| By Big Radio News Staff |
Janesville’s city manager will take charge of JATV after the Hedberg Public Library Board hands over the reins of the struggling public access cable TV station.
The library board OK’s a proposal Tuesday by board President Katy Grogan for the board to step away from oversight of JATV’s programming. That comes as city manager Kevin Lahner says he seeks to overhaul programming at JATV. The station is seeing dwindling royalties as cable television steadily loses subscribers.
For years, the city has paid to run the independently-owned JATV. The station televises Janesville city government meetings and city hall-focused programming.
Lahner says control of JATV would allow the city communications staff to work with JATV to produce more city-related programming. Among those things is a series of in-house training and communication videos Lahner seeks to produce for city employees.
The change comes despite board member Cathy Erdman’s opposition. She says a decade-old JATV contract with the city makes it clear only the city council can OK contractual changes with the TV station.
Again on Tuesday, Erdman voiced her opposition.
Erdman has been the lone voice on the library board to argue that Lahner should have turned JATV’s contract over to the city council instead of amending it on his own. She has suggested Lahner’s move could be tantamount to “breach of contract.”
In the past, Erdman has said she worries that under the changes, JATV staff might have less wherewithal to work with community members on programming.
She also worries Janesville City Hall might use its control over JATV productions to try to block broadcast any independently-produced JATV content with a message that did not align with the city’s plans.
Library board member Quentin Mayberry says he puts more stock in a city attorney’s legal read on the situation than a library board member’s opinion.
But Mayberry says whether Erdman or the attorney are right or wrong about the process Lahner used, Mayberry has wanted the “legal liability” of the JATV decision pulled off the Library Board’s plate.
Grogan says the city attorney tells her Lahner has full authority over JATV’s contract, and in fact, JATV’s director is already actively with Lahner and city staff to map out new programming.
Grogan admonished the library board Tuesday to “face reality,” and push aside the reins of JATV.
Lahner said last month the city would not actively curb any future community-produced programs — even if the programming questioned, or ran contrary, to Janesville City Hall’s stance on a city issue.
The library board also voted to indefinitely table all future discussions of JATV’s management, and the board’s role in it.
