Letters

Featured Letter: Reconsider bank branch closing

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | The Mattituck branch will close before next spring, bank officials said.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | The Mattituck branch will close before next spring, bank officials said.

To the Editor: 

The Mattituck Chamber of Commerce is very saddened to hear about the closing of the Mattituck branch of Suffolk County National Bank.

SCNB has been in Mattituck for 26 years and plays a vital role in the community.

Janet Stewart, the branch manager, has been an incredible asset to the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce and, therefore, the entire Mattituck community. As both a general chamber and board member, Janet has strongly represented SCNB with enthusiasm, encouraging and educating on the importance of local banking and business within our small business community.

For 15 years, Janet has served as chairperson for the Mattituck Street Fair. She has worked tirelessly for years with dedication and an eye for improving the event and its profits, growing it into the Chamber’s largest fundraiser of the year and one of the most popular events on the North Fork. The event is also incredibly well-known and attended by vendors and visitors from all across Long Island, allowing tourism and small business to prosper with this promotion outside of our small North Fork region.

Janet’s enthusiasm spreads to her amazing staff, who, in turn, have also spent many hours of their own personal time volunteering to make sure local North Fork businesses (also their bank customers) are involved and well-represented each year at the event.

Janet and the staff at SCNB Mattituck have repeatedly represented their business with information and vigor at every event. Their easy and pleasant personalities, wit and knowledge of the industry have given Suffolk County National Bank a reputation of being Mattituck’s genuinely local bank.

With SCNB’s plans to push west in the near future, it seems the bank is leaving the people of the North Fork behind with only one branch, hence forgetting the people who helped build SCNB and sustain it through hard financial times.

The Chamber will not support a bank that does not feel Mattituck is important enough to maintain an office and current staff.

When the bank closes, so will the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce’s account.

We implore SCNB to reconsider this decision and offer the opportunity to present to the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce at a member meeting, should the company so wish.

Mattituck Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors

Brooke Dailey, President