Faced with strained manpower, equipment, and the challenge to broadcast all of the township’s council, planning, and public meetings, the West Windsor Cable TV Advisory Committee asked the Township Council to consider allocating money in this year’s budget to hire interns to help with coverage by the town’s Channel 27.##M:[more]##
That was one of the options presented by board members Michael Huey and Joe Conlon during the council’s January 22 meeting. Other options included simply keeping all public meetings in the municipal building’s room A, and having an overflow room in the council’s other smaller rooms.
The ideas were brought up amid weeks of council discussion on how it plans to hold its Saturday, February 23, public meeting on redevelopment with landowners, resident groups, and other members of the public. The location of the meeting is set right now for the senior center at 11 a.m., an idea supported by Council President Will Anklowitz, who feels there may be too many people to fit in council chambers for the meeting. There has been some discussion in recent weeks about costs for broadcasting the meeting from outside the municipal building, as was done for the joint council and parking authority meeting in December at the fire company building off South Mill Road. Councilwoman Linda Geevers has voiced support for keeping the meeting at the municipal building and providing an overflow room.
Having all of the township’s meetings covered has been a hot issue for both residents and council.
Huey told the council that since the charettes were broadcasted by council, there have been an increased demand for public meetings to be broadcast, but that it also comes with an increased workload — all to be done by volunteers in coordination with Jamie Watson, the station manager who works on and edits the programming as part of an agreement between the school district and the township. And as for the joint meeting in December, Conlon had to borrow broadcasting equipment from NJN networks to broadcast the meeting and had to volunteer his time.
Conlon, however, presented the idea to the council of allocating $3,”000 in the budget to cover the cost of paying trained college or high school students to work the cameras during the council’s night meetings at $100 per meeting. He also suggested that for about $10,”000 the township could purchase all the new equipment it needs to bring it up to date.
Both Huey and Conlon said the board has been tirelessly trying to get volunteers for the public meetings, particularly students from the school district. Conlon said it seemed students are willing to cover sports events, or activities in which their friends are participating, but are less motivated to cover meetings.
Conlon also said that having better equipment and more students could be valuable for a meeting like February 23 that is off-site. Rather than hiring an outside company, two assistants could help Watson do the whole meeting in house.
Councilman Charles Morgan said that the township’s meetings have grown more detailed and extensive in recent times. “We’ve morphed into agenda sessions here with action items, yet we’ve done nothing to address the resource issues faced by Channel 27. I’m a huge proponent of putting money in the budget to solve some of these issues. We can’t afford to rely on volunteers. There’s only so much you can ask.”
Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman also said she supported the idea, but worried whether the students, even if trained, would be experienced enough to properly handle the camera equipment on their own. Huey said the ideal students would be broadcasting majors from Mercer County College or high school students who have a vested interest in gaining experience.
Geevers said she, too, supported the idea of an internship program, but that she would like to see the township be more efficient with its scheduling of the meetings. When meetings are held off site, it takes more time and energy to set up the equipment. “But for some of these smaller meetings, we’re getting maybe 100 people, my preference is to do it here,” to save money, she said. — Cara Latham
