PORT TOWNSEND – PTTV would “reboot” come April 1 under the present plan for the public access station that serves Jefferson County.
Mayor Mark Welch told the Port Townsend City Council that the station would suspend public production and new shows for 30 to 60 days, but continue to broadcast City Council meetings live.
The idea would be to “implement a new, fresh look, and an updated operational environment, for the station and broadcast when the station returns to the air,” Welch said in his council agenda information.
During that period, no new station manager would be hired, said Welch on Monday.
But one applicant for the job, Albert Koval, would be retained as a consultant for long-range planning.
Some council members complained that they have felt out of the loop on possible changes at the station, which produces public and government programming on Millennium Digital Media cable channels 47 and 48, including live City Council meetings.
“We would not be doing any wholesale rule changes,” Welch assured the council.
He asked members to e-mail him their questions and thoughts.
The City Council voted to discuss PTTV more on March 19.
Welch, who co-founded PTTV more than 20 years ago, has been working closely with the city’s Public Education and Government advisory board members and the Producers Guild to come up with a plan of action.
PTTV planning would include considerations of both short-term and long-term structural changes in technology, service and operation, Welch said.
The PEG board, Producers Guild President Karen Nelson, and Councilman Geoff Masci, would involve members of the community.
Changes on the table include more programs shot outside the studio and asking the community for programming ideas.
Those who have helped operate the station say now is the time to make changes, with Gary Lemons, the station’s general manager for the past nine years, leaving at the end of this month.
Lemons, who helped build the existing PTTV studio, has expressed interest in running for City Council, although he has not officially announced.
He also plans to publish a second book of poetry, and expand his high-definition TV production business.
