PAGE 9 THE RUMLEY REPORT
It should be noted that during the spring of 2007 t
hen Board Member Matt Haberstroth
motioned that the By Laws be amended to prohibit an
y Board member from receiving
compensation from the corporation. This motion pass
Tax Year Tax Form Stated Source of Funds Amount
2003 990 Direct Public Support $108,000
2003 990 Membership Dues $ 2,217
2004 990 Direct Public Support $102,000
2004 990 Membership Dues $ 1,504
2005 990 Direct Public Support $309,581
2005 990 Membership Dues $ 1,150
The tax year 2005 is the last year for which I have
been provided a copy of the tax return.
Further, I have been told that, over the years, the
Board of Directors have voted to give
certain persons “lifetime memberships”. I do not kn
ow who they are but if “lifetime
memberships” have been given there may be more memb
ers than dues paying members.
Demonstrating the minimal impact that outreach effo
rts have had in generating
membership are certain figures from the year 2005.
In that year the amount of dollars
received in membership dues [$1,150] was much less
than the amount of money
[$4,700.00] which was paid out to members of the Bo
ard of Directors. For 2005 this
included:
Board Member Date of Payment Amount Reason
Arthur DeLuca 4/28/05 $1,000.00 Temp Wages
Arthur DeLuca 7/8/05 $1,000.00 Temp Wages
Arthur DeLuca 8/19/05 $1,000.00 Temp Wages
Steven Marra 9/12/05 $ 700.00 Temp Wages
Gary Zappelli 6/10/05 $ 300.0
1
M
ARK
E.
R
UMLEY
City Solicitor
February 10, 2008
TO: Mayor Michael J. McGlynn
FROM: Mark E. Rumley, City Solicitor
RE: Report on present state of Public Access Televi
sion in the City of Medford
Dear Mr. Mayor,
During January 2007 you appointed me as the City of
Medford’s representative to the
Board of Directors of Medford Community Cablevision
1
with the request that I compile a
report to you as to my findings.
In addition, the City Council
2
of the City of Medford has made a request that I r
eport
back to it as to my findings. Accordingly, I am for
warding a copy of this report to the
Council for its information and discernment.
In compiling this report I have been generally guid
ed by two questions:
1.
Does public access television, as provided by Medfo
rd Community
Cablevision, reflect the diversity of this communit
y and allow for
participation in a fully inclusive fashion?
rocedures
The name of the legal entity that operates “TV3” is
“Medford Community Cablevision,
Inc.” It was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Ma
ssachusetts on October 13, 1984.
According to the most recent Annual Report signed b
y Frank Pilleri on March 10, 2007
and filed with the Secretary of State’s office on A
pril 17, 2007, the names and addresses
of the officers of Medford Community Cablevision’s
Board of Directors are:
President, Frank Pilleri, 39 Everett Street, Medfor
d, MA;
Treasurer, Cornelius Murphy, 15 Carolina Street, Me
dford, MA;
Clerk, Susan Crowley, 22 Englehutt Road, Medford, M
A
5
Director, Carl Galusi, 55 Whitney Road, Medford, MA
Director, Harvey Allberg, 625 High Street, Medford,
MA
Director, Paul Gerety, 40 Cedar Road, Medford, MA
6
Director, Anthony Giglio, 146 Trancroft NW, Medford
, MA
Director, Arthur Rogers, Sr., 113A Third Street, Me
dford, MA
Director, Gary Zappelli, 602 Winthrop Street, Medfo
rd, MA
Brian Mahoney, P.O. Box 760, Medford, MA
Ron DeLucia, Medford, MA
Arthur DeLucca, Bell Avenue, Medford, MA
Tim Pilleri, 39 Everett Street, Medford, MA
I am certain that this list was inaccurate on the d
ay it was filed with the Secretary of
State’s Office by the President of Medford Communit
y Cablevision. Both Ms. Crowley
5
Ms. Crowley informed me that she has not served on
the Board since 2001.
6
Paul Gerety informed me that he resigned from the
Board of Directors on when the studio opened at 5
High Street.
4
and Mr. Gerety personally informed me that they had
resigned from the Board of
Medford Community Cablevision some years ago as I h
ave noted in footnotes 3 and 4.
In addition, I was appointed to be the City’s repre
sentative to the Board of Directors in
January 2007. That was two (2) months before the ab
ove list was submitted to the
Secretary of State by Mr. Pilleri in March of 2007.
During the thirteen months that I
have been the City’s representative on the Board of
Directors I have never seen Mr.
Zappelli, Mr. Mahoney or Mr. Tim Pilleri attend a B
oard meeting. I have been told that
Mr. Zappelli has resigned his position and I presum
e the same is true for Mr. Mahoney
and Mr. Tim Pilleri.
According to my notes the Board of Directors of Med
ford Community Cablevision, Inc.
presently consists of the following persons:
Nine (9) Appointed Members
: Frank Pilleri; Cornelius Murphy; Harvey Alberg; R
onald
DeLucia; Anthony Giglio; John Costas, Robert DiNata
le, Vincent Mase
7
, Mark Rumley
Four (4)Elected Members
: Arthur DeLuca; Carl Galusi, Lance Reensterma; Ste
ven
Marra
Medford Community Cablevision adopted a set of By L
aws and a compendium of
Policies and Procedures
[Appendix B]
Location
During September, 2002 Medford Comm ted a
nd four (4) being elected from the
membership. The sitting Board of Directors would ma
ke the decision on who the nine (9)
appointed members would be.
In the spring of 2007, as the Mayor’s appointee to
the Board, I made a motion that the
By-Laws be further amended to return to a more demo
cratic fashion of electing the
Board. To that end I proposed that the MAJORITY of
the Board be elected to insure that
the will of the membership, as determined by ballot
s, would be reflected in the make-up
of the majority of the Board of Directors. My motio
n failed.
The failure of the Board of Directors to allow for
a more democratic method in its choice
of Board members runs counter to the corporation’s
stated purpose, as set forth in Section
2 of its By-Laws, wherein it declares that the corp
oration was established
“to own and
manage facilities...which will be used for community
television programming...”
Quorum
Until May 30, 2007, the By-Laws of TV3 allowed for
three (3) members of the
thirteen (13) member Board of Directors to constitu
te a “quorum”
Even though the number of Board members has been th
irteen (13) for some years,
according to Section 7 of the By-Laws the number o
f members necessary for a quorum
was simply three (3). The three (3) could be appoin
ted members only
. This section stated:
“Quorum: Three (3) members of the Appointed Board o
f Directors shall constitute a
quorum for the conducting of business.”
$4,700.00
It should be noted that during the spring of 2007 t
hen Board Member Matt Haberstroth
motioned that the By Laws be amended to prohibit an
y Board member from receiving
compensation from the corporation. This motion pass
ed.
1
M
ARK
E.
R
UMLEY
City Solicitor
February 10, 2008
TO: Mayor Michael J. McGlynn
FROM: Mark E. Rumley, City Solicitor
RE: Report on present state of Public Access Televi
sion in the City of Medford
Dear Mr. Mayor,
During January 2007 you appointed me as the City of
Medford’s representative to the
Board of Directors of Medford Community Cablevision
1
with the request that I compile a
report to you as to my findings.
In addition, the City Council
2
of the City of Medford has made a request that I r
eport
back to it as to my findings. Accordingly, I am for
warding a copy of this report to the
Council for its information and discernment.
In compiling this report I have been generally guid
ed by two questions:
1.
Does public access television, as provided by Medfo
rd Community
Cablevision, reflect the diversity of this communit
y and allow for
participation in a fully inclusive fashion?
2.
Has Medford Community Cablevision acted in an accou
ntable and
responsible fashion in its use of the funds provide
d to it by the
ratepayers of the City of Medford?
My assessment of the answers to these two questions
is set forth in the conclusion of this
report.
1
Section 10 of the Agreement between the City of Me
dford and Medford Community Cablevision, Inc.
allows the Issuing Authority [City of Medford] to h
ave a representative on the Board of Directors of M
CC.
2
Council Paper # 07-371 requests that I provide a s
tatus of my review of TV3.
City of Medford
LAW
DEPARTMENT
________
City Hall – Room 206
85 George P. Hassett Drive
Medford, Massachusetts 02143
Telephone (781) 393-2470
FAX: (781) 393-2410 ● TDD: (781) 393-2516
Anthony M. Santoro
Assistant City
Solicitor
2
Public Access Television
I begin this report with a very brief review of the
background of public access television.
In 1972 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
, recognizing that cable
television providers used public streets and ways t
o run their cables, decided that these
same providers should be compelled to compensate th
e public by allowing the public to
have access to media-making equipment and airtime.
It required that all cable television
companies put time aside for educational and public
access TV.
Simply put, the role of access television was envis
ioned to provide an electronic setting
where the right of every person to speak and be hea
rd would be preserved. It would be a
place where the First Amendment could be lived out.
During May of 1976, the FCC used its rule-making au
thority to regulate the public's
access to cable television "air" time and productio
n facilities. Under these rules cable
television systems with 3,500 or more subscribers w
ere required to increase their number
of channels by 1986 and to insure that up to four o
f those channels could be used
exclusively for low-cost access by community, educa
tional, local governmental and
leased-access users.
In 1979 in the case of FCC v. Midwest Video Corp
, 440 U.S. 689 (1979), the Supreme
Court held that the FCC had no authority to regulat
e or mandate public access to cable
television.
"Community Access Channels" were first designated u
nder the "Cable Communications
Policy Act of 1984" to provide residents with local
television programs and information
over dedicated public, educational and government (
PEG) cable channels.
3
PEG
channels were created by Congress to ensure that la
rge media companies could not
control all the programming seen on cable televisio
n and provide an opportunity for the
local community to have a voice on the cable system
.
TV3 is the Public Access channel in the City of Med
ford. It is not part of municipal
government but is run by an independent non-profit
corporation, Medford Community
Cablevision, Inc. The programming on TV3 is limite
d only by the vision and
imagination of the members who create it.
The City of Medford should not and does not censor
public access programming.
Major funding for TV3 is provided by ratepayers of
Comcast through its cable contract
with the City of Medford.
[Appendix A]
4
3
47 U.S.C. 611(a) states in part: “A franchising au
thority may establish requirements in a franchise w
ith
respect to the designation or use of channel capaci
ty for public, educational, or governmental use...”
4
All APPENDIX attachments [i.e. A-H] are being prov
ided to the Mayor, Members of the City
Council and as part of the copy given to Medford Co
mmunity Cablevision. The text of my report,
pages 1 through 15, is certainly a public record bu
t APPENDIX attachments C, D, E, F, G and H
may not be public records and any request for the s
ame should be presented to my office.
3
TV3
Corporate Data/Board Members/By Laws/Policies and P
rocedures
The name of the legal entity that operates “TV3” is
“Medford Community Cablevision,
Inc.” It was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Ma
ssachusetts on October 13, 1984.
According to the most recent Annual Report signed b
y Frank Pilleri on March 10, 2007
and filed with the Secretary of State’s office on A
pril 17, 2007, the names and addresses
of the officers of Medford Community Cablevision’s
Board of Directors are:
President, Frank Pilleri, 39 Everett Street, Medfor
d, MA;
Treasurer, Cornelius Murphy, 15 Carolina Street, Me
dford, MA;
Clerk, Susan Crowley, 22 Englehutt Road, Medford, M
A
5
Director, Carl Galusi, 55 Whitney Road, Medford, MA
Director, Harvey Allberg, 625 High Street, Medford,
MA
Director, Paul Gerety, 40 Cedar Road, Medford, MA
6
Director, Anthony Giglio, 146 Trancroft NW, Medford
, MA
Director, Arthur Rogers, Sr., 113A Third Street, Me
dford, MA
Director, Gary Zappelli, 602 Winthrop Street, Medfo
rd, MA
Brian Mahoney, P.O. Box 760, Medford, MA
Ron DeLucia, Medford, MA
Arthur DeLucca, Bell Avenue, Medford, MA
Tim Pilleri, 39 Everett Street, Medford, MA
I am certain that this list was inaccurate on the d
ay it was filed with the Secretary of
State’s Office by the President of Medford Communit
y Cablevision. Both Ms. Crowley
5
Ms. Crowley informed me that she has not served on
the Board since 2001.
6
Paul Gerety informed me that he resigned from the
Board of Directors on when the studio opened at 5
High Street.
4
and Mr. Gerety personally informed me that they had
resigned from the Board of
Medford Community Cablevision some years ago as I h
ave noted in footnotes 3 and 4.
In addition, I was appointed to be the City’s repre
sentative to the Board of Directors in
January 2007. That was two (2) months before the ab
ove list was submitted to the
Secretary of State by Mr. Pilleri in March of 2007.
During the thirteen months that I
have been the City’s representative on the Board of
Directors I have never seen Mr.
Zappelli, Mr. Mahoney or Mr. Tim Pilleri attend a B
oard meeting. I have been told that
Mr. Zappelli has resigned his position and I presum
e the same is true for Mr. Mahoney
and Mr. Tim Pilleri.
According to my notes the Board of Directors of Med
ford Community Cablevision, Inc.
presently consists of the following persons:
Nine (9) Appointed Members
: Frank Pilleri; Cornelius Murphy; Harvey Alberg; R
onald
DeLucia; Anthony Giglio; John Costas, Robert DiNata
le, Vincent Mase
7
, Mark Rumley
Four (4)Elected Members
: Arthur DeLuca; Carl Galusi, Lance Reensterma; Ste
ven
Marra
Medford Community Cablevision adopted a set of By L
aws and a compendium of
Policies and Procedures
[Appendix B]
Location
During September, 2002 Medford Community Cablevisio
n’s operation of TV3 at 40
Canal Street came to an end. This began its “homele
ss period” which came to an end
during October, 2004 when it signed a lease with “5
High Street LLC”
8
to occupy 2,665
square feet of space at 5 High Street, Medford, MA
[Appendix C]
The Term of this Lease is five (5) years beginning
October 1, 2004 and ending September
31, 2009. The annual rent for this period is $28,0
00.00. The rent is paid in monthly
increments of $2,333.33. It is also responsible to
pay a pro rata share of 10.66% of the
Landlord’s real estate taxes
Medford Community Cablevision also paid $10,000.00
to 5 High Street LLC as an
inducement for it to enter into the Lease.
Medford Community Cablevision has the option to ext
end the term of the lease for a five
(5) year period from October 1, 2009 through Septem
ber 31, 2014. The annual rent for
the extended period would be $14,676.00. The rent w
ould be paid in monthly
installments of $1,233.00 per month.
7
Vincent Mase was appointed to fill a vacancy left
by the resignation of Arthur Rogers Sr.
8
“5 High Street LLC” is a Massachusetts Limited Lia
bility Corporation that was organized under the law
s
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on February 6,
2004. The Manager of the “5 High Street LLC”,
according to the records of the Secretary of State
is the “Property Trust Corporation”. The “Property
Trust
Corporation” is a Massachusetts Domestic Profit Cor
poration that was organized on December 23, 1998.
Its President and Treasurer is Steven C. Fustolo of
87 Terrace Hall Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803
5
During any extended period Medford Community Cablev
ision would also be responsible
to pay Common Area Maintenance Charges [CAM Charges
].
The Board of Directors of Medford Community Cablevi
sion
Method of Selection
Nine (9) members of the Board of Directors are appo
inted by the sitting Board and
four (4) are elected
There are 13 members of the Board of Directors of M
edford Community Cablevision,
Inc. including the one member who is appointed by t
he Mayor.
On October 18, 2006 there was a change made to the
By Laws that resulted in nine (9)
members of the Board of Directors being appointed a
nd four (4) being elected from the
membership. The sitting Board of Directors would ma
ke the decision on who the nine (9)
appointed members would be.
In the spring of 2007, as the Mayor’s appointee to
the Board, I made a motion that the
By-Laws be further amended to return to a more demo
cratic fashion of electing the
Board. To that end I proposed that the MAJORITY of
the Board be elected to insure that
the will of the membership, as determined by ballot
s, would be reflected in the make-up
of the majority of the Board of Directors. My motio
n failed.
The failure of the Board of Directors to allow for
a more democratic method in its choice
of Board members runs counter to the corporation’s
stated purpose, as set forth in Section
2 of its By-Laws, wherein it declares that the corp
oration was established
“to own and
manage facilities...which will be used for community
television programming...”
Quorum
Until May 30, 2007, the By-Laws of TV3 allowed for
three (3) members of the
thirteen (13) member Board of Directors to constitu
te a “quorum”
Even though the number of Board members has been th
irteen (13) for some years,
according to Section 7 of the By-Laws the number o
f members necessary for a quorum
was simply three (3). The three (3) could be appoin
ted members only
. This section stated:
“Quorum: Three (3) members of the Appointed Board o
f Directors shall constitute a
quorum for the conducting of business.”
On May 30, 2007 Matt Haberstroh successfully made a
motion that this section of the
By-Laws be changed to read:
“Quorum: A majority of the voting Directors current
ly in office shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business.”
