SAUGUS — Lights. Camera. Town Meeting.
Voters transferred more than $1 million into an enterprise fund for Saugus Cable Television, the town’s public, education and government access provider, to pay for the construction of a new studio, equipment and six months of operating expenses at a Special Town Meeting Monday night.
“The money we’re talking about is all ratepayer money,” said Al DiNardo, president of the SCTV Board of Directors.
Money in the Saugus Community Television, Inc. Fund is generated by collecting a percentage of cash from residents’ cable bills, he said.
The organization has occupied space at the rear of Saugus High School for more than a decade, but the building is slated to be torn down once the new $160 million middle-high school is completed in 2020.
In an effort to relocate, the board looked into renting and buying various commercial spaces, but found it to be too expensive, said DiNardo. Instead, a deal was made with the Saugus Historical Society. Town Meeting voted to transfer $550,000 from a Saugus Community Television Fund to the enterprise account to be used to construct a new studio in the Saugus Historical Society building on Main Street.
A single-story, 2,200 square-foot-wing with sound proofing, special lighting and the required ceiling height to accommodate a lighting rack will be added to the back of the structure, said DiNardo. Groundbreaking for the new studio is expected to begin before winter.
About a third of the building will be used as common space between SCTV and the Historical Society. It will include bathrooms and a kitchen.
An additional $275,000 will be used to upgrade equipment.
“The first thing people are going to notice at home is that things will look different,” said Brian Nadeau, executive director of SCTV.
The current system was purchased in 2007 and the manufacturer continued the model in 2016, said Nadeau. A new $55,000 system will support wide screen video, will be High Definition ready if Comcast supplies a High Definition channel, and video on demand. Control room costs will total $52,000 and include high definition recording, a high definition audio board, studio-grade microphones, virtual set design software and live streaming capabilities.
New studio cameras with robotic pan, zoom, pedestal tripods and a wireless teleprompter service will run a $51,000 bill.
Included in the studio upgrades will be steel grids to hold lighting, $75,000 worth of new custom LED lighting and dimming controls and a $22,000 podcast room.
“We would have the ability to have a stunning looking program,” said Nadeau.
As part of the agreement, SCTV will help the Historical Society pay for the building’s expenses. The terms of the lease are still being negotiated.
Town Meeting also allocated $215,000 to cover operating expenses until June 2020.
