Missoula Community Access Television 2009 Annual Report Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission January, 2010 Missoula Community Access Television 500 North Higgins, Missoula, MT 59802 Annual Report 2009 Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission February 2010 Missoula Community Access Television’s government channel is an electronic pipeline that enriches civic life in 20,000 Missoula households. It helps remind us that the work of local government is bigger than the City Council Chambers and City Hall and that everyone can be involved in it. The MCAT staff works on government channel programming with the advice of the 10-member Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission (MCTAC). Its appointees represent interests across the community: city and county government staff members and elected officials, Missoula County Public Schools, the University of Montana and citizens at large. The commission strives for a broad mix of programming types and subjects in the 1,400 hours contracted for local government coverage each year. Highlights of this year’s programming included detailed coverage of the City’s Zoning Code Rewrite process. It included a magazine-style explanatory show and meeting coverage that added up to a significant piece of the concerted public outreach throughout the rewrite process. Other programming took viewers to the Missoula City Cemetery for the storytelling of the Stories and Stones series; coverage of Bike Walk Bus Week; the Historic Preservation Commission Awards Ceremony; Western Montana Fair consultant sessions; musical concerts in schools and at the All City Orchestra at the University of Montana; the State of Missoula annual addresses by the mayor and county commissioners’ chair; the Best Practices Transportation Awards; the Community Forum of Missoula’s neighborhood councils; Project Homeless Connect; an educational primer on the new Higgins Avenue Roundabout; and the Police Department’s Day of Remembrance. During 2009, the commission stretched to juggle the increased meeting coverage taken on in the second half of 2008 while still providing lively magazine-style programming. The 2008 additions were meeting coverage of the City’s Design Review Board, the City Board of Adjustment, the County Board of Adjustment, the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee, the Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee and monthly meetings of the Health Board. The government channel also incorporates meeting coverage of the Missoula Board of County Commissioners and some Missoula County Public Schools meetings as a public service. Actual production and related equipment set-up time total 780 hours a year. MCAT staff members spend about 150 hours a year scheduling City programs, 200 hours posting City notices on the community message board and 70 hours attending meetings and creating reports. This adds up to about 1,200 hours a year, leaving only 200 hours a year for creation of other programming. The MCAT staff, with support from the MCAT board, has generously accommodated the MCTAC members’ desire for both meeting coverage and feature programming with media assistance grants. Still, as of Feb. 11, 2010, government channel programming has exceeded the three-year contract hours of 4,200 hours by 182 hours. At the current rate, the commission’s requests will have exceeded the contract agreement by 800 hours at the end of the contract on June 30, 2010. MCTAC members will work concertedly toward a balance of programming that also meets the contract hours in coming months. The government channel’s diversity is its strength and a key to MCAT’s service as a public-access channel with a number of viewers that’s five times the national average for public-access television. Missoula viewers have a keen interest in public affairs and in the business of local government, and they watch their government channel. In other business in 2009, the commission supported the MCAT staff in its addition of streaming video, a valued service. It also changed its name from the Government Channel Cable Advisory Commission (GCCAC) to the more explanatory Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission (MCTAC). An overhaul of the bylaws led to more efficient meetings and better attendance. The Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission meets 10 times a year. Its membership of 10 people consists of four at-large citizens, two appointed by the mayor and two by the City Council; two City Council members; one City staff member; one University of Montana representative; one member designated by Missoula County Public Schools; and one member designated by Missoula County. They look forward to another year of guiding the government channel as an integral part of free speech and information in Missoula. Respectfully submitted, Carol Bellin, Missoula resident Lesli Brassfield, Missoula County Public Schools Ed Childers, City Council representative Jean Curtiss, Missoula County Board of Commissioners Antonio Guglielmo, Missoula resident Ginny Merriam, City of Missoula staff Rita Munzenrider, University of Montana John Rettenmayer, Missoula resident, Chair Link Starbureiy, Missoula resident Jason Wiener, City Council representative, Vice Chair 2009 MCTAC Report Bicycle Pedestrian Office What’s Up Missoula: Phil Smith on Bike Walk Bus Week 2009. The campaign attempts to gently focus Missoulian’s attention on exploring and reinforcing forms of transportation other than a single-occupancy vehicle. The program includes incentives from Missoula businesses, free bus rides, bicycle clinics, walking tours of Missoula and many other activities surrounding alternative transportation. 22 minutes, What’s Up Missoula folder. City Cemetery Stories and Stones: Sheriff’s Edition Missoula’s peaceable and violent past is recounted through the eyes of Missoula’s 20th Century Sheriffs and Peace Officers. The program includes George Cole, Robert MaClean, Jim Thomas Green, Daniel Heyfron, William H. Houston. Presented by Captain Willis Hintz, Missoula Sheriff’s office. Inventory 107065a, 34 minutes. Stories and Stones: Mayor’s Edition The program includes historic photographs inlaid with Mayor John Engen’s description of past Missoula Mayors. The mayors include Frank Woody, J.M. Keith and Frank Higgins. Juliet Gregory, Missoula’s first woman Mayor of 1947, is mentioned, along with Ralph Starr, Ralph Shoup, Bill Cregg and John Toole. Inventory 107098, 51 minutes. Stories and Stones 2009 The 2009 program features Lee & Bess Elliot, Daniel Bandmann, Reverend Thomas Lewis, and Sandra and Frank Woody, Missoula’s first mayor. Inventory 107720, 68 minutes. City Council City Council Meetings Missoula City Council meetings remain extremely popular viewing on MCAT Civic Channel 11. At Council meetings, public hearings are held, and the public has an opportunity to weigh in on the immediate issues facing the City. The Charter states, “The legislative authority of the City of Missoula shall be vested in the City Council which shall have the authority to enact such ordinances and resolutions necessary for the protection and benefit of the people’s health, welfare and security. The City Council shall be the policy-making body of the City of Missoula.” MCAT recorded 102.5 hours in report period. 4 City Council Committee Meetings Before issues are brought forth in City Council meetings, reports and information are gathered and discussed in committee meetings. The standing committees of the council are Public Safety and Health; Conservation; Administration and Finance;, Public Works; Plat, Annexation and Zoning; and the Committee of the Whole. MCAT provided coverage 216 hours of meeting in the report period. Fire Department Your Choice High School students witness a moving and realistic reenactment of a crash of a car driven by a teenager provided by emergency response units and fire departments in Western Montana. Inventory 107502, 16 minutes. MCAT Summer Camp: Headquarters Station Summer campers at MCAT’s video camp for youth made a documentary about the Missoula Fire Department’s Headquarters Station during their one-week video intensive work. The documentary is a testament to the generosity and skill of the firefighters who provided the kids with a tour of the facility and demonstrations of equipment and procedures. The program includes interviews with firefighters and water safety issues for boating and swimming. Inventory 107497, 21 minutes. Health Department City-County Health Board Coverage At the request of the City-County Health Department, MCAT began coverage of the City-County Health Board meetings in 2009. The meetings include the Health Board, the Air Pollution Control Board, and the Water Quality District Board. MCAT produced 24 hours of coverage in the report period. The coverage entails transporting, setting up and returning a multi-camera studio system. Unplug and Play Week “Unplug & Play Missoula!” is a community collaboration that aims to improve the health of families and community by making screen-time reduction an important part of health initiatives. The program features Mary McCourt from the Missoula City-County Health Department. What’s Up Missoula, 23 minutes What’s Up Missoula Folder 5 Historic Preservation Historic Preservation Commission Awards Ceremony 2008 The program is hosted by Cynthia Manning, chairperson of the commission, and Philip Maechling, the Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Missoula. A photography program that involved re-creating the perspectives of historic photos called “Then and Now, Changing Places in Missoula”