MTA elections add new face to board

PALMER — Matanuska Telephone Association’s annual meeting Wednesday turned up one new face on the co-op’s board of directors and one familiar one.

Jason Hamlin won a three-year seat on the board for his third term. Newcomer Kim Robinson won the other open seat. The top vote-getter takes a three-year term and the runner-up a two-year term, spokeswoman Jackie Kenshalo said. All MTA board seats are at-large.

Hamlin said he’s ready for his third and final term, heading into a dynamic new market with more competition. General Communications Inc., more commonly known as GCI, has moved into the Valley, turning up the heat for MTA.

“We want everyone in the community to know, if they don’t already, the impact — in a lot of different ways, but a lot of it is economic — that MTA has in the community,” Hamlin said.

It’s not clear yet exactly how the board will work to get its message out, but Hamlin identified public education as a top priority, he said. People need to know about what kind of wages and benefits employees receive and how the quality of MTA products and services stack up against competitors.

“We’re definitely a cornerstone of the economy out here,” Hamlin said. “These are people who live in the community and they have to look everybody in the eye every day.”

Toward that, he said, the board should try and make sure that when consumers go out looking for a cell phone provider or a cable company that they make a decision with as broad a set of data as possible.

“They can’t just make a comparison on just a price point alone. There’s a lot more to the package and there’s a lot more behind the scenes,” Hamlin said.

Other than that, he said, “We want to make sure that myself, and I think everybody on the board, is very focused on being the best leaders possible for the organization.”

Hamlin said Wednesday was the first time he met Robinson and added that he hopes she’ll be good to work with. Efforts to reach Robinson about the win were not successful by press time Thursday.

Kenshalo said the annual meeting drew about 600 members to the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

She commended the Alaska Job Corps on a job well done in catering the event. Students from the corps’ Culinary Arts Program provided the dinner as part of a senior project.

“It was good just to have members join us, find out what’s going on with the co-op, what new products we have,” Kenshalo said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.