Residents urge City Council to review Bowie Community Media Corporation governance and proposed bylaw changes

Residents who identified themselves as long-time Bowie volunteers and BCMC producers urged the Bowie City Council on Feb. 18 to review governance at Bowie Community Media Corporation and to consider contract language to keep management and operations in the hands of Bowie residents.

At public comment, Stephanie Gaines Bryant said BCMC’s current leadership has not followed the corporation’s bylaws and alleged board members are being appointed rather than elected. “The current bylaws are not being followed,” Gaines Bryant said. She said Article 3, Section 5 requires an annual election and called the last election “almost two years ago in June of 2023.” She added that “directors shall serve without compensation,” and said board members have been receiving compensation after the executive director position was abolished and its funds redistributed.

Valerie Hall, who spoke after Gaines Bryant, described a package of documents the speakers provided to the council and highlighted specific proposed bylaw edits she said BCMC leadership intends to present to members. Hall said the proposed edits would remove nominations from the floor (Article 3, Section 5), strike the provision allowing regular meetings of the corporation (Article 3, Section 8), and change the rules for removal and election of officers (Article 3, Section 14). She said a proposed Article 8, Section 4 would curtail inspection of corporate records by both BCMC members and the city.

Hall also told the council that the current BCMC president, Candy Waller, does not live inside Bowie city limits, and she alleged Waller has approved membership for other nonresidents. “None of the people in leadership positions at this time live in Bowie,” Hall said, and she gave examples including Hyattsville and Chesterfield, Virginia.

Speakers asked the council to consider adding language to the next agreement between the city and BCMC to require that management and operations be conducted by Bowie residents and to protect members’ rights to inspect corporate records. Hall said BCMC membership is supposed to be limited to Bowie residents under existing bylaws and that the public materials they submitted include a nomination form with an address for Waller they say shows she did not meet residency requirements when nominated.

Council members did not take formal action during the meeting. The speakers requested that the council review the submitted documents and consider a contract provision in future city-BCMC agreements that would explicitly require key management and operational roles to be filled by city residents. The council acknowledged receipt of the public comments and documents but did not vote on or order any follow-up at the meeting.

The union of BCMC’s bylaws, the residents’ complaints about membership and compensation, and proposed bylaw changes were the focus of the comments. Speakers emphasized they were asking the council to use its contract authority with BCMC to ensure compliance with the nonprofit’s bylaws and the city’s expectations for a city-funded media organization.

Ending

Council staff will be responsible for processing the documents submitted during public comment, and council members indicated they would review the materials; no formal referral or vote was recorded on Feb. 18.