City asks AG to zoom in on LynnCam

LYNN – The Attorney General could temporarily run the local cable television access station under a plan city attorneys hope will fall into place in the wake of theft charges filed against a former Lynn Community Access and Media, Inc. employee.City officials are in the process of completing final steps to ensure money paid to LynnCAM from cable providers Verizon and Comcast gets diverted to city accounts. With the money in city hands, Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said city officials will make sure LynnCAM?s payroll, mortgage, utility bills and other day-to-day operating expenses are paid.?Until there is some direction from the attorney general on leadership, we?re not going to hand over additional money,” Kennedy said.LynnCAM board attorney Emmanuel Papanickolas criticized the city for “attempting to grab the money” cable providers provide to LynnCAM under the city?s cable licensing agreement.?The city is illegally trying to hijack LynnCAM,” Papanickolas said.Kennedy insisted LynnCAM will not suspend operations or halt programming under an arrangement requiring the station to receive money from the city.?I won?t let that happen,” she said.City Solicitor Michael Barry said the city, ideally, would like the AG?s office to appoint a receiver to take over LynnCAM and pay the station?s bills with money provided by the city.?They would check out everything and make sure it?s legitimate. Ultimately, having a receiver appointed gets all the parties to the table and safeguards in place,” Barry said.Attorney General spokesman Emalie Gainey declined to comment on the office?s involvement in LynnCAM, but Barry and Papanickolas confirmed they have been in contact with AG investigators concerning LynnCAM?s finances.City attorneys on Sept. 23 passed on to the attorney general?s office reports of “financial irregularities” at the station brought to their attention by former and current station employees.Developments surrounding the award-winning nonprofit organization?s finances have progressed rapidly since then.Lynn resident John F. Chapman, identified in a grand jury indictment as a former LynnCAM worker, pleaded not guilty on Oct. 29 in Superior Court to charges detailing the theft of $34,000 from the Western Avenue access station.LynnCAM?s board of directors removed mayoral appointee Lawrence McCully from the board but added former Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Santoro as a board appointee. Board president Robert Sewell, treasurer Cynthia Demakes and clerk Almanzo Rodriguez are the other board members.The board met Friday and agreed to conduct an inventory of LynnCAM?s assets, but members acknowledged they do not know how much the station?s four employees are paid. Sewell plans to check with the station?s payroll firm to pin down the amounts.?We?re trying to work with the city,” he said.Papanickolas said the board has “provided the AG?s office with whatever information they have sought” and is seeking to hire a certified public accountant with experience working with cable-access stations.Kennedy earlier this week acknowledged she does not know “who is in charge” at LynnCAM and said the “city does not believe bylaws have been followed” by the nonprofit?s board in filling the board vacancy left by Chapman?s wife, Karen, when she resigned from the board on Sept. 23 without stating a reason for the decision.City officials and Papanickolas agreed on one point: LynnCAM workers and contributors are doing “a great job,” in Barry?s words, producing programs aired on Comcast channels 3 and 22 and Verizon channels 37 and 38.