Who's in charge?
Posted by: Lightscriber
Jul 23, 06 | 10:17 pm

After the June 30th, 2006 incident at PCA, it's become clear to me that the board chair, the executive director, and Angelica Tercero, may be of the nindset that the members of PCA should just eat cake.

I sent a correspondence directly to the board secretary stating that I was filing a formal complaint against Angelica Tercero, Jennine Lanouette, and Bert Crews. The correspondence was sent in time for the complaint to be placed on the agenda by the Executive Comittee; it wasn't. Diane Reilly Torres complaint filing was also neglected.

Below is the complaint I placed in front of each board member on July 18th, 2006.
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I Tillman Bussey do file this formal complaint of harassment to the Board of Directors of Petaluma Community Access and would like to have it duly noted and filed for the record. This complaint is filed against Angelica Tercero, employee of Petaluma Community Access, Jennine Lanuoette of Petaluma Community Access, Ms. Tercero's boss, and Bert Crews, board chair of Petaluma Community Access, Ms. Lanuoette's boss. This complaint is being filed on the grounds of harassment and unprofessional behavior exhibited by Angelica Tercero during the 6/30/06 production at the facilities of Petaluma Community Access of the live broadcast of "Hotspot".

I'm attaching copy of those who witnessed and/or heard Ms. Tercero's continued harassment of me or other members of the "Hotspot" crew. During this interaction with Ms. Tercero, her reasoning for this unprofessional behavior was initially touted as she had not been provided sufficient information regarding my crew. After verifying that information numerous times, her reason for the harassment was change to Mr. Leonard Johnson wasn't certified to operate a camera in the studio. It was then point out to her that Mr. Johnson is a professional videographer, and had worked on projects for her boss, Jennine Lanuoette. She then justified her unprofessional behavior by stating that Mr. Johnson had paid the correct level of user fees. I asked Ms. Tercero couldn't this issue be resolved after the live broadcast was done, which she agreed to do, but after I had returned to my camera in the studio, a few seconds later, in walked Ms. Tercero onto my set holding a piece of paper. A approximately a minute or so later she let the studio, disturbed the director of the show to ask him to have me come out and resolve a different issue. I locked the camera down walked out into the hall outside the controlroom door. At that point Ms. said that I need to tell mr. Johnson he needed to lock his camera down and leave the studio, as he was not qualified to operate the camera. I walked into the studio, got on my headset and told Leonard Johnson at the request of Ms. Tercero, he have to lock his camera down and leave the studio, which he did.

Once Mr. Johnson was in hall, Ms. took a less than professional approach to dealing with the problem with a seasoned videographer, and one who has volunteered to help PCA on several occassions such as shooting the Gabriel Sunday comedy show. As oppose to Ms. Tercero saying to Mr. Johnson we have a small issue we need to resolved, she began verbally harassing Mr. Johnson with comments such as "you're not certified to operate the studio camera." When asked by Leonard Johnson of Ms. Tercero why he wasn't certified, she simply stated "it doesn't indicate that you are on Facil." Further more you're not a "Media User." She then suggested to both Mr. Johnson and myself that she would be willing to take over the camera operation of Mr. Johnson. I then said to Ms. Tercero, "you'd be violating organization policy."

My issue with Ms. Tercero was not completing the forms, my issue was that it was nearing air time and the crew and I needed to complete final preparations. After cleaning the studio, Ms. Tercero ask me to sit and talk with her regarding Mr. Johnson's behavior, and how I'm responsible for my crew's action. I was at this point I asked Ms. Tercero who was responsible for her harassing and unprofessional behavior; Jennine Lanouette the Executive Director, or Bert Crews, Jennine's boss? My perspective on Mr. Johnson's behavior, which I can neither condone or justify, is that it was clearly provoked by repeated prodding of Angelica Tercero.



Tillman Bussey
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The complaint you see above is exactly as I handed to the board members. I didn't think I should make any corrections to the text at this time, as it wouldn't be the document the board got. It is my opinion, Angelica Tercero more than likely submitted a complaint filing to the board chair and executive director, Bert Crews and Jennine Lanouette respectively, and was told remain silent. How would remaining silent serve the best interest of the three people named; the passage of the Memership Handbook. A handbook written without any member input, a handbook on might think was written mainly by the executive director since so many issues in it would be resolved at her discretion, a handbook that was an attempt to discard the real Policy and Procedures. If this book had passed on July 18, 2006 not only would the Executive Director have ended up with unfettered power, but I imagine it would have been shortly thereafter Ms. Tercero's complaint would have probably been made public.

Let's talk about this incident. If you've ever had trouble with PCA staff, this is the place to vent your feelings.

TXB

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