The City Council is scheduled to hear a presentation tonight about the various options it has to broadcast city meetings.

The council decided last month to pull all funding for Bainbridge Island Television and to cancel its contract with the public access station. The overriding reason was to cut costs. The council is trying to build a $2.4 million savings reserve largely through cuts to city services, staffing levels and community service groups like BITV.

At the council’s direction, the city administration has spent the last week gathering information about how other jurisdictions broadcast city meetings, and the various costs involved.

Meanwhile, BITV has warned it will cease operations by mid-December if the city doesn’t restore some or all of the nearly $300,000 the station was expecting. BITV has used its B News program to rally supporters for its cause. The station has also lobbied the council at nearly every public meeting and took to the streets last week to protest the cuts.

The council has held firm, stressing that the city has no obligation to fund BITV. City leaders believe there are several lower-cost options for broadcasting city meetings, and that much of the nearly $300,000 can be put toward shoring up the city’s fragile budget.

So, what do you think? Should the city restore BITV’s funding? Should the city give some – but not all – of the money? Or, should the city find another lower-cost broadcasting alternative and let BITV find other sources of income? Head over to the poll on the right to cast your vote.

As for the last Bainbridge Conversation poll, it looks like most of this blog’s readers want the municipal court to stay on Bainbridge Island. Sixty percent of the 100 voters said it’s important to have the court in the community it serves. Forty percent voted in favor of the move, saying relocation to Poulsbo will save some desperately needed money. As you may have read, the council voted late last month to begin negotiations to move the court.

This week, a drunk driver crashed her SUV into an embankment, backed through two lanes of traffic and finally lodged her vehicle in a ditch. While en route to jail, the woman kept asking about her dogs (who were unwitting accomplices during her drinking and crashing) and wherer she was being taken. After being told several times that she was being taken to jail, the woman repeatedly suggested that her preference would be to go home instead. Police denied her request.

Blotter’s below.

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The city sent out a notice reminding all the island’s politicos that the party is over.

“The ballots are in and the signs must come down,” the city notice said in a rare moment of getting straight to the point.

“With election season at its end, it is time to clean up the roadways. The city’s municipal code (chapter 15.08) regulates the placement of signs to protect public safety and preserve the natural character of the community.”

The signs must be removed within seven days of an election. That means the roadways should be free of political clutter by next Wednesday.

“As a citizen, you may assist in this effort by removing any signs on or around your property by Nov. 10, 2010. Signs that remain in the right-of-way – requiring city removal – will have the expense of removing the signs charged to the political candidates.”

Call the city’s code enforcement office at (206) 780-3769 to report any political signs remaining after Nov. 10.