Guarding The        

Rural Telephone Service Review

Rural Telephone Service is a Cooperative. Cooperatives are governed by their customers. In other words, the members own the cooperative. Each member can have a say in what the coop does, and how it should be managed. Members can contact the Director of their location with their views on how things should be done. Rural has 9 zones. There is a Director for each zone, which includes one at large Director.   All telephone utilities are required to file an Annual Report with the Kansas Corporation Commission. Rural files their Annual Report, however, there is a catch. The Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 2001 has been filed as PROPRIETARY INFORMATION - (not to be distributed without specific written approval). This type of filing means that Member-Owners do not have access to the report.   The 2002 Annual Report, and the 2003 Annual Report are not filed as 'Proprietary Information'. Those reports contain numerous pages which indicate the following. Officer Compensation Information Is Deemed Confidential And Kept in a Locked File. This is fine, except most of those pages have nothing whatsoever to do with Officer Compensation. Makes you wonder what they are hiding. If you think that this type of filing is not appropriate, please voice your opinion by taking the survey and voting. Pass the information on for others to read. You can also ask your Director Representative about the filings.   The cornerstone of every cooperative is member ownership and control.

  There is a copy of the 2001, 2002, and 2003 Annual Reports available for your information. click here

Please vote first. It just takes a second.

You can find your Director here.