Council agrees to give Longmont's public access TV channel a boost in 2021

The city council Tuesday night agreed to a proposal to give Longmont’s public access television channel a one-time boost of $76,000 to solidify its workforce and keep it going during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision followed pleas from council members to resist cutting funding and programming for Longmont Public Media, or LPM, which records and broadcasts government meetings adding transparency to local government.

“We know that the city has no ability to help increase coverage through local newspapers including the Longmont Leader,” said council member Aren Rodriguez. “We do have the ability to have robust public media. We are making sure we have that option available to the public.”

The council’s decision gives city staff members direction while they negotiate a 2021 contract with Longmont Public Media, which began a makerspace-style service model that included classes for the public and community programming.

The current contract also calls for recording and broadcasting of all boards and commissions, City Council, Planning and Zoning meetings as well as voice-to-text service that adds automatic transcription of the meetings, according to a city staff report.

COVID-19 quickly made it impossible for LPM’s makerspace approach to thrive and contributed to dip in revenue from franchise fees. This left the city and LPM to reconsider its future in 2021, Deputy City Manager Sandra Seader said.

“COVID-19 put more than a damper on those plans,” Seader said. “There are concerns the 2021 contract may not be renewed as it is today.”

City staff members offered five options for the city council to consider in pursuing a new contract with LPM.

One called for LPM to continue with the current level of service. However, it requires a one-time funding boost of $117,000 on top of LPM’s current budgeted revenues of $145,000, the city staff report said.

Council member Tim Waters said this would allow LPM to regain its footing through the pandemic and into 2022. “We need to give them the opportunity for them to be viable in 2022,” Waters said.

Most council members, however, leaned toward the $76,000 one-time hike in funding, which allows LPM to convert contractors to employees and pay approximate market rates. Services would be reduced and others eliminated, including city council meeting recaps, LPM created podcasts and paid marketing, according to the city report.

City staff members recommended an option that would further cut services and keep employees as contractors. But it would also not require any additional funding.

Seader said the city is not prepared to offer public access video service as an in-house service.

The contract will be presented to the city council for a formal vote later this year, Seader said.