Bank of the Sierra plans aggressive new growth strategy and Barry Hibbard leaves Tejon Ranch

 * ... HIBBARD LEAVES TEJON: I learned yesterday that Barry Hibbard, the longtime vice president of commercial development for Tejon Ranch, is leaving the company to strike out on his own. Hibbard told me he plans to start a company that will invest in distressed commercial real estate for longer term investors. He said the commercial slump (which is expected to get worse) represents a "generational opportunity that I wanted to be in on." The two primary areas of investment will be the Central Valley and Central Coast. In addition, Hibbard said he has grown weary of the commute to Tejon, his wife is two and a half months pregnant and he'd like to spend more time at home. At 6-foot 7 inches, Hibbard is a former Big Ten scholarship swimmer at Michigan State University and an avid athlete. He worked at Tejon for 12 years and his last day is Friday.

* ... OLAGUE'S RETURN: I had a chance to catch up over lunch the other day with Michael Olague, the longtime local banker who is now Senior Vice President and Senior Area Manager for Bank of the Sierra. Olague joined the bank in November and spent the first two months in Porterville - the bank is based there- learning the culture and mapping an aggressive strategy to position the bank as "the business bank of choice." I was surprised to learn that the bank, which has 25 offices scattered throughout the Central Valley, has $1.3 billion in total assets. Sierra has always had a quiet profile here, but my guess is that will change under Olague's more ambitious direction. Olague brings instant credibility and wide contacts to the bank, which enjoys more visibility and market share in places like Tulare County than it does locally. Previously Olague headed the local offices of Bank of America and Dutch-based Rabobank and worked at San Joaquin Bank.

* ... HOLD THE COCKTAILS: Sandi Schwartz, a member of East Rotary and secretary of the Plank Foundation, wrote to take issue with Men Health magazine's rating of Bakersfield as one of America's 'drunkest cities.' "I sent this article from Men's Health to my son Bryan Phillips who is Kern County raised, West Point grad, now living in Houston," she said. "He quickly defended Bakersfield stating that the article was unfair due to mass transit in large cities. Don't I have a brilliant son?" Indeed you do Sandi.

Bako bits: an explosion of swine flu cases locally and the local ties to Citizens Business Bank

* ... SWINE FLU CASES EXPLODE: Heard some alarming news regarding the swine flu Wednesday from Dr. Raj Patel, a co-owner of Preferred Family Care Physicians off Truxtun Extension and my personal doctor. Patel said his office has seen a virtual explosion of the swine flu (H1N1) in recent weeks, going from two to three diagnosed cases a day to 20 to 25 a day in just two weeks. These numbers far outstrip the  number of swine flu cases that the Kern County health department reported earlier this week, but Patel says the cases are real and frightening. "We've stopped counting," he said. "Every day it is more and more and more. We are swamped." Patel received his first shipment of the H1N1 vaccine but went through it in a couple days and is awaiting a new shipment. Now comes word that the U.S. health authorities are warning there will be shortage of the H1N1 vaccine (read the story here) and that there may not be sufficient quantities to cover everyone until December. Patel said the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 8 percent of all Americans have the swine flu now, and by the end of the year fully 60 percent of us will have some kind of flu: either a regular version of the flu or the H1N1.

 * ... THE LOCAL CONNECTION TO CITIZENS: Had a nice chat the other day with Ray Dezember, the retired banker who knows just about everybody in town. Ray reminded me that Citizens Business Bank, which took over the failed San Joaquin Bank, has a strong connection to Bakersfield. For you local history buffs, Ray was running the old American National Bank when it was absorbed by Wells Fargo Bank back in 1990. Working with Ray at American National was D. Linn Wiley, who shortly thereafter went to Ontario to become CEO of Citizens Business Bank. Linn has since retired but remains as vice chairman of the board at Citizens. Other American National alumni now working at Citizens Business Bank include Harold Hanson, John Ivy and John Tait. Ray said it was Linn Wiley who actually recruited Citizens CEO Christopher Myers.

 * ... WHERE'S MIKE OLAGUE? Speaking of local bankers, lots of folks are wondering what happened to Michael Olague, the longtime Bakersfield banker who has been replaced as head of the regional Rabobank office. Rabobank is a private, well diversified Dutch-held company that keeps a tight rein on public announcements, and it's not saying anything about what happened to Olague. All the office would say is that the new regional president is Anker Fanoe. Olague previously ran the regional Bank of America office and worked for a time at the old San Joaquin Bank.


 * ... THE MESS WITH LOCAL APPRAISALS: Readers of this blog know I am a big fan of local appraiser Gary Crabtree and his "Crabtree Report," which remains one of the single most authoritative sources on the local housing market. I'm always impressed by the depth and breadth of his reports, which in this day and age makes for a sobering read. His latest report shows Bakersfield remaining the seventh worst foreclosure market in the nation with a staggering 13.14 per 1,000 households. And the mess with out of town appraisers supplying incomplete or erroneous appraisals remains a big problem. From his report:

 "The HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) is continuing to cause problems with low appraisals performed by either lesser experienced and/or geographically incompetent appraisers ... Research of the MLS appraiser members indicates that 58 percent of the appraiser members are from out of the area as far north as San Francisco and as far south as San Diego, with one appraiser from Huntsville, Alabama. What is even more concerning is that according to the California Office of Real Estate Appraisers there are a total of 119 licensed appraisers in Bakersfield, yet only 50 are 'appraiser members' of the MLS. This begs the question: where and how are the other 69 members obtaining their market data information or do they possess a real estate license and are Realtor members?"