Serving Customers, Serving The Community

BY LISA SAVAGE

Tania Curtis was at the car wash one Saturday when a Ben Lomand Connect customer saw her and wanted to give her money to pay his phone bill. That’s just one example of the relationship between the cooperative’s employees and those in the community served by the Tracy City office.

“Being a smaller office, everybody just knows everybody in the community,” says Curtis, the district office manager.

Rather than paying their bill online or through the mail, some customers often go to the office just to visit. “Our customers are the people of our community, and it’s nice to have such a great relationship,” Curtis says.

Ben Lomand Connect’s Tracy City office offers just about every service available at the main office in McMinnville, including customer service, the ability to assign phone numbers and engineering.

One exception is Network Support Services in McMinnville. They handle troubleshooting from anywhere in Ben Lomand’s service area. “The calls begin with Network Support Services, where our technicians troubleshoot over the phone,” Curtis says. “If the problem is not resolved, the call is then dispatched to the service men dedicated to the Tracy City area.”

The Tracy City office serves about 6,000 customers in Grundy and Marion counties and parts of Franklin County. The coverage area includes Tracy City, Pelham, Monteagle, Gruetli-Laager, Coalmont, Beersheba Springs and Altamont.

The employees of the Tracy City office coordinate much of the construction project that is bringing fiber-to-the-home to the area. Ben Lomand Connect received a Community Connect Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service to extend fiber to underserved rural areas.

“We’re looking for more opportunities through grants to provide more fiber in our area,” Curtis says. “With so much of the area being rural and remote, it can be a challenge.”

The fiber project for Monteagle, the 924 exchange, is expected to begin this year. The expansion into Tracy City, the 592 exchange, should start by the first of next year.

It’s Ben Lomand Connect’s goal to have fiber to all the areas served by the Tracy City office within five years.

Most of the employees who work out of the Tracy City office live in the area and are active in their communities, Curtis says. They volunteer at their children’s schools and coach youth ball teams. “We all love working in the communities where we live,” she says.

Even though the titles of employees differ, they are versatile and willing to help each other. “That’s one of the things I love about this office,” Curtis says. “Just about everybody can do anything that needs doing. Our employees are willing to help out and do everything we can for our customers.”

In addition to Curtis, there are nine employees at the Tracy City office. Sandy Shrum, Kelly Meadows, Tabitha Tate and Kayla Harris are customer service representatives. Jordan Powers, John Jacobs and Evan Merrell are installers and repairmen, and Mike Grimes is the building and grounds representative. �

67 Main St., Tracy City 931-592-2121 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Monday - Friday