Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. members gathered at the Community Center in Roundup on Thursday, May 31, 2018, for the 66th Meeting of the Members. Items of business included electing three members to the Cooperative’s board of trustees, informing members of the cooperative’s financial performance and future plans, and awarding 12 scholarships to area students. Trustees Nick Schultz (District 1) and Dennis Green (District 3) were re-elected to three-year terms to the Mid-Rivers Board of Trustees. Barb Wacker (District 2) was elected to serve a three-year term to the Mid-Rivers Board of Trustees.
Mid-Rivers’ General Manager/CEO Michael Candelaria and Chief Financial Officer Craig Dyk provided an update on the financial condition of the cooperative and announced the cooperative had a record year in 2017. Candelaria and Dyk also gave an update on the status of the Cooperative’s long-term fiber build-out plan.
Door prizes including Amazon Echo Devices, iPads and cash prizes were handed out during the meeting.
Mid-Rivers continued its commitment to education by awarding twelve $500 scholarships through a drawing of students attending the meeting. These twelve scholarships are offered to any student attending a higher education institution in the fall of 2018, whose parent or guardian is a member of the Cooperative. Through this drawing and the $40,000 in competitive scholarships awarded earlier in the year, Mid-Rivers was able to contribute to the educational futures of 40 students from 15 communities. Winners of the 2018 scholarship drawing were Abby Gremaux, McKenna Sealey, Taylor Stahl, Jake Kunda, Cormac Weichel, Derrick Reimann, Courtney Brand, Ashley Donnelly, Selina Angel, Lanning Tyrrel, Connor Shaw and Glenna Finkbeiner. Mid-Rivers Higher Education Scholarships are funded by unclaimed capital credits. Montana Law requires that after 5 years, capital credit payments that remain unclaimed be placed into a fund for educational use. Mid-Rivers has chosen to use these funds for scholarships and educational grants to members.
At the Board of Trustees’ organizational meeting held after the Annual Meeting, Dennis Green was elected as Mid-Rivers’ President, Dane Castleberry was elected Vice President, and Gene Engen was re-elected Secretary-Treasurer.