§ 110.13. GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL.

(A) Mission Statement. The mission of the city's government access channel (Channel 19) is to inform citizens of city programs, services and functions. This includes, but is not limited to:

(1) Information about the activities of the Mayor, City Council, and other policy making and advisory boards and commissions of the city;

(2) Information regarding the functions performed by the various divisions, departments and agencies of city government;

(3) Information about how citizens can access city agencies and offices;

(4) Educational programming supplied by Greenfield Central High School (GCHS).

(B) Modes of Operation. The following modes of operations will be used for programming purposes on Channel 19.

(1) Live Cablecast - This may consist of cablecasting City Council meetings and meetings of other public boards or events of community interest as determined by the Advisory Board.

(2) Tape-delayed Cablecast - Many public meetings will be videotaped for cablecasting at a later date. Some meetings such as City Council will be cablecast live then replayed by tape at other times.

(3) Live and taped cablecast by Greenfield Central High School (GCHS).

(C) Access Policy.

(1) Access to Channel 19 will include, but is not limited to city departments/agencies and those entities with a direct relationship to the city.

(2) At no time will programming that supports political candidates, parties or platforms be transmitted via Channel 19. A political candidate is defined as an individual who has filed a petition for candidacy in the applicable state or local office by the required deadline.

(3) At its discretion the Greenfield Access Advisory Board will oversee the presentation of debates or public forums for candidates for local offices.

(4) The debate or public forum must be held within 30 days of the election.

(5) Other groups may be given consideration as potential sponsors of a debate or public forum providing they make application to the Greenfield Access Advisory Board at least 60 days prior to an election.

(6) All debates or public forums will be conducted in accordance with federal, state and local laws.

(7) Channel 19 will not support commercial activities and will not promote programs other than those operated or sponsored by the city government.

(8) The primary purpose of Channel 19 is to inform citizens of government services in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Video project proposals that are labor and equipment intensive may be denied by the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will give first priority to projects whose primary purpose is to inform local citizens and which do not over-extend staff and equipment time.

(9) Channel 19 will support educational programming provided by Greenfeld Central High School (GCHS).

(10) Channel 19 is intended primarily to provide citizens with information concerning the operations of their city government. Citizen comment regarding city government will be welcomed on call-in shows. In addition, City Council regularly allows time for citizens to address the Council or comment on concerns during Council meetings. Public hearings also afford this opportunity for citizens. Specific programming initiated by citizens, however, to comment on city policies will not be transmitted on Channel 19.

(D) Limitations. Channel 19, the city, its administration, officers and employees and the Advisory Board do not warrant the accuracy of any information cablecast over Channel 19. The city shall not be liable for any loss of transmission time or transmission of programming due to equipment failure or for any other reason.

(E) Programming.

(1) Programming Priorities. Any program with the primary purpose of informing citizens will be given priority. The following list of general priorities for programming aimed at informing citizens will apply to use of the government access Channel 19 and its resources:

(a) Information of an emergency or timely nature involving public health or safety matters;

(b) City Council meetings;

(c) Meetings of other city boards or commissions as requested;

(d) City sponsored programs and events;

(e) Programming initiated by the Mayor;

(f) Programming initiated by City Council;

(g) Programming for various city departments (with approval from department heads);

(h) Programming for city boards or commissions;

(i) Programming produced by a source other than the city that pertains to relevant government concerns, for example, another city's production of local interest;

(j) Promotional announcements for city sponsored events;

(k) Educational programming supplied by Greenfield Central High School (GCHS).

(2) News Conferences. News conferences called by any of the city's elected officials may be cablecast on Channel 19, as long as they do not support political candidates, parties, or platforms. If news conferences are called 24 hours or less before the event, the Channel 19 coordinator may refuse to tape a news conference based on prior engagements. Schedule permitting, news conferences will be taped and replayed at a later date. News conferences scheduled two weeks in advance may be aired live, at the discretion of the Advisory Board.

(3) Channel 19 programming shall not include:

(a) Any advertising that promotes or endorses the sale of any product or service; although, acknowledgment of sponsors, supporters, contributors, or underwriters of programming is allowed;

(b) Any direct solicitation of funds for any reason;

(c) Any material that is obscene, indecent or defamatory;

(d) Any material that would violate any federal or state statute or law;

(e) Any programs of a partisan political nature;

(f) Partisan political statements by political candidates or their representatives;

(g) Promotions for any programs not operated by the city or its departments.

(F) Procedural Operations.

(1) Tape Retention. It shall be a general policy to retain video tapes of locally produced events for a minimum of 30 days. Tapes of the Board of Public Works and Safety shall be retained three years, Council meetings three years, Plan Commission five years, and the Board of Zoning Appeals five years. At the end of the appropriate time, tapes may be recycled and the original material erased.

(2) Requests for Dubs. Channel 19 will provide dubs to the public for a fee of $10. Channel 19 staff will have a seven day turnaround time for making dubs.

(3) Producing a Program for Cablecast. The following steps will be followed when proposing a program for cablecast on Channel 19:

(a) The producer will complete a program proposal form no later than one month in advance of the program's intended transmission date.

(b) The Channel 19 coordinator will review the proposal and may grant permission for the program, as long as it is in keeping with the policies and procedures determined by the Advisory Board.

(c) If the proposal is controversial in nature or is thought to violate these policies and procedures or any other law or regulation, the Channel 19 coordinator will bring the proposal before the Advisory Board for review. A majority vote of the Advisory Board will determine whether the program runs.

(d) The Channel 19 coordinator will oversee production of programming and ensure that only trained individuals have access to equipment.

(G) Scheduling. The Channel 19 coordinator is responsible for scheduling programming. Prescheduled programs will take priority over other possible programming, unless otherwise determined by the Advisory Board. Time blocks will be left open for programming needs that arise unexpectedly. Events may be taped and then rerun in these time blocks.

(Res. 2001-9, passed 12-13-01)