Committee advances plan to convert cable TV office into city communications department

Jared, the general manager of the city’s cable TV department, proposed converting the department into a Communications Department to reflect services that have expanded well beyond broadcasting council and school meetings.

Jared said the office, which began broadcasting in 1995, now supports Medina City Schools, the Performing Arts Center and other city entities and provides web administration, social-media distribution (including Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire apps), drone footage, grant support and emergency-response materials. “I could just really feel that we could meet those needs effectively, by basically just transferring what is a cable TV department into a communications department,” he said.

The proposal grew out of budget pressures tied to falling cable franchise fees. Jared told the committee the department’s franchise-fee revenue fell about $12,000 from 2023 to 2024 and is declining roughly $15,000 per year. He pointed to existing revenue streams that help offset the shortfall, including a transfer from the “Bridal tax fund,” contract work charged at $67 an hour for Medina County, and a partnership where the schools pay an employee’s salary while the city covers benefits for a technical operations director whose time is split between the city and the schools.

Why it matters: proponents said a centralized communications function could provide a single, consistent city message, reduce reliance on third-party apps, and produce efficiencies by keeping website content, news and multimedia current. Committee members and staff emphasized that the proposal is intended to supplement—not replace—departmental communications such as police and fire social-media pages.

Committee discussion centered on structure, scope and oversight. Jared described job-title changes he would seek—renaming his position to Director of Communications, the technical operations director to Assistant Director, and the operations director to Communications Specialist—and said those changes would require civil-service review and updated job descriptions. He also said the department aims to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility goals for web content by 2027.

Several committee members urged preserving existing partnerships with Medina City Schools and the Performing Arts Center. “I don’t think the entire department would move together,” said Matt, a staff member who handles performing-arts responsibilities, noting the need for on-site staffing at the high school. Committee members said routine social-media posting by police, fire and other departments would likely remain with those departments, with the communications office coordinating, sharing and amplifying posts on a consolidated city channel.

The committee discussed public-records procedures and legal oversight. The law director’s review remains required for records releases, and committee members said public-records requests should continue to be handled by the departments that hold the records. The office’s FEMA public-information training was raised as relevant to crisis communications.

Formal action: a committee member moved to forward the proposal to the full finance committee once required job-description and legal reviews are complete; another committee member seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote and the item will go to the full finance committee for further consideration.

What’s next: staff will review and revise job descriptions, coordinate with civil service and the law director, and return with the background “paperwork” needed for the finance committee and council to consider any formal reorganization and related budget changes.