Lodi City Council meetings can still be watched at home

Maurice Patterson, an independent contractor with Comcast, watches monitors as he controls a live broadcast of the Lodi City Council meeting Wednesday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Lodi City Council meetings can still be watched at home

By Maggie Creamer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, August 20, 2009 6:39 AM PDT

Comments (3 comment(s))

For years, residents have watched the Lodi City Council cast critical votes on Wednesday nights from the comfort of their own homes.

Wednesday was the last meeting that Comcast provided a staff member to operate the equipment to record the meetings.

The Lodi City Council ensured the service on Channel 26 will continue Wednesday night by voting to hire part-time stage technicians to record the meeting for $20 an hour, or about $2,000 a year.

"I think we have a great tool here," Mayor Larry Hansen said. "I would hope we can take advantage of that and keep a high quality of technical expertise when we are presenting it to people."

The other two options were to assign the city's salaried managers that cannot earn overtime to operate the equipment at no cost, or hire an experienced local camera operator at about $40 an hour, or $4,000 a year.

The change is due to cable companies now striking contracts with the state instead of cities because of the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act passed in 2006.

In the basement of Carnegie Forum, Maurice Patterson watched five different TV screens and pushed a button to zoom one of the three cameras in on City Manager Blair King.

Sitting in the no more than 6-by-6-foot room, Patterson, an independent contractor working for Comcast, also had three city employees crowded around him to learn how to run the controls.

Even though Comcast owns the equipment, city spokesman Jeff Hood said the company has no plans to remove it.

Steve Mann demonstrates how to run the cable broadcasting system before the City Council meeting Wednesday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

The council also supported the idea of charging cable customers a 1 percent fee to pay for new equipment, maintenance and repairs in the future. The money could not be used to pay for someone to operate the equipment.

The city would receive an estimated $80,000 in revenue from the fee. A customer paying for Comcast's "Digital Starter" service would see $0.51 added to their bill. The city will consider an ordinance to implement the fee at a future meeting.

Besides maintaining equipment in Carnegie Forum, the money could also be used to install equipment into Hutchins Street Square for the council's large meetings. The Sept. 30 special meeting to discuss the council's prayer policy cannot be broadcast because there are no video cameras hooked into the Hutchins Street Square system.

City Manager Blair King said the funds can also be used to provide equipment for other community programming.

"It would be nice to offer some of our cultural options at Hutchins Street Square, especially the theater," he said.

Hansen said it always surprises him how many people watch the meetings in the community.

In a 2007 scientific survey, about 32 percent of Lodi residents said that they had watched a local public meeting on cable TV in the past year. Only 20 percent of the 336 residents who responded had been to a council meeting.

Contact reporter Maggie Creamer at maggiec@lodinews.com or read her blog at www.lodinews.com/blog/citybuzz.

In other action

City will ask companies to start a solar project in Lodi

Lodi will solicit bids for a solar project at the White Slough wastewater treatment plant.

The companies bidding for the project would be responsible for the costs of construction, including gathering permits, obtaining financing, installation, maintenance and operation.

In return, the city will agree to buy all of the plant's 100 to 300 kilowatts of energy to power the wastewater treatment plant. Running a 100-watt light bulb for 10 straight hours would use one kilowatt of energy.

Electric Utility Director George Morrow said he has already had interest from companies who want to try a pilot project and are excited about the plant's visibility from Interstate 5.

Mayor Larry Hansen said the solar technology might inspire businesses to come to Lodi to create environmentally friendly products.

Lodi currently has 25 residential and 11 commercial solar systems.

Lodi to hold meeting to discuss future of Downtown

The city will host a Downtown Summit Oct. 16 to discuss how revitalization has improved Downtown and what steps still need to be taken.

The summit will be about four hours, and invitations will be extended to merchants and property owners, as well as members of the planning commission, Downtown Lodi Business Partnership, the Chamber of Commerce and the Winegrape Commission.

"The goal is one of a spirit of renewal and commitment and practical suggestions to bring back to the council," City Manager Blair King said.

Before the summit, there will also be a survey of business and property owners and visitors to Downtown.

King said donations will fund the event, which is estimated to cost $7,000 including food. But he said the scale of the event will depend on how many donations the city receives.

The event will consist of speakers, presentations and breakout sessions.

It has been a little over a decade since the revitalization has taken place. Also, Michael Freedman, the designer of the revitalization project, will discuss what he thinks is in the future for Downtown.

News-Sentinel staff

Reader Feedback

what22 wrote on Aug 22, 2009 3:07 PM:

" HANSEN AND MATSUYAMA WAITRESS SITTING UNDER TREE HOW CUTE "

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Whoa Nellie! wrote on Aug 20, 2009 1:58 PM:

" With the salary Steve Mann is receiving can't he afford a shirt with a collar? I know IT guys are usually a bit flakey, but c'mon, a t-shirt at City Hall? "

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mp wrote on Aug 20, 2009 10:22 AM:

" Well well well. All the people compalining on the other blog have nothing to say here! I guess you don't watch the council meeting just complain when the news paper has three inch letters that say "borrow". If you watched, you would be informed, like me!!!! "

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