WHAT A COOPERATIVE IS

A cooperative is a company that is put together by a group of people to serve its members according to its by-laws. Members are owners of the cooperative. A cooperative is designed to meet the peoples needs and build a strong company at low econnomical prices to its members. St Paul Telephone was formed exclusively for the purpose of providing dial tone to its customers. Now that times have changed with new technologies the cooperative needs to keep up by providing not only internet, but high speed Internet, Cable TV, Voice Mail and as your cooperative continues to keep up with the future many more services will be provided.

Coops have a annual meeting once a year to elect board member(s) and present the financial statements. They also report to the members what we have done during the year and what we are planning to do in the next year. The meeting is then open up to the members to voice their opinions and ask questions to the board members.

Since the cooperative is owned by its members the profits the company makes during the year is return to the members know as Capitol Credits, making the company a non-profit organizations. A part of these capitol credits are commonly kept for a period of time in order for the company to have working capitol to be used for upgrades to the company. The rest is returned in the form of a check to the members.