City Council Minutes 2014 01 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes January 21, 2014 Page 3 of 30 of Council, Directors, Police department staff and others interested in the recruitment, will be used in the interview process. REGULAR BUSINESS COMCAST CABLE FRANCHISE NEGOTIATION UPDATE Mayor Pro Tern Dalton updated Council on the progress of the Comcast Cable Franchise Negotiation. After receiving feedback through a survey, direct input from phone and emails and two public open houses, the Negotiation Team will outline their initial terms with Comcast within the next two weeks. They plan to depart from the model plan developed in 2013 by the Colorado Communications Utility Alliance, which were the results of the negotiations between Comcast and the cities of Denver and Aurora. The issues which the City will differ from the model are: a Louisville Customer Service Office; improved customer service standards; more clearly defined breaches of the customer service standards that will trigger enforcement by the City and revisions to the customer service standards that better suit Louisville customers. He noted they cannot negotiate the content of cable packaging offerings or the pricing of those offerings. The Team can negotiate the fees in which the City charges Comcast to use the City's right-of-ways. The fees charged to Comcast are typically passed on to consumers and displayed on the monthly bills. Although Comcast provides broadband, under the Federal regulations broadband is not eligible for negotiation under the franchise agreement. Mayor Pro Tern Dalton will continue to provide updates on the negotiation process until an agreement is reached. Mayor Muckle inquired if the negotiation team is asking for better defined customer service standards compared to the model franchise agreement. Mayor Pro Tern Dalton stated the team may tweak a few based on Louisville customers. He explained there is a great lack of specificity into what qualifies as a breach of the customer service standards. They hope to put some specificity into the agreement on what constitutes breaches of customer service standards. Council member Loo addressed the local office and stated her understanding the office was too expensive to maintain. She asked if the office is required by the agreement, will the Louisville customers be required to pay more. Mayor Pro Tem Dalton stated Comcast has stated the reason they closed the Louisville office was to consolidate services from Louisville and Boulder. He noted there is a level of dissatisfaction among Louisville customers about losing the local office. If the Team is successful in getting an office in Louisville, the cost of operating the office will likely be passed on to the customers. PUBLIC COMMENT