Longtime Inland Northwest banking executive David Bobbitt says hes heading efforts to form a new community bank in Post Falls, to be called Community 1st Bank.


He and others involved in the venture expect to submit applications to the Idaho state Department of Finance and to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in early December to open the bank, then hope to achieve that by April, Bobbitt says.


Bobbitt, who will be chairman and CEO of the new bank, retired from his post as president of Spokane-based Sterling Savings Bank in July.


Other members of the organization team include Jerry Lyon and his wife, Kathy, and Bill Basom, who is working as a consultant. Jerry Lyon worked with Bobbitt at Sterling Savings and prior to that at Boise-based West One Bancorp., which U.S. Bancorp, of Portland, acquired in 1996. Lyon, who will be president of the new bank, was executive vice president of community banking at Sterling when he left the company last summer. Kathy Lyon is a certified public accountant and will be the banks controller. Basom is the banks consultant chief financial officer.


Community 1st Bank In Organization, an entity that has been set up to establish the new bank, is located in a temporary, 1,000-square-foot office at 2905 W. Seltice Way, in Post Falls, Bobbitt says. It currently is negotiating to lease a 5,000-square-foot freestanding structure along Seltice Way to use as the new banks quarters, but Bobbitt declines for now to disclose further details about the location.


The bank will be set up as a subchapter C corporation, he says. It will cater to small-business and commercial customers in Post Falls, as well as private-banking clients. Some of the banks planned products will be home-equity loans, loans for commercial and residential construction, and commercial real estate loans. Because of the banks small size, it will work with partners, most likely larger banks, to make loans larger than $1 million, he says.


Were going to be helping the customer get what they want, and if it means having a participant bank, then thats what well do, Bobbitt says.


The bank is expected to open with seven employees initially, and plans call for employing a total of 13 people by the end of next year, he says. The banks business plan projects assets growing to between $25 million and $30 million within the first year of operation, and reaching up to $60 million within the first three years, he says. For now, it plans to operate one office, but might look at opening other branches in Kootenai County in the future.


I want to have a successful freestanding branch in Post Falls before I go down the road too far, Bobbitt says. I dont have a crystal ball. I just look for great opportunities in the area, and those will become apparent as the bank goes on.


Bobbitt says two main factors drive a community banks growth. First, such banks depend on the local economy. He points to Post Falls population and job growth, booming construction activity, and Cabelas Inc.s recently-announced plans to open a big sporting goods store there as signs that the Post Falls area can support a community bank.


Secondly, a community bank grows business by taking it away from somebody else, Bobbitt says. Banks in Post Falls collect a combined total of about $225 million a year in deposits and about 85 percent of that money is deposited at what Bobbitt calls big-box or national banks.


Those banks just dont give the customer the service and relationship attention we want to give to our customers, he asserts.


Bobbitt says he decided to establish a bank in Post Falls both because he saw an opportunity to fill a need in the area and because during his career he established some long-time friendships there.


I flunked retirement, he says. I looked back on my career and thought, Where did I have the most fun? I love the Post Falls community.


Bobbitt, a Coeur dAlene native, has 36 years of banking experience. He worked in Idaho at West One Bank for 26 years, where he worked his way up to executive vice president of community banking. Bobbitt joined Sterling a decade ago, shortly after U.S. Bank bought West One.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.