Emery Telcom Meeting Draws Large Crowd

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The annual meeting for Emery Telcom was held on April 24 in the town of Emery at 7 p.m. The meeting was called to order and Kathy Justice, secretary for the board read the notice of the meeting which was sent out to all patrons. The matter of business of voting for three members for the board of directors was announced. One member from the Ferron exchange, one from the Emery exchange and one director at large.
Also the conducting of other business would be done. Patrons were required to be present at the meeting to have a vote on board members. Current board members were introduced to the audience. Board members present were: President Paul Crawford, Vice-president, Kendall Mortensen, secretary and at-large member, Kathy Justice, Morris Sorensen-Emery representative, Olive Anderson-Green River representative, Delynn Fielding-Castle Dale, Randy Jensen-Cleveland, Kevin Tuttle, Orangeville, and Darrell Gardner-Elmo representative was excused due to a track meet.
President Crawford spoke of their sadness at losing a board member since the last meeting. Varden Willson was killed in a car accident. Crawford said, “Varden was very knowledgeable and always found out all sides to an issue before he would vote.”
The next item of business was the reading of the Oct. 25, 2001 special meeting minutes by Greg Killpack, general manager. He read that a rate increase for business and residential users was approved at this meeting. There was no discussion on the minutes and they were approved as read. The next item was the auditor’s report. Killpack went over the assets and liabilities for the previous three years. He noted the considerable increase in assets with the acquisition of the Carbon and Hanksville exchanges on April 6, 2001. He reported that $663,034 have been paid in patronage dividends since 1991. The auditor’s report was approved.
Killpack gave an update of where the company is and where it is headed in the future. He said, “In 1990 we had 2,200 regulated customers in a 3,600 square mile area. In 1993, we had 4,900 customers and this year we have 17,000 customers in an 8,800 square mile area. Emery Telcom is the holding company. Carbon/Emery Telcom and Hanksville Telcom are subsidiary companies to Emery Telcom. We also have long distance, wireless and Emery Telcom telecommunications and video. We offer internet access, business solutions, advertising and after hour services. Emery Telcom wholly owns the subsidiary companies. Emery Telcom has total control.”
Killpack spoke of other capital and construction projects which are ongoing. He said the Carbon County and Hanksville acquisition has been Emery Telcom’s largest endeavor and it tripled the size of the company. He spoke of the DSL service which has expanded into Emery. Fiber is now provided to Elmo and Clawson. Work has been done to upgrade the switching equipment. Work has also been done with GPS and digitizing so Emery Telcom has good maps of their service area. The outside plant equipment has been updated. Also construction equipment has been updated and will continue to be updated as well as replacement of service trucks.
In 2002 plans for upgrading of the LAN software computer system will continue as well as continued upgrades to maps and fiber deployment to Helper. Cable upgrades for Cleveland and Huntington along SR-10 will continue.
Killpack said, “We will continue to be involved with the community. Our community barbeque is always a success. We hold blood drives, give flu shots and sponsor mammograms. We have education initiatives scholarships. We sponsor T-Ball organizations and one project that we are very proud of is the Seniors helping Seniors, where high school seniors help senior citizens learn to use the internet. We donate between $40-80 thousand each year for these various programs.”
Killpack answered a few questions from the audience. One person wondered what the initials DSL stand for and Killpack explained it is a digital subscriber line, which is always hooked up and doesn’t need to be dialed. One person wondered how involved Emery Telcom is in wireless. Killpack explained they are working on a high frequency fixed wireless for data. He said it is difficult to provide mobile service and cover the area with cell towers. He pointed out there are already two cellular providers in the area. Before Emery Telcom could look any further there would have to be studies done to see if it would be profitable.
Killpack thanked the employees of the company for their help in Emery Telcom’s significant growth. The next item on the agenda was the voting. The Ferron area was considered first with Paul Crawford being nominated and the motion was seconded A motion was made that the nominations cease. A motion was made that Crawford be installed by acclamation. The motion carried. The nominations for the Emery area was opened with a motion being made and seconded for Morris Sorensen. A motion was made that Sorensen be installed by acclamation. The motion carried.
The nominations for the board member at large was next. Motions were made and seconded for three candidates. Clifford Oviatt, Kathy Justice and Eric Bunderson were voted on by all present. President Crawford appointed a committee to go and perform the tallying of the votes in another room.
In the interim, door prizes were given by Emery Telcom to winners whose tickets were drawn out. Crawford thanked the large crowd for coming to the meeting and for their interest in Emery Telcom. “Only good can come out of it,” he said. He also thanked the staff and the people who work in the call center. He said the call center serves as trouble shooters for one of the largest co-ops in America. He recently met one of the people from the co-op who said, ‘Paul, your people are doing a good job.’
A question from the audience regarding why the name was Carbon-Emery Telcom and not Emery-Carbon Telcom was asked. It was explained since this was just a subsidiary company and it was located in Carbon County that was the reason for the name.
Dixon Peacock from the museum board told Emery Telcom of their appreciation for the donations they have made to the museum over the years.
The tabulators came back with the results of the election. Kathy Justice, the incumbent was reelected to the board. The public meeting was adjourned and the board members convened to discuss further business.