pau hana ohana <pauhanamolokaiatyahoodotcom> on 02/25/2006 12:05:04 AM To: cabletvatdccAdothawaiidotgov cc: Subject: Public comment from DeGray Vanderbilt Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com DCCA Public Comment February 24,2006 TO DCCA DIRECTOR MARK RECKTENWALD PUBLIC COMMENT I attend DCCA’s public comment meetings in Hilo on February 1, on Maui February 15, on Molokai February 16 and on Oahu February 22. At each of those meetings I provided public testimony. I was truly amazed at the testimony at all the meetings, which was overwhelmingly in support of the community services provided by the non-profit public, educational and government television access organizations serving communities throughout the state. Testifiers were almost in unanimous support of DCCA seeking an exemption for the access providers from procurement by competitive means as dictated in the procurement law. I was also amazed at the ad hoc manner in which the public comment meetings were carried out with different rules applied by DCCA to how the meetings were conducted on each island. After experiencing DCCA putting a time limit on the Maui meeting and closing the sessions after hearing from only 24 of 70 signed up to testify, and then a few days later on Oahu allowing the meeting to continue for as long as it took to hear from all of the 75 or so people who wanted to testify, I decided I wasn’t going to submit written testimony. However, I changed my mind when I received a copy of a letter below, which was sent out today, February 24, 2006 by Governor Linda Lingle. February 24,2006 DearMolokaiResident HavinglivedonMolokaiforanumberofyears,Iknowfirsthand howmuchcommunityspiritandparticipationourMolokai residentshaveonissuesaffectingtheisland. ThankyouforexpressingyourviewsregardingAkakuandtheRFP process. Foryourinformation,theStateProcurementOfficeandthe AttorneyGeneralinformedtheDepartmentofCommerceand ConsumerAffairs(DCCA)thatthestateprocurementlawsmustbe followedintheawardingofpublicaccesstelevisioncontracts.As aresult,statelawdictatesthattheDCCAneedstopursuefuture AkakuandallotherpublicaccesscontractsthroughanRFP process. Iappreciateyourcommentsandconcernsandwillbe sendingacopyofyouremailtoDirectorRecktenwaldtobe includedinthepubliccommentfile. Again,thankyouforsharingyourviewswithme. GovernorLindaLingle This letter seems to confirm what one Hilo resident told me at the first DCCA public comment meeting in Hilo. He said that he felt that the public meetings DCCA was conducting were just for show and DCCA had already made up its mind to go for a Request for Proposal (RFP) and subject the public access providers to a competitive bid process. So here are some of my general thoughts. Take them for what they are worth. To start off, Iwould recommend that DCCA ask the State Procurement Office for at least a 12 month extension in order for DCCA to do its homework and work with the public you serve to make sure that things are done right and valuable community resources around the state which have been nurtured through community building over a 15 year period are not lost. Because once they are lost, they will not be recovered again and the public will have lost something that is very special in to the residents of our state. During this extended time period Iwould go out for another round of public comment meetings better prepared to educate the public which in turn will lead to more constructive and focused testimony. Below are some of the thoughts I put together when Iforwarded the Governor's letters to others around the state. DCCA mentioned at the Hilo meeting that nowhere else in the nation is a public, educational and government television access services contract subject to an RFP. This lead to the question, “Sowhy start in Hawaii?” If it ‘aint broke why try and fix it. On the website of the State Procurement Office there is a lot of information. In that information, two objectives are mentioned. 1. Maximize best value to the fullest extent practicable, and 2. Increase public confidence in the procurement processes The procurement law provides for the state’s Chief Procurement Officer, Aaron Fujioka, to grant an exemption if he determines that procurement through competitive means is either “not practicable” or “not advantageous to the State”. These are the exemption standards right out of the procurement code. At the Hilo meeting DCCA was asked, “Who is the State.. .is it the people?” DCCAs moderator, Clyde Sonobe Administrator of DCCAs Cable TV Division, could not answer the question. DCCAs attorney also was unable to provide an answer. In addition, the State’s Chief Procurement Officer has made it clear that even if there are many valid arguments for exemption DCCAs public access service contracts from a competitive bidding process, he would be inclined to deny the exemption request if just one entity wanted the opportunity to submit a “serious bid” for the contracts. So much for the rhetoric on the State Procurement Office website of wanting to “maximize best value” or to “increase public confidence in the procurement process” Another question raised during the public comment meetings was, “If Mr. Recktenwald inquired of the AG’s office about the procurement law applying to Akaku and the other access providers, which are funded by cable access fees paid directly to each non-profit access organization ('Olelo $4,100,000,Akaku $813,000, Na Leo $692,000 and Ho'ike $336,000),why didn't Mr. Recktenwald inquire of the AG's office about the application of the procurement law to PBS Hawaii Public Television, which takes in $2,200,000 in franchise fees paid to it by the cable company? DCCAs response is that Mr. Recktenwald only asked the AG for advice on the public access providers not on PBS. The question still remains, "Why?" DCCA is permitted to charge the cable company up to 5% of its gross revenues as Vent" for using the public rights of way to lay their cables etc. DCCA charges only 4% currently. 3% of the gross revenues derived from each county go to the respective access organization serving that county (SEE ABOVE $ TOTALS). PBS gets 1% of the cable operator's gross revenues statewide. This amounts to more than $2,150,000,significantly more than the three access organizations serving communities on the neighbor islands. So the question still remains, "Why isn't Mr. Recktenwald inquiring of the AG's office about the procurement laws applying to PBS's affiliate in Hawaii?" DCCA had mentioned that as far as it knew none of the PBS affiliates in the other 49 state's receives any of the cable franchise fees intended for the public, educational and government television access providers. The other question that came up was, "Why is PBS even entitled to a share of the franchise cable fees?" It is sad to see the Governor acquiesce to DCCAs ad hoc handling of the public comment process. On Maui, DCCA allowed only 24 of 71 people who had signed up to testify at the February 15 meeting. There were 125 people at the meeting, and more than 71 would have testified had they been given the opportunity. The excuse for cutting the meeting short was that the Governor’s liaison booked the room at Maui Community College knowing that the room would only be available for two hours. DCCA informed the press those two hours was enough time to be allotted. On Oahu the February 22 meeting went well beyond two hours, and all those who attended were given the opportunity to testify whether they signed up or not. DCCA set no time limit on the meeting. Different rules for Oahu? Hopefully, the Governor and her appointee Mr. Recktenwald, will consider their strategies and work with the public to do things right. The state procurement office has indicated that it does not want to jeopardize the delivery of the service provided by Akaku and others and is amenable to working with DCCA if DCCA requests a time extension (i.e. 12 months) to make sure it is in a position to make an informed decision. DCCA had said it advised the State Procurement Office that it would make a decision on how it intended to proceed with the procurement process by sometime in April. The decision of DCCA Director Mark Recktenwald, which most likely will have the Governor’s blessing since the public response has been so strong and passionate, will impact vibrant community resource operations that have developed statewide over the last 15 years through community networking, volunteerism and partnering. They have become true community resources with a proven, successful track record, especially in underserved communities such as Molokai, Waianae, Kahuku, and Hilo. The access organizations have provided education training service in the public schools where DOE has either not elected to fund or ceased funding to the elementary, intermediate and/or high schools. They are provided services to the charter schools and private and independent schools also, and interacted with UH and other colleges. And they have provided the people with a voice....a voice that would otherwise go unheard. Our society can not afford to allow these voices to be silenced, as most likely would be the case if public access service were taken over by a for-profit corporation or a state institution with a cumbersome, homogenized agenda designed to stifle creativity and the public spirit. Iremember Jean Aoki, a graceful, elderly Japanese lady who testified at the legislature last year concern the importance of public television access. As I remember, she stated that public access television is the people’s “soapbox”. It is the public’s only outlet for free, extended media coverage. Without public television the people will be left with either writing a short letter to the editor which may or may not be published and if it is published most likely will be edited, or a three minute speech before a government body. Akaku, ‘Olelo, Ho’ike and Na Leo were formed as private non-profit organization for the sole purpose of serving communities throughout the state and providing that soapbox where free speech and free expression are still alive and well.