Sun Savings Orders a 13% Cut in Staff

Sun Savings & Loan Assn., trying to cut operating costs while searching for a desperately needed capital infusion, will trim its staff by 13% by the end of the month.

The cost-cutting move is part of an “ongoing plan (to cut) all operating expenses,” according to President and Chief Executive John McEwan.

Fourteen of Sun’s 109 positions will be eliminated by month’s end, resulting in an 11% cut in the payroll, McEwan said.

The highest-ranking employees facing layoffs are Randy Grimm, vice president of marketing, and Michael Lennon, a senior lending officer.

Sun management conducted a “functional review,” during which “we decided what functions we would have to do without,” McEwan said.

Grimm was the company’s only marketing executive, McEwan said, adding that other staffers will take over Lennon’s lending job.

Since January, Sun has operated under a supervisory agreement with state and federal regulators that limits its assets and liability growth until its virtually depleted net worth returns to 3% of its $403 million in assets.

A hoped-for capital infusion from New York financier Van D. Greenfield collapsed last month after Sun reported that it had lost $4.6 million in the fourth quarter, sinking net worth to $1.27 million, or only 0.3% of its assets.

McEwan said Monday that he has 11 possible investors on his “qualified prospect list.” However, none has signed a letter of intent. “We’re strictly in discussions,” he said.