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HomeMy WebLinkAboutresolution.council.070-99 "" ~ 'J;" ~ "" RESOLUTION NO. 70 Series of 1999 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, APPROVING A PERMIT EXTENSION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, AND TCI OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY d/b/a TCI OF CENTRAL COLORADO, INC., AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO. WHEREAS, there has been submitted to the City Council a Permit Extension Agreement between the City of Aspen, Colorado and TCI of Northern New Jersey a copy of which contract is annexed hereto and made apart thereof. NOW, WHEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO: That the City Council of the City of Aspen hereby approves that Permit Extension Agreement between the City of Aspen, Colorado, and TCI of Northern New Jersey, Inc., a copy of which is annexed hereto and incorporated herein, and does hereby authorize the City Manager of the City of Aspen to execute said contract on behalf of the City of Aspen. Dated: -4,()-;;~ I jq . ,1999. I, Kathryn S. Koch, duly appointed and acting City Clerk do certify that the foregoing is a true and accurate copy of that resol~n adopted by ~e City Council of the City of Aspen, Colorad~, at a meeting held 'h~ D ,1999. ~~~ g:\reso\tc(reso#70 " ~ PERMIT EXTENSION AGREEMENT WHEREAS, TCI of Northern New Jersey, Inc., d/b/a TCI of Central Colorado, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "TCI of Central Colorado"), currently holds a CATV Permit with the City of Aspen, dated August 14, 1984; and, WHEREAS, the CATV Permit is due to expire August 12, 1999; and, WHEREAS, the City of Aspen and TCI of Central Colorado have been engaged in informal negotiations to renew the CATV Permit in accordance with Section 626(h) of Title VI of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended; and, ~, WHEREAS, the amount of time required to conclude negotiations and allow for public review will extend beyond the initial expiration date, and the City and TCI of Central Colorado desire to extend the term of the Permit for a period of one year in order to allow the parties sufficient time to conclude the negotiations in a thoughtful and appropriate manner; and, WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to extend the current Permit for an additional period of time so that cable service to the public will not be interrupted; NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The term of the CATV Permit is hereby extended for a period of one year, to and including August 12, 2000. SECTION 2. TCI of Central Colorado will review the system as soon as practicable to determine ifit is 450 MHz capable. SECTION 3. TCI of Central Colorado shall maintain compliance with the FCC Customer Service Standards set forth at 47 CFR ~76.309. ~ PennitExtension Agreement City of Aspen, Colorado Tel of North em New Jersey, Inc. 1 ~ .~ , SECTION 4. TCI of Central Colorado shall be available, upon reasonable written request, but no more often than annually, to appear at a public hearing before the City Council for a review of the cable system. SECTION 5. The parties hereto, by entering into this extension agreement, do not waive any of their respective rights as set forth in Section 626 of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, as amended, relating to the procedures for obtaining franchise renewals. SECTION 6. Except to the extent amended or modified by changes in federal law, the terms and conditions of CATV Permit dated August 14, 1984 shall remain in full force and effect through the extended term, subject to applicable law. SECTION 7. The parties shall continue to negotiate in good faith and bring to conclusion as soon as practicable a renewed CATV Permit Agreement in accordance with Section 626(h) of Title VI of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. PASSED and APPROVED this _ day of July 1999 by the City of Aspen. CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO BY: Name/Title: ~TTEST: ...:kJ;1 ~1I-!ltityCle~ ~ "" ACCEPTED this -1!L day of July 1999 by TCI of Northern New Jersey, Inc., d/b/a TCI Cablevision of Central Colorado, Inc., subject to applicable law. BY: Scott Hiigel, Senior Vice Pre Pennit Extension Agreement City of Aspen, Colorado Tel of North em New Jersey, Inc. 2 $. Tel o July 30 1999 Ms. Amy Margerum City Manager City of Aspen 130 South Galena Street Aspen, Colorado 81611 RE: Renewal of Cable Television Permit dated August 14. 1984. . Dear Ms. Margerum: Pursuant to our discussions with regard to the renewal ofthe Cable Television Permit held by TCI of Northern New Jersey, Inc. ("TCI"), please consider this letter our proposal for the purposes of informal renewal negotiations with the City consistent with Section 626 (h) of Title VI of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. ('" Subject to reaching a mutually agreeable franchise renewal with the City, TCI proposes to upgrade its Cable System in Aspen to 550 MHz hybrid fiber/coaxial desigu with fiber to the node architecture. Upon completion ofthe upgrade, the system will be two-way active with capability of providing our customers in Aspen advanced cable services including high-speed cable InteJ1'letacces~; ...w. e anticipate the upgrade and two-way activation to be complete by Qctob",r 2001. Additionally, as we have discussed, we are willing to pursue the matter of an I-Net to serve the City. We will schedule a meeting as soon as reasonably possible among the designated City persounel, a TCI network specialist, and myself to discuss the City's institutional network needs and the associated costs. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to meeting with you and to continuing our discussions. If you have any questions regarding this proposal, please feel free to call me at 925-4311. Very truly yours, 0. /:*~ .' Jim Niswender General Manager Tel Cablevlelon of Central COIol1ldo, Inc. 201 Aspen Airport Business Center Aspen, Colorado 81611 (970) 925-4098 FAX (970) 925-4106 An Equal 'OpportUnity Employer VTIf ~J o FROM: Mayor and City Council ^ I A / Amy Margerum, City Manager 'JJ'VV . TO: RE: One Year Extension To TCI/A TT Cable Franchise Agreement DATE: August 9, 1999 Summary The City and TCI have been working on terms for a new franchise agreement for cable services for the past two years. Our existing agreement will expire on August 12, 1999. At this point we are still negotiating the terms of a longer term franchise extension with TCI/A TT, therefore we are proposing to simply extend our existing ~ agreement for one year. At any point during the one year time frame we can propose a longer term agreement and hold a subsequent City election on the franchise renewal. Recommendation Staff recommends City Council approval of a one-year extension of the TCI/A TT franchise to allow for the necessary time to either negotiate a new franchise agreement with TCI or pursue other options. Related Actions ~ City Council approved funding for the study of a potential municipal telecommunications system. This study, conducted by NMPP, is slated to proceed this summer. The Aspen Institute Community Forum has agreed to convene a valley-wide group to look into the future of telecommunications in the Roaring Fork Valley and will also be able to act as a sounding board for Aspen's analysis of alternatives to a TCI/ATT franchise. ('\. On July 30 1999, TCI submitted a letter (attached) indicating their intent to supply the City with a 550 MHz hybrid fiber/coaxial system by October 31,2001. Jim Niswender, General Manager of TCI for the Aspen area, will be present at the Council meeting to explain TCI's position. The City should seriously consider TCI/A TT's new proposal, and, provided other terms and conditions are satisfactory, staff will return to City Council with a proposed franchise extension. As you may recall, the City's initial proposal to TCI in November of 1998 (see attached summary) was for a five year franchise if the system was upgraded to a 550 MHz system with high speed internet access. It appears that TCI/A TT is very close to meeting our original proposal and we will seriously work with TCI/ATT to negotiate a five year extension. ('\ Proposed Motion I move to approve Resolution No.6..9 Series of 1999 which authorizes the City Manager to execute a One Year Permit Extension with TCI/A TT. ALM-08/05/99-g:~ci\CCTCI1 YR. DOC :~ o In early November, 1998, the staff presented City Council with a recommendation for a new franchise agreement with TCI . The key points in the City's proposal were: (' * Grant of franchise non-exclusive * Tenn of franchise = 5 years * Franchise fee = 5% of gross revenues (maximum allowed) * TCI to pay for consultant fees and election costs * Perfonnance evaluations held annually * TCI to furnish a $ 1 million Perfonnance Bond pending completion of the cable system upgrade * 3 PEG (Public, Educational and Government) Access Channels provided initially * 3 additional Access Channels depending on usage * TCI to pay Grassroots$50,000 for capital equipment * TCI to pay the City $50,000 for capital equipment for meeting room overage * Option for additional funding for PEG at $1 per subscriber per month * 550 MHz HybridlFiber Coaxial (fIFe) Cable on or before the year 2000. (This equates to approximately 76 analog channels). * The system needs to be capable of supporting telecommuting. video- on-demand, distance learning, etc. * TCI to make available it @Home service (or another comparable high speed internet service) to subscribers. * TCI to provide an Institutional Network (I-NET) to connect all public buildings. ~.