[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=40963.19

Cost-sharing agreement over ALCo a possibility

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - La Porte County commissioners could take formal action on a cost-sharing agreement tonight to continue public access and government programming now provided by Access La Porte County.

Mayor Chuck Oberlie recently met with commissioners Barb Huston, Mike Bohacek and Ken Layton to discuss the idea. Layton said any agreement would depend on bid results as the city requests bids for vendors in addition to ALCo for providing the services.

Michigan City is seeking financial support because the City Council eliminated funding for government Channel 97 and public-access Channel 99 in the 2010 budget as a cost-saving measure. The council voted to have the city request bids for vendors in addition to ALCo for providing the services.

The city's Board of Public Works and Safety agreed Monday to extend the existing agreement with ALCo until the bidding process is completed and a vendor is selected. The Board of Works will seek proposals once the city knows the county's decision, Oberlie said.

"I requested a quote from ALCo for a month-to month-agreement to continue the two station operations," he said. "This short-term agreement would require Board of Works approval."

Bart Lombard, ALCo's director of operations, went before the Board of Works on Monday to ask for guidance on what needed to be done before the ALCo contract expires on Jan. 1. He was concerned about renewing vendor licenses and ordering insurance, which are done at the first of the year.

"We're more than willing to do whatever they want done," Lombard said.

If the County Council opts to retain its ALCo agreement, Oberlie said, the city would negotiate with ALCo for government programming and seek formal proposals to provide public access programs.

The county has a three-year contract with ALCo, signed last July, that would have to be renegotiated as part of a joint agreement with Michigan City. One advantage in doing so would be to give county-wide access to locally produced shows on Channel 97, which the county does not currently fund.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Johnny Rush]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=40963.19

This may be a minor point, but Marc Espar said that they did NOT in fact eliminate funding for running the channels, they just did not approve a contract with ALCO. In fact, they still have the original amount set aside and ready to go if/when someone is approved to run the channels. I know this is a tomato/tomato situation (pretend that I said them differently)...but from where I see it, the council seems less worried about budget and funding and more worried about who will be running the channels and what they will be playing on them.

[NDReporter]

This may be a minor point, but Marc Espar said that they did NOT in fact eliminate funding for running the channels, they just did not approve a contract with ALCO. In fact, they still have the original amount set aside and ready to go if/when someone is approved to run the channels. I know this is a tomato/tomato situation (pretend that I said them differently)...but from where I see it, the council seems less worried about budget and funding and more worried about who will be running the channels and what they will be playing on them.

I agree that the council's concern seems to be about how much they are paying for the services, which is a budgetary concern since they are slashing the budget. I thought that was made clear when they asked for a bid to be put out. However, the meeting minutes from Sept. 15, 2009, clearly state it was an elimination of funds pending contract negotiations.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...4b294474943.txt

ALCo contract extended 60 days

Published: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:18 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — Access La Porte County’s contract to tape Michigan City government meetings and provide public access TV to residents has been extended another 60 days.

The Board of Public Works and Safety voted Monday to approve the extension. The contract expired March 31, but ALCo did not go off the air.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...be752112815.txt

City will likely renew contract with ALCo

Published: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:13 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The city likely will sign another contract with Access La Porte County to continue operating government and public-access cable TV programming as it continues to look for a permanent provider, City Attorney John Espar said Monday.

Bart Lombard, ALCo director, asked the Board of Public Works & Safety on Monday about what will happen next since ALCo’s current contract expires at the end of the month.

“We’re willing to continue working under the current agreement, but we have to have some kind of assurance that we’ll get work that continues more than 60 or 90 days,” Lombard said. “It’s difficult to find staffing and plan long-term around meeting schedules when we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Back in March, the city received one bid for $275,040 per year for La Porte County Community Media Center Inc. to run Channels 97 and 99 for the city and La Porte County government.

“(It’s) an amount the local government finds prohibitive, so we are trying to find an interim measure,” said City Attorney John Espar. “We’ll look at something longer than a few months.”

ALCo didn’t submit a bid for the project because the bid requested a much larger scope of services than ALCo has been providing, Lombard said previously.

Without an extension, city government meetings no longer would be shown and the public-access channel would end. County government meetings, however, would still be shown.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...d5306863423.txt

[quote]City expected to continue its contract with ALCo

By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 4:13 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The city likely will continue contracting with Access La Porte County for government and public-access programming until the year’s end.

City Council President Marc Espar expects the council to take up an ordinance to fund the programming at its June 1 meeting. The ordinance still will need to go through a series of three votes, meaning the appropriation couldn’t be approved at Tuesday’s meeting.

ALCo’s short-term contract to cover Michigan City government meetings and other services ends May 31.

ALCo director Bart Lombard said he believes ALCo will continue working with city even before the ordinance is formally approved.

He will recommend that ALCo’s board agree to the contract.

The city pays ALCo $10,000 a year to rent studio space for the public-access channel 99 and between $60,000 and $75,000 to provide coverage of government meetings (Channel 97), both on TV and online, Lombard said. Michigan City gets franchise fees from cable subscribers, which are used to pay ALCo.

In a move to revamp services, the city had earlier asked firms to submit bids to provide government and public-access coverage. Back in March, the city received one bid for $275,040 per year for La Porte County Community Media Center Inc. to run Channels 97 and 99 for the city and La Porte County government. That amount was considered too high.

The city has extended its contract with ALCo twice this year.

“Technically, it was kind of hard without having some longer time frame in mind to plan coverage of special events,” Lombard said.
[quote]