When city officials went to find documents for a potential
renewal next year to the local cable-access provider’s contract,
they realized something that might complicate those talks. For the
past three and a half years, Community Media Access Partnership has
been overseeing broadcasts of City of Hollister meetings without
such a contract, which recently came to light when city staff
members realized an oversight in 2006 prevented an official
approval.
When city officials went to find documents for a potential renewal next year to the local cable-access provider’s contract, they realized something that might complicate those talks.
For the past three and a half years, Community Media Access Partnership has been overseeing broadcasts of City of Hollister meetings without such a contract, which recently came to light when city staff members realized an oversight in 2006 prevented an official approval.
In response, Hollister City Council members this week approved the retroactive contract dating from September 2006 to September 2011.
Even though there had been no official contract, CMAP since 2006 continued providing the services for city council and some other panels’ meetings, such as the airport and planning commissions. City payments to the organization have averaged about $7,300 per quarter, or $29,200 annually, according to a council staff report.
That staff report notes how the non-approval was discovered while the staff had been searching for contract renewal documents. It attributed the mistake to a staff oversight.
The agreement renewal was “overlooked in the staff recommendation section and Resolution itself,” according to the report.
An initial agreement with CMAP in September 2001 established the organization as the nonprofit that would provide the programming and educational services for Hollister, San Juan Bautista and Gilroy.
Information Systems Analyst Paul Da Silva could not be reached immediately before publication for the city’s perspective on the renewal. CMAP Executive Director Kathy Bisbee also could not be reached immediately.
