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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04151986 - IO.1 y TO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Contra DATE; April 14, 1986 C )sta ro '� SUBJECT; Interim Community Access Grant Program WUI 0. l SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND Alm JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Approve the establishment of an interim community access grant program during the period April 15, 1986--September 15,1986 with funding to be derived from the Community Access Trust Fund. 2. Establish the following criteria for consideration of grant applications: A. Subject is of interest countywide or within an unincorporated community. B. The program will be developed by a Contra Costa County citizen, community group, or county agency. C. The program has a commitment from a cable company for sponsorship for viewing on a community service channel. D. Grants are to be used only for post-production editing, purchase of up to seven video tapes and duplication of tapes. E. Grants shall not exceed $500 and shall only cover actual costs. F. One copy of the program is to be supplied to the County for the County' s use at its discretion. 3 . Grant applications are to be reviewed by the Internal Operations Committee and recommended to the Board for the Board' s approval. 4. Direct the Cable TV Franchise Administrator to write to members of the Community Access Planning Committee whose attendance has not been regular soliciting their active participation and attendance at meetings of the Committee. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _ YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE X APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): Nancy Fanden Sunne W. McPeak (1 p ACTION OF BOARD ON April 15, 1986 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT I AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: County Administrator ATTESTED Cable TV Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Auditor-Controller SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR � DEPUTY M382/7-83 BY Page 2 5 . Direct the Cable TV Franchise Administrator to write to the publisher or editor of newspapers circulated in Contra Costa County encouraging each newspaper to regularly publish the schedule of the Cable Television community service channels within their circulation area. 6 . Leave this item on referral to our Committee pending completion of the Planning Committee' s report to the Board. BACKGROUND: Historically, the State Foundation for Community Service Programming has provided production grants for community access programs. However, recent deregulation of cable companies and provisions of the new federal Cable Communications Policy Act have substantially reduced funding for Contra Costa County community access Cable TV programs. Recognizing the need for County leadership, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Community Access Policy in November, . 1985 . Concurrently, the Board established and directed a Planning Committee to recommend a Work Plan to: 1) improve the accessibility of Community Access; 2) develop an interconnected Community Access system; and 3) provide programming support. The Committee report should be completed by summer. In the interim, the Countyihas no mechanism to support Community Access programming. Yet, staff has received several inquiries. The greatest need for support is in the area of hard program production costs: post-production editing; purchase of video tapes; and duplication of tapes. At most, these costs would be less than $500 per program. Given the Board' s adopted policy of supporting community services programming, we recommend the establishment of an interim grant program as outlined above. The Community Access Trust Fund currently has a balance of approximately $55,000. We believe this interim grant program will handle most community needs during the next few months while the Planning Committee is completing work on its Work Plan for presentation to the Board of Supervisors. Our Committee continues to be concerned that the lack of newspaper publicity makes it difficult for the average television viewer to know when various community services programs are available.