A Community Staple Business Closes Down in Otego Upsetting Residents
The village of Otego NY has lost its only bank--Community Bank due to changing customer trends according to AllOTSEGO. Community Bank is based out of Dewitt, NY.
In late June, a letter was sent to Hal Wentworth, senior vice president of retail banking for Community Bank; from J. Buzz Hesse, chairman of the village of Otego Planning Board, Otego Mayor Ernest Kroll and Otego Town Supervisor Joseph Hurlburt who appealed to Wentworth to reconsider the move to shut down Otego's only bank, that that the closing would be "extremely detrimental to both the bank’s Otego customers and the village of Otego itself.”
In early July, a response back was received back from Wentworth, but it was not what the village residents wanted to hear. Wentworth wrote that the Community Bank does not take closing the branch lightly but they see it as necessary “given trends in retail branch transactions and shifting customer behaviors.”
Wentworth offered that Community Bank customers can continue to use the branch in Oneonta, mentioning it is only 6 miles away from Otego.
It's safe to say that Otego Community residents are disappointed by the closing, and some, like Buzz Hesse, say they will be taking their banking elsewhere to a different bank after this experience with Community Bank.
Another move that Community Bank is making, is that the company will be consolidating the Main Street, Cooperstown branch and moving that business to its other current location on Route 28 in the town of Otsego.
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