After hours of discussion, accusations from upset community members and board members' expressions of distrust in the station's volunteer operations manager, the PEG Board on Wednesday temporarily put off reopening the station to normal operations after its office locks were changed Monday.
Following more than four hours of meeting time on Wednesday, the PEG Board decided to schedule a special meeting and workshop for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
At that time board members said they would continue to work on the issues that have led to their actions with regard to the station's current situation.
The group governs the PEG Channel, TV8, the county's cable access station, which is held by the city of Clearlake with some financial support from the county of Lake and Yuba College.
On Monday Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman had the locks on the station office changed after PEG Board members said volunteer manager Allen Markowski failed to follow their directions to run a trial period in which prime time hours would be extended.
Some PEG Channel members who were waiting to check out equipment were reportedly turned away after the Monday lockout, according to Vincent Reese, a station volunteer.
PEG Board member and Clearlake City Council member Joyce Overton said Neiman technically is station manager and that city volunteers like Markowski are considered at-will employees and are subject to Neiman's authority.
Overton said they're implementing a “cool down period” by leaving the station the way it is temporarily. That means running a community bulletin board and the live Tuesday broadcasts of the Board of Supervisors meetings.
At its Dec. 9 meeting, the board asked for a 30-day trial period that included an expanded prime time schedule – expanding the hours from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., changed from the previous prime time hours of 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. – during which they wanted only local programming played, with imported videos allowed at other hours.
The board also suggested that an existing policy limiting the playing of imported videos to twice in a month's time be more closely followed. That limit would be in place regardless of how many people submitted the video.
In reaction to those proposed changes, Markowski and some other station volunteers alleged that the board was banning the videos outright and censoring content.
Volunteer Dante DeAmicis said the imports policy was going to have a cumulative 90-percent reduction in the imported material available for broadcast. He added that no local programming has ever been preempted by an imported video.
DeAmicis also told the board that they were in “very, very dangerous areas” by getting involved in editorial or content issues.
PEG Board member Ed Robey told the volunteers that they had “freaked out” and not understood the board's ideas, and that Markowski and some other volunteers had “perpetrated a hoax” against the county.
Over the weekend, a message appeared on the station's screen claiming that the PEG Board had banned certain videos, which board members emphasized Wednesday wasn't true.
The message also urged people to contact PEG Board members – Overton, Robey, Jeff Smith and Candyce Hagler – and included personal contact information for three of the members, while Smith's Board of Supervisors e-mail was posted.
Board members said that message went too far, although some station volunteers suggested that it was an expression of free speech.
The person responsible for the message wasn't specifically identified during the Wednesday meeting – part of which ran in the morning and continued on into the evening.
However, when approached by Lake County News after the meeting, Markowski said he had done it out of his belief that the board's direction wasn't appropriate.
Markowski, who only receives some travel stipends for his work, had previously been locked out of the station in July 2008 after Neiman told him not to continue with live broadcasts without the PEG Board's permission, as Lake County News has reported.
The meeting first convened at 7 a.m. at the Best Western El Grande Hotel, where more than 20 community members crowded into a small conference room along with board members.
One community member Patrick Tuell, who had given the station a $200 donation last October, said he wanted his money back.
A Vietnam veteran with post traumatic stress disorder, Tuell said he is partially housebound and has trouble sleeping. TV8 has offered him programming “on those long and lonely nights.”
Tuell then began throwing around pieces of notepad paper that he said signified the Bill of Rights and US Constitution.
Looking down at the paper-covered floor, Overton asked, “Would you mind picking up your papers?” Tuell promptly did so.
Smith said the issue had been blown completely out of proportion. In addition to lengthening prime time, “We were only trying to get closer to what the manual said, and it was a trial basis,” he said.
On Monday, during a meeting with the grand jury, which is looking at the station's operations, Smith said grand jurors gave him a paper with the message that had run on the station over the weekend with the ban allegations.
“What has been put across to you is false. We changed a couple of little things,” he said, adding that he appreciated so many people being there, and understood why they had come.
Robey said if people are getting their information from Markowski and DeAmicis, they're not getting the whole story. “The volunteers who were down there running the station took it upon themselves to do it whatever way they felt was right.”
Markowski told the board that he's tried to follow the manual from the beginning, and said some of the board members have admitted not reading the entire document, which he said disqualifies them from oversight.
He said complaints about programming, which some board members had said at the Dec. 9 board meeting that they've received, haven't been put in writing, as the manual requires, which he said represents and “end run” around him.
Cobb resident Hiram Dukes, who films many community events to submit them to the station, said he's submitted many hours of programming that haven't been played. Markowski said it was because his paperwork wasn't properly completed.
Overton said she's had calls from people who would like to volunteer to help. “That's what we want, we want local broadcasting,” she said, with prime time set aside for local programs.
“I hope everybody's clear on that now,” she said.
Overton said if local residents wanted to have a program, they could include whatever videos – including imports – that they wanted to show.
Concerns about communication breakdown
Smith, who said he'd read through the manual completely since the last meeting, told Markowski that he can't pick and choose what rules he wants to follow, and that's what he was doing by not following the board's direction to follow the manual yet at the same time holding Dukes to the rules.
Local programmer Leon Stephens, who recently was put in charge of the station's equipment, was open to working with the board's directions. “It sounds like what you're asking is not hard,” he said.
Stephens suggested it was the volunteers' job to make it happen, adding that the sides could go back and forth all day until they're “blue in the face.”
Shannon Nailer, another community member with plans for a show on racing, agreed with Stephens, and said he was enlightened by the discussion.
After about an hour and a half, the board decided to continue its morning meeting to the evening, which began with the station's former programmer, Frank Gillespie, telling the board that the station had received increasing kudos for its efforts.
But Gillespie complained that the board's directions weren't in writing, neither were complaints, and meetings weren't at an appropriate time.
Smith reiterated that the board wanted to improve the station, and there were hopes to once again have a paid manager. “There is no coverup. There is nothing else going on here,” he said, adding, “There are folks who wanted to make a point at your expense.”
Community member DC Wiseman suggested that the real issue was “really a huge amount of miscommunication,” and said it sounded simple enough for people to do their own programs to show what videos they wanted.
“You have comprehended what we were saying,” said Robey.
Looking around the room, where about 30 people had gathered for the evening session, Wiseman said, “I think you guys all owe me pizza.”
Wiseman, who has cable access experience, said he didn't think what the board was asking for was out of line, and he suggested people get down to the station to participate. “Let's do it,” he said.
Clearlake resident Mike Dunlap offered to mediate the issues through Lake County Alternative Dispute Resolution Services, because he also perceived a lack of communication. Overton said she believed it was more a matter of someone not following directions.
Smith said the board was clear enough with Markowski about what was expected that on Dec. 14 he went to the station's wiki site and changed the station's manual online. Markowski said the wiki was meant to show the public the changes.
“The point is you understood,” said Smith.
It was noted during the meeting that Shawn Swatosh, the local Mediacom manager who had sat on the PEG Board, resigned after the board began discussing programming, because he's prohibited from being involved in such issues by franchise law. Overton said when it was reported that the grand jury was looking into the station, Mediacom's corporate attorneys told Swatosh not to be involved.
Board members then expressed their concern over Markowski's behavior. Robey read from the manual which outlines appropriate conduct for producers and crew members, who can have their privileges suspended or revoked.
Smith said they need to have a station manger who is focused, neutral and objective, such as former station manager, Mike McCutcheon.
“I think you have really blown our trust in you and it bothers me to say that because we've had some good conversations,” Smith said, reminding Markowski that he had told him after the Dec. 9 meeting that he was doing a good job.
“I don't trust Allen to do the right thing at this point,” Smith said.
Community members including Vince Metzger asked them to keep Markowski, who he noted gets very passionate, emotional and overenthusiastic, but who “wants freedom for everyone.” Rather than not reinstating Markowski, Metzger and others suggested some minor sanctions.
Robey said he has supported Markowski, “but I am so disappointed that he would do what he did. That is just something I cannot tolerate.”
Phil Mathewson shot back that the reports cards of some of the people on the board aren't great. “Shame on you for this,” he said, going on to say the county was “a wreck,” which caused some people in the audience to tell him he was off topic.
Asked if he wanted to say anything, Markowski said his feelings and energy tend to overtake him. He started to hyperventilate and weep, and said, “I need people to help me,” at which time a group of people clustered around him and he began to openly sob.
The board took a break to allow him to compose himself, after which they decided to hold the Wednesday meeting and continue the cooling off period.
The meeting continued for about another half hour, with the group discussing the PEG Channel's budget and replacement of a new board member before adjourning.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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