Town of Gray, ME - Annual Report 06-07

2006-2007 was a year of change for the Community Television Committee. First, financial oversight of the Committee was strengthened with the appointment of a new Town Manager. Prior practices of paying for station operations from the Penn Cable account were stopped as there apparently has been no Town Meeting authorization to do so. Secondly, at the annual Town Meeting attendees voted keep the Penn Cable Account as dedicated revenue for Community Television operations. Should a Town Meeting authorize the expenditure of the Penn Account for Community Television activities this would cover costs for all operations, equipment, and labor etc without any burden or cost to the taxpayer. Currently operations are paid from the general fund and not the Penn Cable Account.

During the fiscal year 2006-07 the Committee also hired a part time employee to maintain the operations of the Station on a day–to-day basis. Volunteers recognized that they could no longer visit the station everyday, and at the same time return phone calls, answer e-mails, update the bulletin board and program the daily broadcasts of programs. Hiring of a part time Station Manager enabled the development of more local origination programming, timelier programming of local programs for replay, quicker turnaround on copies of town council meetings for the library, ability to broadcast the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings. The addition of a part time Station Manager also allowed for the editing and broadcasting of special programs in, for and about Gray. A video promoting Gray as a place to “Build a Home, Build a Business” was completed and is available for any person interested in moving to Gray as either a homeowner or business. Other productions included local historical sites and Maine History Trivia, Disc Golf Video, Glass Blowing, Heavy List Fighting, Chainsaw Art, and programs from Fiddle Center for the Arts. Production of videos in cooperation with MSAD15 did not come to fruition as hoped but is a priority for 2007-2008 school year. The Station continues to Broadcast Town Council meeting live, Town Council workshops, meetings of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the MSAD 15 Board of Directors meetings. Other programming of interest to the public include: Army Newswatch, The Second Act (a nice program about people and their activities in the latter parts of their lives); church services from the Bible Believing Baptist Church, The Good Shepherd United Methodist Church and the First Congregational Church of Gray; Train Time, the Dance Today In Maine, Wealthwise and Liberty News (a Quarterly News program); Today’s Air Force and In the Fight.

Cable Committee members, during the fiscal year 2006-2007 volunteered approximately 780 hours. The Committee also proposed several Changes in the Town’s Ordinances that eliminated the Cable Committee as an administrative body for the operation of the Public Access Station. This would allow for the hiring of a permanent part time position, answerable to the Town Manager; and for a person to be able to conduct the business of the Station during normal business hours. Furthermore it brings to Town a person professional trained and educated in video broadcasting and production. Not only will this position bring an ability to identify the capital needs for upgrades improvement of computers, software, audio equipment and camera, but will also be able to provide training in all areas of videography to the People of Gray.