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Date: 10/12/2022
AGAWAM — Les Tingley is all for televising committee meetings, but the board members have to agree, he said on Oct. 3.
During discussion on the City Council vote to reclassify Tingley’s job, manager of the Agawam Media cable television channels, as part of the town’s unionized workforce, Councilor George Bitzas said Tingley is “doing a good job,” but wanted to see more town board and committee meetings broadcast on public access television.
“This is part of the position,” he said. “I suggest to have these boards and commissions televised, because people complain about them.”
Councilor Rosemary Sandlin objected to Bitzas tying complaints about cable access coverage to the reclassification of Tingley’s job, but said later in the meeting that she, too, would prefer to see more meetings on air.
“The more we can televise meetings, the more transparency we have,” Sandlin said. “I would encourage that issue.”
Tingley and his volunteer staff broadcast City Council and School Committee meetings, but Bitzas said many constituents have asked to see Planning Board and other meetings, as well.
After the meeting, Tingley told Reminder Publishing that he had already offered to televise the Planning Board and Conservation Commission, and would also be willing to televise subcommittees of the City Council. He said he has the necessary staff and equipment, and that he’s trying to grow the number of locally generated programs on cable channels 12 and 15, and he’s happy to see public board meetings as part of that.
“It’s more content for me,” Tingley said, but “it’s not up to me to say you’re going to be televised — it’s up to them.”
He said he reached out to the town’s Planning and Conservation departments and they were not interested in being televised.
The Oct. 3 vote to reclassify Tingley’s job was 10-0, with Councilor Cecilia Calabrese voting “present.” Councilors noted that Tingley and other non-union employees already receive the same benefits and pay scale as the unionized Town Hall workers, but placing the position inside the union would give him access to union representatives and the formal discipline process.
The media director position, which was created three years ago, was one of the few non-executive jobs at Town Hall that did not belong to a union, City Council President Christopher Johnson said. Johnson said the mayor and the union had already agreed to make the job a unionized position, and the council vote was a formality.
He said the only other workers excluded from the union are those that would have a conflict of interest. The town’s personnel director and auditor are required to scrutinize and sometimes oppose the union in negotiations and investigations. The mayor’s chief of staff and the City Council clerk handle confidential material in support of elected officials who also have to negotiate with the union. No such conflict of interest exists for the media director, Johnson said.
Big disappointment
Bitzas also registered his disappointment with the parade on Salute to Agawam Day at the Eastern States Exposition on Sept. 28. Although the Agawam High School marching band and Agawam elected officials did appear in the parade, the Big E required officials to ride a trolley, rather than walking, and did not invite any additional marching units from town, making the Agawam contingent much smaller than was typical before COVID-19.
“At the beginning of the parade, they didn’t show one American flag,” said Bitzas. “We used to have the parade with the American Legion. … We didn’t have any police personnel there, like before. There was no chief of police, no Fire [Department], no superintendent of schools, they did not allow any non-elected officials.”
He also said it was “not fair to the kids” that other than the band, there were no youth organizations allowed to march. In previous years, scout troops and sports teams participated in the parade.
Other parades at the Big E — the 17-day fair also has “salute” days honoring Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield, West Springfield and Westfield — have seen similar restrictions for the past two years. Bitzas asked his fellow Agawam councilors to sign an official letter asking the Big E to bring back the longer parades.