(a) Within thirty days after acceptance of any franchise, the grantee shall proceed with due diligence to obtain all necessary permits and authorizations which are required in the conduct of its business, including, but not limited to, any utility joint use attachment agreements, microwave carrier licenses and any other permits, licenses and authorizations to be granted by duly constituted regulatory agencies having jurisdiction over the operation of cable television systems or associated microwave transmission facilities. In connection therewith, copies of all petitions, applications and communications submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, or to any other Federal or State regulatory commission or agency having jurisdiction in respect to any matters affecting the grantee's cable television operations, shall also be submitted simultaneously to the City Manager.
(b) Within ninety days after obtaining all necessary permits, licenses and authorizations, including right of access to poles and conduits, the grantee shall commence construction and installation of the cable television system.
(c) Within 180 days after the commencement of construction and installation of the system, the grantee shall complete construction of the facilities needed to permit the reception of broadcast signals and the origination of programming within the franchise area. The grantee shall complete construction of a sufficient cable distribution plant to make basic service available to twenty percent of the franchise area at the end of the first year of said commencement date and to make basic service available to an additional twenty percent of the franchise area at the end of each of the succeeding four years, provided, however, that Council may approve exceptions to this standard upon a showing by the grantee of undue hardship or expense. Prior to commencement of construction of the distribution system, the grantee shall submit a construction schedule and map to the City showing in detail the geographic location of the portion of the franchise area to be wired during each of the five construction periods and shall construct the distribution system in accordance with such schedule, as adopted or modified by Council.
(d) Failure on the part of the grantee to commence and diligently pursue each of the foregoing requirements and to complete each of the matters set forth herein shall be grounds for termination of such franchise. The ordinance granting the franchise may contain a provision that, by acceptance of the franchise, the grantee agrees that failure to comply with any time requirements referred to in subsections (a), (b) and (c) hereof will result in damage to the City and that it is, and will be, impracticable to determine the actual amount of such damage in the event of delay, and that the grantee therefore agrees that, in addition to any other damage suffered by the City, such grantee will pay to the City the sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00) per day for each and every day's delay beyond the time prescribed, for completion of any of the acts required to be done by this section.
(e) The grantee shall utilize existing poles, conduits and other facilities whenever possible, and shall not construct or install any new, different or additional poles, conduits or other facilities without first securing the written approval of the Public Works Director, provided that the privilege of the grantee to construct, install or replace any poles, conduits or other facilities in, on or over any street shall at all times be subject to the right of the City, in the exercise of its police power or pursuant to the terms hereof, upon reasonable notice to the grantee, to require that any such conduits or other facilities of the grantee be constructed, installed, placed or replaced beneath the surface of the streets and that any construction, installation, placement, replacement or changes which may be so required shall be made at the expense of the grantee.
(f) The City shall have the right, free of charge, to make additional use, for any public or Municipal purpose, whether governmental or proprietary, of any poles, conduits or other facilities erected, controlled or maintained exclusively by or for the grantee in any street or other public way or public place, provided that such use by the City does not interfere with the use by the grantee.
(g) The grantee shall, at the expense of such grantee, protect, support, temporarily disconnect or temporarily relocate any property of the grantee when, in the opinion of the Public Works Director, the same is required by reason of a highway or street construction change, the establishment of street grade or the installation of sewers, drains or waterpipes.
(h) In the event that the use of any part of the system of the grantee is discontinued for any reason for a continuous period of thirty days, without prior written notice to, and approval by, the City Manager, that any part of such system has been installed in any street or other area without complying with the requirements hereof or that any franchise shall be terminated or cancelled or shall expire, the grantee shall, at the option of the City and at the expense of the grantee and at no expense to the City, promptly remove from any street or other area all property of the grantee, and the grantee shall promptly restore the street or other area from which such property has been removed to such condition as the Public Works Director shall approve, provided that Council may, upon written application therefor by the grantee, approve the abandonment of any of such property in place by the grantee under such terms and conditions as the Council may prescribe. Upon abandonment of any such property in place, the grantee shall cause to be executed, acknowledged and delivered to the City such instruments as the City Legal Counsel shall prescribe and approve, conveying the ownership of such property to the City.
(i) Upon the failure, refusal or neglect of the grantee to cause any work or other act required by law or by this chapter to be completed in, on, over or under any street within any time prescribed therefor, or upon notice given, where notice is prescribed, the Public Works Director may cause such work or other act to be completed, in whole or in part, and upon so doing shall submit to the grantee an itemized statement of the costs thereof, and the grantee shall, within thirty days after receipt of such statement, pay to the City the entire amount thereof.
(j) Unless otherwise provided in any given instance, where any time is prescribed herein for the doing or causing to be done of any act, Council, for good cause, stated in writing, may extend any time for two additional periods of not to exceed ninety days each. Further, the running of any time period specified herein shall be automatically tolled whenever, and so long as, the certificate of compliance issued by the Federal Communications Commission to the grantee is the subject of a petition for stay, petition for review or appeal filed with any United States court.
(1977 Code §11 1/2-110; Ord. 83-2. Passed 2-7-83; Ord. 94-80. Passed 9-19-94; Ord. 2017-56. Passed 7-17-17.)