TelComm begins downtown construction, adds Nixa branch

TelComm Credit Union broke ground Sept. 29 for its new branch at 400 E. Chestnut St. President Don Ackerman said the new branch will replace the credit union's existing downtown branch at the Springfield News-Leader, 651 N. Boonville. The new branch is expected to be complete by early February.

Ackerman said the existing TelComm branch at the News-Leader office was the News-Leader Employees Credit Union until it merged with TelComm, which previously was known as Springfield Telephone Employees Credit Union. The name changed to TelComm in early 2001.

Amenities

"It's not going to be a real big facility, but it's going to have four drive-through lanes, a drive-up ATM, night depository and a loan officer. Basically full-service," said Ackerman of the planned 2,000-square-foot facility.

TelComm board member Shirley Essary of Essary Construction is the construction manager for the project, and the architect is Ben Webb of Webb & Associates. Webb also is a board member. Webb said mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering is being handled by Tim Hamilton of HBH Engineers.

According to the building permit filled with the city of Springfield, the approximate cost of the building and site improvements is $250,000.

Webb said the exterior of the new branch will be similar to that of TelComm's main office at 2155 E. Sunshine St.

"It's surfaced with exterior insulating finish system. It's synthetic stucco. There will be a colonnade around the entry area that will be surfaced with porcelain tile," Webb said.

Webb, who is also a licensed real estate broker through another company, Webb & Associates Real Estate and Development, represented TelComm in the land acquisition for the new branch.

Negotiating the purchase of the land was a challenge, Webb said, because it originally was three different parcels with three different owners and not all of the parcels were initially for sale.

"The site itself slopes, which is good in one sense to drain off water, but in another sense it's more than adequate slope and the challenge to that is trying to grade it so that you have control of access for disabled individuals," Webb said.

TelComm facts and stats

At the end of August, TelComm CU reported total assets of $51.9 million, total loans were $38.9 million and total deposits were $44.9 million, Ackerman said. Membership as of Aug. 31 was 11,912.

TelComm CU's membership is limited to people who lives or works in the 417 area code, and employees and their family members of select employer groups, including Springfield Business Journal, American National Property and Casualty, KY3 and KOLR 10. Ackerman said TelComm serves about 120 employee groups.

In 1940, when the credit union was chartered, it was available only to Southwestern Bell employees and their families.

"As the years progressed and Bell started downsizing the board in 1977 decided to start bringing in employee groups," he said. "As time went on, you get to where you penetrate those employee groups. There's only so many people who can have or want to have an account with you, so the board looked at diversifying even further."

A change in the law in 1998 allowed credit unions to expand their memberships to a community-type charter. Ackerman said that because of TelComm's historical ties with the telephone industry, it opted to define its geographical area by the 417 area code.

Prior to the change, he said, there were a lot of people who didn't have the opportunity to join a credit union, because existing credit unions were restricted from serving them.

Credit union benefits

Ackerman said there are many reasons why consumers might want to consider joining a credit union.

"We pay higher savings and CD rates than most places most of the banks. We have lower loan rates than a lot of the banks. Credit unions are noted for that in general," he said.

"The fees are generally lower, or in many cases, we don't have fees (in situations) where maybe a bank might have fees," he added.

Those higher rates and savings on interest and fees are possible, Ackerman said, because credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives, and any excess profits are returned to members.

For credit unions, accountholders are the ones who attend the annual meetings and vote on the board of directors. Ackerman noted that members of TelComm's board of directors are volunteers.

Moving to Nixa

TelComm CU opened its Nixa branch at 338 N. Massey Blvd. at the end of August, becoming the first credit union in Christian County.

"We had done a survey to our membership to see where the needs were, demands were for offices for expansion," Ackerman said. What the survey found, he noted, was that about 1,800 of the credit union's members live in the Nixa area.

"So our board felt it was good for us to go ahead and consider having a branch down there. We discovered Metropolitan Bank was moving out of an office there, building a new building, so we checked into that office. It was basically already set up for a financial institution to move into," he said.

The Nixa branch, which is leased, has two drive-up lanes, lobby services, an ATM and an on-site loan officer.

TelComm's board has a real estate committee which evaluates the credit union's locations from time to time. Ackerman said that TelComm has a lot of members in north Springfield and Willard, but he said there aren't any immediate plans to move into that area.