Orchard Lake remains lone greater West Bloomfield community to not broadcast local government meetings

GREATER WEST BLOOMFIELD — For more than 20 years, Civic Center TV has been on the air in the Greater West Bloomfield area.

Its coverage areas are Orchard Lake, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and West Bloomfield.

Civic Center TV’s programming includes news and features, as well as high school athletics. However, perhaps what it is best known for by some is the opportunity it provides for residents interested in seeing their local government in action through aired city council and township board sessions, as well as other local government-related meetings.

West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees meetings, as well as Keego Harbor City Council and Sylvan Lake City Council meetings are all aired on Civic Center TV. However, residents who want to see Orchard Lake City Council meetings must attend in person to do so, as they are not broadcast on Civic Center TV.

That decision is one that has not gone unnoticed.

Prior to elections, local candidates are given the opportunity to share their goals should they be elected as part of election previews published by C & G Newspapers.

In 2023, when running for a spot on Orchard Lake’s City Council, Kelly Mandel included “broadcast council meetings for accessibility and transparency” as one of her goals.

Shortly after being elected later that year, she addressed the topic again in an interview with the Beacon.

“It’s important to me, and I’ve heard from other people as well that are behind me saying the same thing,” Mandel said of having meetings televised. “I think it makes it more accessible for people, so they don’t have to necessarily come out of their house. … I don’t want people to have more barriers.”

Mandel has now served on Orchard Lake’s City Council for nearly a year.

Although she still supports the idea of having meetings broadcasted, she recently shared the challenges involved with bringing that aspiration to fruition.

“The meetings haven’t been televised for many years before me, and as I’ve spent my first not-quite-a-year serving and learning and building relationships with my peers I’ve experienced more comments against the idea than supporting it by far, and knowing anything would have to have majority support to change, it felt more important to me this year to build and learn and listen rather than pressure immediately,” Mandel said via email. “It is still an issue near and dear to my heart, for both the OL residents who can’t make it to the meetings and still deserve to witness what’s going on, and I honestly think it’s more imperative and helpful to us as councilmembers then probably some of my peers have even thought about, as we navigate some challenging situations in our meetings and residents discontent with us or each other — it is not easy and I think residents would have a whole new appreciation of the work and our service.”

Mandel went on to state that she understands that there is a “culture of tradition” in Orchard Lake and that she is serving with individuals who have “given many years of their life.”

“I value balancing the new with the always and am trying to learn everything I can from others, and I’m hoping dearly that folks are learning from me as well — but as of this moment based off my conversations with folks and their comments made I do not believe there is any more than 1-3 of us supporting rather than the 4-5 of us needed to enforce any type of actual change,” Mandel stated. “I’m hoping continued time and conversation and relationship building will help transition minds.”

Orchard Lake Mayor Norm Finkelstein declined to comment, and no other members of Orchard Lake’s City Council replied when given the opportunity to do so.

West Bloomfield Supervisor Steven Kaplan said that in 1999, the West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees decided to have meetings televised. He said that although it is not required by state law, nearly every municipality televises meetings and estimated that less than 5% of communities don’t “cablevise” them.

Kaplan was not asked about Orchard Lake, specifically. However, he shared some thoughts about local government meetings not being televised.

“I don’t know what justification a community would offer for not televising its meetings,” he said. “It’s not an expensive proposition and the public has the right to know the actions of its local government.”

Dave Scott is Civic Center TV’s general manager. He said that airing meetings is the foundational service that Civic Center TV, which airs on Channel 15 on Comcast and Channel 99 on AT&T, provides.

He explained some of the financial particulars.

“Under state statute, 6% of the revenue from the cable operators — Comcast and AT&T — is paid to our municipalities. And then we get 2% of that for operating Civic Center TV,” Scott said. “It’s not taxpayer funds. It’s a state law that requires the cable companies, if they’re (going to) run their wires through our right-of-ways, that our communities charge them for that. They standardized it across the whole state of Michigan under one set of guidelines.”

Kaplan acknowledged that the funds paid by cable companies to local municipalities is what pays for having meetings televised.

According to Scott, Civic Center TV has eclipsed over a million views on YouTube.

Although he said that it’s nice when people go to meetings, he discussed the value of having them aired on Civic Center TV.

“When you’re busy, and especially if you have maybe a single item on the agenda that is of interest to you, it’s really nice just to be able to watch it live, or watch it on demand,” Scott said. “Not only are those meetings live, but we make an archive of them. I think it’s a great convenience for people. It lets them engage in government.”

Sylvan Lake Mayor Jim Cowper said that Civic Center TV has been a great partner for the city.

“I get feedback from people saying that they’re grateful that if they can’t come to the meeting or choose not to come to the meeting, that they can still watch on TV,” Cowper said. “I think it’s a great way for people to be involved with their local government without necessarily having to go live to the meeting. Some people are uncomfortable, some people just like the comfort of their home, and I think (with) today’s world of technology that if we can use these tools for our citizens, that’s good.”

From the perspective of Sylvan Lake City Councilman Ben Clarke, the best way to have transparency in government is to broadcast meetings, and given the importance of the decisions that are made, he thinks that local government is often overlooked.

“Many voters know what a presidential candidate had for breakfast, but nothing about new zoning laws or changes to the city’s master plan,” Clarke stated via email. “For the good of our communities, we need to flip our focus or reach a healthier balance. Civic Center TV is the best tool we have for that mission and I wholeheartedly support it.”

Scott shared a similar sentiment.

“There’s so much interest right now in this national presidential campaign, but ultimately, what happens locally has probably more impact on all of us, and a lot of decisions are made in these meetings that impact people in the communities, and it’s hard to get to them, so we take this seriously,” Scott said. “It’s a privilege to be able to put these together.”

Kaplan is of the opinion that the more knowledgeable residents are, the better the community is.

“Since the public is the one that subsidizes the operation of the township through taxes, they should be entitled to watch the meetings live or at any time they wish. It also serves an educational component,” he said. “There are individuals living in West Bloomfield who are interested in local government. This is a way they can determine whether local government is acting reasonably and prudently.”

Aside from watching local government meetings on cable, residents can also view them by visiting civiccentertv.com.