The Town is seeking more committee volunteers. Members won’t be expected to do “heavy lifting”, but there is a 3-4 year commitment.
Licenses for cable providers are set to expire in the next few years. The ascertainment process is already open, and the Town needs to get started on renegotiating new licenses. According to Town Administrator Mark Purple, we’re already “a little behind”.
In the last Board of Selectmen meeting, Purple said the bulk of work is done by the Town’s specialized cable attorney.* But, the attorney needs to work with a committee – and we don’t have a functional one.
Currently, the committee has only one member. 3-5 members are required.
If applications come in soon enough, appointments could be made at the November 8th meeting. Assistant Town Administrator Vanessa Hale tells me they can wait longer, but hope to get it done before the holidays. That means they could accept applications until November 15th for interviews and/or appointments on November 21st.
The committee’s charge is:
- To negotiate the Town’s license(s) with any Cable or similar telecommunication providers, providing however that the Board of Selectmen shall be the official Issuing Authority for all such licenses;
- To engage an attorney familiar with cable negotiations, as needed, to assist the Committee with negotiating a new license(s);
- To periodically report to the Board of Selectmen to update them on the status of negotiations and to receive guidance on the Town’s position.
Purple told selectmen that the licenses coming up are Verizon in 2019, Charter in 2020, and Comcast in 2021.
If you are interested in applying should click here to submit an online application.
If you are interested in volunteering for a different committee, click here for vacancies. There are a slew of open seats. That will shrink as Selectmen are scheduled to make appointments to multiple committees tonight. But, I’m estimating that will still leave at least 50 vacancies. However, I don’t believe that any other committees are currently crippled by lack of volunteers.
*Before someone complains about the cost of hiring an attorney for this – that fee is covered by cable revenues.
