I am a lifelong member of Midwest Energy & Communications (MEC). In fact, my family has been part of the cooperative since we first planted roots, figuratively and literally, in 1947. My dad served on the board for many years until I succeeded him in 1993.
I am proud to be part of a community-first organization that has proven time and again that we will go where others won’t and invest where others won’t. Every decision I make as a board member, and we make as an organization, is driven by the desire to serve our fellow members and rural neighbors. We don’t serve shareholders from thousands of miles away; we serve the people we see every day in the communities in which we live.
Several years ago, many of you told us that you needed reliable internet because, once again, our area was being ignored by large providers. We listened and committed to building a fiber-optic network to deliver the broadband you needed, while upgrading our electric grid to improve reliability.
It didn’t take us long to discover that the need for reliable internet went far beyond our electric lines. Our neighboring communities were also desperate, with no one to turn to. That’s why we began our extensive fiber network expansion. Today, we serve about 36,000 fiber customers, of whom about 16,000 are not MEC cooperative members. We’re only just getting started.
Our fiber service’s success has been nothing short of astounding. However, it’s led us to a critical crossroads for the cooperative. We need your help.
MEC is considered a tax-exempt cooperative as long as it earns at least 85% of all revenue from services provided to members. However, because our customers who receive only fiber service
are nonmembers, we will soon fail the IRS-mandated 85% test and lose our tax-exempt status. If that happens, MEC will have to pay as much as $20 million in additional income taxes over the next 10 years.
After weighing the options on how to overcome this impending income tax issue, your board of directors decided the easiest and most straightforward way to solve the problem would be to make all fiber-only customers full members of the cooperative. By voting to make these customers members of the cooperative, you will ensure that we will not have to raise prices solely to cover a substantial income tax bill that could otherwise be avoided. Your vote will enable MEC to continue focusing our financial investments on our services and communities.
This is also a historic opportunity to make our cooperative even stronger, giving us a larger voice to advocate for rural Michigan. A vote to approve this change is a vote to make your community vibrant, relevant, and sustainable with a cooperative dedicated to putting the needs of rural residents first.
On Jan. 19, you will receive an email from Midwest Energy & Communications Election Coordinator (noreply@directvote.net) to vote to amend our bylaws to incorporate fiber service, which will make fiber-only customers members. Voting ends on Feb. 10. See page 5 for more information. If you are in a district that also has a board member election, you will also be able to vote on that during that time.
I personally recommend voting for these bylaw changes to ensure the long-term viability and financial strength of our cooperative.
Clarence "Topper" Barth
Board Chairperson
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