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Home My WebLink About14 URG ORD AT&T 09-16-02AGENDA REPORT NO. 14 09-16-02 400-10 MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 16, 2002 "~~ TO: FROM: SUBJECT: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT/ENGINEERING DIVISION ADOPTION OF URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 1259 EXTENDING A CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE WITH MEDIA ONE OF LOS ANGELES, INC., DBA AT&T BROADBAND FOR THIRTY DAYS SUMMARY The City has completed a thorough review of AT&T Broadband's compliance with Franchise requirements and concluded that certain deficiencies require corrective action. The City has issued corrective notices to AT&T Broadband and is awaiting an adequate response. The Franchise will expire on October 5, 2002. Staff is recommending that the City Council approve a thirty day Franchise extension from October 5, 2002 to November 5, 2002 in order to review and consider any response by AT&T. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 1259 extending a Cable Television Franchise with Media One of Los Angeles, Inc., dba AT&T Broadband for thirty days. FISCAL IMPACT Extension of the Franchise Agreement will insure the continued collection of Franchise fees by AT&T Broadband. BACKGROUND In the fall of 2001, the City retained the services of Telecommunication Management Corp. (TMC) to thoroughly review all aspects of Media One's (AT&T Broadband) compliance with City Franchise requirements and with other applicable laws. This analysis included the following: · Customer Survey · Franchise Compliance Audit · Franchise FeeAudit · Proof of Performance Review · Physical Plant Inspection The Franchise Fee Audit revealed that AT&T Broadband may owe the City the sum of $14,976.00 through March 1, 2002, because fees for recovered bad debt and cable modem fees for the second half of 2000 were not included. The City directed AT&T Broadband to remit a check to the City for the unpaid Franchise fee plus interest. AT&T Broadband Urgency Ordinance No. t259 September 16, 2002 Page 2 The physical plant inspection determined that AT&T Broadband is in violation of the various statutory and regulatory provisions of the California Electrical Code, Health and Safety Code § 18938(b), Tustin City Code §§ 7418(h) & 8400, and California Public Utilities General Order Nos. 95 & 128. AT&T Broadband was further directed to deliver to the City a written report describing its corrective action plan for the identified locations and estimated time for completion of the work. Staff also notified AT&T Broadband that a follow up inspection of the corrections will be conducted by the City's consultant to confirm compliance, at AT&T Broadband's expense. While AT&T Broadband has responded in writing to the various notices, staff has not received adequate or complete responses to these notices. AT&T Broadband has not acknowledged that the violations even exist and has submitted a plan that provides immediate random inspections for less than 100 subscribers. Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council adopt an urgency ordinance to extend the Franchise for another thirty days so that the City can receive further information from AT&T Broadband in response to these notices and determine whether the outStanding issues can be satisfactorily resolved and the franchise renewed, or whether denial of the Franchise is appropriate. The current Franchise extension expires on October 5, 2002. This extension will move the expiration date to November 5, 2002. Tim D. Serlet Director of Public Works/City Engineer TDS:JM:ccg:Tustin Media One-A'Ir Broadband Franchise Ext. ~4.doc ~s Manager 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ORDINANCE NO. 1259 AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, EXTENDING A CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE WITH MEDIA ONE OF LOS ANGELES, INC., DBA AT&T BROADBAND FOR THIRTY DAYS UNTIL NOVEMBER 5, 2002. WHEREAS, Media One of Los Angeles, Inc., dba AT&T Broadband ("Media One") holds a non-exclusive cable television Franchise in the City of Tustin (the "City") as successor-in-interest to Continental Cablevision, Inc., pursuant to Ordinance No. 1002; and WHEREAS, Media One's Franchise expired July 6, 2002 pursuant to Section 4 of Ordinance No. 1002; and WHEREAS, the City granted an extension to Media One's Franchise on June 17, 2002 to expire on August 5, 2002 pursuant to Urgency Ordinance No. 1254; and WHEREAS, the City granted an extension to Media One's Franchise on August 5, 2002 to expire on September 5, 2002 pursuant to Urgency Ordinance No. 1256; and WHEREAS, the City granted an extension to Media One's Franchise on September 3, 2002 to expire on October 5, 2002 pursuant to Urgency Ordinance No. 1258; and WHEREAS, the City has completed a thorough review of Media One's compliance with the Franchise, Municipal Code, State and Federal requirements and concluded that certain deficiencies require corrective action; and WHEREAS, the City has issued corrective notices to Media One and is awaiting a satisfactory response; and WHEREAS, Tustin City Code § 7415(c)(6) provides that the City Council shall grant cable television Franchises by ordinance; and WHEREAS, this urgency ordinance is necessary for the immediate protection of the public health, welfare, and general safety in that the extension of Media One's Franchise is necessary to: regulate Media One's access to the public rights-of-way which may conflict with the public use thereof; insure correction of defective electrical connections to residential, commercial and industrial buildings; continue to provide local access channels for government and emergency information; regulate subscriber service; and insure accurate and complete franchise payments. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. FRANCHISE EXTENSION. The cable television Franchise granted to Media One of Los Angeles, Inc., dba AT&T Broadband pursuant to Ordinance No. 1002 and extended for 30 days by Urgency Ordinance No. 1259 hereby extended for thirty (30) days to expire on November 5, 2002. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Ordinance No. 1259 Page 2 SECTION 2. URGENCY. This urgency ordinance is necessary for the immediate protection of the public health, welfare, and general safety in that the extension of Media One's Franchise is necessary to: regulate Media One's access to the public rights-of-way which may conflict with the public use thereof; insure correction of defective electrical connections to residential, commercial and industrial buildings; continue to provide local access channels for government and emergency information; regulate subscriber service; and insure accurate and complete franchise payments. SECTION 3. SEVERABILITY. If any section, subsection, subdivision, 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 hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase, or portions thereof be declared invalid or unconstitutional. PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Tustin held on the 16th day of September, 2002. Jeffery M. Thomas, Mayor Pamela Stoker City Clerk