WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — For months, WilliNet-TV has been the conduit for many local residents to see their representatives grapple with the issues of affordable housing and conserved land.

On Wednesday, the community access television station becomes an even bigger part of the process.

The station will sponsor a "A Community Conversation about Affordable Housing in Williamstown with Municipal Committee Members" at 7 p.m. at Mount Greylock Regional High School,

The event is unlike the station's usual telecasts in that it is not an official public meeting, per se. Rather, it is a panel discussion of officials from various town committees organized by the station itself. While it is relatively new territory for WilliNet, it is a natural extension of the work the station already does, according to the station's executive director.

"WilliNet has partnered with and been a producing agent for non-profits," Debby Dane said. "It can range from the League of Women Voters to the SEE Fund to the Chamber of Commerce. ... When the Spruces was under water, we did a program called, 'A Community Responds.'

"We have 14 different municipal meetings that we air now."

And in spite of all those meetings, Dane still felt there was a need for a conversation to air the issues related to affordable housing in advance of the April 24 special town meeting that could decide the future of the town-owned Lowry property.

"There just seemed to be a need for — from what I was hearing from different community members — a pent-up need for a community conversation for all the different issues in play," Dane said. "Even though the different committees have been discussing these things all along, people weren't clear on what some of the facts were.

"We thought this would be a great use for what our mission is."

Panelists will include Selectmen Chairman David Rempell, Affordable Housing Committee Chairwoman Cathy Yamamoto, Agriculture Commission Chairwoman Beth Phelps, Conservation Commission Chairman Hank Art, Planning Board Chairwoman Anne McCallum, Housing Authority Chairman Mark Reinhardt, Council on Aging Director Brian O'Grady, Affordable Housing Trust Chairman Stan Parese and a representative from the Community Preservation Committee. Town Manager Peter Fohlin will join the panel at the request of the Select Board.

Adam Filson will moderate the discussion.

The format, Dane said, will include a brief opening statement from each panelist wishing to make one followed by questions from the community. Questions will be asked from the floor or, at Filson's discretion, from advance submissions via e-mail. Residents wishing to submit their questions in advance can write willinettv@gmail.com.

To facilitate as much participation as possible, each member of the audience who makes it to the front of the line at the microphone will be allowed three minutes for questions, answers and follow up.

At the end of three minutes, anyone is free to go back to the end of the line at the microphone, Dane said.

The goal is to encourage a wide-ranging discussion, but the event is scheduled to last just two hours.

"In my opinion, 9 p.m. is a firm cutoff," Dane said.

As with the municipal meetings it airs live, the community conversation will be replayed on the channel and available on its website.

Dane said that while the panel for this event includes only representatives from various town committees and boards, the station is amenable to producing similar events inspired by non-governmental groups.

"I felt comfortable producing an event where the different committees that discussed this issue act as our representatives," she said. "We only sent invitations to the [committee] chairs. I didn't want the responsibility of picking someone from each committee.

"This is what WilliNet is for: a platform for the community to talk to each other. We'd be happy to lend our expertise to whatever anyone wants to do. We'd love it if someone wanted to put together other types of forums."
 

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