There is hereby provided and reserved to the County every right and power which is required to be by this chapter reserved or provided by any provision of any law of the County in its exercise of any such right or power.
(a) Neither the granting of a franchise nor any provision of this chapter shall constitute a waiver or bar to the exercise of any governmental right or power of the County, including the regulation of subscription rates as permitted by law.
(b) Nothing in this chapter and/or in the franchise shall be deemed or construed to impair or affect, in any way, to any extent, the right of the County to acquire the property of the grantee, either by purchase or through the exercise of the right to eminent domain, at a fair and just value, which shall not include any amount for the franchise itself or for any of the rights or privileges granted thereby, and nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to contract away or to modify or abridge, whether for a term or in perpetuity, the County’s right of eminent domain.
(c) There shall be reserved to the County every right and power which is required to be reserved or provided by law, and the grantee, by its acceptance of the franchise, agrees to be bound thereby and to comply with any action or agreement of the County in its exercise of such rights or powers theretofore or thereafter enacted or established.
(d) The County hereby reserves to itself the right to intervene in any suit, action, or proceeding involving any provision of this chapter and/or the grantee’s franchise. The Board may do all things which are necessary and convenient in the exercise of its jurisdiction under this chapter and/or the grantee’s franchise and may determine any question of fact which may arise during the existence of any franchise granted. The County Administrator and the County Counsel, with the approval of the Board, are hereby authorized and empowered to adjust, settle, or compromise any controversy or charge arising from the operations of any grantee under a franchise, either on behalf of the County, the grantee, or any subscriber, in the best interests of the public.
(e) The County, at its option, when for sufficient cause as deemed by the County Administrator, may require that the annual proof-of-performance test, addressed in Article 8 of this chapter, be conducted or observed by a qualified member of the County’s staff or its designated representatives, associated with County-observed performance tests, conducted at County selected test points, and to a greater number of test points than the minimum required by Section 76.601 of the FCC Rules.
(f) Any delegable right, power, or duty of the Board, the County, or any official of the County may be transferred or delegated to an appropriate officer, employee, department, or body designated by the County.
(g) The County reserves the right to negotiate other reasonable technical and operational performance standards for system franchises granted pursuant to this chapter. The grantee shall have the duty to negotiate in good faith with the County.
(h) The County reserves the right to enact reasonable regulations pertaining to franchises granted pursuant to this chapter which may include, but are not limited to:
(1) The construction and use of poles;
(2) The use of poles and conduits by the County;
(3) Common users;
(4) Filing of pole user agreements;
(5) The reservation of street rights;
(6) The restoration of streets;
(7) The movement of facilities; and
(8) The trimming of trees.
(i) The County reserves the right to further regulate the conduct of the grantee in regard to the privacy and property rights of private citizens. Such regulations may include, but are not limited to, the security of all records by the grantee containing privacy sensitive information, personnel practices relating to such records, and any other matters related to privacy and individual rights.
(j) The County reserves the right to establish a cable communications advisory committee and cable communications area advisory commissions to assist the Board in regulating cable activity in the County. The members and duties of any such committee or commissions, if any, shall be established by the Board.
(k) Should the State, or any agency thereof, or the Federal government, or agency thereof, subsequently require the grantee to act in a manner which is inconsistent with any provision of this chapter, the franchise ordinance, or associated resolutions and orders, the grantee shall so notify the County. Upon the receipt of such notification, the County shall determine if a material provision of the franchise is affected. Upon such determination, the County shall have the right to modify or amend any of the sections of the franchise to such reasonable extent as may be necessary to carry out the full intent and purpose of this chapter or the franchise ordinance. In the event the original proposed terms of the franchise have been frustrated by such State or Federal requirement, the grantee shall renegotiate in good faith with the County a new franchise agreement. The County may terminate the franchise in the event it determines that no satisfactory new franchise agreement can be reached.
(l) No grantee nor any major stockholder of the grantee shall directly or indirectly with the County use the position as cable grantee to gain a competitive advantage in the business of selling, leasing, renting, servicing, or repairing radio or television sets, or other receivers or parts thereof, or data access and transfer equipment which make use of entertainment and information signals; provided, however, nothing set forth in this subsection shall prevent the grantee from making modifications to the tuner input circuit of the subscribers’ communications transmitters and/or receivers, and the fine tuning of the customers’ operating controls only, to ensure proper operation under conditions of cable connection at the time of installation, or in repairing receivers and other equipment belonging to other cable system operators for use in the conduct of their businesses.
(m) The County shall have the right, free of charge, of installing, maintaining, and operating upon antenna towers and poles, or in underground ducts of the grantee, the antennas, amplifiers, coaxial cable, wire, fixtures, and appurtenances necessary for a County communications system provided such equipment is installed, maintained, and operated so as not to interfere with the property or operations of the grantee, and that the grantee shall not be responsible for any damage without his fault resulting to the signs, wires, cables, or property of the County from such use by the County.
(n) The grantee shall manage all of its operations in accordance with a policy of totally open books and records. The County shall have the right to inspect at any time during normal business hours, at the local parent corporation offices of the grantee, all books, records, maps, plans, income tax returns, financial statements, service complaint logs, performance test results, and other like materials of the grantee which relate to the operation of the grantee. Access to such records shall not be denied by the grantee on the basis that such records contain “proprietary” information.
(o) Copies of all petitions, applications, communications, and reports submitted by the grantee to the Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, or any other Federal or State regulatory commission or agency having jurisdiction in respect to any matters affecting cable communications operations authorized pursuant to the franchise shall also be submitted simultaneously to the grantor. Copies of responses or any other communications from the regulatory agencies to the grantee shall likewise be furnished simultaneously to the grantor.
(p) Any intrastate intercommunication of interactive services between the system operated by the grantee and any other system shall be subject to the regulatory authority of the County.
(q) The reservation of any particular right shall not be construed to limit the promulgation of other reasonable rules and regulations. (§ 1, Ord. 961, eff. October 27, 1983)