In 1997, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago formed the Community Bank Council. It was designed to boost communication between the Chicago Fed and the communities in its district. Specifically, it gave community banks a voice and helped ensure their issues were heard. Members on the council rotated every two years.

Michael Kubacki, who took over as president and CEO of Lake City Bank in 1999 when Doug Grant retired, was selected for this honor in 2001. This gave Lake City Bank a voice in the Federal Reserve System’s Seventh District. The bank that had started in 1872 in rented rooms next to Wynant’s Drugstore had come a long way.