Ask before you televise

Meetings of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) will not be broadcast — live, or on a tape-delay basis — on Lakes Region Public Access (LRPA) television by the town without the approval of the board's themselves. The Selectboard made that decision on Monday during a "workshop" session at the Town Hall Annex.

The five selectmen agreed to have Chairman Peter Miller and Town Manager Carol Granfield draft a letter to the two boards that will encourage them to ask for the television broadcasts, but the cameras at the new Community Center will not be turned on unless requested. "We'll defer to their decision," said Miller Lovett.

Colette Worsman, however, asked that the letter be drafted more in the form of a request. "We should try to get them (to approve television)," she said. "We need as much open government as we can (get)."

"More open (government) is better for us all, and we will encourage it," agreed Frank Michel.

The state's open meetings and records law does not allow boards and commissions to close their public sessions to cameras or tape recorders brought in by individuals, companies or news gathering organizations, but in this case LRPA is not instigating the possible broadcasts, it is merely providing the air time for town-produced programming.

Selectmen's meetings have been broadcast on a tape-delay basis on LRPA for some time but the move of the town's regular meeting site for boards and commissions from the police station to the Community Center has brought with it a significant improvement in technology. Meetings can now be broadcast live with much improved image and sound quality because of the state-of-the-art equipment that was installed, and Granfield was well on her way to putting many other meetings on television — with the Selectboard's tacit blessing — until ZBA Chairman John Mack showed up at the April 3 selectmen's meeting to protest.

Mack said ZBA members did not want to be on television because they are part of a quasi-judicial board whose proceedings are usually very narrow in focus and the legal constraints members operate under are not easily understood by the public. He also predicted that televising ZBA meetings would have a negative effect on getting residents to volunteer to serve on the board.

Peter Brothers picked up that same theme on Monday, telling his colleagues that "some people are uncomfortable and intimidated (in front of television cameras) and we have to respect their opinions." "We don't want to lose capable people," he added.

Granfield began the discussion by reporting the Conservation Commission had already discussed the situation and wanted to have only meetings that contained either public hearings or official presentations televised.

Miller said he hoped the Planning Board would be receptive to the idea of televising its meetings because "there is keen interest in what it is doing." "I lot of people would watch," he said.