2023 Indiana Code › Title 8. Utilities and Transportation › Article 1. Utilities Generally › Chapter 17. Telephones─rural Telephone Cooperative Act › 8-1-17-5. Articles of Incorporation; Certificate of Territorial Authority; Commission Review; Notice to Facilities Based Local Exchange Carriers; Issuance of Certificate; Request for Additional Information; Filing With Secretary of State; Status as Body Corporate

Sec. 5. (a) The individuals executing the articles of incorporation of a local cooperative corporation shall be residents of the area in which the operations of the cooperative corporation are to be conducted and shall be persons desirous of using communications service to be furnished by the cooperative corporation.
(b) The individuals executing the articles of incorporation of a general cooperative corporation shall be members or prospective members of one (1) or more local cooperative corporations which are prospective members of such general cooperative corporation.
(c) The articles shall be executed in at least six (6) originals and shall be acknowledged by the subscribers before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments of deeds. When so acknowledged, three (3) originals of said articles shall be submitted to the commission. At the time the articles of incorporation are filed, an application for a certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5 shall be filed with the commission if the applicant will operate as a local cooperative corporation. The application shall be executed by one (1) or more of the individuals executing the articles and shall comply with the requirements of IC 8-1-32.5-6, as applicable.
(d) Upon the receipt of any articles of incorporation and application for a certificate of territorial authority, the commission shall conduct the review required under IC 8-1-32.5-8. If the applicant is a local cooperative corporation and is applying for a certificate of territorial authority to provide local exchange service, the commission shall give written notice, by United States registered mail, of the filing of the application to each facilities based local exchange carrier operating in territory contiguous to the area in which the cooperative corporation proposes to render communications service. The commission shall use the record maintained by the commission under IC 8-1-32.5-13 to determine which facilities based local exchange carriers are entitled to notice under this subsection.
(e) If the commission, after conducting the review required by IC 8-1-32.5-8 and any hearing allowed under IC 8-1-32.5-9, determines that the applicant meets the requirements for the issuance of a certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5-8, the commission shall:
(1) issue a certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5; and
(2) enter an order approving the organization of the cooperative corporation and the proposed articles of incorporation.
(f) If the commission, after conducting the review required by IC 8-1-32.5-8 and any hearing allowed under IC 8-1-32.5-9, determines that the applicant does not meet the requirements for the issuance of a certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5-8, the commission shall:
(1) request the applicant to provide additional information; or
(2) notify the applicant of the applicant's right to:
(A) appeal the commission's determination under IC 8-1-3; or
(B) file another application at a later date, without prejudice;
under IC 8-1-32.5-8.
(g) If the commission approves the articles of incorporation under subsection (e), the cooperative corporation shall submit the following documents, along with two (2) copies of each, to the secretary of state for filing:
(1) One (1) of the original articles of incorporation executed by the corporation under subsection (c).
(2) A certified copy of the order of the commission under subsection (e)(2).
(3) A certified copy of the certificate of territorial authority issued by the commission under subsection (e)(1).
If the secretary of state determines that the documents described in subdivisions (1) through (3) comply with law, the secretary of state shall endorse the documents and file one (1) set of the documents in the secretary of state's office and deliver the other two (2) sets, endorsed with the secretary of state's approval, to the incorporators. The incorporators shall record one (1) of the approved original or certified copies of the documents in the office of the recorder of the county in which the cooperative corporation has, or will have, its principal office.
(h) As soon as the provisions of this section have been complied with, the proposed cooperative corporation, described in the articles of incorporation recorded under subsection (g), under its designated name, is a body corporate.
Formerly: Acts 1951, c.193, s.5. As amended by P.L.97-1993, SEC.2; P.L.27-2006, SEC.42; P.L.81-2020, SEC.8.