(1) Any person submitting a proposal for a license shall provide all information required by this chapter and all other information as may be solicited in the city's request for proposals or otherwise required by the city. Any misrepresentation, failure, neglect or refusal to provide any required information may at the option of the city render a proposal invalid and it may be given no consideration. The requested information must be complete and verified as true by the applicant. Every proposal must be submitted as an offer, so that the city may incorporate the proposal into a license agreement by reference and may condition the award of any license upon the incorporation of the proposal into the license agreement.
(2) All proposals received by the city from the applicants shall become the sole property of the city.
(3) The city reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive all informalities where the best interest of the city may be served.
(4) Before submitting a proposal, each applicant shall be solely responsible for and must: (a) examine this chapter and the request for proposal documents thoroughly; (b) be familiar with local conditions that may in any manner affect performance under the license, including but in no event limited to relevant demographics, topographics, pole attachment policies of appropriate utility authorities, undergrounding, and subscriber and user desires; (c) be familiar with federal, state and local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations affecting performance under the license; and (d) carefully correlate all observations with the requirements of this chapter and the request for proposals documents.
(5) The city may make such investigations as it deems necessary to determine the ability of the applicant to perform under the license agreement, and the applicant shall furnish to the city all such information and date for this purpose as the city may request. The city reserves the right to reject any proposal if the evidence submitted by or investigation of such applicant fails to satisfy the city that such applicant is properly qualified to carry out the obligations of the license agreement, comply with the provisions of this chapter, or to satisfactorily construct and operate the system. Conditional proposals shall not be accepted.
(6) In evaluating an application for a license, the city may consider the following factors:
(a) The extent to which the applicant has substantially complied with the applicable law and the material terms of any existing cable license for the city;
(b) Whether the quality of the applicant's service under any existing license in the city, including signal quality, response to customer complaints, billing practices and the like has been reasonable in light of the needs and interests of the communities served;
(c) Whether the applicant has the financial, technical, and legal qualifications to hold a cable license; which qualifications require that the applicant can be relied upon to perform as promised and in accordance with applicable law;
(d) Whether the application satisfies requirements established by the city under this chapter or in an RFP or is otherwise reasonable to meet the future cable-related needs and interests of the community, taking into account the cost of meeting such needs and interests;
(e) Whether, to the extent not considered as part of this Code, the applicant will provide adequate public, educational, and governmental use capacity, facilities, or financial support thereof;
(f) Whether issuance of a license is in the public interest considering the immediate and future effect on the public rights-of-way and private property that would be used by the cable system, including the extent to which installation or maintenance as planned would require replacement of property or involve disruption of property, public services, or use of the public rights-of-way; and the comparative superiority or inferiority of competing applications; and
(g) Whether the approval of the application may eliminate or reduce competition in the delivery of cable service in the city.
If the city finds that it is in the public interest to issue a license considering the factors set forth above, the city may adopt a license ordinance setting forth the terms and conditions of the license, which license shall become effective upon satisfaction of conditions precedent to effectiveness, and when signed and accepted by the applicant. If the city denies a license, it will cause a written explanation of the denial to issue, which may be in any appropriate form. Without limiting its authority to deny an application for a license, the city specifically reserves the right to reject any application that is incomplete or fails to respond to an RFP. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed in any way to limit the discretion and legislative authority of the city council in making decisions relative to the granting, denial, or renewal of license.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent required by federal law, requests for cable license renewal under the Cable Act will be received and reviewed in a manner consistent with Section 626 of the Cable Act, 47 U.S.C. § 546, and every provision of this Chapter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent therewith.
(7) Application fees.
(a) Notwithstanding any other requirement of this chapter, each applicant must furnish with its proposal a nonrefundable filing fee in the amount of seventy-five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) by certified or cashiers check made payable to the City of Tucson. No proposal for a license shall be considered without receipt of such check.
(b) All checks received will be deposited to an account of the city and will serve to recover all expenses incurred by the city in the preparation and granting of the license, the execution of the license agreement and regulation of the licensee pursuant to this chapter. Such expenses shall include but not be limited to any and all publication costs, consultant's expenses and the reasonable value of services performed by the city's employees, agents or contractors.
(c) In the event that expenses exceed the total amount of filing fees collected from the applicants, the applicant awarded the license shall pay to the city (pro rata in the event more than one (1) applicant is awarded a license) the excess amount, not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00) within sixty (60) days of demand by the city.
(8) The decision of the mayor and council concerning licensee selection shall be final.
(Ord. No. 8937, § 2, 9-2-97)