish an account,

259
00:18:09,260 --> 00:18:14,820
How do you use the account, banking services, and then more complicated to how do you establish

260
00:18:14,820 --> 00:18:19,120
a business, how does the business work, how do you find funding for the business?

261
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:30,000
So we have that, but also our culture as bankers in the bank itself, we have a motto, a commitment

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00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,340
you can count on.

263
00:18:32,580 --> 00:18:40,000
And the idea of that is you can count on us to tell you and steer you in the right way if you will.

264
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:46,860
So if you come to the branch and you open an account and you have money that you will be able to actually invest,

265
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,420
we will let you know where your money will be making more.

266
00:18:52,660 --> 00:18:55,840
The benefit is for you and that's what we do.

267
00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:01,140
And it's not, you know, I'm not trying to sell you a bunch of goods here.

268
00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,900
It is truthfully what happens when you go to a provident bank branch.

269
00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,200
I worked in another bank where that was insincere, but this is actually very sincere.

270
00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,960
You still didn't tell me how I could get more interest rate on my money.

271
00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,320
You did everything but tell me that, right?

272
00:19:19,500 --> 00:19:22,800
I'm going to give you a typical banker, I'm sorry, defense.

273
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:28,640
I do want to add one more thing, because you bought a deposit.

274
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:29,920
Your name again for the record, please?

275
00:19:30,060 --> 00:19:33,120
Roxanne Camayo, Community Development Officer, Providence Bank.

276
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:40,140
We also participate on the national program called the Bank On Program, which this helps

277
00:19:40,140 --> 00:19:44,840
individuals that are looking for an account where they won't get charged the overdraft

278
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:45,180
fee.

279
00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:51,000
We are a participating lender, and that's huge for us, because, you know, there's

280
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,060
There's hundreds of other banks that are part of that program, but it is a national

281
00:19:54,060 --> 00:19:58,860
program and it ties in with who we are at Provident Bank and making sure that we're providing

282
00:19:58,860 --> 00:20:01,140
them the right services to our customers.

283
00:20:02,860 --> 00:20:09,480
And regarding education, we educate not just through financial literacy, but if Leo

284
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,440
and I are not the professionals to talk about investment, we have a department

285
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:14,000
for that.

286
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,180
So we have our investment department.

287
00:20:16,180 --> 00:20:21,680
I would say they're the Protection Plus program where we invite them to some of our events

288
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:26,280
where they will talk about a 401K, they'll talk about getting life insurance, even if

289
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,060
it's for $10,000 to get one just in case, right?

290
00:20:30,500 --> 00:20:35,720
So we have several departments that I work with exclusively when I go out and meet

291
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,280
the community because it's not just going to be about buying a home, it's going

292
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:46,880
to be about banking, it's going to be about saving, life insurance, education, and starting

293
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:47,680
a small business.

294
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:53,500
So I try to bring all my partners to events, to tabling events so they get the full scope

295
00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:55,060
of what a bank can offer a customer.

296
00:20:56,620 --> 00:20:57,260
Thank you.

297
00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:58,360
Commissioner, is there any other question?

298
00:20:58,780 --> 00:20:59,040
Commissioner President.

299
00:20:59,260 --> 00:20:59,620
Thank you.

300
00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:04,240
Well, you're talking to go on the website, and I did, and since I'm a nonprofit guy,

301
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:05,540
I do this quite a bit.

302
00:21:05,540 --> 00:21:11,140
So, unfortunately, when you type in grants, grant requests, the only thing that comes up

303
00:21:15,980 --> 00:21:17,700
is that there's an explanation for that.

304
00:21:18,060 --> 00:21:25,840
So, the definition made a decision that they will actually grant everyone that was granted in 2023 for 2024.

305
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:32,100
We would never know that, though. And that probably means that there was no opportunity for new people, new organizations.

306
00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:34,360
Not in 2024, but 2025, yes.

307
00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:40,800
Okay, so, but my point is, the second part of it, aside from the foundation, since you

308
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:46,740
got to give about $54,000 when I type in anything like, you know, local branch, sponsorship local

309
00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:51,660
branch, branch, or anything like that, those kind of key words, nothing comes up. So, in

310
00:21:51,660 --> 00:21:57,800
other words, if I were to come to you as a branch, I'd have to go into your appointment

311
00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:02,280
as president, you'd have to go into the branch and seek that out, it's not immediately

312
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:09,040
the available. So perhaps if you may be receptive to some advice and that is to

313
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,460
send back the message that when you're looking for support you can't find it

314
00:22:13,460 --> 00:22:17,180
here. I know you're in the business of making money but you also have an

315
00:22:17,180 --> 00:22:22,140
obligation through your foundations right and so that shouldn't be so buried in

316
00:22:22,140 --> 00:22:27,320
here to to find. It should be a little bit easier to find and I'm in the

317
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,520
not problem business and I think everyone understands what you're

318
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,340
about, but not everyone understands the difference between the publishing grants and the fact that

319
00:22:35,340 --> 00:22:40,520
you make separate grants in your branch as well. So there's no distinction for that. And that's

320
00:22:41,260 --> 00:22:46,540
something I brought up with your branch last year and the year before. And the year before.

321
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:54,160
Now this is my seventh year. So at least six times out of that. Maybe this be the seventh.

322
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,800
So this doesn't really make it back home.

323
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,300
And that's important to the board as a whole about your philanthropy.

324
00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:06,740
But if your philanthropy is very difficult to navigate, then it makes the process so more difficult.

325
00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:09,260
So I applaud you for all that you're doing.

326
00:23:09,940 --> 00:23:12,360
But this remains a challenge now for a number of years.

327
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:15,620
And we do a lot of business with you guys, right?

328
00:23:16,100 --> 00:23:16,340
Yes.

329
00:23:17,060 --> 00:23:18,460
Do you have any figures of that?

330
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:19,220
Yes, we do.

331
00:23:19,980 --> 00:23:20,380
So,

332
00:23:22,730 --> 00:23:28,130
according to the sheet that we were given, Mr. President, our total deposits are $34 million

333
00:23:28,570 --> 00:23:29,570
with the profit in bank.

334
00:23:29,690 --> 00:23:32,910
You know, I mean, maybe not the biggest client you have, but it is respectable.

335
00:23:33,630 --> 00:23:37,070
I would say $34 million part of the client.

336
00:23:37,750 --> 00:23:43,610
You know, when you get to people like that, I think the point should be driven somewhere

337
00:23:43,610 --> 00:23:49,730
to corporate that, hey, a major client is inquiring about these things on behalf of

338
00:23:49,730 --> 00:23:59,530
public and it only makes you look better anyway. So this is some feedback that I repeated over the years that I told you folks that now don't take it personally online.

339
00:23:59,610 --> 00:24:01,370
No, no, we will take it back.

340
00:24:01,710 --> 00:24:09,310
But this, like, just needs to hit home and see you're not the only bank, you know, but this is important to our board and I think this board has stressed that over the years.

341
00:24:09,830 --> 00:24:10,230
Thank you.

342
00:24:10,950 --> 00:24:14,350
Well, thank you, Mr. President, for that. Mr. Coltry.

343
00:24:20,770 --> 00:24:29,770
I see they have a small business loan program, it would be very beneficial if they contacted the office of small business.

344
00:24:30,230 --> 00:24:42,850
So when we do have programs they can come and present their loan program and possibly teach some of the participants at the small business agenda that we have.

345
00:24:42,850 --> 00:24:46,230
So hopefully they can reach out to our office of small business

346
00:24:46,990 --> 00:24:52,390
Thank You mr. Coltry. That was going to be one of my closing remarks to them. So thank you for that. Mr. President

347
00:24:52,390 --> 00:24:56,730
Thank you. I appreciate your comments, and I agree with them 100%

348
00:24:56,730 --> 00:25:04,470
I was going to say for a number of years going we have highlighted the need for Providence to make it easier for

349
00:25:05,910 --> 00:25:10,290
Residents to find out about your products, especially in the grant-making area

350
00:25:10,290 --> 00:25:16,810
I think you guys have done a tremendous job with your lending activities small businesses with your mortgage product products

351
00:25:16,810 --> 00:25:22,790
The first-time home buyers you guys have great products, and you guys always come in and give us a great presentation

352
00:25:22,790 --> 00:25:24,530
It's easy to follow

353
00:25:24,530 --> 00:25:29,790
It's easy for us to understand and you work with community-based organizations that a lot of us

354
00:25:30,290 --> 00:25:35,210
Interact with and as Commissioner Richardson pointed out you're not just dealing with the same big

355
00:25:35,730 --> 00:25:39,250
Organizations community-based ones that always get the funding you mix it up

356
00:25:39,250 --> 00:25:40,890
and we appreciate that about you.

357
00:25:41,310 --> 00:25:44,030
My biggest dig is what the Commissioner President

358
00:25:44,030 --> 00:25:44,990
just pointed out.

359
00:25:45,490 --> 00:25:47,830
Your website is very difficult to navigate.

360
00:25:48,030 --> 00:25:51,390
I asked that on purpose because I recall year after year

361
00:25:51,390 --> 00:25:53,870
we've highlighted that as a concern

362
00:25:53,870 --> 00:25:56,250
and something that we wanted to see change.

363
00:25:56,650 --> 00:25:58,770
Something that I highlighted year after year

364
00:25:58,770 --> 00:26:01,990
is I thought your grant making side from the bank

365
00:26:01,990 --> 00:26:03,210
is a little lean.

366
00:26:03,750 --> 00:26:05,910
When I look at $34 million in investment,

367
00:26:05,910 --> 00:26:11,550
I expect to see more than $100,000 in grant making from the bank.

368
00:26:11,990 --> 00:26:16,910
You guys are required through your CRA activities, and I understand that banks often hedge heavy

369
00:26:16,910 --> 00:26:22,650
on the lending side, but we need the grant making side to equally complement the lending

370
00:26:22,650 --> 00:26:23,990
and investments at the same level.

371
00:26:24,450 --> 00:26:29,570
I would love to hear as a follow-up the level of grant making from the foundation

372
00:26:29,570 --> 00:26:33,970
side, because you are the first person to really talk about the private foundation,

373
00:26:33,970 --> 00:26:40,570
And I know one of the things that I beat you guys up for is the grant making and you guys are the first group to talk about

374
00:26:40,570 --> 00:26:44,070
Your foundation side and the lending that they give out

375
00:26:44,070 --> 00:26:48,350
So I would love to see what their grant making activities has been

376
00:26:48,350 --> 00:26:53,690
And I'm sure it's a lot better than what we see here from the bank lending that that's gone out

377
00:26:53,690 --> 00:26:55,910
And I'm sure that may make me feel a little bit better

378
00:26:55,910 --> 00:27:01,870
But also to compliment that to go on back to the commissioner president. How do people get to the foundation side?

379
00:27:01,870 --> 00:27:07,610
How do people find out about your giving, if there's an annual round of funding?

380
00:27:07,810 --> 00:27:09,290
How do people apply for that?

381
00:27:09,850 --> 00:27:15,670
So if no one else have any other questions, there are some open questions that we ask here today.

382
00:27:16,030 --> 00:27:18,510
We would like to have that information provided back to our office.

383
00:27:18,790 --> 00:27:19,910
Adam, was the contact?

384
00:27:20,610 --> 00:27:20,930
Is it?

385
00:27:21,530 --> 00:27:27,670
So Adam, please give on your way out your business cards, please, to Mr. Adam so that we can follow up with you

386
00:27:27,670 --> 00:27:32,530
And please provide us back with that information that we're looking for around the foundation

387
00:27:32,530 --> 00:27:33,710
and grant making.

388
00:27:34,030 --> 00:27:39,150
And I want to drive home, Commissioner, President's point of, your higher-ups need to understand

389
00:27:39,150 --> 00:27:43,530
$34 million is a significant amount of an investment for us.

390
00:27:43,710 --> 00:27:47,110
And we'd like to see some little tweaks on your website.

391
00:27:47,510 --> 00:27:51,630
I'm sure you guys have a whole big, robust IT department that could make some little,

392
00:27:51,710 --> 00:27:56,030
you know, clicks of that mouse to make it easier for people to find those grants.

393
00:27:56,030 --> 00:27:57,530
So thank you so much for coming out.

394
00:27:57,750 --> 00:27:58,710
We appreciate your time.

395
00:27:58,830 --> 00:27:59,830
Thank you for the opportunity.

396
00:28:00,310 --> 00:28:00,710
Thank you.

397
00:29:26,940 --> 00:29:27,980
And give us a little over.

398
00:29:30,500 --> 00:29:30,800
Good evening.

399
00:29:31,180 --> 00:29:32,680
My name is Robert Barberino.

400
00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:34,180
I'm with Valley National Bank.

401
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,240
I'm in our government service department.

402
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,160
And I handle government banking for the bank.

403
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:41,560
Thank you.

404
00:29:42,780 --> 00:29:44,480
Hi, my name is Caitlin Chalizzi.

405
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:45,600
I'm from Valley Bank.

406
00:29:45,740 --> 00:29:46,940
I'm a senior vice president.

407
00:29:47,140 --> 00:29:50,140
One of part of the corporate social responsibility team

408
00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:52,820
and one of the Sierra regional officers for the bank.

409
00:29:52,820 --> 00:29:53,720
Thank you.

410
00:29:56,530 --> 00:29:57,030
Good evening.

411
00:29:57,510 --> 00:29:58,770
My name is Bernadette Moller.

412
00:29:59,270 --> 00:29:59,970
I'm an executive...

413
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,760
Executive vice president with the bank, and I oversee all of our corporate social responsibility

414
00:30:05,580 --> 00:30:11,860
CRA and some other regulatory matters across our footprint. Thanks for having us.

415
00:30:11,860 --> 00:30:15,060
Thank you. Thank you all so much for coming this evening. Please begin your presentation

416
00:30:15,060 --> 00:30:21,620
by giving us an overview, um, high level of your, um, CRA activities, specifically highlighting

417
00:30:21,620 --> 00:30:26,860
your community lending activities, your grants, your loans, your first time, um, home

418
00:30:27,580 --> 00:30:33,120
products, any mortgage products, things that were asked of you in the survey that you responded

419
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,040
to. Each time someone speaks, you please need to put your name and affiliation on a record

420
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,300
because we're recording and we have to transcribe.

421
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:50,480
Bernadette Muller, Valley Bank. So with regard to our CRA efforts, would you like me to

422
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:55,540
address specifically the bank's overall efforts or Essex County?

423
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:56,440
Essex County.

424
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:04,260
Okay, so with regard to Essex County, we have approximately 17 branches here in Essex County,

425
00:31:04,980 --> 00:31:15,640
and throughout the many different municipalities, including Newark, we have, from a community

426
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:22,000
lending and a mortgage lending perspective, probably one of the few banks, number one

427
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,080
that is headquartered here in New Jersey.

428
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,080
Although we cross, we span six states.

429
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:29,000
New Jersey is our largest.

430
00:31:29,940 --> 00:31:35,480
Essex County is definitely an area of concentration for us.

431
00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:39,380
We support many organizations within the county

432
00:31:40,820 --> 00:31:42,960
in terms of not just financial.

433
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:49,740
It's not our, it's not our goal to be just a financial

434
00:31:49,740 --> 00:31:51,200
and philanthropic on them.

435
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:57,320
When we support an organization, we like to support them with financial education, financial

436
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:07,620
resources, investments, whether it be the NRTC in Clinton Hill, or we like to do it

437
00:32:07,620 --> 00:32:08,840
across multiple channels.

438
00:32:10,180 --> 00:32:17,020
We are probably one of the few banks that have home mortgage originators still feed

439
00:32:17,020 --> 00:32:17,680
on the street.

440
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:23,200
I believe in Essex County in total, and let me double check.

441
00:32:23,460 --> 00:32:39,300
I think we originated approximately 264 residential mortgages of which almost half of them were

442
00:32:39,300 --> 00:32:44,000
either made to low or moderate individuals or in low or moderate income areas.

443
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:56,260
We have two proprietary programs that we keep in house, 97% financing and 95% financing from an LTV perspective.

444
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,020
With no PMI, we pay for the PMI.

445
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:08,300
We, in addition to that, we probably have, I'm going to say, an additional six programs

446
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:13,120
with Fannie and Freddie and FHA that we provide.

447
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:19,920
But I think what's important about Valley is although, as I mentioned earlier, we're

448
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:26,840
in six states, we are very committed to local leadership and local investments.

449
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:34,420
So our feet on the street will actually meet with our, you know, residential mortgage clients

450
00:33:34,420 --> 00:33:39,140
at their place of business, at their home, at the branch, wherever that may be.

451
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:44,200
Plus, of course, we do have digital capabilities as well.

452
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,220
But we're very much a relationship bank.

453
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:56,600
We, as I indicated at a moment earlier, have been long-time participants in the NRTC,

454
00:33:57,420 --> 00:34:00,780
the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Program.

455
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:08,080
And probably, not probably, but I could tell you, the very first one we did was a million dollars,

456
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:11,060
which was the max, and that was well over 10 years ago,

457
00:34:11,060 --> 00:34:17,360
And that was to an organization in the Orange's hands at the time.

458
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,460
And that was our very first entree into it.

459
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:27,460
We have just shy of, I believe it's about, we're in the top ten,

460
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:33,120
as some of my community-based organizations have pointed out,

461
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:38,460
we're in the top ten of lifetime contributors to that program.

462
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:46,780
We also participate very actively and have done so for, I think since it's inception,

463
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:53,220
the Affordable Housing Program, AHP, which you may be familiar with, it's with the Federal

464
00:34:53,220 --> 00:35:01,160
Home Loan Bank of New York, and we as a member bank of the Federal Home Loan Bank will put

465
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:09,940
through applications on behalf of our community-based organizations for the purpose of developing

466
00:35:09,940 --> 00:35:11,740
housing, affordable housing.

467
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:21,440
So we just recently put through another five applications for that, and we monitor that.

468
00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:29,340
So we try to really take advantage of programs wherever we can to benefit the people who

469
00:35:29,340 --> 00:35:37,340
need it the most. And with these programs, especially the AHP, it helps support nonprofits

470
00:35:37,340 --> 00:35:44,540
and even mission-based developers try to create affordable housing, which as we know is very

471
00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:50,020
expensive. So that's something that we are, you know, very much committed to.

472
00:35:51,520 --> 00:36:02,220
We also have developed, again a little unique, we had a need, one of our advisory board members

473
00:36:02,620 --> 00:36:05,940
brought to us a need to do land trust lending.

474
00:36:06,780 --> 00:36:14,560
So we've developed a product where we support people who want to buy homes in a community

475
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:21,900
the Land Trust and we've done that here in Essex County and we've also done it in upstates

476
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:27,060
including Florida and Alabama.

477
00:36:30,430 --> 00:36:35,130
Thank you. You're welcome. Can I... Can we hear an overview

478
00:36:35,130 --> 00:36:36,250
of your grant making?

479
00:36:38,770 --> 00:36:50,590
Sure. So last year in 2023, thank you, we made a grant making

480
00:36:50,610 --> 00:37:03,910
Well, just in Essex County alone, we contributed approximately $360,000 to about 45 different

481
00:37:03,910 --> 00:37:04,750
organizations.

482
00:37:05,710 --> 00:37:14,310
Now, let me preface that by saying those grants and those donations were strictly for the

483
00:37:14,310 --> 00:37:23,170
support of low or moderate income individuals that are serviced by organizations or for

484
00:37:23,170 --> 00:37:31,470
small businesses, CDFIs, they were all, as we would say, CRA qualified. They don't encompass

485
00:37:31,470 --> 00:37:37,130
all of our philanthropic grant giving here in Essex County.

486
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:39,980
Thank you.

487
00:37:42,580 --> 00:37:48,900
Thank you for coming here today, so I'm a non-profit guide by trade, and so my questions

488
00:37:48,900 --> 00:37:53,440
are going to be more about your philanthropy to small organizations that are not necessarily

489
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:54,580
based on housing.

490
00:37:55,100 --> 00:38:01,660
So other banks may support the local historic house museum, an arts organization, things

491
00:38:01,660 --> 00:38:02,200
of that nature.

492
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:08,300
Can you discuss more about the way you help those kind of organizations and how a representative

493
00:38:08,300 --> 00:38:11,600
of Museum X would go about applying for a grant?

494
00:38:11,940 --> 00:38:17,040
Sure. We do support and we very much believe in the arts as well.

495
00:38:18,540 --> 00:38:23,040
So they're not mutually exclusive. I'll give you an example.

496
00:38:23,460 --> 00:38:26,760
We support New Jersey Performing Arts Center here in Newark,

497
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,740
but we support one of their programs that does outreach

498
00:38:31,300 --> 00:38:35,960
to young students that are from underserved neighborhoods.

499
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:47,580
So we do try wherever possible to reach those that may not be able to take advantage of some of these programs through the arts.

500
00:38:48,020 --> 00:38:55,560
We believe very much in the arts in terms of enhancing the overall quality of life and education.

501
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:05,240
There are many others that I can tell you about, but that one comes to mind since it's Essex County.

502
00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:10,280
I have time. I'm curious to know more because this is very important to me because I think

503
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:16,000
it gets overlooked quite a bit. So, I'm curious to know what are the kind of organizations

504
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,940
in that world that you fund in Essex County?

505
00:39:19,700 --> 00:39:27,240
So, with regard to the other organizations in Essex County that are museums, I don't...

506
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,600
Museum, arts, culture, anything of that sort.

507
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:38,860
So we very much invested in LUNA Stage, which is an organization in the valley.

508
00:39:39,740 --> 00:39:47,140
And we invested in that not only in grants, but in NRTC money as well.

509
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:55,300
The Institute of Music is another one in Elizabeth that we are out of that area that we...

510
00:39:55,300 --> 00:39:58,380
and they cover, I know Elizabeth is Union County,

511
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:01,300
but they do cover a wider area.

512
00:40:02,020 --> 00:40:06,880
Again, we try wherever to support the arts

513
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:08,520
and then support the arts

514
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:12,460
and then maybe hopefully it has a program

515
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:19,480
that reaches, again, people who are either low

516
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,460
or moderate income and may not be able

517
00:40:21,460 --> 00:40:25,600
to afford going to certain cultural shows.

518
00:40:26,780 --> 00:40:28,760
How would an organization go about applying?

519
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:39,180
You would contact any, you can go to any one of our branches and you can contact us directly

520
00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:44,100
and they would, you know, just send your application to us.

521
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:45,780
Can you find that online?

522
00:40:46,380 --> 00:40:48,840
We don't have our application online at present.

523
00:40:49,960 --> 00:41:00,280
We are in the process right now of navigating and upgrading our website, and we are having

524
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,300
discussions about putting it online.

525
00:41:02,620 --> 00:41:06,540
We haven't made the decision yet, but we are definitely having discussions.

526
00:41:06,820 --> 00:41:07,980
I mean, we can email it to you.

527
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,340
Is there any specific reason you don't have it online?

528
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:21,560
Yes, yes, because at this point in time where we want to make sure that when we put something

529
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:27,760
out there online, we can number one, fulfill it, turn around time, responsiveness.

530
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,760
So we want to make sure we understand what's involved in that.

531
00:41:32,260 --> 00:41:33,860
It's not an issue to get an application.

532
00:41:34,260 --> 00:41:38,420
Any branch would be happy to send you one, you know.

533
00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:39,280
It's electronic.

534
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:47,940
it's PDF. It's very easy. It's not a difficult process, but we don't, you know, we haven't

535
00:41:47,940 --> 00:41:51,560
thought about it. We want to know what the outcome would be before we do that, or think

536
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:55,280
about it, the possible outcomes and how we would adjust for that.

537
00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:59,160
And when you say application, I'm assuming you mean to like a foundation side of it,

538
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,900
not the local branch that gives away funding, is that correct?

539
00:42:01,900 --> 00:42:14,140
So to that point, most of Valley, historically, most of our philanthropic giving has been done at the bank level, not through a foundation.

540
00:42:17,220 --> 00:42:24,380
Many banks that you might see that were savings banks when they changed and they went through their conversion process.

541
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:28,880
They were mandated to put aside a certain amount of dollars.

542
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,080
So they have some very lofty and rich foundations.

543
00:42:33,580 --> 00:42:35,500
We never went through that process.

544
00:42:35,660 --> 00:42:37,100
We've always been a commercial bank.

545
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:39,480
We've always been here in New Jersey.

546
00:42:40,300 --> 00:42:44,540
So we don't have a lofty foundation like that.

547
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:49,220
And therefore, you know, most of the philanthropic giving is done right out of the banks.

548
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:51,440
So how long has Valley been in business?

549
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:52,880
1927.

550
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:55,160
And how long have you been serving Essex County?

551
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,360
And how long have we been serving Essex County?

552
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:03,420
Roughly I'm not going to hold to the precise date, but I want to get a sense with it been five years ten years 20

553
00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:07,080
Oh much more than that. Yeah. No, we bought we bought a bank

554
00:43:07,620 --> 00:43:11,020
Where our our branch is right on a broad on Bloomfield?

555
00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:12,680
Okay, so

556
00:43:13,340 --> 00:43:15,580
You've been around forever, right?

557
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:17,920
Presumably as long as I've been alive

558
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:24,780
As long as the internet's been around as long as websites have been prevalent in our mainstream society

559
00:43:24,780 --> 00:43:31,100
But you really can't find any mechanism or justification for putting this stuff online where many other banks do.

560
00:43:31,780 --> 00:43:35,360
So, forgive me, I'm not trying to be condescending or anything like that.

561
00:43:35,700 --> 00:43:44,040
But that's very weak answer from my point of view when so many other banks do have, this is not, you know, crazy information.

562
00:43:44,660 --> 00:43:52,400
And you're already processing grants, so you have grants, you're giving grants where you can't put it online.

563
00:43:52,900 --> 00:43:53,960
I didn't say we couldn't.

564
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:59,140
So can you give me an idea of how much business we do with you?

565
00:44:00,020 --> 00:44:01,160
And Essex County is our government?

566
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:03,620
What does that refer to? Can someone refer?

567
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:04,980
We only have $5 million.

568
00:44:05,460 --> 00:44:06,060
I'm sorry, okay.

569
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:07,080
$3.5 million.

570
00:44:07,660 --> 00:44:07,940
All right.

571
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:12,100
And Mr. President, for the record, you're concerned to a voice last year.

572
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,200
Yeah, so yeah, it's why I've been here seven years now.

573
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:17,760
This is like, I think this is what I'm going to say every night, you know.

574
00:44:18,500 --> 00:44:22,760
So for the last six years, I've said it, and I know you weren't the rep who's here last year.

575
00:44:22,860 --> 00:44:26,340
We had someone here who apparently wasn't in today. She's been here for the last couple years.

576
00:44:26,900 --> 00:44:33,320
And I've asked exactly the same questions pretty much, and I pretty much get a different answer every time.

577
00:44:33,860 --> 00:44:36,440
Well, first of all, I have to apologize for that.

578
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:41,860
So you're getting the answer from me overseeing the entire department.

579
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:49,480
I wanted to come this year purposely because I wanted to, you know, we believe so much

580
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:56,700
in what we do from a cultural perspective here at the bank, and I heard feedback, not

581
00:44:56,700 --> 00:44:59,840
not necessarily about that, but I did hear feet.

582
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,980
The feedback of that has some of these meetings were conducted and so I wanted to be here firsthand

583
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,380
so I could hear the questions that you asked.

584
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:14,840
I appreciate you coming and hearing it for yourself since you do have the social responsibility

585
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:21,260
component of it. So what I would say to other banks is to go report to the person who has

586
00:45:21,260 --> 00:45:25,560
the social responsibility, which in this case I'm talking to directly, so this is a great

587
00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:26,840
opportunity.

588
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:34,080
So I think it's very important to the board that banks give back, right? Period.

589
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:39,520
And it's great that we do low interest loans and all that stuff, but that's still really doing business

590
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:42,880
at the end of the day, maybe just with a smaller profit.

591
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:48,180
So as a non-profit guy that I've been trying to do for a long time in the arts and historic houses

592
00:45:48,180 --> 00:45:52,640
and working in very small museums where I've been maybe one of one employee

593
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,040
or one of 10 employees, or one of 50 employees.

594
00:45:56,780 --> 00:45:59,200
The issue is, like, it takes a long time

595
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,380
to do that research, and where in any other bank

596
00:46:01,380 --> 00:46:03,740
it makes it a little bit easier, your bank doesn't.

597
00:46:04,980 --> 00:46:07,180
Okay, I take that on your advisement.

598
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:10,360
And you did make a point to tell us

599
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,560
how important New Jersey is and how Essex County is.

600
00:46:12,580 --> 00:46:14,940
And so, you know, this is what Essex County

601
00:46:14,940 --> 00:46:16,280
is interested in, right?

602
00:46:16,460 --> 00:46:17,500
So at least in this room,

603
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:18,900
or at least I'll speak for myself,

604
00:46:19,660 --> 00:46:21,240
this is very important to us,

605
00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:23,980
And it doesn't seem to get addressed year after year after year.

606
00:46:24,540 --> 00:46:25,820
And I can rest assured.

607
00:46:26,700 --> 00:46:27,640
I'll be here this year.

608
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:29,960
And I'll be asking the same kind of questions.

609
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:32,640
Well hopefully I'll be here too.

610
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:34,260
And we can have this conversation.

611
00:46:34,380 --> 00:46:37,600
Well hopefully we get the wonderful improvements you've made

612
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:39,960
because you were already sort of thinking that

613
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:41,720
when you started to respond to it.

614
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,240
And hopefully we've heard the call

615
00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:47,520
because it's been a few years now

616
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,160
that we've kind of not really gotten the answer

617
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:57,660
and I was on your website going through it and it's difficult because there's nowhere to find it and that's my point.

618
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:05,000
So if I may, Mr. President, I think that we may need to make some adjustments in how we communicate out.

619
00:47:07,310 --> 00:47:12,990
As the board, we decide whether deposits are held with the county.

620
00:47:13,610 --> 00:47:18,770
The administration puts a resolution before us and we either vote it up or we vote it down.

621
00:47:18,770 --> 00:47:25,170
And we, as Mr. President, said, love banks that make investments in our community.

622
00:47:25,770 --> 00:47:30,390
Yes, the retail lending is great, but you're getting a return on that investment.

623
00:47:30,830 --> 00:47:35,250
We equally want to see a high level of giving from the grant-making perspective.

624
00:47:35,890 --> 00:47:41,590
And considering our level of investment with you, your level of giving is pretty darn good.

625
00:47:42,210 --> 00:47:47,190
You know, it's $359,000 and we have $3.5 million in the bank.

626
00:47:47,190 --> 00:47:54,290
That's a pretty good, you know, pretty good level of given, but at a minimum, I would think

627
00:47:54,290 --> 00:47:59,770
that you would put a page up on your website that at least says, if you're interested in

628
00:47:59,770 --> 00:48:06,350
grant making activities, you know, contact the local branch or a generic grant making

629
00:48:06,350 --> 00:48:11,670
kind of email for people to send something through, because as Mr. President just discussed,

630
00:48:11,670 --> 00:48:17,590
Because small community-based organizations don't have a whole lot of human capital to

631
00:48:17,590 --> 00:48:20,750
spend in, you know, researching to figure it out.

632
00:48:20,770 --> 00:48:21,350
Yeah, I understand.

633
00:48:21,590 --> 00:48:26,250
So, and if you're truly interested in that social responsibility that you talked about,

634
00:48:26,590 --> 00:48:29,670
it shouldn't be a treasure hunt to figure it out.

635
00:48:30,430 --> 00:48:36,070
Make it a little bit more accessible for people to at least apply, for people to try.

636
00:48:36,770 --> 00:48:38,990
Mr. President, do you have any more questions?

637
00:48:39,010 --> 00:48:40,430
No, I don't, Madam Vice President.

638
00:48:40,430 --> 00:48:41,190
Thank you very much.

639
00:48:41,330 --> 00:48:42,690
And thank you for your response.

640
00:48:42,690 --> 00:48:44,110
I think you covered it.

641
00:48:44,450 --> 00:48:47,130
Yeah, I appreciate your comments.

642
00:48:47,410 --> 00:48:48,110
Please put your name on the record again,

643
00:48:48,150 --> 00:48:48,990
please, before you speak.

644
00:48:49,710 --> 00:48:51,430
Bernadette Muller, Valley Bank.

645
00:48:52,310 --> 00:48:54,570
I appreciate your comments and your feedback.

646
00:48:55,430 --> 00:48:57,090
And then they are duly noted.

647
00:48:57,450 --> 00:48:57,790
Thank you.

648
00:48:58,170 --> 00:49:00,990
And hopefully we can resolve them.

649
00:49:01,190 --> 00:49:01,530
Thank you.

650
00:49:01,570 --> 00:49:03,530
I have one last question before you go.

651
00:49:04,310 --> 00:49:06,670
In your report that you gave to us,

652
00:49:06,670 --> 00:49:11,610
you referenced that you guys gave up 411 small business loans,

653
00:49:11,970 --> 00:49:16,890
but there wasn't a total aggregate number with that numeric value

654
00:49:16,890 --> 00:49:18,950
that the 411 loans represented.

655
00:49:19,430 --> 00:49:19,950
So as a follow-up...

656
00:49:19,950 --> 00:49:21,170
A dollar a month, you mean?

657
00:49:21,390 --> 00:49:21,530
A dollar a month.

658
00:49:21,530 --> 00:49:22,570
Yeah, no, I apologize.

659
00:49:22,850 --> 00:49:24,790
I noticed that too, so I asked the question.

660
00:49:25,570 --> 00:49:27,630
It was just shy of 18 million.

661
00:49:28,010 --> 00:49:29,070
18 million dollars.

662
00:49:29,350 --> 00:49:29,590
Yeah.

663
00:49:30,150 --> 00:49:33,410
And just also, I don't know, I think it was in the survey,

664
00:49:33,410 --> 00:49:40,270
and I apologize, a person who represented here before is no longer with the bank, which

665
00:49:40,270 --> 00:49:43,190
is why you're seeing some new faces.

666
00:49:43,450 --> 00:49:51,730
So I might not be, I didn't read through the whole survey in detail, but 91% of those

667
00:49:51,730 --> 00:49:57,170
loans were 100,000 or less, just as a point.

668
00:49:57,170 --> 00:50:03,890
And the other aspect, too, and I know investments are really important, but let's not underplay

669
00:50:03,890 --> 00:50:09,010
the investments that we get with the NRTC, the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit,

670
00:50:09,230 --> 00:50:17,350
you know, the organizations are getting, you know, 75,000, 200,000, 300,000, and also

671
00:50:17,350 --> 00:50:23,210
the AHP, like the Urban League of Essex County, you know, they could receive up to a million

672
00:50:23,210 --> 00:50:29,910
million dollars with us processing and putting through their application. Again, we recognize

673
00:50:30,390 --> 00:50:35,470
that those, you know, those needs really need to be met. So I think there's a bigger picture.

674
00:50:36,290 --> 00:50:37,670
I quickly left through the survey.

675
00:50:39,790 --> 00:50:44,430
We also have a community lending group, which again

676
00:50:44,430 --> 00:50:49,470
I'm probably focusing on lending. You don't want to hear that. But they do loans

677
00:50:49,470 --> 00:50:54,950
as small as 5,000 with a focus on minority and women-owned businesses.

678
00:50:55,730 --> 00:51:02,050
Service everyone, but there is a focus and outreach through CDFIs as well.

679
00:51:04,180 --> 00:51:09,790
And then we do the one thing that I will mention, we do a lot of statewide investing,

680
00:51:10,350 --> 00:51:17,750
so we'll do EQ2s into organizations that service the entire state, like New Jersey,

681
00:51:17,750 --> 00:51:23,930
community capital, you know, is one of the larger ones in New Jersey that we

682
00:51:23,930 --> 00:51:27,770
service. So there are a lot of statewide organizations that we fund who then in

683
00:51:27,770 --> 00:51:34,270
turn fund smaller organizations as well. So we'd like to hear about the grant

684
00:51:34,270 --> 00:51:38,530
making, the lending, and everything above because we represent the county of

685
00:51:38,530 --> 00:51:42,990
Essex. Our constituencies represent a whole lot of different needs and

686
00:51:42,990 --> 00:51:46,410
interests and as Mr. Coltrane would you please share with them the small

687
00:51:46,410 --> 00:51:50,870
business office that I would love for you guys to connect with because all your products

688
00:51:50,870 --> 00:51:56,590
that you've talked about today in this report may benefit some of our small business constituents.

689
00:51:57,990 --> 00:52:06,410
We would like, we actually tried at one point to do that at the, the mayor had tried to

690
00:52:06,410 --> 00:52:09,270
help facilitate that at some point.

691
00:52:11,450 --> 00:52:13,210
So I'd like to follow up with that.

692
00:52:13,210 --> 00:52:20,550
County Administrator. We have a direct office of small business here. The county is the county,

693
00:52:20,870 --> 00:52:28,330
the city is the city. So two different governmental agencies. So the office of small businesses

694
00:52:28,330 --> 00:52:35,970
run by Director Burgess and her phone number is 973

695
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:47,840
-621-2010. So if you contact her

696
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:55,520
She's going to be running programs in, let's say, the North Ward, possibly,

697
00:52:55,740 --> 00:53:01,260
a weak-wake section of the North, and bringing in small businesses who need loans

698
00:53:01,740 --> 00:53:04,260
and just to learn how to apply for the loans.

699
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:07,580
So this is what we're trying to do in our office, a small business.

700
00:53:07,780 --> 00:53:10,160
I'm sure we'd love to be part of that and assist.

701
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:12,360
We'll follow up.

702
00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:13,120
Thank you.

703
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:14,060
Thank you.

704
00:53:14,740 --> 00:53:19,560
any other questions? So thank you so much for coming. We hope we didn't beat you up too

705
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:24,920
bad for your first time. No, no. And we look forward to the responses and questions that

706
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:30,600
we ask here that require a response. Can you please email them to Adam? And to back

707
00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:34,780
on your way out, please provide your contact information, your business cards to Adam in

708
00:53:34,780 --> 00:53:38,560
case any of us want to follow up with you with additional questions. Absolutely. Thank

709
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:41,860
you so much for coming. Thank you very much. I appreciate your candor.

710
00:55:29,430 --> 00:55:29,750
They lock

711
00:55:29,750 --> 00:55:34,690
boxing vice president of industrial bank and with me I have, today I have some with me

712
00:55:34,690 --> 00:55:39,570
for change or whatever. We have a dedicated commercial lender, Richard Livingston is responsible

713
00:55:39,570 --> 00:55:45,440
for the lending activity for New Jersey. Thank you, welcome.

714
00:55:51,540 --> 00:55:53,880
Right into it. So 2024

715
00:55:54,640 --> 00:55:58,480
has been, you know, challenging to say the least because of interest rates and that

716
00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:03,500
type of stuff. So there has been a little decline in just approvals and different

717
00:56:03,500 --> 00:56:07,680
types of things primarily because of that. If you look at the beginning of the year with

718
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:13,020
commercial rates versus what they are now or whatever, they're not balancing themselves

719
00:56:13,020 --> 00:56:18,000
out like the residential and residential is still a little high. The last time I was here,

720
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:22,980
I think last year, we were just ramping up. So I can say to you that we do now have

721
00:56:22,980 --> 00:56:28,700
a dedicated mortgage representative for residential mortgages. Thus far, we started in March

722
00:56:28,700 --> 00:56:34,260
of this year we have done four mortgages for residential mortgages in Essex

723
00:56:34,260 --> 00:56:40,180
County this year she has an additional three or four that's in her pipeline

724
00:56:40,180 --> 00:56:45,520
currently so we're aggressively going out looking for primarily refinances in

725
00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:49,500
different types of things new homes that are actually being built on the

726
00:56:49,500 --> 00:56:53,960
residential side on the commercial side we pair a lot with a lot of the

727
00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:58,540
the not-for-profit organizations and builders that are local.

728
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:06,760
One of the few things that we've actually done, one of the prior things that we've done earlier this year is Urban League of Essex County right here.

729
00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:10,180
The Urban League has built four homes.

730
00:57:10,500 --> 00:57:11,640
We financed those homes.

731
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:13,280
They did quite a unique program.

732
00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:19,720
Those homes are being sold below market, roughly approximately about $150,000 below market.

733
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:23,580
Unfortunately, because there was subsidy involved,

734
00:57:24,340 --> 00:57:27,620
the Urban League realized that they had to open it up to a lottery,

735
00:57:27,720 --> 00:57:32,380
not only to Essex County, but by law, they had to open it up to the entire state.

736
00:57:32,940 --> 00:57:39,340
So the intent was there. However, the bottom line was all of Essex County residents didn't get the opportunity

737
00:57:39,340 --> 00:57:43,500
to win the bids to those homes because they had to be opened up to the entire state.

738
00:57:44,100 --> 00:57:48,840
So with that being said, additionally, there's another program that Industrial Bank has implemented.

739
00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:54,220
We have an emerging business account for small business owners.

740
00:57:54,860 --> 00:57:59,800
They can get a business account service-free for one year

741
00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,500
to get their businesses ramped up and started.

742
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:05,120
So that's another thing that we've implemented

743
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:08,160
and we're aggressively going after the small business owners

744
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,960
to allow them the opportunity to ramp their business up

745
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:13,600
before any fees are actually charged to them.

746
00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:15,860
So that's another thing that we actually do.

747
00:58:16,600 --> 00:58:23,920
and I and we do have just as exposed program that's been in place for a few

748
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:28,900
years however it's being rolled out and now it's available here for not only

749
00:58:28,900 --> 00:58:33,600
Essex County but the entire New Jersey where Industrial Bank will actually go

750
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:38,380
into the prison system and we pair with them and we actually do tutorials and

751
00:58:38,380 --> 00:58:43,600
counseling on recidivism and all types of things so that as individuals are

752
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:49,100
coming out, one, we set them up with an opportunity so that they're not feeling the understanding

753
00:58:49,100 --> 00:58:52,700
some of them have gone in and things have changed or whatever, so we explained to them

754
00:58:52,700 --> 00:58:57,920
the different types of opportunities that are actually out there in addition to what

755
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:02,940
they can expect in terms of managing an account and budgeting and different types of things.

756
00:59:03,060 --> 00:59:04,820
So that's a program that's eight weeks.

757
00:59:05,020 --> 00:59:10,720
I did include in the email a flyer for that program itself there, so that's actually

758
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:20,900
offered to anyone who's incarcerated or we've extended it to also the homeless and also the

759
00:59:20,900 --> 00:59:24,980
shelters as well so we're more than willing to go in and do those type of things also.

760
00:59:25,740 --> 00:59:32,640
You know in terms of CRA rating we have not had an audit since our last time so we're

761
00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:39,640
expecting an audit Q2 2025 so they've already notified us that they will be a CRA audit

762
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:42,300
by going over everything that Industrial Bank does.

763
00:59:42,660 --> 00:59:44,740
We're celebrating our 90th year this year,

764
00:59:45,060 --> 00:59:48,180
so 90 years being minority-owned and operated.

765
00:59:48,980 --> 00:59:50,440
So that's a big feat.

766
00:59:50,820 --> 00:59:53,060
And the last time I was here, we had just opened

767
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:56,300
our Freelink-Heisen Avenue office

768
00:59:56,300 --> 00:59:58,340
that's on the new office at Zere.

769
00:59:58,460 --> 00:59:59,980
That office is growing and doing what?

770
01:00:01,460 --> 01:00:06,300
We, I would say thank you because we did receive additional deposits last year to put

771
01:00:06,300 --> 01:00:13,880
to use or whatever, so currently the county has near $11 million on deposit with Industrial

772
01:00:13,880 --> 01:00:19,920
Bank that we utilize to put back in the market. What we're seeing really is, in terms of the

773
01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:25,180
small business, we do a lot of the small business counseling and different types of things

774
01:00:25,180 --> 01:00:30,700
because of the situations the small business owners have. We find that their challenges

775
01:00:30,700 --> 01:00:33,760
is with providing the financial information that's needed.

776
01:00:34,060 --> 01:00:37,360
So we've implemented the business checking account.

777
01:00:38,140 --> 01:00:40,080
Not only that, but the business credit card

778
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:42,180
for the small business owner because the importance

779
01:00:42,180 --> 01:00:45,520
is getting them to understand to separate their businesses

780
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:48,760
so that they're not commingling personal funds

781
01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:50,620
with business funds and things of that nature.

782
01:00:51,240 --> 01:00:53,460
And if they are, then give them avenues

783
01:00:53,460 --> 01:00:55,420
how to separate the type of stuff

784
01:00:55,420 --> 01:00:57,920
so that when they're audited or if they're audited,

785
01:00:57,920 --> 01:01:06,280
They're only audited on whatever that portion is and not on the entire thing see what else I can discuss with you

786
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:12,000
That has happened over the year. I mean overall it's been a you know in terms of lending our lending capacity

787
01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:15,080
From 2023 to 2024

788
01:01:15,680 --> 01:01:23,220
We have done less in terms of dollar amounts and that type of stuff because of the interest rate environment at beginning of the year

789
01:01:23,220 --> 01:01:25,340
Rates were lower and then

790
01:01:25,340 --> 01:01:31,520
Literally, I mean, there were rates that were up to in the sevens at one time for commercial

791
01:01:31,520 --> 01:01:32,020
loans.

792
01:01:32,180 --> 01:01:36,920
So if you look at the amount of money that was actually out there in some cases, we've

793
01:01:36,920 --> 01:01:41,980
referred some customers to different avenues and told them to, it was a better idea to

794
01:01:41,980 --> 01:01:46,160
use funds that they currently had maybe or to take some equity out of some things

795
01:01:46,160 --> 01:01:47,840
as opposed to refinancing.

796
01:01:48,020 --> 01:01:52,600
I would prefer, or we would prefer as an industrial bank not to do a deal if it's not going

797
01:01:52,600 --> 01:01:54,700
to be in the best interest of the small business owners.

798
01:01:54,700 --> 01:01:59,640
So, with that being said, if you have any additional questions or anything, I'm more than willing

799
01:01:59,640 --> 01:02:00,380
to answer them.

800
01:02:01,500 --> 01:02:01,860
Commissioner?

801
01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:02,900
Any questions?

802
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:05,000
Commissioner President?

803
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:06,480
Thank you, Ms. Willilac.

804
01:02:06,580 --> 01:02:07,260
Good to see you again.

805
01:02:07,280 --> 01:02:07,900
Commissioner, how are you?

806
01:02:08,120 --> 01:02:08,520
Good to see you.

807
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:11,680
Well, things are going well for you, and then you're doubling in size.

808
01:02:12,180 --> 01:02:15,260
We are growing, so that's a good thing.

809
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:17,600
Maybe this year we'll keep that doubling going for a while, right?

810
01:02:18,400 --> 01:02:19,060
That's all good.

811
01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:20,860
So, I wanted to ask a question.

812
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:23,660
I asked this last year, I think this was it.

813
01:02:23,660 --> 01:02:28,220
But I think what made you a little bit different, did you offer loans to churches as well?

814
01:02:28,500 --> 01:02:32,220
We are the primary faith-based lender.

815
01:02:32,740 --> 01:02:36,440
Thank you for mentioning that as a matter of fact, because I didn't discuss the foreclosure

816
01:02:37,000 --> 01:02:37,760
what we have.

817
01:02:37,880 --> 01:02:43,820
We know I pride myself on working out whatever situation it is, especially when it comes

818
01:02:43,820 --> 01:02:44,400
to residential.

819
01:02:44,940 --> 01:02:49,700
On the commercial side, we only have one loan that's in our portfolio that's classified

820
01:02:49,700 --> 01:02:54,940
as a special asset which is actually a church and what we just recently did was re-finance

821
01:02:54,940 --> 01:03:00,440
the loans so that they could afford the payment. But in addition to that, I went out and one

822
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:05,020
of Richard's reports went out and we conducted a seminar for the entire committee of the

823
01:03:05,020 --> 01:03:10,220
church to give them an understanding on how to actually quick books and how to balance

824
01:03:10,220 --> 01:03:15,500
the books going forward so that they can afford the payment. So we are still very

825
01:03:15,500 --> 01:03:20,260
aggressively and actively refinancing and doing some of the financing, some of the other

826
01:03:20,260 --> 01:03:26,100
financial institutions are asking the faith based organizations to exit the loans when

827
01:03:26,100 --> 01:03:28,000
they become insured and that kind of stuff.

828
01:03:28,300 --> 01:03:31,480
I'm curious to know that the nature of the loans, are they like for capital improvement?

829
01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:37,140
I mean, one of the things that I see is that so many of the buildings are so physically

830
01:03:37,140 --> 01:03:41,280
old, right, because we're so old in this part of the country and churches are usually

831
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:46,240
among the first things that get built in communities, historically speaking, and I know I'm on my

832
01:03:46,240 --> 01:03:51,700
ton, I live off the town green, and there's like six churches there. The newest one is just 100 years

833
01:03:51,700 --> 01:03:56,740
old, right? That's the newest one. So what are the kind of loans that you give to the faith-based

834
01:03:56,740 --> 01:04:04,800
organizations? So we do the entire gamut. A lot of the stuff that we have done in 2024 has been

835
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:11,040
refinancing. So say for example, if commercial loans are different than residential, the term

836
01:04:11,040 --> 01:04:17,860
the duration is shorter, even though the amortization may be similar 25 years or 30 years or that

837
01:04:17,860 --> 01:04:22,800
nature. So what actually happens in those cases, most of those loans have a balloon payment

838
01:04:22,800 --> 01:04:28,600
at maturity. And in that instance, what happens with financial institutions, we actually review

839
01:04:28,600 --> 01:04:35,080
the information to see if they were performing as agreed, so on and so forth, to refinance

840
01:04:35,080 --> 01:04:39,640
to give them an opportunity to refinance. What we found is a lot, well, I wouldn't

841
01:04:39,640 --> 01:04:44,940
say a lot. I shouldn't say that to some of my counterparts. A few of them have taken

842
01:04:44,940 --> 01:04:49,980
the option not to do the refinancing to get out of that business and that's been common

843
01:04:50,560 --> 01:04:55,200
for years and years and years. So in those instances they would come to industrial and

844
01:04:55,200 --> 01:04:59,500
just let us know that they have a loan that's actually maturing or whatever and we would

845
01:04:59,500 --> 01:05:04,440
look to entertain to take out for that. But at that time we actually go visit, sit

846
01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:08,900
with them to see if there's any, say for example repairs that need to be done to

847
01:05:08,900 --> 01:05:12,220
incorporate that in the entire loan because a lot of them have been paying

848
01:05:12,220 --> 01:05:16,100
over years and so they have quite a bit of equity in these buildings and

849
01:05:16,100 --> 01:05:21,040
different types of things so at that time we determine what is actually needed

850
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:25,720
so say for example if they had to refinance for $500,000 outstanding

851
01:05:25,720 --> 01:05:31,960
they may need an additional $150,000 or $200,000 to do a new roof or new

852
01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:36,340
pews or carpet or whatever else it is we can incorporate that entire thing

853
01:05:36,340 --> 01:05:41,220
into one loan and then just expand it out so that it's affordable and in most cases they

854
01:05:41,220 --> 01:05:46,220
have either the same payment and in some cases even lower by getting more money because they're

855
01:05:46,220 --> 01:05:52,680
at the end of the initial loan so that higher payment that they really had they can actually

856
01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:55,840
get more money to do some of the things that are actually needed to be done.

857
01:05:56,460 --> 01:06:00,500
But we're more than willing if they currently have an existing mortgage somewhere else

858
01:06:00,500 --> 01:06:05,120
we'll actually come in and if they need we have some that they need a boiler

859
01:06:05,120 --> 01:06:09,020
that goes out and this time when they spark the boilers up we have those

860
01:06:09,020 --> 01:06:13,500
common things and those things range $50,000 $100,000 different types of

861
01:06:13,500 --> 01:06:18,000
things so we'll do those and and spread it out over five-year, 10-year period for

862
01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:21,800
them so we have situations like that we have other situations where they've

863
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:25,780
incorporated you know had to do parking lots over or roofs and things of

864
01:06:25,780 --> 01:06:29,640
that nature so that's all it was so we do the entire gamut when it comes

865
01:06:29,640 --> 01:06:33,500
to that. That's really refreshing to hear because it's so difficult for

866
01:06:33,500 --> 01:06:36,780
organizations like that financially to move forward, right?

867
01:06:36,980 --> 01:06:39,940
I mean, if you're lucky to have an accountant on the board or

868
01:06:39,940 --> 01:06:42,220
something like that, they can give you better sense.

869
01:06:42,360 --> 01:06:45,380
But a lot of banks don't really want to look at that or

870
01:06:45,380 --> 01:06:48,140
they make it so difficult to discourage that kind of.

871
01:06:48,300 --> 01:06:51,860
Well, the non-profit arena in general, a lot of banks are

872
01:06:51,860 --> 01:06:53,900
not willing to look at that type of stuff.

873
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:56,040
Do you work with cultural organizations as well?

874
01:06:56,220 --> 01:06:58,460
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

875
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:03,060
And not only do we work with them, but I'll

876
01:07:03,060 --> 01:07:07,400
construction as well. Richard is telling me from the lending side, construction as well.

877
01:07:07,520 --> 01:07:13,860
We've had some that we've done new construction or additions to. A lot of the churches, maybe

878
01:07:13,860 --> 01:07:18,820
the rear, they've had some type of water damage or fire or something like that, so we're

879
01:07:18,820 --> 01:07:21,280
willing to do construction as well. We'll do that also.

880
01:07:21,960 --> 01:07:28,300
Great. Thank you very much. I would love to. I think one of the things that would

881
01:07:28,300 --> 01:07:33,300
be a benefit to your institution and to a cultural and faith-based would just be knowing

882
01:07:33,300 --> 01:07:36,180
you exist, right? That's probably the biggest challenge you have.

883
01:07:36,200 --> 01:07:41,080
Absolutely, absolutely. We don't, unfortunately, because of the size of our institution, and

884
01:07:41,080 --> 01:07:44,580
I think I say that every single year that I'm here, you have some of the banks that

885
01:07:44,580 --> 01:07:51,380
have branches that are larger than our entire bank. We have about 730 million in assets

886
01:07:51,380 --> 01:07:56,820
compared to, if you look at some of the large ones, trillions in assets. So you

887
01:07:56,820 --> 01:08:00,840
can only imagine the difference in the size. So some of them have branches that

888
01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:05,600
have, you know, billion dollars, two billion dollars in assets. So we're

889
01:08:05,600 --> 01:08:08,980
out there. Our lending capacity, though, isn't bad because we have been growing.

890
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:13,720
So in most cases, we're, you know, there's not been an opportunity that we

891
01:08:13,720 --> 01:08:17,540
haven't been able to support. We do have support from some of the local

892
01:08:18,260 --> 01:08:21,740
companies that are in Newark as well. We have a very good partnership, of

893
01:08:21,740 --> 01:08:27,820
course with Prudential who do, don't do permanent but they'll do construction type of stuff.

894
01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:35,220
So we do a lot of that stuff with them and invest Newark and the Urban League and organizations

895
01:08:35,220 --> 01:08:36,740
like LISC and that type of stuff.

896
01:08:36,860 --> 01:08:38,680
So we do have a partnership with all of them.

897
01:08:39,340 --> 01:08:43,320
So when we're more, our concern is just getting some of the deals done so that we

898
01:08:43,320 --> 01:08:44,260
can improve the community.

899
01:08:44,620 --> 01:08:49,960
So if in fact we just did a deal with LISC that they had that we took a portion

900
01:08:49,960 --> 01:08:54,460
of. We had some challenges with, if some of you know the Krupa Mansion, that was one

901
01:08:54,460 --> 01:08:58,780
of the most recent ones. They had stock construction because they ran out of money, no one else

902
01:08:58,780 --> 01:09:04,800
was willing to lend to them. So I wish I had Avi here to explain. We had to go in and

903
01:09:04,800 --> 01:09:09,240
provide them with the last million and a half so that they can do what they needed to

904
01:09:09,240 --> 01:09:13,820
do. Yes, we're low on the totem pole in terms of getting paid back, but we're betting

905
01:09:13,820 --> 01:09:17,340
on allowing them to do what they need to do so that they can get that greenhouse

906
01:09:17,340 --> 01:09:21,540
house and kitchen and all the other stuff up and running so that some jobs can be actually

907
01:09:21,540 --> 01:09:23,100
be created here in Essex County.

908
01:09:23,600 --> 01:09:24,040
Great.

909
01:09:24,220 --> 01:09:24,540
Thank you.

910
01:09:24,860 --> 01:09:25,900
Thank you, Madam Vice President.

911
01:09:26,180 --> 01:09:27,280
Thank you very much, Mr. President.

912
01:09:27,500 --> 01:09:28,620
Commissioner Richardson, any questions?

913
01:09:29,220 --> 01:09:30,300
That IV tell us.

914
01:09:31,780 --> 01:09:32,380
I'm sorry?

915
01:09:32,480 --> 01:09:34,040
So I wish you had IV here, too.

916
01:09:34,280 --> 01:09:34,580
Yes.

917
01:09:35,040 --> 01:09:36,320
So I can read them right out.

918
01:09:36,320 --> 01:09:38,880
So you can tell exactly they came to us.

919
01:09:39,260 --> 01:09:39,440
Yeah.

920
01:09:41,080 --> 01:09:42,500
But we got it done.

921
01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:47,320
We worked with Prudential and Goldman and a lot of the others and we really

922
01:09:47,320 --> 01:09:51,620
We did get that was a difficult deal. I guess Richard will contest to that

923
01:09:51,620 --> 01:09:56,960
But we did get it done for them to allow them to move forward with it and now the project hopefully

924
01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:02,560
Avi can get it up and running and showing some profit. It's open. Yes

925
01:10:02,560 --> 01:10:04,120
the greenhouse

926
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:11,840
The kitchen is what they had they ran out of funds on so that's what we allow

927
01:10:11,840 --> 01:10:17,700
We allowed our loan to go towards so that and that kitchen is going to be open to the public to

928
01:10:17,700 --> 01:10:21,640
Rent out and portions in that kind of stuff. So someone has a small business

929
01:10:21,640 --> 01:10:27,320
So that was another caveat for us doing the loan to say hey, this is what we'd like to see happen here

930
01:10:27,320 --> 01:10:32,360
Yeah, it's a small business incubator right the building behind right

931
01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:37,780
So, yeah, no, I'm very familiar with construction and I'll be

932
01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:42,700
That's another conversation. But again,

933
01:10:43,520 --> 01:10:45,920
Make sure you talk to him and tell him he needs to pay me.

934
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:47,180
Now he doesn't want to talk to me.

935
01:10:47,800 --> 01:10:49,120
Now he won't talk to me.

936
01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:52,260
But that's neither here nor there.

937
01:10:52,620 --> 01:10:55,780
But happy to see you here doing business, growing,

938
01:10:56,400 --> 01:10:58,480
and congratulations on your 90 years.

939
01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:02,080
And I'm going to ask the same thing I asked last year.

940
01:11:02,980 --> 01:11:04,420
Can you use more money?

941
01:11:05,080 --> 01:11:05,880
We can always use.

942
01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:11,340
I mean, because you have limited, we can always use that question before and you said, well,

943
01:11:11,400 --> 01:11:12,780
we can only take this amount.

944
01:11:13,020 --> 01:11:14,360
Yes, because we were limited.

945
01:11:14,560 --> 01:11:18,400
Because of our asset side is growing, we can take additional funds now and then we can

946
01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:19,580
also deploy those funds.

947
01:11:20,020 --> 01:11:25,100
We've also applied because- How much more in additional funds can you handle?

948
01:11:25,420 --> 01:11:31,340
We can handle, at this gamut, we can handle whatever additional funds we can get and

949
01:11:31,340 --> 01:11:35,300
we can show you what we will do with those funds or whatever in terms of deploying

950
01:11:35,300 --> 01:11:41,100
it back into Essex County. We're committed to doing that. It's a conversation we definitely

951
01:11:41,100 --> 01:11:46,080
need to have and I'll have with the administration and we'll have that conversation see if we

952
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:52,480
can move some more money in the bank. We've had a good relationship so he's provided some

953
01:11:52,480 --> 01:11:56,880
intel to us from time to time and that type of stuff so we appreciate the relationship

954
01:11:56,880 --> 01:12:02,680
that we have with him as well. Sure. We're excited to hear what you've done with

955
01:12:02,680 --> 01:12:09,960
this past year between before us last year and started off early talking about some of the changes that your bank was undergoing.

956
01:12:10,280 --> 01:12:16,640
We're happy that you were able to receive more from us if we're able to provide more to you.

957
01:12:17,540 --> 01:12:26,680
One of my questions would be, your report did not specify the total number of grants that you provided

958
01:12:26,680 --> 01:12:29,700
and the numeric value that those grants represent.

959
01:12:30,240 --> 01:12:35,460
because of the size of the organization we don't have a I mean we support of

960
01:12:35,460 --> 01:12:41,100
course organizations local for example the parks and that type of stuff or

961
01:12:41,100 --> 01:12:44,880
whatever when they're having outings and events we do sponsor those but we do

962
01:12:44,880 --> 01:12:51,460
not have a facility or us an account or anything that's actually set up so

963
01:12:51,460 --> 01:12:55,260
that we can support so but we do support we're out there not only

964
01:12:55,260 --> 01:13:00,840
supporting monetarily but also volunteering as well so I get that

965
01:13:00,840 --> 01:13:06,300
we're looking for a number okay everyone provides the numeric value of

966
01:13:06,300 --> 01:13:10,500
grant-making investments that they give to the SS County community so the

967
01:13:10,500 --> 01:13:15,220
follow-up we would like to see how much in grant-making disbursements that you

968
01:13:15,220 --> 01:13:19,920
make throughout SS County okay and if you heavily rest within Newark in a

969
01:13:19,920 --> 01:13:23,140
greater Newark area that's fine but please communicate to us what that

970
01:13:23,140 --> 01:13:28,300
number is. Okay. And also as a follow-up to Commissioner Richardson's comment, communicate

971
01:13:28,300 --> 01:13:34,080
back what your additional capacity is if you are not able to do something. I can get that

972
01:13:34,080 --> 01:13:40,500
information too. Commissioner, is there any other questions? Nope. Ms. Coltree?

973
01:13:40,640 --> 01:13:46,580
Jules Coltree, Deputy County Minister. I did see that they have a program for corrections

974
01:13:47,540 --> 01:13:54,580
for inmates. And I was wondering, do you participate with RSX County Correctional Institution?

975
01:13:55,100 --> 01:14:04,600
In the past, we have gone into the prisons and we also partnered with the courts. The courts have the program with the prisoners.

976
01:14:04,960 --> 01:14:07,780
So I've gone in and I've conducted seminars and done things with them.

977
01:14:08,160 --> 01:14:11,960
In 2024, they haven't reached out to us at all to do any.

978
01:14:11,960 --> 01:14:19,100
So I don't know if they've stopped it or what the issue is with it, but all before we were their primary source of

979
01:14:19,100 --> 01:14:23,860
Training for these individuals who were going back out. Okay, but we're more than willing to

980
01:14:24,340 --> 01:14:28,300
If in fact they have if there's an opportunity there were more than willing to do, okay

981
01:14:28,300 --> 01:14:34,580
If you believe you'll have your information and I'll have someone from the Office of Corrections. Absolutely

982
01:14:35,240 --> 01:14:39,860
Sure. Thank you very much, miss madam. Thank you for that miss the coffee. That was a great

983
01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:45,320
synergy to make that connection, to make sure that we get you back in a circuit to

984
01:14:45,320 --> 01:14:50,320
following up and interacting with our correctional folks. Also, let's connect

985
01:14:50,320 --> 01:14:54,860
them with the small business department as well, just if we can make some

986
01:14:54,860 --> 01:14:59,760
connections with our small business folks that's involved with our small business

987
01:15:00,140 --> 01:15:06,560
That's often looking for resources, loans, grants, even, to help grow their businesses here in Essence County.

988
01:15:07,220 --> 01:15:07,660
Great.

989
01:15:08,540 --> 01:15:13,660
So, if there's no other questions, let's provide your information, please, to Adam.

990
01:15:14,080 --> 01:15:17,260
We want to thank you for coming out. We want to encourage you to keep up the good work

991
01:15:17,260 --> 01:15:20,380
and keep making the investments here in Essence County.

992
01:15:20,660 --> 01:15:23,980
And welcome to your new mortgage person that you have there.

993
01:15:24,720 --> 01:15:28,080
If you want to say a few words that you came up this evening, please come on up.

994
01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:35,540
Well, I just want to reiterate what Mr. Boilock's been saying, and I think a couple of things.

995
01:15:37,400 --> 01:15:40,860
Richard Livingston, Commercial Lending Officer for Industrial Bank.

996
01:15:41,460 --> 01:15:41,840
Thank you.

997
01:15:42,100 --> 01:15:42,960
Thank you for having me.

998
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:47,320
Just want to reiterate some of the things that he did say in regards to what we're doing.

999
01:15:47,480 --> 01:15:52,120
We talked about nonprofit organizations and the religious organizations.

1000
01:15:52,860 --> 01:16:07,080
Just my experience in commercial lending, we do a vast majority of church loans and a lot of ministers and pastors do come to us because of the history and because of what we have done over the past year.

1001
01:16:07,680 --> 01:16:17,980
We've done construction projects for churches, we've done refinancing for some of the non-profits, a couple of schools in the area, so we have a strong community impact that we try to put forward.

1002
01:16:17,980 --> 01:16:24,820
And we're not afraid of these loans that some of the other larger institutions kind of like, you know, back away from.

1003
01:16:25,200 --> 01:16:28,820
We have taken them on. We continue to do that as we go forward.

1004
01:16:29,180 --> 01:16:38,180
And we do have a small business piece that we're trying to make sure that we emphasize within the county community so that we allow a lot of people to come to.

1005
01:16:38,300 --> 01:16:42,600
I have one of my reports that just handles small business loans.

1006
01:16:42,860 --> 01:16:47,340
So we do have already established a way to address those small business loans.

1007
01:16:47,340 --> 01:16:52,240
So if we can connect with the resources that you have in the county for the small business owners,

1008
01:16:52,540 --> 01:16:56,300
we will probably be able to turn around a lot of those opportunities really fast.

1009
01:16:57,380 --> 01:16:58,980
Thank you. I do have a question.

1010
01:16:59,580 --> 01:17:05,940
Did you say that is a community organization is interested in receiving a grant?

1011
01:17:06,540 --> 01:17:08,340
What does that process look like?

1012
01:17:08,500 --> 01:17:12,300
Is it posted on your website or people have to come into the grants to inquire?

1013
01:17:13,500 --> 01:17:15,520
It's actually part of both.

1014
01:17:15,520 --> 01:17:19,740
So we do have a, we've just established a link for that to develop that.

1015
01:17:19,920 --> 01:17:25,000
We'd like to say we haven't had it to that level but we've had participation.

1016
01:17:25,360 --> 01:17:29,200
We've asked people over the years to come back to us and we will try to galvanize what

1017
01:17:29,200 --> 01:17:30,600
we can to do something with them.

1018
01:17:31,440 --> 01:17:36,720
But we do have established a link that I've been issuing to people that have asked

1019
01:17:36,720 --> 01:17:42,100
for us to support them and we're trying to function it that way so that we have

1020
01:17:42,100 --> 01:17:42,220
that.

1021
01:17:42,220 --> 01:17:48,660
And so as we have started to grow, we feel a more complete purpose for doing that in

1022
01:17:48,660 --> 01:17:52,040
regards to being able to supply the necessary funds for it.

1023
01:17:52,560 --> 01:17:57,480
So and a lot of people do come to us for this at all times, but we would like to be able

1024
01:17:57,480 --> 01:18:01,460
to grow to a level where we can provide that just like some of the other larger banks

1025
01:18:01,460 --> 01:18:01,780
can.

1026
01:18:02,220 --> 01:18:07,020
And we want to make sure that we are hitting the actual business owners that really

1027
01:18:07,020 --> 01:18:11,540
need us to counsel them and to support them in those particular ways.

1028
01:18:12,420 --> 01:18:13,080
Thank you.

1029
01:18:13,680 --> 01:18:14,800
Commissioners, no other questions?

1030
01:18:15,400 --> 01:18:15,640
Okay.

1031
01:18:16,020 --> 01:18:17,700
Well thank you again so much for coming out.

1032
01:18:17,820 --> 01:18:19,140
Please leave your cards with Adam.

1033
01:18:20,140 --> 01:18:20,620
We'll do it.

1034
01:18:20,720 --> 01:18:21,460
Thank you very much.

1035
01:18:21,780 --> 01:18:22,040
Thank you.

1036
01:18:22,140 --> 01:18:22,960
Take care gentlemen.

1037
01:18:23,380 --> 01:18:23,620
Thank you.

1038
01:18:25,340 --> 01:18:27,880
So commissioners, tonight we reviewed three banks.

1039
01:18:27,880 --> 01:18:29,420
It's a couple of main things.