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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - City Council - 1994 - 03/01 - Special CalledALLEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALLED PUBLIC HEARING CABLE TV TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1994 7:00 P.M. ALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY MEETING ROOM Present: Joe Farmer, Mayor Councilmembem: Kevin Lilly, Mayor Pro Tem Mickey Christakos David Bishop Mike Nichols Steve Terrell Sharon Hamner City Stati: Jon McCarty, City Manager Judy Morrison, City Secretary Call to Order and Announce a Ouorum is Present (Agenda Item I) With a quorum of the Councilmembers present, the Special Called Public Hearing of the Allen City Council was called to order by Mayor Farmer at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, 1994, in the Library Meeting Room of the Allen Public Library, Two Allen Civic Plaza, Allen, Texas. Introductory Comments Reearding Cable TV (Agenda Item II) City Manager Jon McCarty indicated that the purpose of this public hearing is for the Allen City Council to receive input prior to considering a new cable television franchise agreement Mr McCarty reviewed the general procedures for the public hearing and discussed certain definitions such as "franchise agreement," "current franchisee," "local rate regulation" and "FCC regulation " Mr McCarty also discussed the background of the current cable system which was constructed in the early 1980's and the progression to the present time when in November of 1993 the City of Allen was certified to regulate ways for basic service by the FCC. Generally, issues fall into several categories such as quality of service, which includes response to customer complaints, signal quality, outages, and channel capacity Quality of programming is not necessarily a relevant issue in the renegotiation process. However, past performance of the franchisee will play a major role in the design of the new agreement and in the determination of the franchisee's ability to provide service in the ALLEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALLED PUBLIC HEARING ' MARCH 1, 1994 PAGE 2 future. Future community table TV needs will also be addressed in the new agreement and concerns regarding governmental and public access channels and future channel capacity will be helpful to be considered. The City of Allen has been asked to provide a portion of a questionnaire to be developed by the Community Education Advisory Council to approximately 400 randomly selected homes in Allen. A one-page survey questionnaire will be developed by the City to gain additional information regarding cable TV in Allen. A most recent ruling by the FCC has extended the rate freeze and the City is looking at a reduction in the benchmark rates of approximately 17% However, it will be in late March before the City will receive a final amount on this figure. Public Hearing on Proposed Franchise Amendments Concernine Cable TV (Agenda Item III) The following individuals did not speak to the Council but provided written comments regarding cable TV Mark Davis, 805 Rockcrossing Lane, Allen, TX, Arthur Wdmoth, 550 Gillespie Drive, Allen, TX, Scott Smith, 1207 Collin, Allen, TX; David Hilgert, 526 Cedar Elm, Allen, TX; Paul Boyett, 1510 Home Park Drive, Allen, TX; Suzanne Kessler, 518 Fairhaven Drive, Allen, TX, Douglas Crain, 1009 Alameda Court, Allen, TX, Dorothy J Howard, 1001 Rockefeller, Allen, TX, Or Ben K. Howard, 1001 Rockefeller, Allen, TX, Choo Lee, 719 Fawn Valley Drive, Allen, TX, Lois Attard, 14 Harper Drive, Allen, TX; Douglas Dreggors, 811 Sunnyslope, Allen, TX; P D Thomas, P 0. Box 13, Allen, TX; Launnda Anderson, 1517 Country Lane, Allen, TX, Bill and Argel Landers, 1003 Fairlawn, Allen, TX, Wayne Hendricks, P O. Box 13, Allen, TX, David Olson, Carol Smith, Jon Pomroy and Robert Bradford, in conjunction with the AISD, Allen, TX; and Glen Shake, 1002 Hopkins Drive, Allen, TX Mayor Farmer read the request into the record as follows: "Public Hearing on Proposed Franchise Amendments Concerning Cable TV " Mayor Farmer opened the public hearing and asked for anyone speaking either for or against the request to do so at this time. Bill Costello, 1209 High Meadow, Allen, TX, 214/727-8221 Would like "after hours" service Poor signal quality — not certain if it is local or if it is what TCI Cable receives Desires more channel capacity Glen Shake, 1002 Hopkins Drive, Allen, TX, 214/390-1968 TCI indicates this Council provides in the franchise fee basic and optional service charges which indicates a conflict of interest in that the higher the charge, the more franchise fee that is paid to the City TCI Cable indicated that the Council proposed all of the changes Exculpatory policies are unfair and illegal and needs to be dealt with ALLEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALLED PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 1, 1994 PAGE 3 Julie Gyger, 1215 RamForest Lane, Allen, TX, 214/727-9799 Capacity is lacking; had information from Farmer's Branch, Dallas and The Colony with much larger channel capacity Omer Goodman, 1404 Clover Drive, Allen, TX, 214/727-4900 Channel capacity needs to be guaranteed in the new franchise Need enhanced customer service response time and complaint resolution Confusion regarding basic and expanding basic costs Reed Bennett, 747 Whitman Drive, Allen, TX, 214/390-9485 Channel capacity More selectivity such as comedy channel, MTV and videoplex Public service channel such as the Parks channel --video of Ford, Bethany Lakes, etc Mark Crake, 521 Cumberland Drive, Allen, TX, 214/727-8675 TCI Cable customer service is always an adversarial relationship Channel capacity is not necessary lust for the sake of having additional channels — need improved choices Barry Cohen, 1322 Rocky Creek Lane, Allen, TX, 214/727-6215 Channel capacity Questioned validity of the recent TCI survey Service only during the day is difficult to respond to TCI does not respond to the needs of the community Wallace Burns, 1321 Rocky Creek, Allen, TX, 214/390-7462 Commented on the arrogance of the employees and the company as a whole Will charge a "late charge" immediately whereas "refunds" are not handled for months Expanded channel capacity QUESTION: ARE BIDS GOING OUT TO OTHER CABLE COMPANIES? QUESTION: WHY ARE RATES AS HIGH AS THEY ARE? TCI DOES NOT CONFORM ON A COMPETITIVE BASIS WITH OTHER COMPANIES IN TEXAS OR OUTSIDE OF TEXAS. QUESTION. WHY CAN'T THE CITY DESIGN A SHORT-TERM CONTRACT RATHER THAN A LONG- TERM CONTRACT? Reggie Mason, 901 Roaring Springs, Allen, TX, 214/727-5072 Slow to respond Community access — would like special two-hour broadcast on special events, religion? Channel capacity Signal quality very weak Unable to receive a copy of the survey ALLEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALLED PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 1, 1994 PAGE 4 Brian Attard, 14 Harper Drive, Allen, TX, 214/727-9751 Advised the use of a benchmark process by using contracts from various TCI cities that already exist Cautioned against locking into a long-term agreement since five (5) years from now the Cable TV may be totally out-of-date Develop a matrix and determine the "best" in class and price so that we can take advantage of the best system available Develop into the franchise a benchmark for basic customer satisfaction and quality expected by the citizens of the City of Allen Be careful with an adversarial approach — it would be better to provide a "win-win" situation Eric Liepins, 15 Wooded Lane, Allen, TX, 214/390-1070 Parameters should be built into the franchise to request cable into new subdivisions; the Woods' unable to receive cable at the present time I Mark McPherson, 9 High Point Drive, Allen, TX, 214/390-9222 Although cable was promised approximately two (2) years ago, his street still does not receive cable even though homes immediately adjacent to the area are wired for cable We need to request a short-term contract since flexibility is a necessity in this particular market Stephen Hicks, 806 Country Lane, Allen, TX, 214/390-7548 Has recently canceled his cable Neighboring cities are constantly adding services and channels Customer service is a major problem Requested the weather/radar station Channel capacity Jeff Cocking, 1312 Thoreau, Allen, TX, 214/727-4193 Need a service level agreement Possible two-hour return on customer complaints Do quality checks Signal quality should be measured Outages, especially prime -time, should be considered in benchmark communication; certain channel capacity should be guaranteed; the franchisee should reinvest a certain percentage of the money back into the city Should provide equipment and training to people in Allen for use of the public access channels Mike Tatachar, 1304 Petunia Drive, Allen, TX, 214/727-2898 Would like the fiber -optics current status with TCI Cable QUESTION: IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL TO PUBLISH THE PROPOSED AGREEMENT BEFORE IT IS AGREED UPON' ALLEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALLED PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 1, 1994 PAGE 5 Judy Htlgert, 526 Cedar Elm, Allen, TX. 214/390-9693 Poor customer service Empty promises Upset with channel droppings Is requesting a new cable company who does cue for the citizens Suzanne Kessler, 518 Fairhaven Drive, Allen, TX Cable notations in the newspaper are not correct Would like availability of religious programming With no one else speaking either for or against the request, Mayor Farmer closed the public hearing Council expressed appreciation for the many excellent comments and stated that they will be categorized and many of the questions will be addressed and information provided to everyone who was present. A second public hearing is being planned prior to the actual approval of a franchise agreement at this time. QUESTION. IF TCI CAN CHANGE THE PRICES, CAN THE COUNCIL ALSO DEMAND CHANGES IN SERVICE? QUESTIONWHY DO WE NEED TO USE TCI CABLE RATHER THAN GO TO ANOTHER CABLE COMPANY? NOTE: IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT LEGAL COUNSEL BE RETAINED FOR SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE. NOTE: IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT THE CITY GO TO TCI CABLE WITH A FRANCHISE AGREEMENT RATHER THAN RECEIVING A FRANCHISE AGREEMENT FROM TCI CABLE Adiourn (Agenda Item IV) MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Christakos and seconded by Councdmember Bishop, the Council voted seven (7) for and none (0) opposed to adjourn the Special Called Public Hearing of the Allen City Council at 8:26 p.m., on Tuesday, March 1, 1994. The motion carried. These minutes approved on the 17th day of March , 1994 AP IOVED: Mic ( "s, C CILMEMBER/ACTING MAYOR ATTEST- l y C II.t�.c i til A'1/[.IX3Q1"—' dyVMhrrison, CMC, CITY SECRETARY