Citizens Telephone Cooperative held its 2017 Annual Meeting on Saturday, October 21st, in the Floyd County High School Auditorium. Members of the Cooperative filled the auditorium for an afternoon of enjoyable entertainment brought by their very own Broadband Technician, Gary Young. The Cooperative highlighted the company’s accomplishments for 2017 and shared visions of what products and service enhancements are to come in 2018.
General Manager, Greg Sapp, opened the meeting by recognizing a couple of employees celebrating years of service milestones, Keith Bowman for 30 years and Katie Vest for 40 years. Next he reviewed the financial condition of the Cooperative. He spent the majority of his time discussing the Cooperative’s fiber to the home project and announced the fiber expansion map so customers can stay up-to-date on the construction progress. The map is available on Citizens’ website at www.citizens.coop/fiberexpansion. The color coded map shows the localities and the projected year that fiber will be constructed. Visitors to the site can enter their street address and scroll to street level to see an estimate of when fiber service will be deployed to their area.
Sapp complimented the Board of Directors for their leadership in this project. Furthermore, he thanked the employees for their tireless work and dedication to help bring the next generation fiber network to our members. Sapp continued, “this is a long-term project is to build the infrastructure that will supply fiber optic technology to the residents of Floyd County for generations to come.” Our Fiber to the Home service will provide speeds not offered in any areas around us, whether urban or rural, with 1 Gigabit speeds being offered next year.
He continued by sharing the deployment plans for the upgrades. As reported at the 2016 meeting, the upgrades and construction will occur in phases. The Town of Floyd is complete and eligible subscribers can currently receive broadband internet speeds up to 100Mbps but 1 Gbps will be offered soon. Citizens Fiber footprint will continue to expand throughout the county.
With broadband products being the driving force for business and residential services, Citizens will provide a connection to meet your needs. “Connectivity is vital and your Cooperative is proud to provide advanced technology for your community.” continued Sapp.
Before turning the meeting over to President, Wesley Goff, Sapp again thanked the Board of Directors and Citizens’ employees for the job they do.
In closing Sapp thanked the membership for their confidence and support and for being loyal customers and conducted random drawings for door prizes.
Congratulations to Door Prize Winners:
- Nancy Parr – USB Multi-port Wall Charger
- Welby Cockram – Amazon Firestick TV with voice activated remote
- Judy Mollick – Panasonic Cordless Phone System
- Madeline Shortt – Fitbit Charge 2 Activity Watch
- Dot’s Beauty Shop – Amazon Echo with WiFi Smart Plug
- Karin Grosshans – $160 Voucher for Citizens Computer Services
- Janice Shelor – 8-inch Galaxy tablet with screen saver and case
- Janette Spangler – $200 Voucher for Citizens’ Services
- Jane Shelton – 32” LED Smart High Definition TV
- Henry Thompson – Citizens Basic Monitored Home Security Kit
Following the meeting, a traditional fried chicken lunch was served by the Presbyterian Women’s group.