12/29/2006

Elmwood Twp. on the air

By Christine Finger

cfinger@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Viewers can tune in to reruns of Elmwood Township business on tctv2, thanks to equipment upgrades and volunteer efforts.

The Leelanau County community recently received about $14,000 from the Cherry Capital Cable Council for new sound and video equipment, including three cameras and a video mixer. The funds come from franchise fees paid to the cable council, which produces tctv2.

Supervisor Derith Smith said the new tools will help the township provide copies of meeting recordings for residents who want them, but volunteers are still needed to broadcast meetings.

Township resident Pei-shan Van Zoeren last month started videotaping township board sessions and preparing them to air on the public access channel. She said the broadcasts allow residents who can't be there to keep tabs on township issues and how their elected officials are performing.

"I hope more people will get involved in our community after they watch these meetings,” Van Zoeren said.

The township board's Nov. 29 special meeting will air on tctv2 at 5 p.m. on Dec. 30. The public hearing on the township's 2007 budget will be broadcast at 4 p.m. on Dec. 30, 6 p.m. on Jan. 8 and 9 p.m. on Jan. 16.

Residents will still have to show up in person to catch the live version. The upgrades did not include a piece of equipment that would enable live broadcasts. Traverse City is the only local government that airs its meetings live on tctv2.

Van Zoeren this year signed up for classes offered by tctv2 to learn to use the video equipment. She said other residents have offered to help with the taping, which includes about three hours to prepare each hour of film for broadcast.

Van Zoeren and her husband also created The Leelanau Post, a blog site that contains links to online news, opinions and features that relate to Leelanau County issues.

The broadcasts so far have focused on board meetings, but Van Zoeren said she'd eventually like to expand and include all township meetings.

"We are a community that is facing a lot of big issues,” she said.

A weekly programming schedule for tctv2 is available at www.tctv2.org.