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COMCAST <br />FRANCHISE <br />RENEWAL <br />MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP MEETING <br />CITY COUNCIL <br />LITTLE CANADA, MINNESOTA <br />JULY 25, 2012 <br />Pursuant to due call and notice thereof a workshop meeting of the City <br />Council of Little Canada, Minnesota was convened on the 25th day of <br />July, 2012 at the City Center located at 515 Little Canada Road in said <br />City. <br />Mayor William Blesener called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and the <br />following members of the City Council were present at roll call: <br />CITY COUNCIL: Mayor <br />Council Member <br />Council Member <br />Council Member <br />Council Member <br />ALSO PRESENT: <br />City Administrator <br />Exec. Dir, CTV <br />Cable TV Producer <br />City Clerk <br />Mr. Bill Blesener <br />Ms. Shelly Boss <br />Mr. John Keis <br />Mr. Mike McGraw <br />Mr. Rick Montour <br />Mr. Joel Hanson <br />Ms. Cor Wilson <br />Ms. Vanessa Van Alstine <br />Ms. Kathy Glanzer <br />Cor Wilson, Executive Director, North Suburban Communications <br />Commission, appeared before the Council to provide an update on the <br />cable TV franchise renewal with Comcast. Wilson reported that there is <br />both an informal and formal process for the franchise renewal. The <br />informal process provides for a negotiated franchise renewal while the <br />formal is a legal process that can commence even while the informal <br />process is underway. Wilson reported that the process is currently <br />informal, but in preparation for the formal process, the cable commission <br />hired consultants to conduct both a technical audit as well as a needs <br />assessment. The technical audit looks at the existing system, and the <br />biggest issue that discovered with that audit is that there are over 300 code <br />violations or problems with Comcast's system within the public rights -of- <br />way as well as some poor technical quality on some of the channels. A <br />letter has been sent to Comcast requesting correction of these issues. A <br />response was received, and Wilson indicated that the cable commission is <br />working through that response. The needs assessment looks forward to <br />determine long term needs and some of those identified include the need <br />for high definition, video on demand, program information on the channel <br />guide, equipment replacement to name a few. <br />Wilson reported that the process also includes an audit of the franchise <br />fee. She noted that one of the biggest issues in this area is Comcast's <br />