Hello. Welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of Evans Bancorp, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question and answer session. You may submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A tab. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Lee C. Wortham. Mr. Wortham, the floor is yours. Thank you, Chris, and good morning. I'm Lee Wortham, Chairman of the Board of Evans Bancorp and Evans Bank, and I'm joined here by David Nasca, President and CEO. It is our pleasure to welcome you to our 35th annual meeting of shareholders. We appreciate you joining us virtually today. As we begin, I want to take this opportunity to thank our management team and associates for their committed efforts, resilience, and selfless work as they fought through a difficult environment to deliver exceptional results in 2022. I do want to take a moment to just highlight several of the team's accomplishments. Net income, which approached record performance from 2021 at $22.4 million, offset $9 million in prepayment fees received from the Paycheck Protection Program in 2021. Strong net commercial loan growth of $95 million resulting from record $365 million of production, ex-PPP. Insurance services experienced a significant increase in new business, finishing the year equivalent to 2021 performance while offsetting almost $300 thousand of revenue lost related to the disposition of an insurance claims unit. Non-interest expenses decreased by 2.1% for the year as the organization focused on expense management and continued to drive efficiency to improve returns. Evans realized a 13% increase in overall ethnic minority demographics. In 2022 saw Evans deliver $400 thousand in charitable gifts, including $100 thousand which was contributed to the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund after a racist gunman killed 10 Buffalonians shopping in a neighborhood grocery store, selecting the neighborhood because of its predominantly Black population. The fund is aimed to address systemic issues that have marginalized communities of color. Our extensive community results are also detailed in our first-ever community responsibility statement, which was published as part of our proxy under separate cover. I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together, and I again extend my congratulations and thanks to the team for delivering such outstanding results. I now hereby call the 35th annual meeting of shareholders of Evans Bancorp to order. I'd like to note that Michelle Baumgarden will serve as secretary and record these proceedings. Erin Stevens of Computershare Trust Company has been appointed as inspector of election for this meeting, and her oath of office was previously delivered to the secretary. Erin is joining us via teleconference. An affidavit of mailing signed by William Valentin, an employee of Computershare Investor Services, the company's stock transfer agent, was previously delivered to the secretary. This affidavit certifies that the notice of meeting, proxy statement, proxy form, and annual report were mailed to all shareholders of the company commencing on March 22, 2023. Madam Secretary, I request that the oath of office and affidavit of mailing be filed with the minutes of this meeting. Noted. Erin, would you please report on the number of shares represented at this meeting? Sorry. There are 4,246,455 shares of the company represented at this meeting by proxy out of a total of 5,450,308 shares of the company, which were entitled to vote at this meeting. Under the bylaws of the corporation, a majority or 2,725,155 shares constitute a quorum for this meeting. I declare that this shareholders' meeting has been lawfully and properly convened, and a quorum is present. There are three business items to be acted upon at the meeting this morning. The first matter to be acted upon today by the shareholders is the election of five directors, each to serve until the 2026 annual meeting. The board of directors has nominated for re-election as directors of the company Michael A. Battle, Jody L. Lomeo, Nora B. Sullivan. The board of directors has nominated for election as directors of the company Dawn DePerrior and Robert A. James. These individuals were named as nominees for director in the company's proxy statement mailed on March 22, 2023. Since no other nominations were submitted, I declare the nominations for director closed. Therefore, the nominees for director for a three-year term are Michael A. Battle, Dawn DePerrior, Robert A. James, Jody L. Lomeo, and Nora B. Sullivan. The second item of business is approval on an advisory basis of the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers. The third item of business is ratification of the appointment of Crowe LLP as Evans Bancorp, Inc.'s independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2023. Those shareholders who have previously signed proxies will have their shares voted in the manner directed on their proxy. I now declare the polls closed and ask the inspector of election to tabulate the vote and report on the results of election. Erin? Each nominee for director, Michael A. Battle, Dawn DePerrior, Robert A. James, Jody Lomeo, Nora Sullivan, received the affirmative vote of at least 98.32% of the shares voted. I am pleased to announce that Michael A. Battle, Dawn DePerrior, Robert A. James, Jody L. Lomeo, and Nora B. Sullivan have been duly elected as directors for a term of three years. Thank you, and congratulations to all. Erin, would you please report on the results of the voting of the remaining 2 proposals? The approval on an advisory basis of the compensation paid to the company's named executives received the affirmative vote of 95.29% of the shares voted. The ratification of the appointment of Crowe LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2023 received the affirmative vote of 98.76% of the shares voted. Based on the report of the inspector of elections, the shareholders have approved the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers and the appointment of Crowe LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2023. At this time, we would like to take any questions you might have for us today. To ask a question, click on the Q&A tab to submit your question or comment. The board administers there are no questions. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much for joining us today. This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect and have a pleasant day. Thank you, Chris. Welcome.
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