2017Annual Report

MINUTES FROM THE 60THPAUL BUNYAN RURAL TELEPHONECOOPERATIVE ANNUAL MEETINGThe 60th Annual Meeting of the members of PaulBunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative was held at the Bemidji headquarters on May 25, 2016, commencing at 3:30 pm.

The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by Director Randy Frisk who presided as Chairperson throughout the meeting. Director Frisk announced that a quorum was present with 65 members in atten-dance.

Reverend Andrew Ronnevik of Calvary Lutheran Church gave the invocation.

Gary Eklund acted as Secretary throughout the meeting.

A motion was made, sec-onded and carried to dis-pense with the reading of the official notice and proof of mailing.

A motion was made, seconded and carried to dispense with the read-ing of the minutes of the last Annual Meeting and approve them as present-ed.

Director Randy Frisk intro-duced the current board of directors.

Director Randy Frisk pre-sented the Report of the President on behalf of President Kathy Peterson who was unable to attend.

The Annual Financial Report was given by Chief Financial Officer Dave Schultz. A motion was made, second-ed and carried to accept the financial report.

The Manager’s Report was given by CEO & General Manager Gary Johnson.

Director Randy Frisk called for unfinished business, there was none.

There was no new business.

There being no fur-ther business to come before the meeting, on motion made, seconded and carried the meeting adjourned.

NOTICEOF ANNUAL MEETING

61st Annual Meeting of Paul BunyanRural Telephone Cooperative

Wednesday, May 24, 2017Paul Bunyan CommunicationsHeadquartersBemidji, Minnesota

Business Meeting 3:30 pm Coop Celebration 4:30 pm

You need not be present at BusinessMeeting to be eligible for door prizes.Dinner will be served continuous-ly during the Annual Cooperative Celebration.

FINANCIAL REPORTDave Schultz,Chief Financial Officer

OPERATING REPORTSKathy Peterson,Board President

Gary Johnson,CEO & General Manager

I am happy to report that 2016 was another very successful year

for your coopera ve! We’ve made great progress on expanding the GigaZone, our ini a ve to grow our state of the art fi ber op c com-munica ons network into one of the largest gigabit networks in the country. We have also con nued to add addi onal services for our membership including becoming Northern Minnesota’s Apple Ser-vice Center off ering repair on Apple Products and PC’s.

As I have noted before, the GigaZone is the future of our coopera ve and provides the next genera on of broadband Internet services. An important piece of

the GigaZone experience is our GigaZone Integrated Wi-Fi service which is uniquely capable of deliv-ering the higher GigaZone Internet speeds to all your wireless devices.. As I write this, a majority of our co-opera ve service area is now in the GigaZone, over 32,750 loca ons, and that number will con nue to grow. This is an amazing accom-plishment, especially considering that many rural areas in Minnesota and across the country are unfor-tunately s ll trying to gain access to the most basic of high speed Internet services for the fi rst me.

The future of our region and the communi es we serve depends

upon access to cri cal, high quality communica on services. Whether it is for rural health care, educa on, economic development, or enter-tainment, there is no doubt your coopera ve’s advanced GigaZone infrastructure will provide that for decades to come.

Our network capabili es were on full display in October when we hosted our fi rst-ever GigaZone Gaming Championships. This event brought compe ve gamers together from across northern Minnesota to compete in a variety of gaming events, headlined by League of Legends. The par ci-pants were impressed by the speed and responsiveness of the Internet

2016 YEAR in REVIEWGary Johnson - CEO/General Manager

services central to the compe on. Planning is already underway for our second annual event sched-uled for September 29-30. You can learn more at gigazonegaming.com. New, crea ve events like this and the recent True North Hackfest show the power of combining our state of the art technology with the region’s young tech-savvy talent.

In July, our coopera ve reached an agreement with Lueken’s Village Foods to purchase TJ Studio and make Paul Bunyan Communica ons northern Minnesota’s Cer fi ed Apple Service Center. The acquisi- on combined the talented crew at

TJ Studio with our team of skilled

designers, programmers, and tech-nicians and uniquely posi ons Paul Bunyan Communica ons to off er the region excep onal crea ve and technical services including website development and design, business IT services, and computer repair. These new services will be on featured in our Bemidji offi ce once our exci ng lobby renova ons are complete in a few weeks.

The future of your coopera ve is bright. Our expansive and growing fi ber op c network infrastructure posi ons us extremely well for the data-centric future we know lies ahead. Our GigaZone services have been well received as hun-dreds of customers are connected

every month. We are fortunate to have an extremely talented and hard-working team, and a very sup-por ve and forward thinking board of directors. This means we’re poised to con nue our innova on and growth, con nuing our 65-year mission of delivering cri cal com-munica ons and related services to our members across our rural service area.

Thank you for your membership and con nued patronage.

Gary JohnsonCEO/General Manager

BEMIDJIHannah GreggKatrina Marcotte

BLACKDUCKJulianna Fernandez Timothy Schocker

BIGFORKJade KallinenRhyley Rahier

CASS LAKE/BENAElizabeth PembertonGabrielle SchmidtDanica Staples

Paul Bunyan Communications reinforces the importance of education by donating more than $20,000 in scholarships to area high schools and post secondary institutions. We would like to congratulate all students who were awarded scholarships during the 2016 school year!

BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITYErin DetersAlex FureyClaire JohnsonDusty Juve

ITASCACOMMUNITYCOLLEGEBaylie Seifert

NORTHWESTTECHNICALCOLLEGEKari FrezelMichelle Fride

OAK HILLSCHRISTIANCOLLEGEJoseph Weeks

POST SECONDARY SCHOOLS

DEER RIVERMatt RautioEmma Shaw

GRAND RAPIDSMegan MajorLogan Woock

INT’L FALLSSavannah Boe

KELLIHERChristina GrundmeierCole Koisti

HIGH SCHOOLSLAPORTEKyle KloehnSydney Bowles

LITTLEFORK/BIG FALLSBreanne Cipriano

NORTHOMEShadow LievsayCal Roosdett

PARK RAPIDSKylie HigginsHunter Utke

RED LAKELeigh GarriganLashana Thompson

WALKERJarod Marty-KennedyCara Schmidtke

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

RED LAKE NATIONCOLLEGEShelby Lussier

LEECH LAKE TRIBAL COLLEGEAlana Gross

MANAGEMENTCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER& GENERAL MANAGERGary Johnson

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERDave Schultz

NETWORK OPERATIONSMANAGERRob St. Clair

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY& DEVELOPMENT MANAGERSteve Howard

CUSTOMER SERVICEMANAGERChristie Turn

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTKalsie Vanasse

ACCOUNTING &HUMAN RESOURCESJackie BergersonTerri CrewsJon DankerJulie GeerdesKaren GaasvigRob NorenCrystal PetersonAmanda SandeBonnie Wichern

BUSINESS SALESRosie BergKari GreggChuck HildebrandtLorie KarasChloe Keprios

ENGINEERINGChris BattistaTiffany FalkAndy FisherPatti HorazukRyan MaherBrian MustonenMatt ProulxSharon SwansonRon Vold

DATA & VIDEOSERVICESJosh AlmendingerLeo AndersonApril AzureAurora BakerNelson CastilloSimon CecereLisa GeerdesHeather HansonJohn HartyAdam HellquistGrant HicokAaron HulsGarret JohnsonRuss KrookMaria KuechleJonathan LundstromCrystal MattfieldJesse MixNate NoltingBrandon OdegardNathan PeskeBeau SeegerLoren ScramstadStacy TraskKim TykDaniel WaldenCarly WalshBarb Zdenek

CUSTOMER SERVICEDeanna BlackWendy BrittonJennifer DeedsDawn DrottsCyndi FenskeTia GrahamMelinda HallLeah HendricksSarah HightshoeAime HulbertTonya JaycoxDebra JensenMary Jane KnappLiz MeadeJenny MillerStacey NelsonCindy NyhusmoenNoel PeckGail PedersonWanda RiegerShawn SauerTerri SchaubhutJackye SevertsJolene SilkMicha SmithJudy StacklieJen TomlinsonBrenda Williams

MARKETINGBrian BissonetteDon DaleBob Lindberg

DISPATCHTammy EidenschinkAnna LauerCorina PafkoMike PlottsMeggen SolheimAlison Voss

OUTSIDE PLANTKent AkerTog AndersonJeremy ArltDarren BockDuane BodeKyle ChristiansonDwight CrandallGeorge DaigleCasey FeringBrett FollandRandy GarriganMike GreggThane JansenTim KarasTrent LarsonChris LuciaTadd McFarrenJohn NistlerChris OelrichRyan OttingTed RutherfordDanny SamsonJeffrey SchaperGary StorlieTravis TylerWayne Vredenburg

CENTRAL OFFICEDaryl BjerkeBradley HessStephen MathiasJames NovakCheryl Pauly

MAINTENANCEPat DockendorfBruce Simenson

EMPLOYEES

KATHY PETERSONPRESIDENTDISTRICT 3

BRUCE CAMPBELLDISTRICT 7

JIM SUTTONDISTRICT 8

TIM HINSTREASURERDISTRICT 9

RANDY FRISKDISTRICT 5

GARY EKLUND SECRETARYDISTRICT 1

GLENDA MARTINDISTRICT 6

BOARD ofDIRECTORS

SERVICETERRITORY

MISSIONSTATEMENTPaul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative is committed to meeting the needs and expecta-tions of our members and other customers by providing quality innovative communications ser-vices.

We commit ourselves to caring, cooperation and respect in our relations with members, custom-ers, employees and our commu-nities.

We strive to enhance the qual-ity of life in our service area by accepting a leadership role in rural communications and economic development proj-ects.

We operate in the highest tradi-tion of the cooperative philos-ophy, as stated in our by-laws, while providing for the financial well-being of the cooperative and its members.