10-11-00 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 11, 2000 areas. The cities can, however, require joint trenching when the companies construct infrastructure. It was pointed out that Little Canada's ordinance requires that new telecommunications infrastructure be constructed underground. Given the financial implications of this requirement, the telecommunications providers may choose not to provide service in Little Canada. Wilson pointed out that enforcing the underground requirement is a public policy decision that Little Canada will have to make balancing the factor of underground versus providing competition. Wilson also pointed out that the City of Shoreview is discussing a canpromise situation of requiring underground installation at major intersections. A meeting will be held with the Public Works Directors of the ten member cities to discuss these issues and try to reach some common parameters for the cities to enforce. Wilson also indicated that she hoped to get more County involvement in this process given the infrastructure construction that would take place on County roads. Pedersen asked about Qwest's involvement in cable TV services. Wilson reported that Qwest could provide cable TV services, but this would require a document similar to the franchise that AT & T has. Wilson pointed out that the law does not allow cities to simply say no to use of the public rights-of--way. Consideration must be given to requests for competitive telecommunications franchises. However, the companies making these requests must meet legal, technical, and financial requirements in order to be granted a franchise. Again, the report on the two competitive franchise applications will be forthcoming over the next few months. The Council thanked Wilson for her presentation. WATER The Council reviewed the request of Susan Nelson, 2995 Vanderbie AVAILABILITY Street, for waiving the water availability charge resulting from the CHARGE connection of her home to City water. It was noted that Nelson reported that had she known about the $300 water availability charge, it would have made a difference in her decision to connect to City water. Council discussed the fact that Nelson indicated that her option would have been to replace the pump on her well, and that the expense for pump replacement varied greatly depending on the type of pump involved.