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MEGAN SCOTTAn $80,000 investment improves government access Channel 15 a bit, but everyone admits it's still a work in progress.
SAFETY HARBOR - The television lineup isn't all that original: prerecorded commission meetings and a community calendar.
And even an $80,000 investment in Channel 15 won't change that very much.
While the money is enough to improve the quality of meetings, it's not enough for the city to do original programming.
"We want to upgrade it so it reflects the quality of our community," Commissioner Neil Brickfield said. "I had someone come up to me last night and say, "I watch your meetings every Saturday morning.' We know people watch government programming."
Safety Harbor just launched its government access cable channel in the spring. The channel is available to residents who subscribe to Knology or Bright House Networks.
The city has no immediate plans to build a television studio.
"Although we were very happy to have our own station, we realize the quality is certainly lacking," Mayor Pam Corbino said. "We only spent $20,000 to start up. We're going to have to spend more money to have better quality."
Commissioners approved the spending earlier this summer. The money is included in the upcoming budget, which goes into effect Oct. 1.
About $55,000 of the money will allow the city to air prerecorded meetings at the same times each week. The meetings now are often shown at random times. When they are televised, the picture quality is not clear.
Another $10,000 will be used to improve the bulletin board that airs when the meetings are not being broadcast. The scrolling calendar is in black and white, and the city has to take the channel off-air in order to make changes to it. The new system will be in color and run without interruptions.
The rest of the money will go to buy a hand-held video camera, an editing system and an air conditioning unit to keep the room where the equipment is stored cool. Commissioners have been discussing using a break room in City Hall for storage.
"It's definitely not every single bell and whistle you can think of," said Shawn Stafford, consultant for the channel. "It's a system sized for their community. It's pretty bare bones."
Safety Harbor does have some catching up to do.
Dunedin 15 already has several programs, including a weekly talk show called Spotlight on Dunedin. Largo has City Report, a news show that includes interviews with elected officials, Dateline Largo and Play Largo.
"This is only the first step," Brickfield said. "Because the ultimate goal is to be able to show . . . citizens what's going on at City Hall and who is making the decisions."
Megan Scott can be reached at 445-4167 or mscott@sptimes.com