CC MINUTES 05261998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 26, 1998 Page 3 1 Mayor Ranallo stated he had received many favorable comments on the event and encouraged 2 Mr. Morris to encourage other scouts to continue the event in the future. Ranallo stated it was 3 better to hold the Safety Fair and the other event separately as the Safety Fair provided an 4 opportunity to demonstrate what scouting is actually about. 5 Thuesen encouraged Mr. Morris to talk with other scouts and encourage them to hold the event 6 next year. This event has the potential to grow and expand. 7 8 B. Discussion on New Cable TV Ordinance by Tom Creighton and Cor Wilson. 9 Cor Wilson, Executive Director of the North Suburban Cable Commission, stated this has been a 10_ three-year process as is required by Federal Law. In 1995, Meredith Cable notified the Cable 11 Commission of their intent and the Commission established a Franchise Renewal Committee. 12 This Committee consisted of a representative from Roseville,the City Manager of Shoreview, an 13 individual from Little Canada and a representative of Falcon Heights. 14 Early in 1996, Meredith Cable announced it's sale to Continental Cable. The Franchise Renewal 15 Committee then decided to hire a firm to conduct an extensive Needs Assessment of the entire 16 community. This Needs Assessment continued through the entire year of 1996. The report was 17 submitted in 1997 and the negotiations were initiated. Ms. Wilson explained that the focus of the negotiations was to obtain an upgraded operative system, an institutional network, high speed data transmission and community television. In the midst of this, Continental sold to U.S. West. 20 Subsequently, U.S. West was required to divest itself of property in the State of Minnesota and 21 they then announced the sale of the franchise to Charter. 22 Ms. Wilson distributed a summary of the Cable Company Franchise Renewal Proposal and noted 23 that these issues were incorporated into the new Cable Franchise Ordinance. She noted that the 24 new owner of the franchise is Media One. 25 Bob Vose, Attorney and Assistant to Tom Creighton, explained the highlights of the legal issues 26 of the new Cable Ordinance: 27 1. Currently the Cable Commission collects 5%of the franchise fee. There have been 28 disputes in regard to which services should be included in the gross revenue for purposes 29 of determining the 5%. There was concern that with the significant updates to this 30 system, the company would be offering many new services which would not be included 31 in the gross revenue. The company has however, agreed to include all services with the 32 gross revenue. 33 2. The franchise term is 15 years. This length of term is common in the industry and the 34 cities will be obtaining the state of art equipment. The company has stated that since the 35 equipment is so much more expensive, they require a longer term to amortize the funds. 3. The company is committed to complete significant rebuild by November 30, 2000. This 40 is a fairly rapid upgrade for the magnitude of the improvements.