Sara Stadem | Editor
The community of Colton will have a new bank this winter when Reliabank opens their doors for members around December 10, once remodeling is complete, according to owners Dave and Jan Johnson. Reliabank is located at the former US Bank building at 200 E 4th Street.
Reliabank has been in the Johnson family since Dave’s father took ownership of the bank back in 1967 with the current owners being Dave, his wife Jan, and their sons, Reid and Ethan. The bank began in Estelline which is Dave’s hometown and branched out from there.
When asked how he decided to get into the banking industry, Dave said he was born into it. He started working as a janitor for his father at the age of 14 before going to college and it evolved from there. When Dave’s father unexpectedly passed away in 1976, the family needed someone to run the bank and Dave, the youngest of five children, turned out to be the right choice. Over the course of years, Dave eventually purchased the business from the rest of the family.
“Even though it was offered to other family members, I think Dave was the best fit because he does have the entrepreneur vision to see a bigger picture,” his wife, Jan said. She continued, “Not that any other family member would not have been great; he just has a vision that some don’t and I think Dave was a great fit for the big picture and I would like to think I helped a little along the way.” Dave smiled and added, “Yeah, I think she did.”
Colton is Reliabank’s tenth location. So why Colton? Dave and Jan explained it’s simple. It’s because of the opportunity. Dave said, “Where our locations are… we like to be where a community is sustaining or growing, to be a part of economic expansion and we are opportunists and think that’s here.” Jan added, “The main reason I think there are opportunities here is because of Sioux Falls’ expansion to the north, if you think about the Amazon warehouse, the FedEx, all those places in the industrial park…”
Dave said, “The hog place coming in Brandon.”
Jan continued, “All those people working there will need places to live and a lot of those people like small towns, small communities.”
“If you look how smaller communities around Sioux Falls area are growing, ultimately, it’s going to reach Colton,” Dave said.
Jan added, “So, it’s an opportunity.”
Dave and Jan explained that Colton is their style of who they are and it fits into where they expand.
“One of our core values is that we live the independent community bank model and what that means is that we are a family-owned independent bank,” Jan said. She continued, “We make part of our goal to get into our banks and know our customers and we can really do that in a place like Colton.”
There are several areas that Reliabank has to offer that Dave and Jan are excited about. Not only will the Colton branch have drive-up banking, Dave said, “We offer second to none customer service in person but we also offer second to none technology.” He continued to explain customers will have the convenience of online loan applications and can even open bank accounts online without having to go into the bank directly. In addition to those features, Reliabank will offer all tech products, mobile deposits, agricultural lending, small town, business and commercial needs and more.
“We want to bring a style of community banking that emphasizes high touch personal services but innovation such as technology,” Dave said.
Dave has been working on the renovations inside the building and the trees have been removed outside for the work to begin on the drive-through.
They are excited to announce Kyle Lamfers of Hartford has been hired as the manager of the Colton branch and they will be hiring approximately four additional employees.
“That’s how you build this, you have someone who is a stable employee that is knowledgeable that someone can trust and that’s what we do that big banks don’t do in small communities,” Dave said. Jan added, “We pride ourselves about caring for our communities that we go into.”
As it gets closer to opening day, Dave and Jan assures community members there will be a celebration of some sorts. So, stay tuned for more information.
If someone is interested in a position at Reliabank, you can visit their website at www.reliabank.com.