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Sept. 24, 2007
For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Stan Frisbee or Bonnie J. Prigge, (573) 265-2993
KLEBBA ELECTED TO HEAD REGIONAL LOAN BOARD
Auditor issues clean audit on SBA program
ST. JAMES—Linn banker Thomas Klebba was recently elected president of the Meramec Regional Development Corporation, a regional loan board that offers Small Business Administration (SBA) and revolving fund loans. Others elected at the Sept. 19 annual meeting were Kathy Schlottach, an Owensville banker, who will serve as vice president; businessman Bruce Sassmann of Bland, who will serve as secretary; and Darlene Weber, a Potosi banker, will continue as treasurer.
Three county directors were also elected to round out the executive board. They are Gerry Lewis of Pulaski County, Jim Marcellus of Phelps County and Scott Shults of Dent County.
Lewis and Shults were newcomers to the board, along with Dennis Purcell of Dent County, Mark Weidinger of Maries County and Jerry Wolfe of Osage County.
In other business, the MRDC board:
- Honored outgoing board members. They included Alan Vickers of Maries County, who had served several years as president of the board. Also honored were James Highfill of Maries County and Robert Perkins of Crawford County.
- Learned that auditors, Verkamp and Malone, had issued a clean audit of the Small Business Administration’s 504 program as operated by MRDC, a certified development company. The program had revenues of $53,321 and expenses of $52,220.
MRDC provides lower-interest loans to help finance business start-ups and expansions primarily in Crawford, Dent, Maries, Gasconade, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties. Working in cooperation with banks, the programs are designed to induce private lenders to participate in business loans in order to create and retain jobs.
The MRDC board is responsible for reviewing and making loans through two local revolving loan funds owned by Meramec Regional Planning Commission. One fund was created through a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and local match dollars from local counties; the other—the Intermediary Relending Program—was capitalized through a long-term loan with USDA Rural Development.
MRDC also packages and services 504 loans, which provide long-term, low fixed-rate financing for practically any type of business that will create new or retain jobs in the region. The local board reviews and recommends 504 loan applications to SBA's St. Louis district office.
Persons needing more information on RLF and SBA loans should contact Candace Connell or Maria Kardon at (573) 265-2993 or email at cconnell@meramecregion.org. or mkardon@meramecregion.org
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