(a) A grantee and the city shall make good-faith efforts to work together to prescribe reasonable standards governing the nature, extent and type of accounting system and accounting procedures utilized by a grantee for the purposes of promoting the efficient administration of the franchise fee requirement of this franchise and which are consistent general accounting standards.
(b) A grantee agrees, by acceptance of a franchise, that the city, upon 30 days’ written notice to a grantee, may during the term of a franchise, but not more frequently than once each year, conduct an audit of the books, records and accounts of a grantee for the purpose of determining whether a grantee has paid franchise fees in the amounts prescribed herein. The notice shall specifically reference the section of this chapter and/or the franchise to be reviewed so that a grantee may organize the necessary books and records for easy access by the city. The audit may be conducted by the city or by an independent certified public accounting firm retained by the city and shall be conducted at the sole expense of the city. The party conducting the audit shall prepare a written report containing its findings and the report shall be filed with the city and mailed to the city and the grantee. A grantee shall make available for inspection by authorized representatives of the city, its books, accounts and all other financial records at reasonable times and upon reasonable advance notice for the purpose of permitting exercise of the authorities conferred by this section. A grantee shall not be required to maintain any books or records for franchise compliance purposes longer than three years. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth herein, and subject to the requirements of the state’s Government Records Management Act (GRAMA), SDCL Chapter 1-27, grantee shall not be required to disclose information that it reasonably deems to be proprietary or confidential in nature, nor disclose books and records of any affiliate that is not providing cable service in the service area. The city agrees to treat any information disclosed by a grantee as confidential and only to disclose it to employees, representatives and agents thereof that have a need to know, or in order to enforce the provisions hereof. A grantee shall not be required to provide subscriber information in violation of § 631 of the Cable Act.
(1992 Code, § 44-68) (Ord. 104-09, passed 11-16-2009)