General Manager Richard Ruhl reported to more than 400 members that Pioneer Telephone Cooperative remains on strong financial footing despite a global pandemic that’s affected numerous industries the last 18 months.

“Pioneer Telephone and our subsidiary companies have had a financially sound and successful year,” Ruhl said during his address at last Tuesday’s 68th annual meeting of the cooperative held at the Kingfisher County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building.

Ruhl said the pandemic “revealed how essential reliable broadband services are to all of us in rural Oklahoma.”

Pioneer had already begun a massive build-out of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) projects and continued that progress in 2020, Ruhl said.

He noted Pioneer currently has more than $111 million in construction contracts underway or completed that has resulted in 6,187 miles of fiber cable deployed and another 3,100 miles under construction.

All told, capital investment in the long-term project to provide FTTH will top $400 million, Ruhl said.

Pioneer Cellular also has invested $11 million in additional LTE data capacity on cell sites in western Oklahoma and the company continues to monitor the progress and feasibility of 5G technology.

Both Ruhl and David Shepard, president of Pioneer’s board of trustees, commended Pioneer’s employees for their work through the pandemic.

“The year of 2020 was a year of great hardship and loss for many Oklahomans in the wake of COVID-19,” Ruhl said. “Our employees came together in the face of adversity to ensure that over 100,000 of our customers, members and business associates were provided essential telecommunications services.

“The success of Pioneer Telephone and its subsidiary companies would not be possible without the strong dedication and skill of our employees.”

Brenda Walta, chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration, offered a more specific look at the financial side of the cooperative.

She reported Pioneer had a total operating revenue of just under $184.3 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2020, which was about $500,000 less than the previous year.

The company had total operating expenses of more than $158 million, nearly a $7 million increase from 2019, which Walta said was largely due to the increased installation of fiber.

That led to a decrease in net margins. The total for 2020 was $27,262,393 while it was just over $30 million in 2019.

“It was still a great year,” Walta said.

Pioneer currently has total assets of more than $428 million, which is a record for the company.

Results of district elections in both 2020 and 2021 were announced during the meeting.

The 2020 annual meeting was canceled due to the pandemic.

In 2020, the only board seat that warranted an election was the district at-large seat held by Linda Dich Randall, who won re-election to her seat.

Other districts where board members didn’t draw an opponent were Gail Parker in District 4 (Thomas, Custer City, Putnam, Sentinel, Carter, Gould, Hollis, Fay and Oakwood); Joe Kegin in District 9 (Crescent, Covington, Douglas, Marshall, Orlando and Garber); and Leroy Lage in District 11 (Watonga, Geary and Calumet).

Seats in four districts were up in 2021, but only one drew multiple candidates.

That was in District 10 (Kingfisher and Dover) where Trevor Wilczek won the election over incumbent Dennis Mueggenborg and challenger Wendell Prim.

Dave Krittenbrink in District 6 (Okarche, Comanche, Apache, Temple and Hastings), Shepard in District 8 (Helena, Carmen, Hunter, Lamont, Deer Creek, Hopeton, Cleo Springs, Dacoma, Wakita, Pond Creek, Nash, Aline and Waynoka) and Mary Petty in District 12 (Newcastle) were re-elected to their seats without an opponent.

Paul Schulte, general counsel for Pioneer, reported 437 members had signed in for the meeting.

Bylaws require 2 percent of Pioneer’s 33,171 members – which is 664 – to establish a quorum.

Since quorum wasn’t met, no official business, including seating Wilczek as the new board member, could be conducted at the meeting.

However, the board did officially meet later Tuesday to reorganize (see related story) and Wilczek was seated at that meeting, which is permitted by the cooperative’s bylaws.

The day started at 9:30 a.m. with registration and bingo, during which several prizes were distributed.

Pioneer also offered a “Tech Trends and Training” seminar as services such as Smart WiFi and Pioneer iVideo were explored.

All member attending received several registration gifts including a Wonder Beads neck and shoulder wrap, a Pioneer hat, a 4-in- 1 Sure Grip jar opener and a Pioneer pen.Lunch was served and was followed by entertainment by country and western artist Pake McEntire and his band.The business meeting began at 1 p.m. during which drawings were held for 25 cash prizes totaling $4,600.Pioneer’s annual meeting is generally held in May, but was pushed back this year in light of the ongoing pandemic.

The 2022 meeting is currently scheduled to be held in early May.