Saugus citizens group blasts selectmen over control of TV station

SAUGUS – The Board of Selectmen put them off until the end of the night, but Saugus Concerned Citizens waited them out and shared a litany of concerns about the operation of Saugus Cable Television.”Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong,” said Gene Decareau before getting started.Decareau was speaking for the citizens group, which was on the agenda to speak early in the evening but was put off to the very end of the meeting.Decareau scolded selectmen for treating funding from Comcast as gift when, according to the license agreement with the town, it was earmarked specifically for the community access station. He said that, included in the agreement, is a section that states the funding “shall be placed in a restrictive account for PEG Access and not in the general fund.””If that’s correct, then I fail to understand how an attorney can tell you it’s a gift and you can use it any way you see fit,” he said.According to Decareau the agreement also states that all meetings should take place in the SCTS facility located at 1 Pearce Drive but they don’t.”That’s a bylaw the Board of Selectmen approved, but that is not happening and you should look into it,” he said.Budget concerns, classification of cable access employees and policy changes were other issues that Decareau raised, but selectmen Chairman Michael Serino told Decareau he needed to wrap up his speech.The public has only three minutes to bring forward issues during the Citizens Comment Period and Serino noted he had let Decareau speak more than five minutes.”I’m almost done sir; try and be patient,” Decareau said. “I’ve been patient all evening. Not happy, but patient.”Decareau said essentially he does not believe the board is adhering to its own bylaws with respect to the cable TV studio.Serino told Decareau that the money he is concerned about being mismanaged is, in fact, in a separate account, meetings were moved because the studio on Peace Drive is inaccessible to the disabled, that he had no idea of Decareau’s problems with employees, and that “the Board of Selectmen have no power over the rules and procedures of the studio’s Board of Directors.”Decareau accused Serino of not addressing the issues.”You didn’t answer anything. You made statements and they were erroneous,” he said.Serino asked Decareau to sit but kept the floor open for others to speak.Concerned Citizen Stephanie Fail accused Serino of trying to absolve the selectmen from responsibility in regards to SCTS, but the fact remains that it appoints the Board of Directors for SCTS so it has a direct effect on the station.”I know you people keep saying we control the Board of Directors but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Serino said.Serino likened it to the fact that they also appoint the Board of Library Trustees but they have no authority over what that board does.Fail asked the board to simply keep an open mind.”We want the cable station out of the Board of Selectmen’s hands and back into the hands of the people,” she said. “And we would like you to work with us on this.”