OPINION: A Committee to Study Committees?

If you look at the city of Biddeford’s website, you might note that the city has more than 30 different boards, commissions and committees.

That’s a lot of committees, all of which require city staff liaison members and printing agendas and schedules, not to mention meeting spaces and other city resources.

Sure, there are some obvious boards and commissions that are actually necessary, and could be found in almost any other community, such as the Planning Board, the School Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

But Biddeford takes establishing committees to a whole new level of redundancy and inefficiency.

While I was scrolling through the list of the city’s boards, commissions and committees, I was half expecting to see a Citizen’s Advisory Committee Regarding Committees.

Consider this. Do we really need a Conservation Commission and a Sustainability Committee?

Do we really need a Downtown Development Commission when we are already funding the Heart of Biddeford and have a robust and active Chamber of Commerce?

We have the Biddeford Housing Authority and the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Task Force, which was created by former mayor Alan Casavant.

We have a Harbor Commission and a Shellfish Conservation Committee. Heck, we even have a committee to ensure that we have plenty of trees in the city limits: The Project Canopy Committee.

But when it comes to questionable need, the city’s longstanding Cable Television Committee takes the cake.

Yes, that’s actually a thing, and makes me wonder if we should maybe consider creating a committee to consider the pros and cons of bringing back 8-track tapes.

Enough!

Seriously, who watches cable television anymore?

Well, apparently there are at least three or four residents who still have cable television (me included).

God bless Mayor Marty Grohman who is looking at ways to make the city a bit more efficient. A little bit more 2025 and a little less 1975.

So, last week members of the Policy Committee – not to be confused with the Citizen’s Advisory Committee – tackled the weighty issue of whether to disband the Cable Television Committee.

That particular agenda item attracted some impassioned public commentary, including my own rambling remarks before the members of the Policy Committee.

If you have cable television, you might be able to find and watch that meeting on the city’s Public Access Channel.

Relax. If you don’t have cable television, you can still watch the meeting on the new-fangled internet thing, a world wide web of some sorts. Click here.

But the funniest thing about this particular committee is that it’s basically already dissolved. According to the city’s website, the committee only has two members, both of whom have terms that are expired.

In fact, Lucien Belanger’s term expired more than four years ago; and Richard Rhames’ term expired last December.

When former city councilor Roger Hurtubise heard about the possible disbanding of the Cable Television Committee, he called some friends and decided to lead the charge in preserving the committee for “the citizens of Biddeford.”

Theoretically, it [the public access channel] is a genuine, democratic media forum.”

— Richard Rhames

Hurtubise, Rhames and I all voiced concerns about the possibility of losing the city’s public access channel, which includes citizen programming as well as municipal meetings on Channels 3 and 85.

During his testimony, Hurtubise said he applied to rejoin the Cable Television Committee last year but never heard back from anyone in the city about his request. Hurtubise formally chaired the committee and was also an active producer of citizen programming.

“You would be surprised to learn who watches the public access channel,” Hurtubise said.

During a mid-January City Council meeting, City Councilors Roger Beaupre and Marc Lessard both bemoaned the city’s struggle to keep citizens informed about what is happening in the city.

RELATED: City struggles with external communication

Hurtubise said the public access channel is a “valuable resource” for keeping people updated regarding municipal news.

Rhames, an ardent supporter of public access television, told the Policy Committee that the city’s public access studios and equipment were hard fought for by those willing to spend “sweat equity” in building the channel.

“I’m not sure of what’s going on,” Rhames said. “Some of us have been involved in this issue locally since 1989. Theoretically, it [the public access channel] is a genuine, democratic media forum.”

Rhames told the committee that Biddeford is the only municipality in Maine that dedicates all of its franchise fee revenues from cable television companies to funding public access programming.

“That is a testament to the work we have done here,” Rhames said.

I gave the committee a suggestion to expand the role and scope of the committee and not dissolve it.

My idea centers upon the notion that the committee be renamed as the city’s External Communications Committee that would include oversight of all municipal communication efforts, including the city’s Facebook page, distribution of the weekly Biddeford Beat electronic newsletter and the city’s website.

City Councilor Norman Belanger, chair of the Policy Committee, reassured those who spoke at last week’s meeting that the Policy Committee is not supporting any plan to dissolve the Cable Television Committee or to end public access television programming.

The city has an inherent obligation to keep the public informed about city business. At the same time, good citizenship also includes the public’s responsibility to stay aware of what is happening.

Maybe we should create a new committee to review and analyze all of this stuff, or . . . maybe not.

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