A man who has been a member of the Orion Cable Commission since 1985 won’t be one much longer.
Lake Orion Village Council members decided on April 28 that because G. Brett Saunders is now an employee of ONTV, it would be a conflict of interest if he continued to be on the cable commission.
Saunders current term ends on June 30.
Saunders was also appointed by the cable commission a few years ago to be one of its representatives on the Orion Neighborhood Board.
It was village attorney Gary Dovre’s opinion Saunders should no longer be on the cable commission. He believes Saunders has a financial interest because the cable commission is involved in ONTV’s budget process — which means Saunders could have a say in his wages.
‘While an ONTV employee on the commission could ask for, and would presumably obtain permission from the commission, to abstain from voting on ONTV proposed budgets, the result of this approach would be to leave such decisions to eight, rather the nine the commission members called for,? Dovre added.
Saunders recently retired from the Lake Orion School District after having taught communication arts, including TV classes at the high school.
At ONTV he is conducting classes in TV production and editing.
According to LO Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel, these classes are mandatory for anyone who wishes to produce a program and show it on ONTV.