Darrell Laird, manager of CommuniCom Services met with the Branford Town Council Tuesday night as they fired complaints at him.



Council President Joe Pete Cannon, led the firing of complaints at Laird, saying “Our reception is bad, but I understand that you can’t do too much with the stations that come from Jacksonville. But from one end to the other there are a lot of interference.”



One of the office ladies told me lightning struck at lot of places.”



Laird said, “Thomas changed out the pad and it did correct some things. I don’t know of any other isolated situation.” Cannon said, “on your channel 11 there is something wrong. It blurs, but will clear up sometimes, and the lettering runs together.” “It comes from our main facility,” said Laird.



“I get a lot of calls too,” said Councilwoman Shirley Clark. “We do have problems with channel 2 out of Jacksonville.” Laird said, “Jacksonville used to send its signal out to Camp Blanding to Gainesville then to us. But they did away with all the microwaves, because the company that owned it didn’t want it any more. So now you have to pick up Jacksonville channels out of Cox’s tower which is transmitted to us. There’s a lot less tolerance with digital.” Shirley Clark said “We are still not having as good a quality, and we appreciate having cable, but we’re looking at other options. But I can’t see keep paying and paying. We’re going up. Is it going up in price. “Yes, it’s going up at the end of the year,” said Laird. “Annually it goes up,” he said. “We’ve got to have better service than we have,” said Cannon. “It’s no excuse to pay $5l.51 per month and get the type of service. It irritates me when I call your office and they tell me I’m the first one to call and complain when I know that there are others who have called,” Cannon said.



“I was aware of the problem that occurred for three days, but I am not aware of the ongoing problem,” Laird said.



“We are serving the people in the Town of Branford, and we want to have the type of service that Alachua has. I know that you are having a problem, but that’s your problem. I am sorry that you have that problem. When you continually put on that channel, and your not getting it, you can see why we’re complaining,” said Clark.



“Sometimes you just can’t overnight fix them. One time the station had a problem, and one time Cox had a problem. I chose to take that smaller program, and I feel that someone gives you channels that you don’t want to watch. If you offer a smaller package, you should offer some of the better programs,” said Councilwoman Sybil Murray.



Mayor Don Owens, said, “I know we’ve had an extra lot of rain, and I know that rain can affect the reception you have on cable.” “Yes it affects microwave,” said Laird.



“I have an infection in my arm, so I can’t come tomorrow, because I have to go to the hospital. But I will have someone come tomorrow to check out the situation. “There could be something such as a broken cable. We will have someone there tomorrow.” said Laird.