MATTAPOISETT - The tri-town Boards of Selectmen are forging ahead to renew the contract with ORCTV.

ORCTV receives its funding from Verizon and Comcast franchise fees through an agreement with Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester. The companies pay a sort of rent to the towns in exchange for allowing installation of their cables. The most recent agreement expired in 2014, and since then a new contract has not been renegotiated.

The three boards met with ORCTV representatives at a meeting on Thursday night. Marion Select Chair Norm Hills expressed concern that there is no current contract, and worried about a lack of oversight.

“There are a lot of things we need to sit down and work through so we have some kind of control, other than just sending money,” he said.

ORCTV Station Director Robert Chiarito rejected the idea that the boards have any control over the Board of Directors.

“We’re an independent corporation,” he said. There are members elected to represent each town on the Membership Board, but there is not necessarily a channel of communication between those representatives and the boards of selectmen.

Mattapoisett Selectman Jordan Collyer said that in the most recent contract it stated that the towns are supposed to receive a full review annually from ORCTV. The boards agreed they haven’t received one in a while, but Chiarito said they were available and that the station would be more than happy to start sending them annually.

Chiarito said originally the station had done full audits, but on the advice of the attorney started doing reviews to save money. However, he said he’d be fine with spending the extra money for a full financial audit.

The difference between a review and a full audit is that in a review information is just compiled, but not verified.

“I’d personally like to see an audit,” Rochester Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar said. “Otherwise by the time there’s a problem everyone’s stuck wondering what went wrong. It’s just best practice.”

In addition to a yearly audit, the boards and the station agreed on having the station peer reviewed, just to make sure everything was running as efficiently as possible. The review would be at the cost of the station.

In Mattapoisett, the town runs the government portion of programming instead of ORCTV. Mattapoisett Town Administrator Mike Gagne said having an employee who is also a member of ORCTV has helped create a healthy working relationship.

“There may be some merit in consideration to having someone who would have day-to0day contact with the Town Administrator so they’re in the loop,” he said.

The selectmen of the other towns agreed that a liaison between the towns and the stations might prove helpful.

Chiarito also agreed to posting minutes from the meeting online, as well as keeping selectmen informed as to when meetings are so that they can attend.

“I wholeheartedly invite you,” Chiarito said.

Using the old contract as a draft, the three town administrators are aiming to have a new contract drawn up by the next tri-town selectmen meeting on Oct. 25.