Hello, and 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, and you can 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 line is yours. Thank you, Sarah, and good morning. I am 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 2024 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 and strength of resilience during 2023. With a backdrop of interest rate volatility and economic challenges that accelerated throughout the year, the Evans team continued to deliver significant results, which included historic net income performance of $24.2 million, the sale of the Evans Agency to Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, an American-based global insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, which resulted in significant value creation, including measurable growth in our tangible book value with an after-tax gain of approximately $13 million and elimination of almost $12 million of goodwill and other intangibles. Repositioning of the balance sheet to reduce lower-yielding investment assets and reduce borrowings, and growth of 3% in total loans, with loan balances expanding to $1.7 billion. Finally, extensive community results, which are detailed in our community responsibility statement, which was published as part of our proxy. I would also like to acknowledge Robert Miller and Kevin Maroney, who are leaving the Evans Board of Directors this year. Bob has been a director since 2001, joining Evans as part of the acquisition of M&W Group Insurance Agency, which was later renamed the Evans Insurance Agency. He was president of the insurance agency for 18 years prior to his retirement in 2019. Kevin joined the Evans Board of Directors in 2020 with the acquisition of Fairport Savings Bank. We are grateful to Bob and Kevin for their service to Evans and its Board of Directors and wish them well in all their future endeavors. I now hereby call the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Evans Bancorp to order. I would like to note that Michelle Baumgarden will serve as the Secretary and record these proceedings. If you are a shareholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you would like to change your previously cast vote, please do so now via the website used to access this meeting. Now on to some business items. 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 21 March 2024. Madam Secretary, I request the oath of office and affidavit of mailing be filed with the minutes of this meeting. So noted. Erin, would you please report on the number of shares represented at this meeting? There are 4,435,732 shares of the company represented at this meeting by proxy, out of a total of 5,508,593 shares of the company, which are entitled to vote at this meeting. Under the bylaws of the corporation, a majority, or 2,754,297 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 this meeting this morning. The first matter to be acted upon today by the shareholders is the election of four Directors, each to serve until the 2027 annual meeting. The board of directors is nominated for reelection as directors of the company, Dawn DePerrior, Kimberley A. Minkel, Christina P. Orsi, and Michael J. Rogers. These individuals were named as nominees for director in the company's proxy statement mailed on 21 March 2024. Since no other nominations were submitted, I declare the nominations for Director closed. Therefore, the nominees for Director for a three-year term are Dawn DePerrior, Kimberley A. Minkel, Christina P. Orsi, and Michael J. Rogers. 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 2024. I now declare the polls closed and ask the inspector of election to report on the results of the election. Each nominee for director, Dawn DePerrior, Kimberley A. Minkel, Christina P. Orsi, and Michael J. Rogers, received affirmative vote of at least 90% of the shares voted. I am pleased to announce that Dawn DePerrior, Kimberley A. Minkel, Christina P. Orsi, and Michael J. Rogers 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, on the two remaining proposals? The approval on an advisory basis of the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers received the affirmative vote of 96% of the shares voted. The ratification of the appointment of Crowe LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2024 received the affirmative vote of 98% of the shares voted. Based on the report of the Inspector of Elections, the shareholders have approved, on an advisory basis, 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 2024. At this time, we would like to take any questions you may have for us today. To ask a question, click on the Q&A tab to submit your question or comment. Mr. Wortham, it appears there are no questions at this time. 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.
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