KAYSVILLE — At some point in the conversation, the date of January 15 comes up.

That was the day everything changed for 201 employees of Barnes Banking Co.

It started as a normal enough day. Rob Pyper, marketing director at the time, remembers a staff meeting that morning where senior management assured everyone that while it might take a while, funding was coming in to meet the requirements the Federal Reserve Board had outlined 30 days before.

“We needed such a small amount of extra capitalization to stay running,” said Kent Smith, branch manager. “Most of us thought we still had additional time for investors to fill the capital needs the bank had.”

But things changed on the afternoon of January 15 when, the way teller Mary Paul remembers it, reporters started showing up outside the bank at 4 p.m. Smith remembers banking officials coming in about that time and meeting with executive officers at the bank.

Within a few hours the employees were called together and told that state and federal regulators were closing the bank. Trouble with real estate loans, credit risk-management practices and being undercapitalized were the primary factors.

In the months since, some employees have been hired by Zions Bank, some are working temporarily for the FDIC as loans and assets are redirected, some have found related jobs. Others are still looking for employment.

Working at Barnes Banking had been a dream job for Rob Pyper, who was hired as marketing director in 2005. For starters there was the three-minute commute – a big improvement over the drive into Salt Lake City he’d been doing for 25 years or more.

But then there were the people – and the work. “They needed me, they liked what I was doing,” he said. As a “department of one,” Pyper took care of public relations, media buying and graphic designing, a job with lots of variety and opportunity to make a difference.

Even more, he felt working at the bank was “a family kind of a situation,” making it even harder to leave.

Mary Paul, a teller for three years, also felt close to those she worked for and with.

“It was a very, very nice place to work – the tellers there were dear friends and I loved the customers. We went out of our way to make everyone happy and to help them if there was any way at all,” she said.

Paul was hired to stay on for four weeks after the bank was taken over, as customers closed their accounts.

“It was hard not only for us but it was hard for them,” she said.

“Especially some of the elderly people who so depend on people they see all the time. A lot of people had never banked anywhere else. It was hard to say goodbye. They’d be in tears and you’d cry with them.”

Smith was hired by Zions Bank to stay on in the Kaysville location as, again, branch manager. Zions hasn’t had a presence in Kaysville until now.

He said nine Barnes employees were hired to work for Zions in Kaysville, and a few more to work in the Syracuse and Bountiful branches or other parts of the Zions’ system. Some former employees have gone to credit unions, one to an accounting firm and one to a financial solutions firm to help those struggling with finances.

Another 40 employees are working temporarily for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures accounts, to assist with processing and selling off loans and assets.

One of those is David Walker who said they “didn’t have any guarantees” on how long the job with FDIC would continue. “It could be a few weeks, it could be a few months.”

“It’s a tough time to be out looking for a banking-related job,” said Smith. Since the Barnes closure, two other banks in Utah have been shut down by federal and state regulators: Centennial Bank of Ogden, and Advanta of Draper.

Pyper was kept on with the FDIC for one week, then let go. Since that time he estimates he’s applied for about 100 jobs and found there are about 70 applicants for each position.

He remains optimistic, with a diverse set of skills that he’s developed over the years, but being over 50 and having so much experience makes it difficult.

After taking a few months off, Paul was contacted by her former employers at Benjamin Franklin Crafts and Frames in Kaysville and works again in the fabrics department. Sewing and making quilts is a passion, so, she says, “This is a good move. I’ll be OK.”

Not only employees, but shareholders saw things change with the bank closure.

“Every shareholder lost their investment,” said Smith. “A lot of local people had stock ownership and many employees had invested. It’s all gone.”