KCAT to televise Council, planning meetings, thanks to AT&T funding
Council agrees its an idea whose time has now come
Community support evident
By Nathan R. Huff
With little fanfare and minimal discussion, the town council agreed to spend its AT&T settlement funds to join the growing number of cities that broadcast their public meetings on local access television.
Several council members resisted the idea of televising meetings. Some argued the money would be better spent investing in new technology for KCAT, the town's local cable access station. Others expressed fears that televising the meetings would lead to more grandstanding at the microphone and a circus-like atmosphere at meetings.
But those fears appeared to have taken second stage to the overwhelming public testimony in favor of televising the meetings. At both the council's April 24 study session with the KCAT board of directors and the June 5 council meeting, a number of residents expressed their support for live coverage of council proceedings.
"If tonight's meeting would have been televised it would have been a feel-good opportunity for the community," Ray Davis, normally a harsh critic of the council, said, "because the people of Los Gatos would have seen you at your best."
The council asked town staff to incorporate into the budget its request that a little more than half the $96,000 in settlement funds be spent on wiring the council chambers with a camera system. The video system will allow for live coverage of council and planning commission meetings, as well as emergency broadcasts.
The town filed a lawsuit against cable giant AT&T on KCAT's behalf last summer, after AT&T announced it would bump KCAT off its coveted Channel 6 position. In a settlement reached earlier this year, the town received a one-time sum of $96,000 to be spent on the local station.
The KCAT board presented two options for spending the money at its study session with the council. Both included mobile broadcasting equipment and some new technology. Option two called for all of the remaining money to be sunk into new digital technology to train the station's Los Gatos High School student broadcasters. The first option used those funds for a two-camera video system in the council chambers.
The KCAT board recommended the council-coverage option, although the two council members on the board--Linda Lubeck and Jan Hutchins--were less supportive. Hutchins remained the only dissenter at the June 5 meeting, but he did not address the issue.
"They know how I feel," he later said. "The last thing I needed to do was talk any more when we were already headed for midnight." Hutchins argued investing the money in digital technology will more adequately prepare interns for real-world broadcasting.
Lubeck said time was the major factor for shifting her support to option one. "You think about something long enough and it makes sense," she said, following the meeting. "It's just the right thing to do and I don't think it will change our council meetings much."
George Sampson, KCAT's general manager, thanked the council for making what he considered to be the right decision. "What goes on in these chambers is very important, and the work you people do is very important," Sampson said. "By making it accessible to the public we are taking that next step."
Audience members agreed. Former planning commissioner Sandy Decker sympathized with Hutchins' desire to educate interns on the latest digital equipment, but not at the expense of broadcasting public meetings.
KCAT estimates live coverage of both council and planning commission meetings will cost the town $10,560 a year.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
