On Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022, we held the 58th Annual Membership Meeting of the Valley Telephone Cooperative. The meeting was held virtually over the Webex platform and was staged at the Valley Headquarters in Willcox, Az. Board President David Thompson opened the meeting and welcomed members and patrons who tuned in. Bob Dahlstrom gave the invocation which was followed with the Pledge of Allegiance. Valley employee Robin Grymes then sang an acapella version of the National Anthem and then the meeting was opened up for business. Proctor Justin Allred addressed the audience regarding the establishment of a quorum based on ballots that were received from voting members. With more than 5% of total ballots were returned, President Thompson declared the presence of a quorum. President Thompson introduced the Board Members which included himself, William "Bunch" Swift (who was away at his son's graduation), Joe Chapin, Steve Fenn, Carrol Miller, George May, Eva Morin and Marti Tingle. Next he introduced CEO Steve Metts who was tuning in remotely along with CFO Troy Judd and COO Kristi Lee who would give the CEO report. President Thompson then introduced Corporate Attorney John Lacey and Proctor Justin Allred. Secretary/Treasurer Joe Chapin addressed the attendees for proof of mailing and notice of the Annual Meeting followed by Proctor Allred, who announced the approval of the 2021 Meeting Minutes. Treasurer Joe Chapin then came to the podium to give the Annual Financial Report.
President Thompson then recognized Board Member George May for his service and announced his retirement as of the end of the meeting. He then talked briefly about the 60 year history of the company and introduced a special 60th Anniversary "Our Story" video the can be seen at the following link: "Our Story". After the video, President Thompson gave his full report to the audience highlighting the financial strength and future growth of the cooperative as well as the retirement of capital credit returned to members. He then thanked the company management and employees, the members and patrons and the Board of Directors. President Thompson welcomed CFO Judd and COO Lee to give the General Managers Report. CFO Judd introduced Valley employees who were present and arranged for or participated in the meeting and then covered particulars related to finished and on-going projects including the build-out of fiber to the home throughout the entire town of Thatcher and various grants applications that are in progress. CFO Judd then turned time over to COO Lee for her report on upcoming expansion projects (which can be found in a separate News Story).
Following the CEO/GM report, President Thompson gave the Scholarship Committee report followed by the 2022 scholarship announcements. 48 recipients were awarded a total of $130,000.00 in scholarships from the Valley Telephone Cooperative Foundation. A video of the recipients can be seen at the following link: "2022 Scholarship Video" The next order of business was the result of voting for Directors by mail-in ballots. Proctor Allred announced the election results as follows: Dan McDougal was elected as a new Director for District One (replacing George May), David Thompson was re-elected as a Director for District Two and Joe Chapin was re-elected as a Director for District Three.
The meeting was then opened up for any questions submitted by the attendees (there were no questions asked). This was followed by the announcement 30 members/patrons who were registered for or attending the meeting who each received a $60.00 bill credit. Following that was the drawing of the grand prize winner from all verified ballot entries and the winner was: Nancy J. of Pearce who received a check for $1,000.00. President Thompson then thanked all who attended and closed the meeting.
(Board President David Thompson at the podium during the virtual meeting)