(a) Request for Proposal. In selecting a franchisee pursuant to this chapter, the Village Council may prepare a request for proposal to seek bids for a cable communication system to be established under franchise by the Village Council. This request for proposal may contain detailed information and instructions relating to the preparation and filing of proposals, construction and technical standards regarding the installation, operation and maintenance of a cable communications system under the Village's franchise, and the criteria to be used in evaluating applicant proposals.
(b) Application Process.
(1) The Village shall only consider those applications for a franchise that have been submitted on an application form approved by the Village Council. Applications shall only be considered if submitted to the Village Administrator's office prior to any deadline authorized by the Village Council and if accompanied by the application fees set forth in subsection (c) hereof.
(2) Any requests for proposal shall be sent to all operators that have indicated, in writing, an interest in obtaining a franchise.
(3) Any notice soliciting the submission of applications shall be sent to all persons who have previously indicated, in writing, an interest in obtaining a franchise and shall be advertised in a local newspaper of general circulation and at least two national trade magazines. Applications shall be opened no earlier than ninety days after the initial publication date of the newspaper notice.
(4) Distortion, falsehoods or misinformation by an applicant may be grounds for elimination of the proposal if the Village should choose.
(5) Any request for proposal shall clearly state that the Village Council reserves the right to reject any and all bids. The Village shall have the right to negotiate with any person that has submitted a qualified application.
(c) Application Fees.
(1) Applications shall only be considered if accompanied by a cashier's or certified check in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) of which fifty percent of the application fee shall not be refundable in any case.
(2) If any applicant shall withdraw its application or cease to be considered after initial screening, fifty percent of the application fee shall be returned to the applicant without interest. The entire application fee of any applicant which remains under consideration after initial screening shall be nonrefundable.
(3) Revenues from application fees shall be used to offset the cost of consulting services, if any, and administration of the franchise selection process. If the costs of consulting services, if any, and other administrative expenses shall exceed the amount of the application fee, then an applicant to whom a cable communications franchise is awarded shall pay the excess costs and expenses up to a maximum of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000).
(d) Criteria for Selection of Franchisee. Applicants for a cable franchise will be required to furnish information to be evaluated according to the following criteria:
(1) Service priorities. System capability in terms of no cost or low cost telecasting production facilities and service available to municipal and educational institutions, community groups and individuals; system provisions for two-way communications; and the maximum total channels provided by the system.
(2) Installation plan. An installation plan that addresses the flexibility needed to adjust to new developments, maintenance practices and services that would be available to the subscriber and the community upon initial activation and throughout the duration of the franchise.
(3) Rate schedule. Applicant's installation and subscriber rate schedule.
(4) Financial soundness. Evidence of the applicant regarding the following:
A. Its financial ability to assure completion of construction as called for in the application and franchise agreement within eighteen months of the effective date of the franchise.
B. Its ability to obtain all necessary and required permits and authorizations from the Federal, State and local governments.
C. Its ability to sustain and enhance a fiscally sound system throughout the duration of the franchise.
D. Its ability to obtain the performance bond or letter of credit specified in Section 820.09(c) should it be awarded a franchise. Evidence of current financial capability shall include, but not be limited to, the most recent three years' audited or reviewed financial statements of the applicant and of any parent entities, and a copy of the most recent published annual report and 10-K report if the applicant is, or is a subsidiary of, a publicly held company.
(5) Demonstrated experience in operating a cable communications system under local government franchise. The extent to which an applicant has experience in operating a cable communications system under Village or County franchise.
(6) Educational programming. The extent to which the system presents and supports a program whereby the school district and other educational institutions such as Oakland Community College, Oakland University and Birmingham Center for Continuing Education may benefit, utilize and develop educational programs for students and subscribers; the extent to which the system provides an activated two-way system and a plan to interconnect public schools within the school district through a cable communications network
(7) Technical standards. The extent to which the system will meet or exceed all of the technical standards and specifications set forth in the most current FCC Technical Standards Order.
(8) Pay cable services. The extent to which the system offers at least alternate levels of pay cable services, for the purpose of providing a pay cable channel that would offer full service pay cable programming and a distinct pay cable channel that would offer a minipay package designed and marketed for general audience and family viewing.
(9) Interconnection plan. The extent to which the system includes a firm timetable for active interconnection with other political subdivisions in the Detroit Dominant Market Area.
(10) Innovative technology. The extent to which the system offers system technology sufficiently flexible and progressive to adapt to new services, including: home security, energy management, meter reading, home computer for entertainment, educational, business or personal purposes, two-way computer data transmission, internet access, and traffic signalization.
(e) Disclosure Requirements.
(1) Any applicant for a franchise shall file with its application a sworn statement setting forth in such detail as shall be satisfactory to the Village the identification and description of all relationships which such applicants (or any related parties) may then have, or may have had during the year prior to the date of filing of such application, directly or indirectly, with the Village, its employees, agents, servants and/or elected or appointed officials, including, but not limited to, the following:
A. Written or oral arrangements or undertakings of any nature whatsoever, including as vendor, vendee, or the provider of services, credit, or counsel or otherwise;
B. All lending relationships, whether as borrower or lender;
C. All investing relationships, as stockholder, partner, joint venturer, coadventurer or otherwise, or as the entity, vehicle or recipient of such investment;
D. All relationships entailing the granting or holding of security in any property, tangible or intangible, real or personal;
E. All relationships in which any valuable consideration shall have been required, offered, received, paid or extended, whether in cash, in kind or in services, and whether contemporaneous or deferred in whole or in part; and
F. All relationships involving the assertion of any claim of any nature whatsoever, including administrative proceedings or litigation.
(2) Each applicant shall affirmatively undertake to advise the Village during the pendency of the application, and prior to its rejection or acceptance, of any additional such relationships which shall come into being, and of the termination or other material change in any such relationships as shall have been required to be disclosed prior thereto. Each franchisee shall also affirmatively undertake to so advise the Village on a continuing basis, and shall recertify the existence or nonexistence of all such relationships (other than as a franchisee pursuant to this chapter) on each annual anniversary of the franchise agreement under which such franchisee shall derive rights pursuant to this chapter.
(f) Award of Franchise. The Village Council shall award a franchise to an applicant only after a public hearing on the application and proposal, notice of which hearing shall be published in a local newspaper of general circulation at least twenty days before the date of the hearing. Except as otherwise provided in Section 820.06
(b), all contracts granting or giving any original franchise, or extending or amending any existing franchise, shall be made by ordinance, which ordinance shall be thereafter published in the manner prescribed by law.
(g) Franchise Agreement.
(1) An applicant awarded a franchise by ordinance shall execute a franchise agreement, agreeing to the terms and provisions of this chapter. Failure of a selected applicant to execute such an agreement, within thirty days from the Village Council's demand therefor, or to meet any deadlines outlined in the franchise agreement and this chapter for completion of strand mapping, pole agreements, initial ground breaking and all wiring phases, shall be grounds for immediate rescission of the authorizing ordinance, revocation of any rights the applicant may have in the franchise and forfeiture of the applicant's security fund. The franchisee shall, within thirty days after the execution of the franchise agreement, apply for all necessary permits and authorizations for the construction of the cable communications system.
(2) In addition to those matters required elsewhere in this chapter to be included in the franchise agreement, the franchise agreement shall contain the following express representations of the franchisee that:
A. It accepts and agrees to all the enforceable provisions of this chapter and any enforceable supplementary specifications, as to construction, technical standards, operation, maintenance and rate structures, which the Village Council may include in the franchise agreement.
B. It recognizes the right of the Village Council to make lawful amendments to the franchise ordinance during the term of the franchise upon thirty days' notice to the franchisee. If an emergency amendment becomes necessary, the Village Council shall not be required to direct the amendment to the cablecasting board for review, but the franchisee shall be given at least two hours' notice, orally or in writing, of the Village Council meeting at which the emergency amendment is to be considered. It further recognizes and agrees that the Village Council shall not be bound to renew the franchise at the end of any franchise term, except as otherwise provided by law.
C. It recognizes and agrees that it may be considered as a franchisee for the purposes of this chapter.
D. It recognizes and agrees that no franchise shall be exclusive.
(3) The franchise agreement may set forth the specific standards which the franchisee must maintain in respect to signal quality requirements and technical standards of construction, operation and maintenance of the system.
(4) The franchise agreement shall contain such further conditions or provisions as may be negotiated between the Village and the franchisee, except that no such conditions or provisions shall be such as to conflict with any provisions of this chapter or any other law. In the case of such conflict or ambiguity between any terms or provisions of the franchise agreement and this chapter, the words of this chapter shall be deemed to control.
(Ord. 2000-59. Passed 7-10-00.)