Public Access: July 2008 Archives

Note from the MCA: At the selectmen's meeting on July 10th, 2008 a presentation was made by the Moultonboro Police Department regarding a qualifying firing range at the transfer station. It generated a lot of debate. Despite this, the selectmen posted minutes that were incomplete and did not cover vital aspects of that debate. The MCA wrote to the selectmen to correct the minutes.  They declined to do this and approved the minutes as written. We reviewed the video and provided to the selectmen the following:

1.       MPD firing range- Cpl. Canfield clearly states that the range would only be used by MPD and no other departments. This is not in the minutes. This is a critical point for resdents to consider before the public hearing continues.

2.       MPD firing range- Cpl. Canfield explained that they will try and use the facility on Wednesdays mostly and Chief Kinmond mentioned that this may not always be possible due to trying to avoid overtime. This is not mentioned in the minutes and again is an important point for the public to be aware of before a decision is made.

As per Chief Kinmond at part 2 of the public hearing on this issue on July 24th a lot of misinformation was out there. This could have been avoided by the selectmen by firstly providing accurate, substantive and complete minutes and secondly, by allowing broadcast of the video of the meeting on public access TV. 

MCA

 
Present:            Selectmen:  Karel A. Crawford, Edward J. Charest, Joel R. Mudgett; Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator; Hope K. Kokas, Secretary.
 
I.          CALL TO ORDER:  Karel called the meeting to Order at 7:00 P.M.
 
II.        PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
 
III.       REVIEW/APPROVE MINUTES:  Ed Made the Motion to approve the Minutes of June 26, 2008 as written.  Joel Seconded.  The Motion carried unanimously.
 
IV.       NEW RESIDENTS:  Margo E. Reasner, Emily M. Litcof, Curtis P. LeBlanc, Christopher F. Swenson, Randall G. & Candice L. Washburn, Jennifer K. Stanford, Valerie A. & William J. Hynes, Erin A. Dibenedetto, Eric S. Perl, Jay C. Hurd.
 
V.        PUBLIC MEETING:
 
1.         Jim Hambrook, PAD Realty Corp., Request Additional Parking on Town Property:  Mr. Hambrook stated that he is representing Peter DiSalvo owner of PAD Realty Corp. and of the building located on 4 Whittier Highway, Town owned property.  They have requested from the Planning Board a change of use for the building (from accounting office to real estate). ......

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BELMONT — Two members of the Board of Selectmen decided last night not to support a proposal from Town Administrator Jeanne Beaudin to spend an extra $2,000 to implement a plan that would allow the town to begin recording from two camera angles the board’s bi-weekly selectmen’s meetings for showing on Lakes Region Public Access television. Instead, the project will proceed with just a single camera. At the board’s meeting in the Corner Meeting House, Chairman Ron Cormier suggested spending the money to make up for a gap between what the town currently has available for the project and what Beaudin said is needed for making a “quality” recording to show later on MetroCast Cablevision Channel 26. But board members Jon Pike and Reggie Caldwell refused to support the idea, noting that March Town Meeting voters approved only $5,000 for the recording equipment and they did not want to go beyond that figure. “That’s what we (town voters) appropriated because someone stood up (at the annual meeting) and said this is what it’s going to cost,” Pike said. “It’s typical Belmont — someone stands up in the back of the room and says they’ve already researched it, they know everything about it and this is what it’s going to cost. And they said it would cost $4,000. What would have happened if we hadn’t added the other thousand?” Beaudin said that at the board’s last meeting the members asked her to go back into the budget and find the extra $2,000 needed for the project. “That’s what I did,” she told them. “I changed my mind,” Pike responded. Chairman Cormier favors the idea of having the board’s meetings shown on cable television because voters decided to make Belmont an official ballot,  or SB-2, town next year. That means the traditional Town Meeting will be scraped in favor of a “Deliberative Session” — where warrant articles can be debated and altered — in February, and the final vote on the entire warrant takes place on election day in March. “I’m concerned about the issues and that nobody’s going to know what’s going on (on election day),” Cormier said. “I don’t know they will if we’re on television but at least they’ll be given the opportunity.” The chairman said that the fact that the voters had approved the $5,000 appropriation indicated that they want the meetings to be available on television. But the two other selectmen said that if that were true, the voters could add the extra $2,000 needed at the next Town Meeting in March 2009. Actually the town has about $9,000 to fund the recording project. MetroCast typically gives municipalities that are starting to record meetings for the cable television outlet a “character generator,” which allows the operator to superimpose the name and date of the meeting on the screen. The equipment, which costs about $4,000, is paid for from a fee local cable television subscribers pay to the company. But Belmont already owns a piece of equipment that serves a similar purpose so it’s eligible to receive the machine’s value in cash. In the spring, Beaudin said her research had led her to recommend that the town fathers approve a two-camera set-up: one camera would be aimed at the front of the room where the board members sit; the other would be aimed at the right side where people addressing the board sometimes speak and use materials to address their concerns. At the time, the administrator said the set-up would cost slightly more than the $9,000 that was available. She said she hoped the meetings would begin appearing on channel 26 some time early this month. After the board could not agree on the extra expenditure last night, Chairman Cormier directed Beaudin to move ahead and purchase one camera to record its meetings. She said the change — and the loss of a “switcher” to switch back and forth between two cameras’ images – meant the project could be brought in for a little less than the $9,000 available. Beaudin said she would make a call today to try to move the issue towards resolution.

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"This is what it’s all about openness in government"

BY ADAM DRAPCHO               July 1st, 2008

THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Some municipal boards have been doing it for decades, some are just beginning to get their hands dirty with it, and others are trying to decide if the time is right for them to start. But for any of the local municipalities who broadcast their meetings on Lakes Region Public Access (LRPA) television, all of them know Denise Beauchaine, executive director of LRPA. Local MetroCast cable customers know LRPA

as cable channels 24, 25 and 26. There are twelve communities affi liated with LRPA through Metro-Cast, including Laconia, Gilford, Gilmanton, Meredith, Tilton, Belmont and Alton. Some communities, such as Alton, broadcast many of their meetings, while others tape only one board. Meredith’s Selectboard and Laconia’s City Council are the only two boards that broadcast their meetings live.....

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