'PEG' to appear on Channel 3 warrant article instead of 'Valley Vision'

Selectmen spend 90 minutes debating wording of special article to appropriate franchise fees

The decision whether to put two words -- Valley Vision -- on a warrant article dominated much of Tuesday's selectmen's meeting. After 90 minutes of discussion, the board voted 4-1 against specifically naming Valley Vision, the local cable public access station, in an article which seeks town franchise fees to go towards Channel 3, the local public education government station. The article will read: "To see if the municipality will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $(to be determined) from franchise fees to add to the PEG trust fund, to support the operations and equipment needs of the public education governmental station; further, to name the board of selectmen as agents to expend from the fund. This a special warrant article. No property tax funds will be raised to support this warrant article."Peter Malia, town counsel, drafted the article for selectmen, which they approved. Passage of the article allows the town to continue to use the fund that was established in 1996. N.H. Department of Revenue Administration ruled last month that the town should have had a warrant article for the appropriation every year."This corrects what we assumed last year," Dick O'Brien, selectman, asked.Theresa Kennett, chair of the board, felt naming Valley Vision in the article would prevent any misunderstandings for voters."I say no," O'Brien said, "it should go on into the PEG trust fund.With Valley Vision President Jac Cuddy and newly-hired station coordinator Todd Miller on hand, Kennett praised the station for its recent work. "Valley Vision has made some great progress in the past two weeks," she said, adding the board should make a commitment to station by naming Valley Vision in the article. "I would fear not putting Valley Vision (in the article) will hurt it."Selectman Karen Umberger said leaving Valley Vision out of the article doesn't mean she and her colleagues don't see the value of the station and felt people would know there's only one local PEG station, Valley Vision. "This is the first year we've put the appropriation onto the warrant," she said. "This year, to add (Valley Vision) to the confusion probably is not the best thing to do. I will be here next year and will press for the special revenue fund... We were told the selectmen needed to bring forward three special articles just to get the revenue things on.""Leave it the way it is," O'Brien added. "If anything were to happen to the name Valley Vision, it would tie the selectmen's hands. We know where the money is going."Kennett pointed out that Valley Vision relies heavily on the town's franchise fees. "If the town of Conway did not grant Valley Vision the money, Valley Vision would almost certainly not exist," she said and felt it was the right thing to include the station's name in the article. "Valley Vision has come an awful long way since this summer. It's been through a lot of scrutiny and has stood up through it. I'd like to see us be able to put their name on the warrant to give them a sense of security. I don't see us going out and putting another head end unit in to compete with it."Umberger felt if Valley Vision wants to appear on the article then it should submit its own petitioned article, complete with 25 signatures of registered town voters, to the board to place on the warrant. "If we as selectmen are going to put the wording on it should be put on as a generic (article)," she said and wondered what services Valley Vision will be providing the town over the next year.Cuddy said the cost to put a one hour of programming on the air is $239 from the original taping and editing. "We want to sit down with you and hear what services you expect to receive," he said and asked the board to consider entering into a memorandum of understanding with the station. "If it's just a simple warrant article there is no accountability and the money is just ours if the voters approve it."Selectman Gary Webster felt there was no need to name Valley Vision. "Since the original warrant article has anyone else asked for (the franchise fees)?" he asked. "Could the school come in and ask for money for equipment? I think it's pretty clear where this money is going to go."Town Manger Earl Sires said the town currently receives $72,000 in cable franchise fees. He expects that figure to increase. "$80,000, maybe $85,000 or $90,000, who knows," he said. "It should definitely be more than $72,000. You'll know by the end of January."Sires suggested including Valley Vision in the wording may not be bad. "When Earl says if you want me working with Valley Vision that it would be beneficial to have their name in the idea what do you think," Kennett asked her colleagues. "The whole idea is to convey exactly what is going to happen for the voters.""We're beating this to death," O'Brien said, calling for the question. "This horse is on its knees."Selectmen felt Valley Vision should tell the town what it intends to provide for service. Webster made a motion to instruct Sires to purse a memorandum of understanding agreement with Valley Vision in which the station will make a presentation to the voters at town meeting."I'm in support of Valley Vision," he said, "but they have the details -- they are the spokespeople. We are comfortable you can do it and we don't want to interfere with the process."The motion passed 4-0-1 with O'Brien abstaining.