The city and the City Council hereby appoints the Cable Television Commission as their designate for the following specific purposes only, consistent with and limited to those duties, responsibilities, obligations and powers of the city which may be delegated or conferred, and as set forth in the agreement, and only if not otherwise prohibited or limited by law; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall limit or abridge the inherent power and authority of the City Council to alter, enlarge or eliminate the duties and responsibilities of the Commission in the sole discretion of the Council.
(A) Monitor and advise the Council on the grantee’s compliance with the franchise agreement.
(B) Advise the Council on matters which might constitute grounds for revocation of the franchise under the franchise agreement.
(C) The Commission shall determine the use of otherwise unassigned public channels and set general policy related to the service provided subscribers for the operation and use of all public channels.
(D) Resolve disagreements among franchisees, subscribers, public and private users of the system.
(E) Review, investigate and resolve the complaints of citizens.
(F) Advise the Council on the regulation of rates and make recommendations on requested changes in rates, services or classifications.
(G) Advise the Council on cable franchise renewal, extension or termination.
(H) Encourage the use of access channels by institutions, groups and individuals within the city.
(I) Encourage and supervise interconnection of systems.
(J) Review and report to the Council concerning records and reports which the grantee is required to submit under the franchise agreement.
(K) The Commission shall submit an annual report to the Mayor during the annual budget process.
(L) In order to monitor the grantee’s performance and adherence to the franchise agreement, the city, through the Cable Commission, and the grantee, shall hold a regular review session within 30 days after the second anniversary date of the effective date of the franchise. Subsequent special review sessions shall be scheduled by the Cable Commission as deemed necessary thereafter.
(1) All such review sessions shall be open to the public and notice shall be given by advertisement twice in a newspaper of general circulation at least one week before each session, at the sole expense of the grantee. In addition, grantee shall announce the date and time of each such session on each of at least five days immediately preceding each session at a minimum of six regularly scheduled intervals daily on all line broadcast channels of the cable system.
(2) Topics for discussion and review at both the regular and special review sessions shall include, but shall not be limited to, services provided, rate structure, free or discounted services, application of new technologies, system performance, programming, subscriber complaints, user complaints, rights of privacy, amendments to this agreement, undergrounding processes and developments in the laws.
(3) Either the city or the grantee may select additional topics for discussion at any regular or special review session.
(M) Consideration of the renewal or termination of the franchise agreement and any renewals thereof shall be undertaken by the Commission beginning 18 months prior to the expiration of the initial or any renewal term of this franchise. At that time, the Cable Commission shall review the provisions of this agreement, and shall evaluate the performance of the grantee under this agreement and make a recommendation to Council In making this evaluation, the Cable Commission shall consider several factors including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Technical development and performance of the grantee’s cable system;
(2) Programming (for example, access channels and local origination);
(3) Additional services offered by the grantee;
(4) Cost of service;
(5) All obligations of grantee as prescribed by this agreement, including but not limited to, programming, equipment and personnel available to users for all forms of community communications;
(6) Cable industry performance nationwide; and
(7) Comments from residents and representatives of community organizations submitted in a manner to be determined by the Cable Commission.
(‘68 Code, § 2-1608) (Ord. 593, passed 1-4-83; Am. Ord. 666, passed 11-7-88; Am. Ord. 857, passed 4-17-17)