(A) The grantee shall construct, install, operate and maintain its system in a manner consistent with all laws, ordinances, construction standards, governmental requirements, and FCC technical standards. In addition, the grantee shall provide the municipality, upon request, a written report of the results of the grantee's annual proof of performance tests conducted pursuant to Federal Communications Commission standards and requirements.
(B) The following additional specifications shall apply:
(1) Construction, installation and maintenance of the cable system shall be performed in an orderly and workmanlike manner. All cables and wires shall be installed, where possible, parallel with electric and telephone lines. Multiple cable configurations shall be arranged in parallel and bundled with due respect for engineering considerations.
(2) The grantee shall at all times comply with the most recent version adopted by the municipality of:
(a) National Electrical Safety Code (National Bureau of Standards);
(b) National Electrical Code (National Bureau of Fire Underwriters);
(c) Bell System Code of Pole Line Construction; and
(d) All other applicable FCC or other federal, state and local regulations.
(3) In any event, the system shall not endanger or interfere with the safety of persons or property in the service area or other areas where the grantee may have equipment located.
(4) Any antenna structure used in the system shall comply with construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structure as required by the United States Department of Transportation.
(5) All working facilities and conditions used during construction, installation and maintenance of the system shall comply with the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
(6) The grantee shall regularly check radio frequency leakage at reception locations for emergency radio services to prove and verify that no interference signal combinations are possible which may disrupt municipal public works, police, fire, or administrative communications, or township, county, or state communications. Stray radiation shall be measured adjacent to any proposed aeronautical navigation radio sites to prove no interference to airborne navigational reception in the normal flight patterns. All applicable FCC rules and regulations shall govern.
(7) The grantee shall maintain equipment capable of providing standby power for headend, transportation and trunk amplifiers for a minimum of four hours.
(8) All towers, antennas, satellite receive stations, cable wiring, service connections, and other exposed equipment located within the service area shall be properly grounded in accordance with the National Electrical Safety Code and the National Electrical Code as now or hereafter amended. Grantee shall also comply with any local ordinance pertaining to the establishment of electrical grounding standards, and with any additional grounding standards established by electric and telephone companies if grantee has arranged to lease pole space from said companions. In the event that grantee has erected wiring and related appurtenances upon poles owned by private parties other than electric or telephone companies, grantee shall comply with provisions of the National Electrical Code. The grantee, at its discretion may properly ground said equipment in such a manner that exceeds normal engineering requirements, provided, however, that such grounding is in compliance with the National Electrical Code.
(9) In all areas of the municipality where the cables, wires and other like facilities of public utilities are placed underground, all cables, wires and other like facilities of the grantee installed after the effective date of the grantee's franchise shall be placed underground. When public utilities relocate their facilities from pole to underground, the grantee shall concurrently do so at no expense to the municipality.
(10) Where the grantee places cabling underground as part of a relocation of cabling, or as an element of new construction or reconstruction of the cable system, the grantee shall utilize directional boring wherever possible.
(C) Plans and permits.
(1) Right to review; briefings.
(a) The municipality shall have the right to review the grantee's construction plans and specifications prior to the commencement of any new construction to assure compliance with the standards specified in this chapter and to inspect all aspects of cable system construction. The municipality shall not, however, be required to review or approve such plans and specifications or to make such inspections, and the municipality specifically disclaims such obligation. The grantee shall be solely responsible for taking all steps necessary to assure compliance with such standards and to ensure that the cable system is installed in a safe manner and pursuant to the terms and conditions of this chapter and the franchise agreement.
(b) Before beginning new construction of, or on any part of, the cable system, the grantee's chief engineer or designated individual shall meet with the municipal administrator, manager or designated individual to provide and explain the grantee's construction plans and work program in detail. Similar briefings shall be held from time to time as deemed necessary by either the municipality or the grantee until the work is completed.
(2) The grantee shall, within 90 days after the effective date of its franchise, furnish to the municipality complete "as-built" plans of the cable system and shall, thereafter, furnish to the municipality amendments to such plans within 45 days after completion of any extension or modification of the cable system. If so requested by the grantee, the municipality shall keep such as-built plans confidential to the extent allowable by law, and shall show such plans only to those employees, contractors or municipality officials who need to see them as a part of their responsibilities to the municipality, or pursuant to their responsibilities for locating utilities. Upon implementation of a municipal Geographic Information System (GIS), the grantee shall provide said "as-built" plans in a digital format which is compatible to the computer systems of the grantee and the municipality.
(3) The grantee shall obtain permits from the municipality before commencing any new construction of or within the cable system, with specific permission being required for the opening or disturbance of any public street or public way within the municipality. The permit application shall include a plan drawn in sufficient detail to demonstrate to the municipality that the cable system will be constructed in accordance with all applicable codes and ordinances. Where cable is to be installed on existing poles, the permit application shall include a drawing showing the existing poles and additional poles, if requested. Without characterizing the violation of other provisions of this chapter, the failure to obtain said permits shall constitute a material violation of this chapter. The grantee also, before the commencement of new construction of, or on any part of, the cable system, shall become and remain a member of the J.U.L.I.E. system, or the utility locating system serving Lake County, Indiana ("Holey Moley"). The grantee may redact any information which it deems proprietary.
(D) All work involved in the construction, operation, maintenance, repair, and removal of the cable system, or any part thereof, shall be performed in a workmanlike manner using materials of good and durable quality. If, at any time, it is determined by the municipality or any other agency or authority of competent jurisdiction that any part of the cable system, including without limitation any means used to distribute signals over or within the cable system, is harmful to the health or safety of any person, then the grantee, at its sole cost and expense, shall promptly correct all such conditions. Any contractor, subcontractor, or other person proposed to be employed for the installation, maintenance, relocation, or repair of cable system equipment or facilities shall be licensed in accordance with applicable laws and shall be thoroughly experienced in the work for which he or she is retained.
(E) The grantee shall at all times comply with the rules and regulations for infrastructure specifications as found in Appendix A of this chapter and any and all rules and regulations enacted or to be enacted by the municipality with reference to construction activity in public streets or public ways. All poles, wires, conduits, cables, equipment, pipes, appurtenances, structures, and other facilities of the cable system shall be installed and located in compliance with all applicable municipal codes and ordinances and the applicable provisions of the franchise so as to cause minimum interference with the rights and reasonable convenience of the general public, all as determined by the municipality in its sole and absolute discretion. Unless the municipality shall in writing waive its right to review plans, no construction or other work relating to such facilities within the public streets and public ways of the municipality shall be commenced until the municipality shall have approved and issued a permit on the plans, specifications and methods for such work. Any such permit may be so conditioned or restricted as deemed necessary by the municipality to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. All such facilities shall at all times be kept and maintained in a safe condition and in good order and repair.
(F) Location of pedestals and vaults.
(1) Pedestals and similar above ground appurtenances.
(a) The municipality has determined that pedestals and similar aboveground appurtenances located on a public street or public way (other than in an alley or as provided in division (c) below or on public property will adversely affect the appearance of the municipality and of the property therein and, accordingly, pursuant to Section 541(a)(2) of the Cable Act, the grantee shall not under any circumstances install or locate a pedestal or any similar above ground appurtenance on any public street or public way (other than in an alley or as provided in division (c) below) or on any public property as a part of any new construction or any relocation or reinstallation.
(b) Pedestals or similar above ground appurtenances may be installed on private property only with the express, prior written consent and permission of the affected property owner or his or her authorized agent, or the duly elected or appointed representative of the affected property; provided, however, that such pedestals or above ground appurtenances shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Municipal Code.
(c) Notwithstanding division (b) above, pedestals or similar above ground appurtenances may be installed within certain utility easements on private property without the consent or permission of the affected property owner provided that:
1. The grantee is lawfully authorized to use such utility easement pursuant to applicable state or federal law;
2. No such pedestal or similar above ground appurtenance may be installed unless, at the time of the desired installation, there exists within the utility easement, a similar above ground appurtenance of another utility company or entity;
3. The grantee's pedestal or similar above ground appurtenance shall be located as close as is practicable to said existing above ground appurtenance; and
4. In the event of an emergency, the grantee shall attempt to contact the property owner or legal tenant in person and shall leave a door hanger notice in the event personal contact is not made.
(2) Vaults.
(a) The grantee shall not install underground vaults on any public street or public way after the effective date of this franchise, except in accordance with and pursuant to the provisions of division (2)(d) below. All underground vaults shall be flush mounted with the surface of the land area.
(b) The grantee shall inform the owner of any private property in the municipality where the grantee contemplates placing a vault on the parkway immediately adjacent to said private property, that the owner has the right to elect between the construction and installation of an underground vault on the owner's private property or on the public street or public way (including, without limitation, the parkway) immediately adjacent to the owner's property. Said notice shall be in writing, in form and substance acceptable to the Municipal Administrator or Manager, and delivered by certified mail or personal delivery to said owner at least 30 days immediately before the commencement of construction on or around the owner's property.
(c) In the event that the owner elects to allow construction and installation of an underground vault on the owner's property, then the owner shall be required to grant the grantee an easement, in form reviewed and approved by the municipality's attorney, allowing for such construction and installation.
(d) In the event that the owner:
1. Elects not to allow construction and installation of an underground vault on the owner's property; or
2. Fails to respond to the election notice delivered by the grantee pursuant to division (2)(b) above within 45 days after the owner receives the notice; or
3. Refuses to grant the grantee the easement pursuant to division (2)(c) above within 30 days after the owner's receipt of an easement document, then the grantee shall be entitled to construct and install an underground vault on the public way (including, without limitation, the parkway) that is immediately adjacent to the owner's property.
(G) Trenching Requirements. The grantee shall excavate all trenches at a depth no less than that required by the National Electrical Code for the installation of drop cable, feeder cable and trunk cable. All open trenches in which work is being performed shall be covered at the end of each working day, and when the trench is not occupied by a work crew, with a wooden covering in a public way, or with a metal covering where work is being performed in a public street. Coverings shall be adequately secured in order to prevent movement of the trench cover which would expose the trench opening.
(Ord. 2000-10, passed 4-10-00)
Penalty, see § 110.999