It's Time for the 2023 Annual Meeting

It’s September, so it’s time to celebrate your Cooperative! You are all invited to the 36th Annual Meeting of your Cooperative in Clear Lake on September 30, 2023. The meeting will again be at the Clear Lake Community Center starting at 10:00 AM.

Last year, we discussed all the different things we CAN do with fiber-optics. With a Fiber-Fast Internet connection, you can easily game, stream, and work from home. This year’s theme is “Connecting Communities – Bridging the Digital Divide.”

First, let’s talk about bridging the divide for all ITC customers. During the Annual Meeting, ITC will present a by-law change to incorporate all the Minnesota CLEC areas into our Cooperative. A CLEC is an area where ITC has competition. As a reminder, all other areas of ITC are already Cooperative members. While incorporating MN areas was always the plan, I feel this is the perfect time to bring them in. By voting yes to change the by-laws, all of ITC’s MN territory would benefit from capital credits and having a voice in ITC, which they currently do not have. With ITC receiving a MN Border-to-Border Broadband Grant to expand into Yellow Medicine County, voting these customers into the Cooperative would give ITC a tax break and make it easier for ITC to gain customers. We ask all the current Cooperative members to join us on September 30 and vote “Yes” on this by-law change. If this vote passes, all areas of ITC will be a part of the Cooperative.

In more expansion news, ITC is currently finishing up areas in rural Codington County and the City of Ivanhoe. We have also started working in rural East Madison, South Dakota. The coverage map on the back displays ITC’s expansions in the last several years. Along with ITC’s investment in the fiber-optic expansions, ITC received funding from the Connect SD Broadband Grant Program and the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

Join us at the Annual Meeting on September 30 and help us pass the vote to bring our Minnesota CLEC into the Cooperative. Registration starts at 9:30 AM. A free gift for members and a lunch following the meeting will be provided. Cash prize drawings will be held for the attendees, and the first 25 kids will also receive a gift. Remember to bring your registration card printed on page seven of this newsletter. I hope to see you there!