2018 marks the 79th year that Tipmont’s membership will gather for our Annual Meeting. When Tipmont’s first Annual Meeting was held on August 26, 1938, it consisted of about 1,000 members looking to bring electricity to their rural homes and farms. Nearly eight decades later, we’re facing similar transformative circumstances today that will fundamentally redefine how Tipmont serves you tomorrow.
Tipmont is a member-owned cooperative. Tipmont’s mission, and the sole reason we exist, is to improve your quality of life by providing services that you deem essential. You’ve clearly told us that affordable high-speed internet is a necessity of modern life that many of you are lacking today. This inequality in rural America is simply unacceptable. As a member-owned and member-driven organization, Tipmont is uniquely positioned to meet these challenges.
At the January 2018 board meeting, Tipmont REMC’s board of directors voted to authorize the design, construction and delivery of high-speed fiber internet and related services to the Tipmont membership. Today, crews are hard at work to prepare the infrastructure that will deliver high-speed broadband internet, television, and telephone service over state-of-the-art fiber optic lines.
I want to emphasize the “state-of-the-art” part of our mission statement. Providing state-of-the-art services means we’re committed to the technologies, skill sets, and leadership that our members and our communities desire and deserve. This next-generation fiber-optic network will advance the security, comfort, and convenience of our communities for years to come.
Your continued feedback and input will be vital as we bring equal access and opportunity to rural communities, and a superior product and service for all Tipmont members. We’ll have more information to share on our progress on Saturday, July 28, at McCutcheon High School. I hope to see you there!
