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Williamsburg residents and business owners were blindsided last week when they received a letter stating that the only bank left in town would be closing March 4.
CBT Bank, located on the corner of High and East First Street in Williamsburg, is a division of Riverview Bank.
The letter about the closing from Mid Penn Bank came two days after a separate letter notified customers that Mid Penn Bank was in the process of merging with Riverview Bank.
Signed by Mid Penn Bank President and CEO Rory G. Ritrievi, who could not be reached for comment, the first letter stated that the merger would be complete in March 2022, and that the bank's primary goal is to enhance their customer's banking experience.
Instead, Williamsburg residents and business owners will be left without any bank at all.
"I would do anything to get them to stay," Williamsburg Borough Council Vice President James Foreso said. "This whole town goes to that bank."
The decision to close the bank saddened some residents and angered others, like Sandy Wenerick, who has been with CBT Bank for years.
"I hate it, I don't think it was done properly," Wenerick said. "I know I'm pulling my money and going somewhere else. It's just not right."
The second letter informed customers that their accounts would be transferred to the bank's Morrisons Cove Branch in Martinsburg, which would create a 28-mile round trip for Williamsburg residents to do their banking.
Williamsburg Mayor Ted Hyle said that the move would cause unnecessary hardship for the elderly living in town, as many of them don't drive and now won't be able to walk to the bank.
"For an old person, going up Piney Creek in the winter time, that's not a very good ride," Hyle said.
Hyle also stated that the borough, operated mostly by volunteers, goes to the bank several times a week and having to drive to Martinsburg or Huntington will take a lot of time out of their day.
Small business owners like Tracy Colbert, who owns Williamsburg Beverage Co., relies on the bank "almost daily" for cash and deposits.
Colbert doesn't plan on staying with Mid Penn once it closes CBT Bank, instead opting to transition her lines of business to a bank "in the Huntington direction."
Colbert really feels bad for the CBT Bank employees, who are Williamsburg residents.
"The employees there are from our own community, and they worked really, really, really hard during the pandemic to keep the bank running," Colbert said. "Sometimes with only one person in the building."
Jocelyn Fipes, a manager at Sizzler Pizza, said that a lot of businesses in Williamsburg have accounts at CBT Bank.
"We're going to have to find somewhere else to get change," Fipes said. "It's going to be a lot harder for me, period, with money."
Williamsburg had two banks before its First National Bank branch closed in 2018.
The building that previously housed the First National Bank has a restrictive covenant that prevents it from being used as a bank for 10 years, Hyle said.
According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, a restrictive covenant is a provision in a property conveyance that limits the grantee's use of the property.
Hyle is worried that Mid Penn may do the same thing with the CBT Bank building, which would effectively prevent Williamsburg from having another bank until at least 2028.
"It's sad, in my mind," Hyle said. "These people are running out of Williamsburg to do banking somewhere else, and we can't entice a bank to Williamsburg. We have to wait 10 years."
According to Foreso, Mid Penn said it might try to put a drive-thru system in. However, he doesn't believe that would be a viable option, as it would take hours for business owners to process all of their individual checks.
However, the community hasn't completely given up hope. According to Colbert, Ritrievi seemed open and willing to discuss other options.
"We're still hoping we can reach some kind of negotiated settlement," Foreso said.
Hyle stated that he talked to the CEO and scheduled a closed meeting with him in January. While Hyle doesn't believe there's anything they can do to entice the bank to stay, he said he will do everything he can to help Williamsburg residents.
"I'm not putting the nail completely in the coffin," Colbert said.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.