Board Candidates Sought For WCAT Meeting
Four seats on the Wakefield Cable Access TV board of directors are in contention at annual meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14.
The following is an announcement from Wakefield Cable Access TV:
Four seats on the WCAT Board of Directors are in contention at this year’s Annual Meeting on Wednesday, November 14th. Three seats are for a full three-year term and the fourth is a one-year term covering the unexpired portion of a former Board member’s term.
“We are looking for qualified, interested individuals that can bring needed experiences and new ideas to WCAT,” said David Watts, Jr., WCAT President, Board of Directors. “The current Board has been working hard over the last year to redefine WCAT’s mission, vision, and strategy, and we are looking for people to work with us in that process.”
Any current WCAT member, regardless of residency, may nominate oneself or another WCAT member to run for the Board of Directors. Please submit a letter of nomination to Richard Reidy, WCAT Secretary, no later than October 24th. The letter should include any qualifications (eg, professional background, other Board positions, etc.) and what you – or your nominee – believe you can bring to the WCAT Board of Directors. All nominating letters will be reviewed by the Nominating Committee. The Board of Directors election ballot will be sent to all voting members by October 31st. Voting membership is still limited to WCAT members (individual, family, business, organizational) who are Wakefield residents.
The Board of Directors election will be the first item on the agenda for the members’ meeting portion of the Annual Meeting, which will convene at 7.45 pm. Each candidate on the ballot will be given an opportunity to introduce themselves and talk briefly about their qualifications.
“The WCAT staff, Executive Director Tom Stapleton, Program Coordinator Rachel Julian, and Technical Coordinator Scott Kurland, are putting together another great program for the Annual Meeting,” said Watts, “As the event is open to the public, are hoping that many people in Wakefield who have never visited the WCAT facility will join us to celebrate twenty-two years of service to the town.”
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Although authorized by the Wakefield Board of Selectmen, Wakefield Community Access Television is an independent not-for-profit organization funded by revenues from the franchise fees paid by Comcast, RCN and Verizon, who provide cable service to Wakefield. The media center does not receive any tax-based dollars from the Town of Wakefield and returns over $4 million in services and programming to the community each year.
Chris J Carino
11:05 am on Monday, October 22, 2012
WCAT publishes that they return 4 million dollars of services to the town each year. I am not a mathematician but with a 300K budget that is something like a 13,000 percent return. This assertion reminds me of the fairy tale where they spin thread into gold. It is so unrealistic you would think they would have trouble saying it with a straight face.
Do we really value public meeting coverage that high? I mean I guess if it was HD, available on demand and they sent everyone in town a pizza, a case of beer and a DVD copy of each meeting we might have say 1 million dollars of services. So where is the other 3 million of services they allege to provide?
WCAT and their cronies will probably tell you that they do not use public money. This is a bunch of balony. WCAT receives funds from Wakefield residents as part of a Selectman authorized "subscriber fee." So be it by another name, it is a tax and it is public money.
Last year they took a week long vacation to Las Vegas on the public dime. Outrageous? Yes it is and they got away with it so far.
Hopefully the Selectman will take action to put this organization under review.