Mayor appointing four new members to CAR25 commission

Mayor John Dickert is appointing four new members to the city's Cable Television Commission.

The mayor is appointing Mary Jerger and Kimberly Kane, and Aldermen Ron Hart and Ray DeHahn to the commission. They'll replace Gary Alvarado and Pamela Hoadley, and Aldermen Jeff Coe and Greg Helding.

The mayor's appointments go before the City Council on Tuesday night.

Jerger is owner of Copacetic hat store at 409 Main St. She's married to County Board Supervisor Monte Osterman; they both worked on Dickert's mayoral campaign. Kane is a former TV reporter and anchor who now works for The NOVO Group. This is also co-founder of Mediaspirits, a video production and development company. The mayor is appointing both to three-year terms.

Hart and DeHahn will reach receive one-year terms.

Here's a letter from Cable Television Commission Chairman Chase Hendrix about the new appointments:

The Mayor has the right to appoint anyone he wishes (with the approval of Common Council), and it is just unfortunate that the Cable Television Commission is losing two very dedicated professionals that have put so much time and energy into serving our city and CAR25. I was just made aware of the reappointments, and obviously would have preferred to be contacted directly by the Mayor and City Administrator to provide the Cable Commission's recommendations regarding these appointments. 

As the Chairman of the Cable Television Commission, I am here to serve the city and its residents without any personal interest or influence. I welcome any new appointments to the Commission, and am sure the other members of the Cable Commission feel the same way. I am disappointed that Pam & Gary were not offered the opportunity to continue to serve as volunteers on the Cable Television Commission, however I also understand that the Mayor can appoint whomever he wishes, and trust that the newly appointed commissioners will act in the best interest of the city and public access channel. Gary Alvarado in particular has donated so much of his time, resources and technical expertise to help serve the city and CAR25, and is one of the most experienced and professional video production experts in SE Wisconsin. Much of the success we have had in growing CAR25 with such a limited budget is due to his hard work.

CAR25 is one of the most positive, cost-effective and successful assets our city has, and should remain fair, equal and open to the public. So many residents watch CAR25 on a regular basis, and it provides a great communication tool for our local government, non-profit organizations and public producers. The channel was provided to Racine as part of our municipal cable television franchise agreement (and extended with the new state cable franchise agreement), and we have recently launched CAR25 broadcasting services on AT&T in addition to Time Warner, which broadens its audience throughout SE Wisconsin. 

My only concerns regarding CAR25 are whether it has the full support of the Common Council to provide the funding it needs to continue to grow, and that the allocation of resources support both public and government fair and equally (and in accordance with PEG and FCC regulations). In November, Common Council voted unanimously to approve the 15% cable television franchise fee allocation to CAR25, however this additional funding was reallocated to Professional Services, and since the proposed consultant withdrew, that funding has since been recommended by Ald. Helding to be removed from CAR25's budget in order to pay the lawsuit settlement with Sandy Tingle. So the additional 5% funding has never really been made available to CAR25 to update its equipment. It has also been suggested that the 15% allocation would be decreased back to 10%, leaving the channel severely underfunded, with outdated equipment. 

The mayor's other new appointments to city boards and commissions, include:

* Doug Nicholson, owner of the Ivanhoe Pub and Eatery, to the Redevelopment Authority.

* Former alderman Robert Anderson to the RDA.

* Wally Rendon to the Affirmative Action Human Rights Commission.

* Alderman Jeff Coe to the Community Development Committee, which distributes the city's Community Development Block Grant money.

* Mark Kowbel to the Board of City Review.

* Mark Kowbel to the Transit and Parking Commission.

* John Heckenlively to the Traffic Commission.

* Rod Lipor to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

* Chris Flynn to the Landmark Preservation Commission.

* Alderman Eric Marcus to the Landmark Preservation Commission. (Marcus served on the commission before being elected to the City Council in April.)

* Alderman QA Shakoor II to the Community Development Committee.