Paul Bunyan Communications sets annual meeting for May 20 in Bemidji

For Bemidji-area households that depend on Paul Bunyan Communications for internet service, the annual meeting is where the cooperative’s next steps on expansion, member returns and network priorities come into focus. The 2025 Annual Business Meeting is set for May 20 at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, bringing cooperative members together as the company continues to grow across a service area that now stretches more than 6,000 square miles.

Paul Bunyan Communications says its GigaZone fiber network is available to more than 60,000 locations, and CEO Chad Bullock said the cooperative serves over 35,000 active members. The meeting comes as the company continues pushing fiber deeper into rural northern Minnesota, including recent buildout work in Aitkin, Itasca and St. Louis counties. In 2024, the cooperative said it extended its all-fiber network to more than 3,600 new locations in those counties.

The annual gathering is part of a long-running pattern at the Sanford Center. The 68th annual meeting was held there on May 22, 2024, with 61 members in attendance. Reports were presented by Board President Randy Frisk, Chief Financial Officer Dave Schultz and CEO and General Manager Gary Johnson. Special guests included Sylvia Wildgen and Tiffany Paine of Security Bank USA, Scott Turn of the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce and Mike Birkeland of Beltrami Electric.

This year’s meeting also arrives after a sizable member payout. Paul Bunyan Communications said it returned more than $3.6 million to members, calling it the fourth such payout in seven years. The cooperative said smaller amounts were credited to bills while larger amounts were sent out as checks, underscoring how membership can show up directly on household statements as well as in broader service decisions.

Paul Bunyan Communications traces its broadband work back to 1996, when it began offering internet service as Paul Bunyan Telephone. It introduced fiber in 2005 and adopted its current name in 2010. With member-owned roots tied to the region’s rural utility history and a growing footprint in and beyond Beltrami County, the meeting remains one of the few times local members can take in the numbers, compare the pace of expansion and judge how the cooperative is handling the service many homes now use every day.