Council appoints cable advisory members; public access advocates press for clearer code and broader public input

The Mount Vernon City Council on Wednesday approved the mayor’s appointments to the Cable Advisory Committee and heard sustained public comment calling for clearer committee composition rules and greater public involvement in cable franchise and public access decisions.

The council voted to appoint Jahy Lafayette and George McClendon Jr. to the committee. During public comment, community member Jeff Monroe said the committee’s membership on the city website did not match the city code and warned that the public’s allocated seats appeared vacant. Monroe urged the council to update city code and to restore active public forums and town-hall style dialogue for community media issues.

Council members responded that they would fill the seats and work to reconcile code discrepancies. Councilman Gleason suggested organizing a public forum and asked Monroe to leave contact details with the legislative aide; the council agreed that the newly populated committee should meet and consider broader public engagement on the cable franchise. Councilwoman Gleason and acting council leadership also said they would coordinate meetings and appreciated Monroe’s offer to provide input on code drafting.

The council recorded roll-call votes approving the two appointments: Boxhill, Gleason, Thompson and Acting President Poteet all voted “aye.” The city did not discuss specific changes to the cable franchise agreement during the session, but multiple council members invited Monroe to assist as the code is updated and the committee resumes work.