(A) All facilities of a cable operator shall be located, installed, and maintained so as not to endanger or unnecessarily interfere with usual and customary use, traffic, and travel upon public ways and easements, and according to any public way or easement use standards established by the city.
(B) (1) A cable operator shall construct, operate, maintain, and repair its cable system in compliance with all current technical codes adopted by the city, the state, and the FCC, as are customary to the cable television industry. To the extent that these are inconsistent with other provisions of a franchise, or state or local law, then the more stringent shall govern in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
(2) A cable operator shall obtain all required permits from the city before commencing any work requiring a permit, including the opening or disturbance of any public way.
(3) All facilities of a cable operator shall be installed and located as to cause minimum interference with the rights and reasonable convenience of property owners and at all times shall be kept and maintained in a safe, adequate, and substantial condition, and in good order and repair. The cable operator shall, at all times, employ ordinary care and use commonly accepted methods and devices for preventing failures and accidents which are likely to cause damage, injuries, or nuisances to the public, to include barricades, flags, lights, or other devices as are reasonably required for public safety.
(4) A cable operator shall use existing poles, conduits, and other facilities whenever possible, and shall not construct or install any new, different, or additional poles, conduits, or other facilities on public ways without obtaining all permits required by the city. Any poles or other fixtures placed in any public way by the cable operator shall be placed in such a manner as not to interfere with the usual travel on such public way.
(5) The cable operator shall, at its own expense, restore any damage or disturbance caused to the public way as a result of its operation, construction, or maintenance of the cable system to a condition reasonably comparable to the condition of the public way immediately prior to such damage or disturbance.
(6) If a cable operator’s system creates a hazardous or unsafe condition or an unreasonable interference with property, then the cable operator shall at its own expense voluntarily, or upon request of the city, remove or move, as appropriate, that part of the system that creates the hazardous condition.
(7) A cable operator shall not place equipment where it will interfere with the rights of property owners or with other public utility services or any other service facility that benefits the city or its residents’ health, safety, or welfare.
(8) A cable operator shall, at its expense, protect public ways and easements, and support or temporarily disconnect or relocate in the same public way, any property of the cable operator when necessitated by reason of: traffic conditions, public safety, a street closing, street construction or resurfacing, change or establishment of a street grade, installations of other city utility services, or any improvement, construction, or repair related to health, safety, or welfare. Except in case of emergency, the city shall provide at least ten days’ written notice to the cable operator of the need for a relocation or temporary disconnection. In addition, the city shall have the right to remove any of the cable operator’s facilities in the event of emergency, and no charge shall be made by the cable operator to the city for restoration and repair, unless such acts amount to gross negligence by the city.
(9) If the city elects to alter or change the grade of any public ways, the cable operator upon reasonable notice from the city, shall relocate any portions of its cable system impacted by the city’s public way alterations, at the cable operator’s expense.
(10) A cable operator shall, at the request of any person holding a lawful permit issued by the city, protect, support, raise, lower, temporarily disconnect, relocate in, or remove from the street as necessary any property of the cable operator, provided that the expense of doing so is paid by the person making the request and the cable operator is given reasonable advance written notice to prepare for such changes. The cable operator may require such payment in advance. For purposes of this division (B)(10), “reasonable advance written notice” shall be no less than ten business days in the event of a temporary relocation and no less than 120 days for a permanent relocation.
(11) A cable operator shall have the authority to trim trees in the public way at its own expense as may be necessary to protect its wires and facilities.
(12) In those areas of the city where transmission or distribution of both telephone and power companies are underground or are later placed underground, a cable operator’s feeder and subscriber drops shall also be placed underground. To the extent reasonably possible, a cable operator shall coordinate the joint use of facilities with the telephone and power companies. Subscriber drops shall be buried within a reasonable time period, subject to weather conditions.
(Ord. 4245, passed 9-3-2019)