BROKEN BOW— Nebraska State Bank has reopened their doors with the same great service, but a brand new look. Construction began earlier this year to redesign the bank that had seen some aging and was in need of a face lift. Now, thanks to the people of Custer County and the Sandhills, Nebraska State Bank not only has improved with updates, but is now decorated with pictures submitted by residents of both these great areas.
Deb Kennedy, Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, began the ribbon cutting ceremony, on Friday, September 14, with the presentation of the “Grow Broken Bow” award to Nebraska State Bank, for their continued support to the Broken Bow Economy. The ribbon cutting took place shortly after and then NSB selected two people to take place in the cash grab. Following the events, NSB employees took visitors on tours of the newly designed bank to show off the improvements.
The interior of the bank has been redesigned, so that when you enter the bank you are immediately greeted by one of the staff members who will help out in any way possible. The redesign is not only is seen up front, but throughout the entire bank. The offices located in the back of the bank have been redesigned and organized to be separated by function to allow for a more conducive work environment. There was also not enough meeting spaces which was corrected by building two conference rooms and one board room which were then named after past owners of the bank.
“We had a nice space before but it wasn’t very functional. We were out of space, we didn’t have enough room for the staff, for the additions, and we didn’t have enough meeting spaces,” said NSB President Stuart Fox
The most well-known highlight of the bank was the selection of pictures that now hang in the lobby, meeting rooms, and offices. According to NSB, there were over 400 pictures submitted to the bank, but Sarah Russell was only able to select 130 to be hung.
President Fox said, “I think it makes the interior just a little more special. It means something having pictures of Custer County and the surrounding area.”
The project didn’t come together without a few hiccups now and again, as when the new floor was placed it was higher than the bottom of the vault door. This caused a major issue as to what to do with a floor that had already been laid out, but an obvious necessity to have the vault door be closed.
A solution was found by placing pennies and quarters on the floor and pouring an epoxy over the top to create a walk-able surface that also allows the vault door to shut. The new “walkway” into the vault has 12,000 pennies (thirteen of those are 1917 pennies, the year NSB was founded) and 568 quarters (189 are tail-up Nebraska quarters). This creates a one-of-a-kind floor that is valued at $262.
“[The floor] was very time consuming, but probably one of the neatest features that came out of the project and it was just something that we had to figure out to solve a problem.”
