Mayor Curtatone, the SCAT Board of Directors, and many contributors met to honor achievements in the past year and to report on the organization's well-being at Somerville Community Access Television's Union Square headquarters. A catered buffet dinner was served and then the televised awards ceremony began.

Candace Dostert, outgoing president of the board, spoke first. "This is a good time to come together to celebrate our accomplishments over the last year," she said. Dostert praised her talented staff and also plugged for new members. "If you're watching at home and are thinking about this, please do come down and check us out. We're always looking to grow our membership."

Mayor Curtatone praised the community television station. "For more than a quarter of a century SCAT has played an important role right here in Union Square."

The night was mainly a light-hearted event, but there was a serious tone when the mayor continued. "We're working hard with RCN to renegotiate a franchise (contract). But, Verizon is, as we speak, organizing legislation to get rid of local franchising and to go to the statewide system…we need to be tenacious about this. Stations like SCAT will be silenced if we allow this to happen. We will get the deal done and it will be fair and equitable, but we need (all of) you to step up and support us all,." he said.

Curtatone said, "If anyone from Verizon is listening (currently) we invite you to come to Somerville and meet us." Richard Scheiferdecker, the new board president, gave a huge bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Dostert and said,"Candace will be a tough act to follow." Dostert praised her colleagues. "After 7 years on the board, I'm sad to be leaving, but I want to thank everyone from the very talented and dedicated staff as well as the endless stream of volunteers and interns…SCAT will be in good hands."

Scheiferdecker also said," I look forward to keeping SCAT as a really vibrant human resource." Current board members were acknowledged. New and leaving members were mentioned. John Carreiro, member representative, was leaving the board. "John will be missed. He always had great ideas and served as a liaison for us with the Portuguese community," said Wendy Blom, SCAT Executive Director. Eta Shrestha was announced as a new board member.

Blom presented a status and treasury report for absent treasurer Mimi Graney "I thought you'd appreciate some good news and that's what you're going to hear. We are financially sound and conservatively sound. There were just over 450 thousand dollars in expenses for the year with a modest surplus. 62 thousand was spent on new equipment. Our investments are diversified and in low-risk funds, so our organizational savings are still secure. Our bread and butter remains the franchise fees that Somerville collects yearly from RCN and Comcast."

Blom said, "It's wonderful to have such talented people in our studio and