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Friday, 04 September 2009 |
ATM will be removed
By Catherine Billey
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
AltaOne, a federal credit union based in Ridgecrest, will close its Mamamoth Lakes branch doors and ATM effective Oct. 2 because of the poor economic climate, according to an Aug. 28 press release.
The local branch opened three years ago and serves about 1,500 members, according to Regional Manager Beverly Wagner. But the current recessionary climate had a direct impact on the growth and performance levels once projected for the member service center.
“AltaOne’s Management and Board of Directors have had to make several difficult business decisions over the past few months,” says Robert Boland, President and CEO in a prepared statement.
“I want to emphasize that AltaOne continues to be a financially safe and sound financial institution. Proactively undertaking such cost-cutting measures now will improve AltaOne’s financial fitness and benefit our membership as a whole, both today and well into the future.”
The Bishop branch will remain open. All Mammoth Lakes’ client accounts will be reassigned there.
“[The Bishop branch] is growing. It is doing what it was projected it would do,” Boland said in a in a phone interview from Ridgecrest.
The four employees at the Mammoth Lakes’ branch were notified on Friday August 28.
“We’re trying to make opportunities available to them elsewhere in the organization,” Boland said. “Mammoth is a beautiful community, and we really found there’s a lot of great people and camaraderie there. It just did not work out for us.”
“I’m still going to remain the regional manager for the Eastern Sierra,” said Wagner, one of the four Mammoth employees. Her region includes Lone Pine and Ridgecrest, as well as Bishop.
AltaOne was established in 1947 out of the military installation at China Lake. It currently has 13 service centers in the Inyo-Kern area.
“We began to expand into the Kern area here, and then saw the opportunity to service other people in the northern Highway 395 corridor,” Boland said.
It appears unlikely that the Mammoth office will reopen, though Boland said it’s always a possibility. “Right now, there are no immediate plans.”
The ATM cannot continue to operate because it’s inside the building and governed by a lease agreement that will soon terminate.
“One of the issues we’re working with is cutting the operating expenses, such as services and repairs and so forth, and so that sure makes it tough.”
The Bishop branch office has a drive-up teller as well as all the services that the Mammoth office provided. Other AltaOne services, including online banking, WebLOAN, Billpayer and VoiceOne services, will remain available to Mammoth clients.
According to the AltaOne Web site, the credit union has 48,000 members and $500 million in assets today. Membership in AltaOne is available to people who live, work, worship, volunteer or attend school in Kern, Inyo, Mono and Northern San Bernardino counties.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 September 2009 )
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