Jan. 27--Fort Mill is looking into taking better advantage of local access Channel 19 by installing video equipment in the meeting chamber.

The plan includes installing two cameras in the council chamber, one aimed at the council, the other at the audience to record residents when they speak before the council, according to Town Manager David Hudspeth. Fort Mill will also look into the possibility of filming short public safety messages to air on the channel.

A vote on the plan passed unanimously with Councilman Waddell Gibson absent.

"It will all be computer-based so we don't have to have someone loading a tape," Hudspeth said during a council workshop meeting held Monday morning. "We're trying to get the technology in place first and then worry about programming."

Currently, the town runs a series of still slides on the channel and adding a video component has been a long range plan for several years.

Fort Mill has budgeted $15,000 for the plan, and Comporium offered to put up another $15,000 when it first gave the town access to the channel.

Council Members Tom Adams and Ken Starnes and Mayor Danny Funderburk asked Hudspeth to see if Comporium would be willing to devote more money to the project because it is hoping access to the local channel will encourage more residents to subscribe to cable rather than satellite TV or to stick with only broadcast television.

"They've got a whole lot ot gain from this," Funderburk said. "An upgrade to Channel 19 is something important ... it's been running in place for years."

Funderburk added that he has spoken with Fort Mill School District Superintendent Dr. Keith Callicutt and the town may be able to work with Fort Mill High School or Nation Ford High School students film the PSAs and edit council meeting footage before airing it. Or those responsibilities may fall to current town staff.

Unlike Tega Cay however, which has broadcast city council meetings live for the last several years, Hudspeth and the Fort Mill council envision running taped clips of the council meetings after they are held. Once the cameras are installed, everyone in Fort Mill Township with the exception of Tega Cay residents who subscribe to Comporium will be able to see the Fort Mill Channel 19 broadcasts.

Hudspeth did not say when the video equipment would be ready for use.

The council also unanimously approved first reading of a petition for annexation covering 2.6 acres on Carolina Place across from the Lowe's shopping center under the highway commercial zoning designation.

Highway Commercial is the town's most intensive commercial zoning category, and will tie in easily with the Lowe's center across the street, which was developed as a planned development. The annexation will require a second vote to become final.

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