Phone cooperative holds annual meeting

Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company officials held the 64th annual meeting of members and directors,Thursday, Sept. 16, at NNTC facilities in Jackson.

One hundred thirty-one members of the NNTC cooperative were in attendance. Board President Dave Armstrong of Newcastle, led the meeting.

During the manager's report, NNTC General Manager Pat McElroy told members the co-op had a good year in 2020. The pandemic highlighted that NNTC offers the best internet service in Nebraska, with the company being the first to offer all fiber-to-the-home in the state.

McElroy said, "We want all new installs to test well above 100 Mbps download and upload. In many cases, our customers are getting closer to 800 Mbps, up and down."

McElroy also talked about the crunch being on in Washington D.C. and in Lincoln to solve the problem of getting broadband internet to rural locations.

"They want to award one-time grants to providers to build out networks. As someone who has been in this industry for over 30 years, I can tell you that that approach will not work in the long run in Nebraska. broadband in Nebraska needs ongoing support. That's why it is vital that whoever is doing my job is vigilant about pushing our issues to our politicians in Washington and in Lincoln," said McElroy.

The following board of directors were re-elected for additional three-year terms: Greg Hoffman, director at large, Clearwater and LeRoy Dvorak, director at large, Prague.

Tracy Ludwig, of Stuart, was elected to the board of directors, representing district six, including Bristow, Butte, Long Pine, Spencer and Stuart. Ludwig fills the empty seat left by the late Jason Goesch.

Goesch served on the NNTC Board of Directors from 2016 until 2020.

Ludwig is the first woman to serve on the NNTC Board of Directors.

Individnauls may view the meeting in its entirety by visiting NNTC's website, http://www.nntc.net and click, "NNTC Newsletters" under "News".