SCTV board chairman decries selectmen involvement in station transition

SAUGUS – The Saugus Community Television Board of Directors Chairman Jim Ravagno said the Board of Selectmen was ignoring the wishes of town voters by being involved in the station?s transition back to a nonprofit.?Why aren?t they doing what Saugus voted for?” asked Ravagno at the Board of Directors meeting Wednesday, referring to the non-binding ballot question in November that asked voters if they wanted to return to a “community-operated organization ? as opposed to the Board of Selectmen-controlled operation?”Ravagno?s comments were in response to what he said were “personal attacks” by the Board of Selectmen at the March 18 public hearing to hear community input on the station?s new guidelines, which the station?s board did not attend because its attorney was unable to attend.At that meeting, the selectmen commented on the “disparaging remarks” the station?s attorney, Jeff Mazer, had made in a letter to their board. Ravagno said he was “aggravated and sad that we?ve got down to playground antics of calling each other names,” and asked for an apology from the Board of Selectmen.Ravagno said his board was “not a town-owned board” since it was not listed in the town?s charter as such, and he further explained that with the rescinding of the July 2012 vote that changed it to a selectmen-governed organization, the board was no longer under any contract. Ravagno said the board agreed to use the 2007 contract as “guidelines” until a new agreement was formed. Ravagno said he encouraged anyone who wanted to work on the new set of bylaws to come to call or make an appointment at the station. “The door is always open,” he said. “This is a station for the people, by the people, and we want to keep it that way.”In order to respond to calls he received from SCTV members questioning the tension between the two boards, Ravagno presented a slideshow at the meeting with a timeline to show the correspondence between the two boards since SCTV returned to its nonprofit status. During the slideshow, Ravagno said since the selectmen had hired counsel to deal with the situation, his board did too, and it would only be corresponding with the selectmen through Mazer.During other business at the meeting, the Board of Directors voted to expand the board from five members to seven, the same size it had been under the 2007 SCTV contract. Ravagno said the two appointees would hold temporary positions until Town Meeting. Applicants will be subject to a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) report, must be apolitical and SCTV members are highly encouraged to apply.The board went into executive session following the public meeting.