WBRW - The Exit of Romeo and Bruce

Romeo and Bruce exited the arrangement by which we shared costs for the operation of a local cable channel called WBRW.  Washington continues to honor its commitment to cable programming and the school video program financially and operationally despite the loss of proceeds from Romeo and Bruce.  We would be pleased to welcome Romeo and Bruce back into the fold though that seems unlikely.

Romeo and Bruce had been buying the service from Washington.  Washington, in turn, subcontracted the labor component to an organization called Mi Community Media.  When the contract expired, Washington was willing to proceed on similar terms as before.  However, I was approached by Mike Lee (Romeo Clerk) and Richard Cory (Bruce Supervisor) asking for a significant change.  They requested that we cut the budget for the operation by as much as 50% due to their financial and infrastructure challenges. 

Despite inaccurate statements to the contrary on July 22, 2016 by a Romeo Trustee, Washington did NOT say that we would only proceed if the three towns share EQUALLY in the cost.  That would be unjust given the differences in our populations.  What we said was we would PROPORTIONATELY REDUCE our contribution similar to their reduction.  Otherwise, we would be subsidizing them which we were unwilling to do.  So, if we were paying 2/3 of the cost of a $400k budget before, we would pay 2/3 of the cost of a $200,000 budget if we agreed to the reduction.  That would be fair for everyone.  The Romeo Trustee misrepresented this. 

They chose to discontinue the partnership.  It has been repeatedly referred to by politicians from their towns as they had "lost" WBRW.  They walked away.  We would welcome them back.

Attached are some emails between the various representatives of Washington, Bruce and Romeo proving my point.  The last item is the memo sent to Romeo and Bruce outlining the impact of a 50% budget cut. 

Judge for yourself who is telling the truth.  Add this issue to the many "Lies of We R Washington" team that is running against our board.