Bennett plans new bank

Hungry Horse News

With 600 new housing units approved inside Columbia Falls, Don Bennett thinks the time is ripe for the first new bank in town since Glacier Bank came in the 1970s.

Ground breaking will take place March 1 for Freedom Bank, he said, a 5,000-square-foot locally-owned bank at the corner of Sixth Street West and U.S. Highway 2 next to the Nite Owl restaurant.

The application process for a bank charter is under way with the state and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bennett said. Capital was raised by himself, his parents, Jim and Frankie Bennett, and other investors, he said.

Bennett, who spent 20 years with First Citizens Bank before retiring in October, said he "looked at every bank name in the country" searching for a name for his new bank.

"I like the freedom to own my own bank and the freedom to do things the way I want," he said. "It'll have a big American flag, and I've already got the phone number 892-1776 lined up."

Growth in Columbia Falls and the surrounding area justifies the start of a new bank, Bennett said.

"We averaged 35 new homes a year the past decade-now we have 600 units ready to build," he said. "Columbia Falls and the Canyon area are on the verge of a real positive thing. Columbia Falls offers families a quality of life that can't be found elsewhere."

Freedom Bank will be a full-service bank, he said, with checking, saving, CDs, Internet banking and loans for homes, cars, homes and small businesses.

Bennett said he plans to be open for business in a mobile facility next door sometime in March while the new bank is being built. Freedom Bank could employ 10 people the first year and maybe 15 the next year.

"Schwarz Engineering is doing the design-I'm trying to do everything locally," he said. "My employees will be stockholders so they have the ability to grow with the bank. That will attract good people."