Agenda Packets - 2017/09/25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 9.A. M7 �� T7�r Meeting Date: September 25, 2017 OLII:TDS V iL' �Y Type of Business: Council Business Administrator Review: City ofMounds Uiew StaffRe ort To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Mike Bradley, Attorney for the North Suburban Communications Commission (NSCC) Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing, Introduction and First Reading of Ordinance 937 an Ordinance Granting a Franchise to Comcast of Minnesota, Inc., D/B/A Comcast to Construct, Operate, and Maintain a Cable Communications System in the City of Mounds View; Setting Forth Conditions Accompanying the Grant of the Franchise; Providing for Regulation and Use of the System and the Public Rights -Of -Way in Conjunction with the City's Right -Of -Way Ordinance, if any, and Prescribing Penalties for the Violation of the Provisions Herein; Introduction: The City of Mounds View is a member of North Suburban Communications Commission (the "NSCC"), a municipal joint powers entity formed by nine member cities. The NSCC administers the cable franchises that each member city has with Comcast and CenturyLink. The current Comcast cable franchise was granted in 1998 for a fifteen year term. Comcast and the NSCC commenced initial informal negotiations in 2011. Informal negotiations did not result in an agreement and led to the parties following the formal cable franchise renewal process set forth in federal law. That process included the NSCC conducting a formal needs ascertainment and issuing a request for renewal proposal to Comcast. Comcast submitted a formal renewal proposal. After holding a public hearing on the renewal proposal, the member cities, upon the recommendation of the NSCC, made a preliminary decision not to renew the Comcast franchise. Comcast and NSCC sent the matter on to the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings ("OAH") to have an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") hear the matter and prepare a recommendation to the NSCC on whether to renew the Comcast franchise. While the matter was pending before OAH, Comcast and the NSCC agreed to recommence informal cable franchise negotiations. These negotiations resulted in the attached Comcast cable franchise agreement, which the NSCC has recommended for adoption by the City. The NSCC also held a public hearing on behalf of its member cities on August 3, 2017.