Archives for September 2014

Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim, Chairman Emeritus of Pilgrim Bancorporation and Pilgrim Bank, and Bert Williamson, Chairman of North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc., announced last week that they have signed a definitive agreement for Pilgrim Bancorporation to acquire North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc., the parent company for State National Bank of Texas. State National Bank of Texas is a banking association with offices in Iowa Park, Wichita Falls, Electra, Holliday, Vernon, Archer City, Windthorst and Decatur.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pilgrim Bancorporation will acquire all of the common stock of North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of Pilgrim Bancorporation and North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc. The acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc. as well as bank regulatory authorities.

Ken Pilgrim, Chairman of the Board of Pilgrim Bank and Pilgrim Bancorporation commented, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to associate with North Central Texas Bancshares, Inc. and expand our operations. This acquisition will expand our presence along the Highway 287 west corridor. We expect that their expertise and knowledge of their respective markets will enhance our franchise. We welcome current State National Bank of Texas customers into our banking family.”

Williamson added, “We are pleased to join with Pilgrim Bank. Our customers can look forward to an expanded presence in East Texas and the Panhandle and the additional products and services that Pilgrim Bank offers.”

State National Bank of Texas, founded in 1932, has community bank locations stretching across North Texas from Vernon to Decatur. As of June 30, 2014, State National Bank of Texas had total assets of $240 million.

One hundred three year old Pilgrim Bank was founded in 1911 and has 6 banking offices, including an office in their charter town of Pittsburg, Texas and their corporate office in Mount Pleasant.

Along with a northeast Texas location in Sulphur Springs, the company has two panhandle locations- Wellington and Clarendon. As of June 30, 2014 Pilgrim Bank had total assets of $386 million. Upon completion of the proposed transaction, it is anticipated that the combined bank will have approximately $629 million in total assets and 16 locations.

Bo Pilgrim said, “We are pleased that both Pilgrim Bank and State National Bank of Texas share a common goal of serving our customers, our stockholders, our employees and our community as we continue to build an exceptional community bank that offers great customer service.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, with the banks to combine operations in mid 2015.

By Morgan Smith, The Texas Tribune

Nearly three years after more than 600 Texas school districts filed litigation challenging the state’s school finance system, a Travis County district judge has ruled in their favor.

In an almost 400-page opinion released August 28, District Court Judge John Dietz of Austin said that the state’s school finance system is unconstitutional not only because of inadequate funding and flaws in the way it distributes money to districts, but also because it imposes a de facto state property tax. Certain to be appealed by the state, the lawsuit that arose after lawmakers cut roughly $5.4 billion from state public education funding in 2011 will now continue to the Texas Supreme Court.

Though Dietz made no public remarks on Thursday, his decision is a reprise of an earlier oral ruling in February 2013. From the bench at the time, Dietz discussed what he called the “civic, altruistic and economic” reasons for supporting public education.

“We realize that others provided for us when we were children. We realize that children are without means to secure their education. Just as others provided for us when we were in school, now is the time when we provide for others,” he said, going on to describe the societal benefits of a well-educated population: lower crime rates, fewer people who need public assistance and a greater state income.

The judge ruled against the two parties in the lawsuit that did not represent traditional school districts. He held that the issues raised by Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education — a group representing parents, school choice advocates and the business community that alleged that the current system was inefficient and overregulated — were better solved by the Legislature. He also ruled against the Texas Charter School Association, which argued that the state cap on charter school contracts and charters’ lack of access to facilities funding was unconstitutional.

Dietz reopened evidence in the trial for a four-week period earlier this year so that he could consider changes made by the 2013 Legislature, which restored about $3.4 billion of the $5.4 billion in public education cuts made in 2011 and changed graduation and testing requirements.

In the trial’s second round, lawyers for school districts argued that the funding boost was short-term and that other changes like implementing complex high school curriculum requirements had imposed additional expenses on schools. On Thursday, Dietz agreed.

The updated ruling generated swift reaction from policymakers and stakeholders across the political spectrum.

Education Commissioner Michael Williams issued a statement saying that state leaders, “not a single judge,” should be determining school finance policy.

“Any revisions to our school finance system must be made by members of the Texas Legislature,” said Williams, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2012. “The Texas Education Agency will continue carrying out its responsibilities in providing funding for our public schools based on the current system and ultimately the legislative decisions made at the end of this legal process.”

The ruling will also likely fuel continued sparring over the issue in the state’s gubernatorial contest between Abbott, a Republican, and Democrat Wendy Davis. As the Texas attorney general, Abbott is responsible for the state’s defense. Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, filibustered the 2011 budget bill that enacted the $5.4 billion in cuts that led to the litigation that arose two summers ago.

Abbott attempted to remove Dietz from the case in June, when he filed a recusal motion that questioned Dietz’s impartiality based on a series of emails sent to school district lawyers. The visiting court judge appointed to decide the motion dismissed it a few weeks later, saying the evidence did not justify Dietz’s recusal. The emails were not made public.

 

The new manager of the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce has a familiar face and is no stranger to the job she’s been hired to do.

Former Chamber president Bonnie Campbell formally stepped into her new title last Tuesday, September 2, and is keeping regular hours inside the Clarendon Visitor Center at the Mulkey Theatre.

“I think Chamber is doing well and want it to keep growing,” Campbell said. “I think people see that we’re out there doing things to help business.”

Campbell was chosen by the Chamber’s Board of Directors on August 20 following the recommendation of a search committee which combed through several job applications over the summer before concluding that the right person for the job was already on the job.

After spending two and a half years on a volunteer basis, Campbell formally resigned the organization’s president and board member, and she will now get paid a modest amount to keep the office open from 10:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday as the Chamber Manager.

“Our door is open,” Campbell said. “And when I’m not here, I have the phone forwarded to my cell phone and carry my black book with me.”

Campbell came on the Chamber board in January 2012 at a time when the organization was at a low point. Eight months earlier, the Chamber had suffered the loss of $20,000 in annual funding from the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax. With the organization in disarray, she stepped in as president.

“Our first goal was to keep the office open,” Campbell recalls. “We tried at first having volunteers take turns at the office for limited hours, but that didn’t work very well so I started volunteering.”

And so the woman who had spent 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s as an assistant administrator and office manager for Clarendon’s former Adair Hospital before spending 10 years as a real estate broker and company owner in Tennessee, found herself running the office of the Chamber of Commerce and working to restore its reputation.

“We worked at improving our image,” Campbell said. “We grew Chamber membership, and I think the merchants feel better about the Chamber.”

Those gains came through the reorganization of the Chamber and several new initiatives that Campbell helped put in place. In 2012, the Chamber Board first revised the organization’s outdated bylaws, and then an entirely new set of bylaws were approved by the members of the Chamber on April 24, 2014.

Over the last two years, the Chamber also started hosting quarterly “Business After Hours” networking socials for its members, developed a new website, and worked on a “Business Spotlight” initiative. The Chamber also relocated from its old office in the Newhouse Building to its present location at the Mulkey Theatre through a partnership with the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation.

Last year, the Chamber Board also hosted its first Christmas Bazaar with great success, and plans are coming together for the second bazaar to be held this year on Saturday, November 22.

Now with expanded hours, Campbell hopes to do more for the Chamber and its members.

“I feel good about the Chamber,” Campbell said. “We’ve got a good board, and I want to see us focus on members and member participation.”

In addition to sending out information packets about Clarendon, fielding phone calls, and greeting visitors, the Chamber has several new projects that Campbell will be working on for the next several weeks.

A community calendar of events is being developed, and people are encouraged to inform the Chamber of activities they have coming up in order to help spread the word.

The Chamber plans to start a regular e-newsletter next month that will be distributed to Chamber members by e-mail, and the Chamber wants to do more to promote its members within the Visitor Center by offering a display rack for members’ business cards.

The Chamber is also getting more active in the realm of social media with a revised and updated Facebook page.

Another activity on the horizon is one that is called for under the new bylaws – an annual membership meeting. Different from the annual Chamber Awards Banquet, this meeting is for Chamber members only and will be held at noon on Friday, November 7, for the purpose of electing three new directors to the Chamber board and giving members an annual update on Chamber activities. The location of that meeting will be announced soon.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Campbell said, “and I’d like to see more people come visit us at the office.”

For more information about the Chamber of Commerce, call 874-2421, go by the office at 110 S. Kearney, find the Chamber on Facebook, or visit www.ClarendonChamber.com.