ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Starting in May, Roanoke Valley channel surfers will be able to catch a new TV show - live, from City Hall.
Roanoke City Council voted Tuesday to begin televising its meetings on Channel 3, Cox Communication's government access channel.
The 2 p.m. Monday meetings, as well as the 7 p.m. public hearings, will be aired live. The meetings then will be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. the following Thursday. The May 20 meeting will be the first to be televised.
Council meets the first and third Mondays of each month, and conducts evening public hearings the third Monday.
Some council members have expressed concerns that televising meetings might lead to grandstanding by residents who want to see themselves on TV, or by council members who might be tempted to use the cameras as a political forum.
But with little discussion, council voted unanimously to approve the televised meetings. Council members Mac McCadden and Jack Parrott were absent.
The televised meetings will bear no additional cost to taxpayers. The government access channel already owns the necessary equipment, and staff members who will operate the cameras are paid from franchise fees that Cox Cable viewers already pay.
Televised meetings were just part of a recommendation by City Manager Bob Herbert that dealt with ways to improve communication between residents and their government.
Herbert also recommends a "City Page" advertisement that would run in local newspapers to provide a regular source of information about such city services as trash collection, tax deadlines and special programs.
Under a one-year pilot program, the ad would run the Friday after each City Council meeting in The Roanoke Times, and the second and fourth Thursdays of the month in The Roanoke Tribune, at an annual cost of about $56,000.
After concerns were raised about the cost of having a part-time staff member design the pages and write the articles, council voted to refer the matter for a budget study before taking final action.
In other action, council voted to give $25,000 to Explore Park - but not before some members expressed concerns that the Roanoke County park was getting special treatment.
Normally, Explore officials would ask for city money through the Citizens Services Committee, which annually reviews funding requests from all cultural and human-service organizations.
The park did not receive any funding from the city last year because Explore officials failed to receive a mailed notice of the deadline for such requests. When park officials' request for $25,000 showed up on Tuesday's agenda, Councilman William White raised concerns that Explore was being allowed to bypass the committee process.
Councilwoman Linda Wyatt agreed that council should "not let anyone do an end-run around a process we have said we will uphold."
But after Explore Executive Director Rupert Cutler told council that the money was needed in order to match state funds for the rest of what has been a tight fiscal year, council voted to make an exception and approve the funding.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB