Diana business community bands together in response to Community Bank closing Harrisville branch

Feb. 1—HARRISVILLE — Community Bank's announcement of another closure of a small community's only bank has left residents, businesses and the local school district concerned about how their lives and livelihoods will be impacted.

In a letter sent to customers dated Jan. 25, Community Bank's retail banking senior vice president Hal Wentworth said the branch at 14216 State St. will be consolidated with the Star Lake branch 21 miles north of Diana on Route 3 as of April 28, noting that customers can choose "any Community Bank location" for their services.

The next closest branches are also about 21 miles away in West Carthage and Gouverneur.

Residents and businesses started receiving those letters Friday, prompting the owner of Harrisville Hardware, Robert J. Bernhard, to reach out immediately to other business owners and Town Supervisor Zachary J. Smith.

"This is going to affect a lot of people. I know we're a small community, but it's going to affect a lot of people," Mr. Smith said. "It not only affects the town of Diana — the town of Pitcairn uses Community Bank, the school and I'm going to say 95% of the businesses between Diana and Pitcairn rely on the bank and then community members individually, too."

The residents who will be most negatively impacted will be the older community members, he said, especially those who "don't have transportation to get out of town," Mr. Smith said.

For Mr. Bernhard, who has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past eight years in the transformation of an old family-owned hardware store on Route 3 that had seen better days, the domino effect the closure is likely to have is the biggest concern, not just the operational challenges it creates.

"If I have to go out of town once a week to do my banking, then I might just do my grocery shopping in Carthage instead of Chuck's (Market in Harrisville) because I'm already there," Mr. Bernhard said. "They might get their hardware, they might get their pharmacy stuff there. Everything affects everything. They might go to the diner there instead of going to the Village Inn (in Harrisville.) It hurts everybody."

Additionally, Mr. Bernhard believes the lack of a bank could keep people from moving to the population center in the far northeast of Lewis County.

"Would you move your family to a new town that doesn't have a bank? Who is going to move here now?" he said. "Even if everything is perfect, they'll realize, 'Oh, I've got to drive 25 minutes to make a deposit.' What's next, the post office?"

The local pharmacist, owner of Bonaparte Pharmacy and two other businesses in Diana, Justin M. Besaw, agreed with Mr. Bernhard and said the timing is even worse because so many of the storefronts have been renovated with more slated for improvements this construction season, making downtown Harrisville and other businesses look better than they have in decades.

"To have us all putting all of this work, put all of our energy into this just to have things spiral down the other way..." he said, his voice trailing off as he shook his head.

Mr. Besaw said he and others are feeling "very frustrated, disheartened, angry" and wishing the bank had reached out to the town supervisor or others to talk about what could be done to avoid closing the branch instead of making the decision unilaterally.

"Before just saying, 'We're closing' and there's no negotiating, maybe keep an open mind. Maybe be proactive. Now we have this huge reaction and it's going to look bad on them," he said.

The local response to closure, however, is not unilateral.

Everyone interviewed said that unity among local business owners to attract a replacement bank is crucial and the group is expected to have a meeting soon to strategize.

"This is an awesome town. I just sincerely hope we can lure another bank with the promise of all the locals supporting it," Mr. Bernhard said.

Harrisville Central School District Superintendent Robert N. Finster told Mr. Smith in an email that the district has several accounts with the bank and would be willing to "do what he had to do" to help get another bank in place in the community.

Mr. Finster did not return a call asking for comments on the impact the closure would have on the district's approach to its daily finances.

The town supervisor has reached out to Carthage Savings and Loan and Northern Credit Union about coming to Harrisville.

Both banks opened branches in Croghan in 2019 after the only bank there closed.

Although he acknowledges Community Bank's role in helping him start his business, giving him his first loan and "many others," he also said his loyalty hasn't paid off so he is willing to switch to a bank willing to come to the community.

"Why stay loyal to someone that's not loyal to you?" he said. "I understand why they did it. Business is business and business exists for one purpose — to make money, right? If it doesn't, it's gone, so obviously that's what happened."

The closure was not the first indication that the bank's business model was not working at the Harrisville branch.

Hours of service were cut from five to two days a week about a year and a half ago. Although that changed things for business owners used to doing daily cash deposits and stocking up on change every day, it did not make it necessary to drive a half hour in each direction to do such basic — and irreplaceable — financial transactions.

Community Bank representatives including Mr. Wentworth did not return calls on Tuesday and Wednesday asking for more information on the closure.

Branch manager Jordyn Cox, who is also in charge of the Star Lake branch, said that all three Harrisville employees will transfer to Star Lake.

Community Bank closed two branches in St. Lawrence County — Ogdensburg and Waddington — over the summer.