A franchise issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to constitute a contract between the grantee and the County. Each grantee shall be deemed to have contractually committed itself to comply with the terms, conditions, and provisions of the franchise documents, and with all rules, orders, regulations, and determinations applicable to the franchise which are issued, promulgated, or made pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. The regulatory authority conferred by the provisions of this chapter, including the power to amend the provisions of this chapter, as reserved under Section 11-1.404 of this article, shall constitute as reserved authority under the contract.
All terms, conditions, and provisions of the contract shall be deemed to be embodied in the franchise documents, and conflicts in the terms, conditions, or provisions of the franchise documents shall be resolved as follows:
(a) The express terms of this chapter shall prevail over conflicting or inconsistent provisions in any other franchise document.
(b) The express terms of the ordinance offering the franchise shall prevail over conflicting or inconsistent provisions in any other franchise document, except the express terms of this chapter.
(c) The express terms of the request for proposals shall prevail over conflicting or inconsistent provisions in either the application for the franchise or the certificate of acceptance of the franchise.
(d) The express terms of the application for the franchise shall prevail over the inconsistent or conflicting provisions in the certificate of acceptance of the franchise.
The provisions of the franchise documents shall be liberally construed in order to effectuate the purposes and objects thereof. Prior to the initial enactment of this chapter, the provisions of this chapter were developed pursuant to public hearings conducted for the purpose of receiving comments from the citizenry, operators interested in applying for a franchise in meetings with staff and through the submission by the operators of public oral and written comments, and the submission of independent staff recommendations. Operators interested in applying for a franchise have either directly or indirectly made it clear that any ordinance must contain minimum terms satisfactory to the operators in order to induce their interest in applying for a franchise. The franchise documents shall not be construed to constitute a contract of adhesion. (§ 1, Ord. 961, eff. October 27, 1983)