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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works September 12 2006WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Public Works and Safety Committee September 12, 2006 Committee Chair Barbara Brenner called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: L. Ward Nelson None Sam Crawford Also Present: None COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION (AB2006 -352) Crawford asked if the coalition is looking for funding. Suzanne Blais, Coalition for Community Media, stated the coalition would like the County to request that the second access channel be made available, according to the franchise agreement. After that request is made, the coalition would like to discuss funding options. People in the community are starving for the channel. Other communities have much more lively and invigorating local television. This is vital to this community. Joy Monjure, Coalition for Community Media, handed out information (on file). There are options presented in a meeting with the Executive and some councilmembers. The group's vision is in the proposal is in the handout. There is opposition at the City and County the "publid' in public access. However, education and government programming could be defined much more broadly than has been done with channel 10, to include everything in their proposal that they would like to have as programming on this channel. One option is to go with another government and education channel, without public participation, and evolve into the public part. That means people could have access to the station. They are trained on how to produce a program and could air their program on the channel. Because of the concern about inappropriate programming, they propose to put that aside at the Council's request. As the channel proves itself and as they create a culture for the second channel, they can evolve into that. The community wants and deserves public access. Another option they're considering is contracting with Comcast to program the existing channel 26. They are talking to Comcast. It is very attractive to Comcast because they don't have to pull another one of their channels off their broadcasting line for a separate community channel. Brenner stated she has some concerns. One is about the role of the coalition to manage, produce, or both. She asked how they make sure everyone gets a chance at the best timeslots if the coalition both manages and produces. She asked for more detail on where the other monies would come from. She asked for more clarity on the coalition's membership and how decisions are made and by whom. KCTS in Seattle had a problem with the same thing they're trying to do here. KCTS ended up doing a lot of national, not Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 1 1 local, programming. The biggest question is how the County could lease, instead of 2 operate, and how it would ensure an open playing field for anyone. She also wants to make 3 sure that anyone can get on the channel without paying for a lot of insurance or a large fee. 4 She asked if it would be done in a way that any producer can have access and submit 5 different media for broadcast. 6 7 Blais stated the proposal is the latest version, and is not updated since the last 8 meeting from Executive Kremen. This has always been a proposal for a vision, not a step 9 by step process. Many details need to be fleshed out. Keep it open to more people, not 10 fewer people. They specifically left it loose so they get a diverse group of people together 11 to hammer out the details. The programming slots would be available on a first come, first 12 served basis. 13 14 Production grants are available. Capital funding grants are available. The franchise 15 funding is specifically for capital projects, also. The community will provide a lot of support. 16 They want to look first at other sources of funding. They need seed money for now, and 17 propose to sunset government funding in four years, when the community support should 18 be enough. 19 20 Monjure stated she talked to a very knowledgeable Thurston County employee who 21 has worked with their public access, government access, and education access television. 22 Bring that person here to speak. That person said its important to distinguish between the 23 membership, producers, and volunteers. The membership is the group of people who 24 support the channel. They're not particularly involved in or producing the channel. They 25 want to support open community television. That is the KCTS model. Underwriters are 26 another funding source. They will request businesses to underwrite programming, just as 27 they do with KCTS. With grants, underwriting, funding from government, and funding from 28 Comcast, they should be able to support this channel. Businesses will support this, even if 29 only the business name is mentioned. 30 31 Blais stated KCTS moved away from local production to national production because 32 of the cost. They had bought many new high definition (HD) cameras. They were on the 33 bleeding -edge of High -Def technology. She's sure they overspent their budget, and had to 34 cut back through cutting local production, not through production issues in general. People 35 will produce shows locally if they have a place to air them. 36 37 Brenner asked if someone can bring in a video tape, and it would be altered for 38 airing. Monjure stated that could be. It would have to be edited. They don't want to put in 39 all of it. The person submitting the program or the channel producers could do the editing. 40 A question to address is whether they do education and government programming, defined 41 broadly, or do full public access. If the Council supports this, the request for proposals 42 (RFP) process should happen. Their group has an exceptional amount of talent and skill, 43 but the County should go through that RFP process. This project isn't a money- maker. 44 45 Blais stated the purpose of her organization is to promote this idea and get this idea 46 moving. It is not to run a station. If that were to happen, a separate 501(c)(3) would have 47 to be formed. Her group isn't prepared to handle all those functions. There are many steps 48 that need to be done once someone makes a commitment to the process and funding. 49 50 Crawford asked what it takes to get the channel idea moving. Monjure stated it 51 takes a letter from the Council to Comcast requesting the channel, according to the 52 franchise agreement. Once Comcast agrees, the coalition would begin the steps outlined in 53 the handout. Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 2 Blais stated Comcast will agree because its in the franchise agreement, but it will probably take them a year or so to provide the channel access. Crawford asked if Comcast would have to give up an existing channel if the County requested a channel. Blais stated she thinks the channels would get moved. Channel 21 is typically the second public channel. The existing programming for Channel 21 would be moved to another channel. Brenner stated it might be a good idea for the Council to send the coalition a list of questions. Blais stated one question was about insurance. An individual in a community probably doesn't have to carry insurance for what they produce, but they should have to carry responsibility. It depends on how controversial the programming. It would be an individual decision. The station would not demand proof of insurance. Another question was about access in general. They don't support a particular political agenda. The community should have freedom of speech. She is interested in providing open access and programs that are fair opportunities for people to have civil discourse and talk about issues civilly. Crawford stated one issue is cost. The other issue is content. The way to solve the content issue is to remove any and all limitations, not by listing prohibited content. In addition, item three under the program limitations on page 21 of the handout is extremely subjective. Generally speaking, he can support this. They may have to allow programming that no one is interested in. Cut the restrictions. Monjure stated public access means having equipment and training available for the equipment. Crawford asked if the technical quality threshold is pretty high. Monjure stated that as part of the training, they talk about the importance of not including programming that results in the community turning off the channel. Crawford stated many people are concerned about restricting the content. He's opposed to restricting the content and having a high threshold for production value. Also, don't fear political programming. Much in society is political. The proposal for having programming that promotes civil discourse isn't realistic. If someone wants to get on the channel to rant and rave for 30 minutes, let them. Blais stated there is no place for someone with the opposite opinion to rant and rave. There is an opportunity for all sides to access it how they would like. That's what they're interested in. The draft policies and procedures are based on existing, current, and working policies and procedures from other places. Nelson stated the more of the public access channels that come out statewide and nationwide, the fewer dollars they will get. Contributions from businesses and individuals is limited. Local sponsorships may already contribute to other public access programs. He doesn't know how firm the estimates are. Monjure stated none of the estimates are firm. They would definitely compete with other programs in the community. However, good open communication is a good cause. Nelson asked who would benefit from this. Monjure stated 44,000 households have access to cable. Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 3 Crawford asked for a coverage map from Comcast. Nelson stated he would like to look at programming. If the County provides funding, make sure the programming would lend to its success. He's concerned about the proposal saying that political programming will be government- sanctioned political programming. Monjure stated she envisions things like campaign debates. Those are details that they have to work out. Nelson asked why they won't take paid advertising from political organizations. Blais stated the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't allow it for access channels. Brenner stated she would like the Council to put together a list of questions and unresolved issues for the Coalition. Jim Johan, 1405 E. Illinois, Bellingham, stated he just discovered this project. Hds very excited about it. This project can be a tremendous benefit to the community to get information out that is difficult to get out now. At this point, the coalition has had very good discussions. The proposal is very well put together. It is as sincere and objective as possible. He has some concerns about the proposal. He will submit his concerns in writing to the Council. In general, this list of supporters has yet to include more conservative people. The support needs to be more broad - based. He has approached the Republican party about the issue. There are some barriers to creativity and barriers to access in the proposal. He agrees that content should be open. The vision is too restrictive right now. The demand for high production standards limits access also. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) Johan continued to state that the ideas, not the production values, are important to public access television. The plan sets up a situation where the public access proposal would be over - managed. The suggestion of a Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and staff is too many people. With that many people, no one is responsible. Instead, the Board of Directors should be the advisors. The proposal requires productions in advance that reflect the community. Don't reflect the community necessarily. They have a diverse community. He would like to see all ideas. Don't restrict programming just because it may not reflect the community standards. Galileo did not reflect community standards. Some people have been excluded from the list, including agriculture, manufacturing, and sports. He and Ms. Blais have discussed this and agree. He has real concerns about public financing. He's not aware of any public financing that has ever really sunset. That worries him. If it's a good idea and can be supported, then support it. Chet Dowe, 5491 Wood Fern Way, stated the concept of the proposal is appealing. He agrees with Mr. Johan's comments. They are talking about public seed money to get the thing going. The biggest concern to focus on is how to manage the process and access. Don't create a lot of bureaucracy, which would lead to difficulty with accountability. Many Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 4 people have strong points of view on things, and would be inclined to interviewed so their ideas are presented to the community. This would be a public outlet that they haven't had. Brenner stated they used to have something like this when TCI used to tape everything. Blais stated the funding they're requesting is specifically being collecting already as part of the franchise agreement. It's money taxpayers are already paying and isn't being used as well as it could be. Crawford asked if non - digital cable subscribers can install parental controls for potentially objectionable programming. Blais stated most people can, but people with older televisions and no cable box could not. Karla Newson, 2708 Victor Street, Bellingham, stated there have been questions about the technical complexities and ability for someone at the coalition to operate a station. The coalition has done its technical homework and understands the needs to start day -to -day operation and maintenance of the station. She and other engineers have explained things and volunteered their time to make sure this happens. Many of these engineers have more than her 19 years of experience. She has 19 years in the business, 17 as an engineer at KVOS. This is important for the community. Crawford stated there are philosophical approaches to this. He is willing to go to another meeting with more stakeholders to discuss this. Monjure stated one next step could be to ask the City to participate in inviting the Thurston County employee here to speak. Brenner stated they need an idea of how long the expert from Thurston County would attend. Monjure stated a list of questions would help that estimate. After that, have a community meeting regarding some of these issues to get a sense of the community vision for the channel. If they get this channel, it will be a year before it happens. Nelson stated he likes the idea. Everyone will like the idea. The devil is in the detail. Financing is the big element. It will take a lot to convince people in terms of funding. Line up some sponsors. "rhe public will be concerned about the government throwing money at it. Brenner stated taxpayer money is already collected specifically for this use. Nelson asked why the City Council gave the coalition a cold shower. Brenner stated the City controls Channel 10. The City likes to totally control the programming. Some of the stuff they've shown was interesting the first, second, and maybe the tenth time. Monjure stated she appreciates the confidence the Council has shown. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ADJOURN Th eeting ourned at 2:34 p.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription ATT' � 'E Y C p i O 4 O ' WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair Public Works and Safety Committee, 9/12/2006, Page 6