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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes May 9, 2006 Page 4 1 value customers. That bill has passed out of both the subcommittee and committee and it looked 2 like it would go to the floor of the House. However, it has been held up because Representative 3 Sensenbrenner has asked for jurisdiction of the bill. Now House leadership is considering what 4 to do with that request. Ms. Wilson asked the Councilmembers to contact the Minnesota 5 delegation as soon as possible to express concerns about this bill. 7 Ms. Wilson stated it had been hoped that the Senate bill would be an improvement and involve a 8 bipartisan approach. Instead Senator Stevens came out with bill on May 1't and it is worse than 9 Senator Barton's bill. In the Stevens' bill, franchises are still awarded by a city but still only 10 have to provide its name and contact information and if the City does not approve in 30 days, it 11 would take effect. Again, the city is not permitted to evaluate the legal, technical, and financial 12 qualifications for operating a franchise in its city. Unlike the Barton bill that says the new entry 13 has to serve at least one subscriber before the incumbent can get rid of their franchise, the 14 Stevens' bill indicates all they have to do is make application. Funding would be 1% but 15 explicitly allows the video provider to deduct from that their cost for operating the institutional 16 network, which may leave nothing. Or if their costs exceed the 1%, they can bill the cities for 17 that cost. With these bills, the rights -of -way appeals again go to the FCC and if they rule against 18 the city and decide the city has been abusive in exercising their power, the FCC can order the 19 city to pay the provider who brought the appeal their attorney fees and all the costs of the 20 Commission's appeal. Again, there is no build out requirement so they can pick and choose 21 where they want to build the system. 22 23 Ms. Wilson advised that hearings on the Senate bill are scheduled for May 18 and 25. She stated 24 it is critical that the City contact Senator Dayton and Senator Coleman and say it is not 25 acceptable, unless the City wants to give up authority of its public rights -of -way. She 26 recommended the City make contact via calls or a -mails instead of mailing a letter. She offered 27 to answer questions and stated she can provide more information, if desired. 28 29 Mayor Faust thanked Ms. Wilson for this presentation, noting the Council has also received 30 information from the League of Minnesota Cities. He stated it is good to broadcast this 31 information tonight to alert customers hearing the broadcast to be aware that service may be lost. 32 33 Ms. Wilson concurred and urged viewers to also call their elected officials. 34 35 Mayor Faust noted that Councilmember Gray is the City's representative to the Cable 36 Commission and stated he appreciate Mr. Gray's work on the City's behalf. He asked if the 37 City's school district does not have fiber. Ms. Wilson stated they only have three schools and 38 installed their own fiber between the schools. She stated she thinks they are also linked to the 39 fiber from the City Hall. 40 41 Mayor Faust advised that he was asked several weeks ago by some young girls who selects the 42 radio channel and music to be played on the City's channel when not broadcasting. Ms. Wilson 43 explained it is probably selected by Ruth Mason or Kim Moore - Sykes, but it is the City's 44 prerogative. However, she would suggest that the City not select a commercial radio station due 45 to copyright issues and the commercials that are broadcast. She explained that St. Anthony uses 46 a digital cable box and can run music from a music service that offers a wide variety of music 47 types.