Benton Courier - After long haul, council picks YCAT for Channel 12

After months of drama and controversy, the Benton City Council finally chose Monday night to select a new organization, YCAT, to oversee its public access Channel 12.
The vote came without much discussion by the council, but not without more drama.
As aldermen began to cast their votes on the proposal to give the fledgling organization YCAT administrative and operational control over Channel 12 beginning immediately, its passage was anything but assured, as several aldermen had voiced opposition to it in previous sessions.
When Aldermen Greg White was asked for his vote, he passed and asked to vote at the end. White has previously abstained from voting on all issues relating to public access TV because he is a member of YCAT and formerly was a member of BCAA, which has been operating Channel 12 for several years and wanted to retain control of it.
In addition, White owns a production company that films football games and some other local events, and he sells advertising to cover the production costs; in the past, his shows have been been broadcast on Channel 12.
But it soon became clear during the YCAT proposal decision Monday night that he apparently intended to cast a vote — just at the end, in case it was needed to help the measure pass.
It ended up not being needed. With White’s “yes” vote coming last, and “no” votes by three aldermen — Larry Wolf, Joe Lee Richards and David Sparks — the YCAT proposal passed 7-3. City Attorney Brent Houston noted it would have passed without White’s vote, though he has in the past recommended White abstain from voting on Channel 12-related proposals before the council and its committees.
At the meeting’s end, Wolf questioned White’s decision to go ahead and cast a vote against Houston’s advice — and against the opinions of a few residents who had claimed that the Arkansas Ethics Commission’s rules prevent local and state lawmakers from voting on measures that could present a “conflict of interest.”
White defended his move, saying he contacted the Ethics Commission on Dec. 27 and was told by an attorney there that unless he could directly financially benefit from YCAT — which he says he certainly cannot and will not — he could go ahead and exercise his right to vote on any related measures.
“Their rules are actually pretty stringent. They told me that only when an alderman can financially gain from a decision (should they be required to abstain),” White told the council. “I in no way have financial gain to make from YCAT. ... If I choose to produce (film for broadcast on YCAT) that is a business opportunity that anyone in this city can undertake.”
White went on to list a number of times that Alderman Richards had previously voted on Channel 12-related issues while he was serving as secretary/treasurer of BCAA while it was controlling Channel 12, in an effort to justify his own actions.
“I also believe that precedents had been set by the votes of Alderman Joe Lee Richards on the same issues involving the organization (BCAA) that he actually served as secretary/treasurer for,” White explained to the Courier this morning.
Regardless, as Houston noted, the measure passed even without White’s vote, and YCAT is expected to take control of Channel 12 as soon as the technology can be moved to their new location, which is expected to take up to 30 days.
It also is expected to take up to that long to repair a fiber-optic box that broke just after Christmas that is necessary to broadcast Channel 12, officials have said. Hopefully, preparations for the changeover will be complete by the time the repair is made and Channel 12 will be back on the air within a month, they have said.
Meanwhile, White and others said Monday it’s high time the Channel 12 issue was settled, after nearly a year of negotiations with BCAA and discussions at council and committee meetings.
“It is time to move on with this issue, and I (called the Ethics Commission because I) wanted to be sure that the vote was veto-proof,” White said.
Johnny McMahan, president of BCAA, called the vote Monday night a loss for freedom of speech.
“The vote by the council last night is disappointing but bittersweet. The organization that favors controlling content of programs on public access television was granted the authority to operate and administer (Channel 12),” McMahan said in an email to the Courier this morning. “The BCAA has and will continue to promote freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion, whomever operates the local public access channel. The vote result last night was the cumulation of a long standing effort by Doug Stracener, Brad Moore and Charles Cunningham to remove certain programming on Channel 12. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion lost last night.”
In other business Monday, the City Council tabled its 2010 balanced budget until after a Finance Committee hearing scheduled for tonight (see related article in today’s Courier). The budget is expected to be voted on at the next council meeting on Jan. 25.
The council also made the following decisions:
• Passed Ordinance 75 of 2009, annexing certain island areas along the Benton Parkway that will allow code enforcement officers to clean up certain abandoned buildings along the road that officials have deemed “unsightly.” The annexed areas included just under 50 residences. No one in the audience spoke against the measure.
• Passed Ordinance 2 of 2010, waiving competitive bidding and allowing for the immediate purchase of labor and materials necessary to install a drive assembly needed to repair a motor at the Benton Wastewater Treatment Plant. Siemens is the only provider of the parts required for the machinery currently in use, aldermen explained.
• Passed Resolution 3 of 2010, authorizing the city to become the sewer provider to the new subdivision of Centennial Valley currently in development by Ken Young. The development already has about 84 homes on it, but will eventually have about 300. Young agreed to a pre-annexation agreement on the land that does not yet have homes built on it. Any properties outside the city limits that do not annex into the city but that are served by city services such as sewer will pay a rate of 1.75 percent higher than city residents, officials said.
• Passed Ordinance 3 of 2010, authorizing the mayor to exercise eminent domain on three very small pieces of property along Lower Military Road on which offers of acquisition by the city have not yet been accepted. Eminent domain will not be used unless the property owners miss their deadlines for accepting the offers, officials said, and only in order to keep the city within its deadlines for completing the Lower Military expansion project and protect the federal and state matching grants promised for the project, which have a strict timeline attached to them.
• Passed Resolution 4 of 2010, authorizing the mayor to go ahead with up to $6,000 in repairs to the street in front of and the property owned by Benton resident Irene Moody, a frequent visitor to City Council meetings since she claims city machinery damaged her yard and curbs, leaving deep holes in the yard that eventually resulted in serious injury to herself and at least one other person. An insurance claim has been filed, and reimbursement for the city’s repair work is expected at some point, Houston said.

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