City Council Minutes 2014 09 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes September 2, 2014 Page 10 of 16 Boston sought recertification in May of 2011 and in 2012 they received recertification. Comcast filed a new effective competition petition one month after the ruling and the City of Boston has not been able to regulate rates. Another matter for Council consideration is the challenges and cost to regulate rates. Recommendation: Staff agreed there is a lack of real competition in the cable television market, but did not recommend pursuing a ruling from the FCC for two reasons: 1) It is likely such a petition would be costly and, based on other cases, the City is unlikely to prevail and preserve the ability to regulate basic service tier rates and as such, this is not a good use of City funds. 2) While a successful petition would give the City the authority to regulate Comcast's basic service tier rates, staff did not believe the time and expense associated with this activity would be the best use of City's limited resources. Both Mayor Pro Tem Dalton and Nancy Rodgers, the City's legal counsel, were available to respond to Council's questions. PUBLIC COMMENTS Alan Sobel, 1428 Kennedy Avenue, Louisville, CO presented the City Council with a handout relative to the Code of Federal Regulations ( "CFR "). He noted from the City's presentation they assume the onerous task of determining whether there is effective competition or not effective competition is on the City and the associated costs. He found the assumption odd and questioned why the City feels they have a legal burden to prove or disprove effective competition. He referenced CFR Regulations relative to effective competition. He questioned why the City believes they have the legal burden to prove or disprove effective competition and for paying for it. He requested the City provide a legal opinion rebutting the three Codes of Federal Regulations and why the City feels it has the legal burden to prove or disprove effective competition and for paying for it. Nancy Rodgers, Kissinger & Feldman P.C., explained she has been working with Mayor Pro Tem Dalton and Acting Deputy City Manager Muth on the cable franchise negotiations with Comcast. She noted Mr. Sobel brought up a good point however those apply when there is no finding of effective competition. The three citations provided by Mr. Sobel have a demonstration to the contrary of a finding of effective competition. Louisville has actual knowledge there is effective competition and doing a petition to reconsider is a different standard. The City would have to provide the FCC a reason to reconsider their former finding and inform them things have changed. COUNCIL COMMENTS Council member Stolzmann asked if a finding of effective competition is perpetual. Ms. Rodgers responded yes unless the current law is changed.