According to Megan Bartel, First Bank Loan Operations Manager, "The First Bank branch opening will be January 21. The employees at First Bank of Montana have been hard at work training and getting prepared to open the First Bank of Montana Big Sandy location on January 21. The same familiar faces will be greeting you on Tuesday morning. Demra Brown is the branch manager of the Big Sandy location, both she and Nicole Allderdice will be providing customer service and new account opening, Gloria Godfrey and Cami Hillis will be providing teller services. Deposit and Loan services will be available at the Big Sandy location. First Bank of Montana intends to have a full-time lender at the Big Sandy branch by the end of the year until then staff from other locations will be assisting with lending needs. Big Sandy has been extremely welcoming, and the family at First Bank of Montana looks forward to serving the local community."
The Lobby Hours will be 9 am – 4 pm, Monday through Friday.
President of First Bank Dean Comes and Dona Harrison, Deposit Operations Manager, will be in Big Sandy for the entire first week. President Comes said, "A loan officer will be hired and we will have it in Big Sandy full time. If we get loan requests now, we will get them processed from Lewistown or Fort Benton. I'll be there the first week, and maybe the third week to talk to anybody. Agricultural loans are the largest part of our portfolio."
They've been working getting ready for the reopening. "We painted, took the wallpaper off, put on new shades. And got new desks. We did a little clean up in the basement, too."
Dean Comes ended our conversation with, "I can speak for all of us. I am excited about Big Sandy. Big Sandy fits exactly what First Bank does. It's a small community. It's good people. It's home town. It's agriculture. That's who we are. That's what we do. Look at all the locations that we have. It fits us to a tee." First Bank of Montana Locations: Lewistown(headquarters), Chinook, Choteau, Fairfield, Vaughn, Fort Benton, Chester, and Big Sandy. They will also be opening a branch in Conrad, an anticipated date of June 2020.
"We're going to have to prove our-self and provide great service to the community. I think at the end of the day, and it's going to be a win-win for Big Sandy and First Bank."
