CARTHAGE, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was busy for about 90 minutes in Carthage on Thursday, talking about job growth and celebrating the achievements of two businesses.
One, a new bank, and the other, an expansion of an existing business, each benefitted from a state program to provide tax credits for hiring new workers.
Parson helped local leaders and business owners celebrate the opening of Four States Bank, 1946 S. Garrison Ave., the first bank chartered in the state in 16 years, and the move of Specialty Risk Insurance to new and larger offices at 10385 Blackberry Road.
Four States Bank created about 27 new jobs while Specialty Risk Insurance is looking to add 200 new employees in the next few years, including 10 as quickly as possible.
“As the state’s No. 1 incentive tool for expansion and retention, the Missouri Works Program helps businesses access capital through withholdings or tax credits to embark on facility expansions and create jobs,” said Jeff Meredith, CEO of the Carthage Economic Development Corp., which helped the business gain access to the program. “With as few as 10 quality jobs companies can access this program, so the 27 new jobs that Four State Bank is creating has definitely made this benefit accessible.”
Four States Bank
Mick Campbell, commissioner of finance with the Missouri Division of Finance, said Four States Bank is the first new bank chartered in Missouri since 2008, and the first new bank chartered in the U.S. this year.
“It’s technically the second bank in the country to open this year,” Campbell said. “There was a bank in Alabama that opened right after the first of this year, they received their charter and FDIC approval in the previous year, so however you want to slice and dice it, it is a monumental event to have a new bank created these days.”
Jeff Williams, president and CEO of Four States Bank, said they had to raise more than $25 million in capital and investment to start the bank as well as hire experienced staff.
“Anything that hasn’t happened in 16 years is significant,” Williams said. “Our approval, where maybe others have not been able to be approved, is based on the team we’ve built and the experience we’ve got both from a management level and a board of directors level and then the ability to raise adequate capital, which is a lot more than it used to be.”
Williams said he and others who helped him wanted to recreate the service offered by a local community bank.
“As community banks are acquired by larger banks, customers don’t always fit what those big banks want,” Williams said. “So you go from being a customer of the community bank and you know them and they know you and understand you. Then a larger bank buys that bank and they don’t always want the same kind of customer. So we wanted to create a bank that was going to work a little harder and to take care of local customers and small businesses.”
Parson said the creation of a new bank in Carthage was significant for the area and for the state.
“It’s huge, and to have it right here in Carthage, when you talk about that, that’s big,” Parson said. “I think we’re in the top 10 as far as chartered banks, we may be fourth in the entire U.S. in chartered banks. But I think when they take that to invest and this is a new addition to that, which means things are going well, it means the public has an interest in doing business with this bank. I think it’s a great example again of how you drive the economy. You’ve got to have these good loaning facilities and places to be able to do your finances.”
The first branch of the newly formed Four States Bank has opened at 1232 S. Range Line Road in Joplin, which most recently was home to a branch of Great Southern Bank.
Specialty Risk Insurance
Kevin Charleston, owner of Specialty Risk Insurance, said his business could not hire the workers it needed to handle its growth because their office on Garrison Avenue in Carthage was just too small.
So he converted a former RV dealership across Interstate 44 from the Joplin Stockyards into his new headquarters.
The move represented a $5.3 million investment that is intended to provide space to add 200 employees to the business in six years.
“We’ve got a lot of people really invested, and it’s been a big move the last two months,” Charleston said. “A lot of changes in people’s lives. We’re getting settled in; the last two weeks have been a lot better. So that’s the biggest thing to me is get all our people settled in, and this place gives us better access to more people to be a little more accessible here on the highway.
“We need people, what this whole Missouri Works Program is about is helping people be employed in the state of Missouri and we need more people. We had to slow down on hiring where we were at because we were out of space and this new building gives us the opportunity, and we really haven’t gotten revved up yet, we need four or five new people now, probably 10 in the short term.”
