‘Eye On Newtown’ Aspires To Highlight Town Meetings

By John Voket

Depending on the agenda, day, time, and location, meetings of various Newtown boards and commissions may draw dozens of interested residents, many of whom participate in public comment opportunities. But it is typical for many local meetings, even those with very important and relevant issues on the agenda, to transpire with nary a soul to witness that they ever occurred.

But one local resident and several volunteers apparently want to see that any resident with local cable television service, an Internet connection, or a DVD player has an opportunity to see some of the goings on at a variety of local meetings. So they are opening an Eye On Newtown.

The soon-to-be-aired public access cable project is the brainchild of local businessperson and activist Matthew DeAngelis.

Mr DeAngelis is active in local animal-related causes, as well as volunteering with the Lions Club, having chaired this year’s highly successful Duck Race.

Responding to information received from several local sources, Mr DeAngelis said Wednesday that he is “in the very preliminary stages” of considering a possible political run for a selectman’s seat in 2007.

“I’m still in the ‘why the heck would I want to do this’ phase,” he said. “First and foremost, I want to get a better understanding of how the local government works, especially the Board of Education that handles $60 million of the taxpayers money.”

Mr DeAngelis told The Bee this week that he is enlisting students and alumni of the Newtown High School Tech Club, including George Zenhye, who are committed to taping public meetings for broadcast on CommunityVision 21, the local cable television provider’s Community Access channel.

“We are planning to cover 20–30 hours of meetings each week, and have to squeeze them into a regular show slot, so we’re going to be choosing the most interesting pieces of those meetings for the show,” Mr DeAngelis said.

So far this week Eye On Newtown crews have taped the Board of Selectmen, Charter Revision Commission, and the Board of Education. The crew planed to tape the Fairfield Hills Authority as well, but Mr DeAngelis said the crew experienced some equipment problems and were unable to complete that assignment.

The volunteers were scheduled to tape the Legislative Council meeting Wednesday evening, as well.

Mr DeAngelis said he expects to be editing footage for the first episode this week, and was scheduled to shoot an introductory segment on the Fairfield Hills campus Wednesday afternoon.

“I want to make DVDs of each individual meeting available at the library, which will keep about a month’s worth available at any given time,” he said. “I will archive the rest.”

A call to library to confirm their participation was not returned by the time The Bee went to press Thursday morning.

According to Mr DeAngelis, he is working on putting together streaming video files so all of the meetings will eventually be accessible on the Internet.

“The program will air sometime within the next two weeks at a time to be determined, and I will get a regular time slot if we promise to keep shooting, which looks very good, since volunteers are stepping forward to do the taping,” he said.

Greg VanAntwerp, a spokesperson for CommunityVision 21, said Mr DeAngelis and a crew of volunteers all participated in hands-on training on the field equipment needed to capture footage for the Eye On Newtown. He said editing training was scheduled so Mr DeAngelis, who submitted a formal proposal for airing, could mix down the various taped segments in the final broadcast product.

Although Mr VanAntwerp said CommunityVision 21 will not supply copies of the files for public viewing by those who are not cable subscribers, a copy of the program “…belongs to the producer.”

“Whatever the producer does on their own time, with their own equipment at their own expense is up to them,” he said. “CommunityVision 21 is here to provide these free production services to any qualified person in our franchise area, regardless of whether or not they are cable system subscribers.”

Mr DeAngelis said the idea of producing highlights of local meetings for those who cannot attend themselves “seems like a great idea for everyone involved.”

“Student volunteers get to fulfill their community service requirements while learning more about how Newtown government works,” he said “The public officials, who have been asking for more input and participation — particularly the selectmen — get a chance to invite the whole town to view meeting clips. And the taxpayers and townspeople, who are busy earning a living, raising their children, and maybe squeezing in some leisure time, can see what happens in these meetings even though they don’t have the time to attend.”

He said reaction by public officials has been interesting.

“The crew said the Fairfield Hills Authority welcomed us with open arms, telling us they were excited we were there. The Board of Education seemed both pleased and curious, and Elaine McClure asked why they were there. They said the Charter Revision Commission seemed delighted,” Mr DeAngelis said. “But the volunteers said the selectmen, particularly Herb Rosenthal, were hostile, trying to intimidate our cameraman and threatening to call the police to have him removed.”

Mr Rosenthal said he engaged the volunteers when they arrived at the meeting, fully aware that it is within the scope of state Freedom of Information statutes for meetings to be filmed, as long as the attempts to do so do not interfere with the business of conducting those meetings.

“When I asked them who they were filming for, they said ‘the Freedom of Information.’ And I asked them who asked them to film the meeting, they said ‘Cable 21,” Mr Rosenthal said. “At that point they called someone on a cellphone and told that person I wanted to know who was filming, and the reply was, ‘You’ll find out.’ Their manner was very flip and evasive.

“What’s all the mystery? Anytime anyone want to help the public get involved with what’s going on at our meetings, it’s a good thing,” the first selectman added.

Mr Rosenthal said once he got three different answers about the motive for the filming, he simply stated that he did not want to have to call the police if the crew became disruptive to the meeting.

While Eye On Newtown, may involve past and current volunteers who are members of the high school Tech Club, advisor Richard Novia said the program was not a production of the Tech Club.

“Our students can volunteer anywhere they want on their own time,” Mr Novia said.

Mr DeAngelis said he is hoping the crew can do even more to leverage technology to make government more efficient and transparent.

“This is a terrific example about how technology is changing the way government and citizens interact,” Mr DeAngelis concluded.