AUBURN — Councilors said Monday night they want assurances that elected officials will be in charge of Great Falls TV decisions.

“They’ve said in the past that they are advisory, and I think it’s important to really designate that capacity so there is no conflict about who has authority,” Councilor Tizz Crowley said.

Councilors reviewed the latest draft of a rewritten agreement between the cities of Lewiston and Auburn and they’ll vote on it Oct. 5. Lewiston’s council is scheduled to vote on the plan Oct. 6.

The old agreement expired in 2008 and was never renewed. Great Falls TV has continued to operate according to the terms of the old agreement, which funds the station’s three community information channels with franchise fees paid by local cable television subscribers.

Assistant City Manager Denis D’Auteuil presented the new agreement Monday during a council workshop. It gives Auburn more say in the daily management of the channel, moving the operation from Central Maine Community College to Auburn Hall.

The plan recreates a new Cable TV advisory board, made of eight members including at least one councilor from each city. Auburn’s three remaining members will be selected by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

Lewiston’s city administrator will appoint one staff person and the mayor will select two more.

But Crowley said she wanted more assurances that the group would be advisory and could not make financial decisions without City Council approval.

“The No. 1 question for me is, is the new board going to be an advisory group or is it going to be operational and management,” Crowley said. “I think it is a significant move from what has been advisory in past ordinances.”

Councilors Leroy Walker and Belinda Gerry agreed.

Councilor Adam Lee said he thought the contract was clear that the board would leave money decisions to councilors, and he was backed by Councilors David Young and Mary Lafontaine.

Councilor Robert Hayes said he’d be absent for the meeting, setting up a three-way tie.

Mayor Jonathan LaBonte asked staff to prepare language that could satisfy Crowley before the vote.

“At some point, every community we create we delegate some responsibility,” LaBonte said. “So at some point, there is a leap of faith.”

Great Falls TV is the local access cable channel housed on Auburn’s Central Maine Community College campus. It provides programming for three channels on Time Warner Cable: local government programming on Channel 7, community programming on Channel 11 and educational programming on Channel 22. The station uses a “PEG” model — equal shares of public access, educational and government programming.

A live feed of the Channel 11 programming and an archive of previously aired shows is available for viewing on demand at the station’s web site, greatfallstv.net/webstream.htm. The biggest share of the station’s content is government meetings from Auburn, Lewiston and Lisbon.

Subscribers to Time Warner Cable pay a 2.5 percent franchise fee to the cities. Of that, 40 percent is devoted to Great Falls TV operations.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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