Business is as usual at Cottenie and Gardner, the Kamsack insurance company which was acquired earlier this month by Hub International Ltd.
There will be no changes to the business, said Ted Gardner and Les Fedorak last week as the partners discussed the business and an overview of its history.
The business will continue with the same employees and under the same name, Gardner said, adding that although he will continue working on a part-time basis, Fedorak plans to stay on full time. The three customer service representatives are also saying with the business.
Gardner estimates that the majority of their customers come from an area from the Manitoba border to the east, Yorkton to the west, Norquay and Pelly to the north and Rhein to the south.
The Winnipeg office of Hub oversees the operations of many such insurance businesses in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, including those in Langenburg, Esterhazy and Kelliher, he said. A district manager from the Winnipeg office is expected to be making periodic visits to the Kamsack office.
Cottenie and Gardner Inc. was begun by Bryan Cottenie on Nov. 1, 1979 in a building no longer existing which was on property on Main Street adjacent to the current TD Bank. He had left his job as a loans manager at the former Kamsack Credit Union.
In July 1982 Ted Gardner, who had also been working as a loans manager at the Credit Union joined Cottenie as a partner and they moved the business to its current location across the street to the corner of Third Avenue and Second Street.
Les Fedoruk, who was farming in the area, was hired in November 1982 and became a partner in 2000. Bryan Cottenie retired in 2007.
“We’re a full service insurance company,” Gardner said, explaining that the business is a broker for SGI Canada, Wawanesa, Portage Mutual, Saskatchewan Mutual and “a few specialized markets.”
The business is an SGI licence plate issuer and handles real estate.
“We appreciated operating a business in the town we were raised,” Fedorak said.
“I enjoyed that this business has allowed us to meet and associate with local people,” Gardner said.
The benefit of this business is that it is consistent; there’s no big ups and no big downs in it, he said.
