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2023 Annual Meeting Recap
2023 Annual Meeting Recap

GBT held its 70th Annual Meeting Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the GBT Headquarters in Rush Center.  A drive-thru meeting was conducted, with 124 Members receiving an Annual Meeting booklet of 2022 Reports, along with a ballot.   Board member elections were held for District 2 – Ellis, McCracken and District 4 – Alexander, Bazine, Rush Center.   Election Results:  District 2 – Philip Martin; District 4 – Gene Knieling.   All members attending were provided a BBQ meal and door prizes.   Congratulations to the following winners of the Special Drawing Prizes:   Retirement of $250 Capital Credit – Paul Jost, Rush Center Retirement of $250 Capital Credit – Daryl North, Ellis 1 Month Free Internet – Lavern Schneider, Albert 1 Month Free Internet – Terry Seltmann, Rush Center $70 GBT Bill Credit – Joey Bevitt, Rush Center $70 GBT Bill Credit – Clarence Foos, Bazine $70 GBT Bill Credit –Harry & Helen Thorne, Rozel $70 GBT Bill Credit –Corey & Cari Torrez, Rush Center $70 GBT Bill Credit –Brandi Seltmann, Bazine $70 GBT Bill Credit –Hoop & Twila Higgins, McCracken $70 GBT Bill Credit – Don Hanhardt, Albert $70 GBT Bill Credit – Fred Flax, Ransom $70 GBT Bill Credit – Cynthya Billinger, Lewis $70 GBT Bill Credit – Linda Bahr, Otis

GBT Annual Meeting 2023 – Letter from the General Manager
GBT Annual Meeting 2023 – Letter from the General Manager

I am grateful to have this yearly opportunity to connect with our members and share cooperative happenings. It allows GBT representatives to visit and provide members with our successes, challenges, finances, and plans for the future.   For 70 years, all our member-owners have trusted us to connect you to the world. Although we call this an annual meeting, it is really a celebration for you, our member-owners. This year embarks a special celebration as the cooperative not only celebrates its 70th year in business, but also anticipates crossing the finish line on connecting every member with FIBER!!! The Cooperative covers over 3,200 square miles with 1.6 members per mile, so this mark comes with a lot of pride from the GBT team. This kind of accomplishment doesn’t happen without a vision that has covered many decades of sound leadership, planning, and commitment from past and present Board members and employees.   Over the last couple decades, that vision includes investing in fiber; GBT believes a fiber investment is one that keeps the future in mind. A fiber network transforms rural areas by strengthening commerce, advancing education, enabling precision agriculture, and improving healthcare. The GBT Board gave the direction to begin plowing fiber to its members in 2007, and now in 2023, we are 97% complete! GBT has invested over $46 million dollars in fiber to the home builds since the Board directed back in ‘07. In 2022, the rural areas of Garfield and nearly all the Bison exchange were completed, along with the City of St. John. It is our objective to build the rural areas of Burdett, Otis, Utica, and Beeler this year, along with the cities of Larned, Macksville, and Stafford. We can be grateful that our financial position comes at a time when we are on the cusp of a capital expenditure program of more than $15 million in fiber deployment. The cooperative feels very strongly about ensuring our members have a reliable and quality broadband...

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The month of November tends to make people take a moment and recognize what they are thankful for and at GBT we are no different. The picture above highlights the individuals that form the GBT team and without each and everyone we could not provide the high level of service we strive to give all customers every day. In October, GBT celebrated Customer Appreciation Week with our employees, highlighting each employee and showing a collective appreciation for the many talents each of them brings to the GBT team. For almost 70 years, GBT has been the area leader in communication services, striving to deliver leading edge technology to our friends, family, and neighbors. We feel we continue to be on the leading edge with our fiber deployment and expansion to homes in the Golden Belt area and want to thank all our employees who help get the job done each day! “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” —John F. Kennedy We also want to thank our amazing customers who choose GBT for their communication needs. People of all ages, from businesses to individuals, utilize GBT daily and partner with us to meet their communication and technology demands. As 2022 nears to a close, we want to thank you for placing your trust in GBT and our employees to serve you. GBT isn’t just thankful for all of our employees, we also want to recognize and highlight some opportunities to support the amazing organizations in our area. Although donations to support organizations are always welcome, Giving Tuesday highlights the need to support non-profits and organizations that give back to the communities and people that live in them, having a positive impact on all our lives. Some might ask why GBT highlights this opportunity each year and one of the biggest reasons is because of the amount of GBT employees that serve on various boards and organizations outside of their 8-5 jobs. It’s what makes GBT different from...

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2022 GBT Annual Meeting

[elfsight_social_share_buttons id="2"]April 2022 | 5 MIN READEMBRACING TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS QUALITY OF LIFE?95%GBT members who have speeds up to 1 Gig! $3.85 MDollars GBT has invested to bring Fiber to our members. $1.7 MDollars in capital credits that were retired $1.7 MDollars GBT donated back to our communities to improve lives and promote the local economy.   As we look back at 2021, it will go down as a transformational year for the Cooperative and industry.  The importance of broadband was brought on by the onset of COVID as many across the country were working, educating, shopping, and participating in wellness from home.  The demand for Internet and usage of the GBT network was the highest the Cooperative had witnessed to date, and it generated many conversations about universal broadband and the billons of Federal dollars earmarked to address unserved and underserved areas across the country.   Where is GBT in comparison to the rest of providers around the country?  We are all exposed to the advertising of the national providers across some medium, so we hear about fast speeds, 5G, fiber, etc.  The truth of the matter is, GBT is very different from those national providers focused on providing a return to their shareholders and with whom they have little to no idea of who their customers are.  GBT is focused on our mission of providing the best user experience to our customers through reliable state-of-the-art communications services.  Our customers are our neighbors, friends, and members who live and play in the same communities we serve and love!  Our network is connecting 95% of the members by state-of-the-art fiber infrastructure that allows them to have speeds up to 1 GIG upload and download.  While big, out-of-state broadband providers are making a big deal about starting to bring fiber to rural communities, GBT first brought fiber to our members in the late 1990’s and connected the first community to fiber-to-the-home in 2008!  Today GBT...

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