Despite Pleas From 'Joliet's Hometown Bank For Over 50 Years,' City Council Changes Banking Institution

JOLIET, IL — For many years, downtown Joliet's First Midwest Bank was the go-to bank for millions of dollars that flowed through Joliet's City Hall, but the current administration of Mayor Terry D'Arcy, city manager Beth Beatty and finance director Kevin Sing have chosen to go in another direction starting now.

At Tuesday night's meeting — despite last-minute pleas from John Thurston, corporate banking president at Old National Bank — the Joliet City Council voted unanimously to follow Sing's recommendation to make a major change in terms of Joliet's banking needs.

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"The City of Joliet utilizes Old National Bank for its primary banking needs," Sing explained in his lengthy City Council memo. "To ensure we receive services at the lowest cost, staff conducted a Request for Proposal for Banking Services. This RFP was advertised on the City's e-procurement portal and marketed to several area financial institutions. Four proposals were received and three met the requirement for a full-service branch in the City of Joliet."

Prior to the vote, Thurston stepped to the podium and addressed the mayor and Council. "As you think about your decision as it relates to making a switch on the banking institution, I would just like to point out how we have unapologetically been part of this community for over 50 years. Whether it was Union National Bank, whether it was First Midwest or whether its current bank, Old National Bank, we have spent a lot of time engraining ourselves in this community. We have spent more than 7,000 volunteer hours for our team members over the last three years.

"We have invested over $2 million in the past couple of years and one of our largest bank branches is here in Joliet ... I ask you to consider the fact that when we take your deposits, we then loan those back out into the community. We have over 175 employees in the city of Joliet and 250 in Will County. We want to be part of this community ... what I would like to leave you with is after 50 years, we would love the opportunity to continue being your hometown bank because we view you as one of our key community partners and we believe we have been an excellent community partner over these last 50 years."

Thurston's remarks did not persuade Joliet City Hall to reverse course.

Prior to the vote, Sing's memo further explained how "Old National Bank's proposal has the lowest fees, however, Old National did not submit pricing for the city's electronic lockbox transactions. When reviewing the proposals in whole, JP Morgan Chase is providing a larger earnings credit which is used to reduce or eliminate fees. The larger earnings results in the City being able to invest additional funds generating substantially more interest income."

And here's where the Joliet taxpayers become winners, according to Sing's financial analysis:

"Based on rates in effect on August 1, 2026, the JP Morgan Chase proposal would generate over $227,000 more interest with no banking fees," Sing revealed.

He noted that the JP Morgan Chase services included in this proposal were: General Checking, Payroll Checking, Lockbox, Electronic Lockbox, Remote Check Capture/Deposit, Merchant Credit Card Processing, Armored Card Services, and Account Validation.

The banking services agreement approved on Tuesday night was for a period of five years whereas fees and the earnings credit are locked for the five-year period, Sing conveyed.

"The change in bank will result in a change of the City's mailing address for payments as the current mailing address is the Old National Bank lockbox processing center," Sing advised. "Staff will educate customers about the change of payment address with inserts and/or means when sending bills. If approved, this action will change banking institutions, saving the City at least $50,000 annually and increase interest income by approximately $227,000."