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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1245 (2001) ORDINANCE NO. 1245 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTIONS 7412 AND 7425 OF THE TUSTIN CITY CODE PERTAINING TO CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS FOR CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS AND PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF STATE LAW The City Council of the City of Tustin hereby ordains as follows: SECTION 1. Pursuant to Government Code Section 53088(p), the City Council hereby amends Chapter 4 of Article 7 of the Tustin City Code pertaining to Cable Television Systems to implement, the customer service standards promulgated by the Federal Communicatibns Commission, 47 .C.F.R. § 76.309, and to adopt, penalties for violations of the California Video Customer Service Act, Government Code §§ 53'088 et seq., the California Cable Television and Video Provider Customer Service and Information Act, Government Code §§ 53054 et seq. SECTION2. Subsection (c) of Tustin City Code Section 7412 is hereby amended to read as follows: ('C) Customer Service Standards. meaning' As used.herein, the following terms have the following (i) Normal business hours--The term "normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve subscribers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one night .per week and/or some weekend hours.' '(ii) Normal operating conditions-The term "normal · operating conditions" means those service conditions which are within the control of the cable operator. Those conditions which are not within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or .unusual weather conditions. Those conditions which are ordinarily within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to., special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system. (iii) Service interruption-The term "service interruption" means the loss of picture or sound on one or more cable channels. Cou.nCil,2) In addition to other service regulations adopted by the City including those in franchise ordinances, and excepting circumstances beyond Grantee's control, such as Acts of God, riots and civil disturbances, the Grantee shall' 140433\3 Ordinance No. 1245 Page 2 (A) Planned Interruptions. Interrupt service only as necessary and for the shortest time possible. Planned interrupti;ons, insofar as possible, shall be preceded by notice given to subscribers twenty-four (24) hours in advance and shall occur during periods of minimum use of the system. (B) Office Hours. Grantee's service office shall be open to receive inquiries or complaints for Subscribers during normal business hours, and in no case less than 9:00' a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, excluding legal holidays, provided, however, that such hours may be lessened upon the prior written consent of the City Manager or designee provided that non-toll telephone service continues to be available during such times. (C) Service Repair Force. Maintain a service repair force sufficient to comply with the standards in (F) for responding to any individual interruption, of service and service install'ations. Additionally, upon complaint by a subscriber, Grantee shall make a demonstration satisfactory to the City Manager or designee, that a signal is being delivered which is of sufficient strength and quality to meet the standards set forth in the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, or in regulations hereafter adopted by the City Council.. (D) Service Log. Keep a service log running, a three (3) year period, which will indicate the nature of each service complaint, its location, the date and time it was received, the disposition of. said complaint, and the' time and' date .thereof. This log shall be made available for periodic inspection b.y the City. Grantee shall provide a copy of this log within ten (10) days of the written, request of the City. (E) Office hours and telephone availability. (i) The Grantee will maintain a lo.cal., toll-free or collect call telephone access line which will be available to its subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (A) Trained company representatives will be available to respond to subscriber telephone inquiries during normal business hours. (B) After normal business hours, the access line may be answered by a service o.r an automated response system, including an answering machine. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day. (ii) Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed' thirty (30) seconds when the connection is made. if the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety (90) percent of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis. -2- 140433\3 Ordinance No. 1245 Page 3 (iii)'- The Grantee will not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards above unless an. historical, record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply. " (iv) Under normal operating conditions, the subscriber will receive a busy signal less than three (3) percent of the time. (v) Customer service center and bill payment locations will be open at least during normal business hours and will be conveniently located. (F) Installations, outages and'service calls. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following four standards will be met no less than ninety five (95) percent of the time measured on a quarterly' basis: (i) Standard installations wi. Il be performed within seven (7) business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are those that are located up to 125 feet from the existing distribution system. (ii) Excluding conditions beyond the control of the Grantee, the Grantee will begin working on "service interruptions" promptly and in no event, later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known. The Grantee must begin actions to correct, other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem. (iii) The "appointment window" alternatives for installations, service calls, and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a four-hour time block during normal business hours. (The Grantee may schedule service callS and' other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the subscriber.) (iv) A Grantee may not cancel an appointment with a subscriber after the close of business on the business day prior to. the scheduled appointment. (.v) if a Grantee representative is running, late for an appointment with a subscriber and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the subscriber will be contacted. The appointment will be rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the subscriber. (G) Communications between a Grantee and subscribers-- (i) Refunds-Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either--. (A) The subscriber's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or' thirty (30) days, whichever is earlier, or -3- 14O433\3 Ordinance No. 1245 Page 4 (B) The return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is' terminated. (ii) Credits--Credits for service will be issued no later than the subscriber's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted. SECTION 3. Subsection (c) and (d) are hereby added to Section 7425 of Tustin City Code to read as follows' (c) Penalties for Grantee's Failure to Comply with State Customer Service Standards Video Customer Service Act. (A) Subject to t.he procedures in subdivision (B) below, and without limiting the City's authority to prosecute the violations of this Chapter pursuant to Chapter 1 of Article 1 of this Code, or pursuant to judicial enforcement of a Grantee's obligations at law or in equity, and without limiting the City's authority to terminate a franchise for cause, instead of any liquidated damages that may be provided for in any franchise hereunder, the City Manager or designee may, with the approval of the City Attorney, impose fines of up to two hundred dollars ($200) for each. day of each material breach of the Customer Service Standards established under the California Video Customer Service Act, Government Code §§ 53088 et seq., not to exceed six hundred dollars ($600) for each .occurrence of material breach. However, where a material breach of any such provision has occurred and the City Manager or designee has provided notice and assessed the foregoing fines, in a subsequent material breach of the same nature occurring within 12 'months, t. he penalties may be increased by the City Manager or designee to a' maximum of four hundred dollars (.$400) for each day of each material breach, not to exceed' twelve hundred dollars ($1,200) for each occurrence of the material breach. Where a third or furt:her material breach of the same nature occurs within those same 12 months, and the City Manager or designee has provided notice and assessed penalties, the penalties may. be increased to a maximum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day of each material breach, not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each occurrence of the material breach. (B) Prior to imposing fines pursuant subdivision (A) above, the City Manager or designee shall give the Grantee written notice of any alleged material breaches of the consumer service standards of the California Video Customer Service Act, Government Code §§ 53088 et seq., and allow the Grantee at least 30' days from receipt of the notice to remedy the specified breach. (C) A material breach for the purposes of asses:sing the fines in subdivision (B) above shall be deemed to have occurred for each day, following the expiration of the. period specified in subdivision (B) above, that any material breach has not been remedied by the Grantee, irrespective of the number of subscribers affected. -4- Ordinance No. 1245 Page 5 (2) Cable Television and Video Provider Customer Service and Information act. (A) Subject to the procedures in subdivision (B) below, and without limiting the City's authority to prosecute the violations of this Chapter pursuant to Chapter 1 of Article 1 of this Code, or pursuant to judicial enforcement of a Grantee's obligations at law or in equity, and without limiting the City's authority to terminate a franchise for cause, instead, of any liquidated damages that may be provided for in any franchise hereunder, the City Manager or designee may, with the approval of the City Attorney, impose fines of up to five hundred dollars ($500) for each year in which the notice required under the California Cable Television and Video Provider Customer Service and Information Act, Government Code §§ 53054 et seq., is not distributed to all subscribers. (B) Prior to imposing the fines pursuant subdivision (A) above, 'the City Manager or designee shall give the Grantee written notice of any alleged failure to distribute to all subscriber the annual notice provided for in subdivision (A) above. If the Grantee distributes this notice to all subscribers within sixty (60) days after receipt of the notice from the City Manager or designee, no penalty shall be imposed upon the Grantee pursuant to subdivision (A). (d) Penalties for third parties violating the provisions of this Chapter Any person not a Grantee convicted of violating the provisions of this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor pursuant to Chapter 1 of Article 1 of this Code. SECTION ,4. If any sect'ion; subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this-ordinance is for any reason held to" be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Tustin hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional. PASSED, AND ADOPTED, at a.regular meeting of the City Council for the City of Tustin on this 1st day of October, 2001. PAMELA STOKER, City Clerk 140433\3 -5- City of Tustin ORDINANCE CERTIFICATION STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS CITY OF TUSTIN ) ORDINANCE N'O. 1245 I, PAMELA STOKER, City Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of the City of Tustin, California, hereby certifies that the 'whole number of the members of the City Council of the City of Tustin. is five; and that the above and foregoing Ordinance No. 1245 had first reading by title only and introduction at the September 17, 2001 City Council meeting and was adopted at the October 1,2001 Council meeting by the following vote: COUNCILMEMBER AYE.'S' Worley, Thomas, Bone, Doyle, Kawashima COUNCILMEMBER NOES' None COUN.CILMEMBER ABSTAINED: None COUNCILMEMBER ABSENT: None Pamela Stoker, City Clerk