Clinton to hold special meeting over bank loss

CLINTON — The Clinton City Council is holding a public forum Tuesday for residents to share concerns about the $83,000 the city lost when Centennial Bank was closed by federal regulators on March 7.

The meeting will be held at Clinton City Hall, 2267 N. 1500 West, at 7 p.m.

Clinton Mayor Mitch Adams said a fair number of city residents are upset about the loss, and he decided to call a public meeting separate from the council's regular meeting to give those residents a chance to be heard.

"It's important that people know we hear them," Adams said.

When the FDIC closed the bank, which operated a branch in Clinton, the city had a balance of $330,000 earning a healthy 3.5 percent interest rate in a certificate of deposit with the bank.

The $330,000 was not part of the city's general operating revenues but was set aside for the future care of the city cemetery.

Most of the city's money is held by the Utah Public Treasurers Investment Fund, also known as the state pool, said City Manager Dennis Cluff.

Cluff said he should have paid more attention to the cemetery money.

"There's no real good excuse," he said, adding that he wishes he had gotten the money out of the CD.

The cemetery money doesn't come from the city's general fund, sales taxes or property taxes, and the loss doesn't hurt the city's general operations. The city still has the principal it invested in the CD and some of the interest it earned.

But that's little consolation to Cluff, who takes pride in saving the city money wherever possible.

On his advice, the city recently refinanced the bond on the relatively new city buildings, saving the city $130,000 in interest payments over the next eight years.

The city rarely borrows money through bonding, preferring to save for projects instead.

"For me, it's kind of embarrassing," Cluff said. "It's very, very frustrating."

e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com

twitter: desnewsdavis