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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10181982HARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING, OCTOBER 18, 1982 The Harnett County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, October 18, 1982, in the Commissioners Room, County Office Building, Lillington, North Carolina with the following members present: Lloyd G. Stewart, M. H. Brock, Bill Shaw, Rudy Collins and Chairman Jesse Alphin presiding. Vanessa W. Young, Clerk to the Board and Holt Pelmet, Attorney, were also present. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Jesse Alphin called the meeting to order at 8:10 p.m. PRAYER Commissioner Bill Shaw led the evening prayer. READING OF MINUTES. The minutes from the Harnett County Board of Commissioners meeting of October 4, 1982, were approved as read. CABLEVISION Holt Felmet appeared before the Board and discussed several amend FRANCHISE ments to the original Ordinance Granting a Cablevision Franchise to Univision Cable Systems, Inc. Commissioner Brock made a motion to pass the following amendments to the Cablevision Ordinance. Com- missioner Stewart seconded the motion. The motion passed with the following vote: Ayes: Commissioners Brock, Collins and Stewart; Noes: None; Abstained: Commissioner Shaw. ORDINANCE AMENDING "AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE METHOD OF FRANCHISING THE CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM IN THE COUNTY OF HARNETT, STATE OF. NORTH CAROLINA" WHEREAS, This Board adopted on the 1st day of June, 1981, an ordinance entitled, "An Ordinance Providing for the Method of Franchising the Construction, Operation and Maintenance of a Cable Television System in the County of Harnett, State of North Carolina "; and WHEREAS, This Board adopted certain amendments to said ordinance on the 8th day of September, 1981. WHEREAS, The Board is of the opinion that certain additional amend- ments are necessary to the clear and efficient working of the Ordinance. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED as follows: 1. That Section 3X of the ordinance be amended to read as follows: X. "Two -Way Capacity" shall mean that such system shall maintain a plant having technical capacity for audio and video return communications; two -way capability is not required to be activated until requested by the Board and then only to the extent required in the franchise granting ordinance. 2. That Section 7G of the Ordinance be amended to read as follows: G. Transfer of Control. No transfer of effective ownership or control of the CATV system may take place, whether by forced or voluntary sale, lease, mortgage, assignment, encumbrance or any other form of disposition, without prior notice to and approval by the Board of Commissioners. The notice shall include full identifying particulars of the proposed transaction, and the Board of Commissioners shall act by resolution. The franchisee shall not issue any additional capital stock and shall not permit the transfer of more than ten (10) percent of its presently outstanding shares without the prior written consent of the Board of Commissioners. No sale, lease, assign- ment or transfer shall be effective until the vendee, leasee, assignee, or transferee has filed with the County its acceptance of this grant. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances, the Board of Commissioners will not approve any such transactions before com- pletion of construction of energized cable passing before each dwelling unit, as specified in Section 8B. Prior approval of the Board. of Commissioners shall be required where ownership or control of more than ten (10) percent of the right of control of or interest in the franchise is acquired by a person or a group of persons acting in concert, none of whom already own or control ten (10) percent or more of such right of control or interest, singularly or collectively. Provided, however, that such Board. of Commissioners approval shall not be unreasonably withheld after proper application is made therefore. "Transfer of effective owenrship of control" shall not include: 1. Pledge or hypothecation or mortgage or similar instrument transferring conditional ownership of all or part of the system's assets to a lender, or creditor in the ordinary course of busi- ness so long as the lender does not thereby acquire the right to control the system's operations; but no such transfer of conditional 157 title can be made absolute or become effective without prior approval of the Board of Commissioners, or 2. The disposition of facilities or equipment no longer required in the conduct of business. Franchisee may hypothecate its interest under this Ordinance and the franchise agreement and in the CATV system to be constructed pursuant thereto for the purpose of securing a loan, the entire proceeds of which will be utilized in construction and operation of its CATV system in the franchise area. By its acceptance of the franchise, the franchisee specifically concedes and agrees that any acquisitions or transfers as set forth in this section without prior approval of the Board of Commissioners as may be required, shall constitute a violation of the franchise agreement and this Ordinance by the franchisee. 3. That Section 8B of the Ordinance be amended to read as follows: B. Service. Within the second year after the effective date of the franchise the franchisee agrees to make available basic CATV service to all residents of the County within the basic service area as set forth in franchisee's application. Thereafter, franchisee shall provide service in all areas of the County contiguousto the Franchisee's then existing cables where the average density of residential units is equal to or greater than 30 residential units per cable mile, provided that the percentage of the fran- chise area to be served where there are 30 residential units per cable mile shall not be less than: 1. 50% at the end of 2 years. 2. 70% at the end of 3 years. 3. 80% at the end of 4 years. 4. 100% at the end of 5 years. Franchisee shall extend cable television service to those areas with an average density of at least 30 occupied residential units per mile of cable. In addition, Franchisee shall extend cable television service to areas of lesser density, upon written request of any five (5) or more customers living within one -half mile from each other as follows: Franchisee shall determine the gross revenue that it would receive should franchisee aerially construct its cable system and extend cable television service to such customers assuming the requesting individual subscribed to the service. Franchisee shall also determine the costs of the requested construction. Franchisee shall also determine what would be its gross revenue were there 30 occupied dwellings per mile of cable and assuming that potential subscribers became fran- chisee's customers at a rate equal to its system wide penetration rate within the County. Franchisee shall determine his gross annual yield on investment under both the former and the latter situations. Franchisee shall pay as its portion of the costs of extension an amount which would give it the same gross annual yield on investment in the former situation as it would have had in the latter situation. The balance of the costs of construction shall be advanced, pro rata, prior to construction commencing, by the requesting customers. In addition, the requesting parties shall agree to pay for the service for a period of two years. For two (2) years subsequent to completion of extension (or until there are 30 occupied dwellings per mile of cable along such extension), said prorata shares shall be recalculated as additional customers along said extension subscribe to Franchisee's system. Said additional customers shall pay their prorata share of the subscriber service extension costs, and customers originally having made such payments shall receive a refund equal to the excess of their original prorata subscriber extension costs payment over and recalculated prorata share together with any prior refund. At the end of said two (2) year period, payments for subscribers service extension costs remaining in the Franchisee's possession should be credited to its capital plant account. 4. That Section 9E of the ordinance be amended to read as follows: E. Advance Charges and Deposits. A franchisee may require subscribers to pay the installation charge in advance and to pay for each month of basic service in advance at the beginning of each month. Additionally fran- chisee may charge deposit fees for converters as set forth in their appli- cation but not to exceed franchisee's cost. No other advance payment or deposit of any kind shall be required by a franchisee for basic subscriber service. Other than for a converter, nothing in this provision shall be construed to prohibit charges for initial installation, relocation or reconnection. Franchisee may also sell to consumers converters on terms specified in the application. 5. That Section 10 of the ordinance be amended to read as follows: Section 10 PAYMENT TO THE COUNTY. As compensation for the authorization granted herein and in consideration for permission to use the easements which the County controls for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a CATV system within the County, 158 the Franchisee shall pay to the County quarterly on or before the first ay of July; October, January; and April for the preceding quarter and amount equal to three (3) percent of the gross revenues exclusive of reconnect and relocation service fees and the protion of any pay TV fees paid over to distributors of Pay TV programing. This payment shall be in addition to.any other fees or payments made to the County by the franchisee, such as 'pole rental,.busin.ess license's and other fees not based on gross revenues. Payment shall be accompanied by a certified annual report showing the basis for the computation and such other relevant facts as may be required by the County. No acceptance of any payment shall be construed as an accord that the amount paid is, in fact, the correct amount, nor shall such accept- ' ante of payment be construed as a release of any claim the County may have for further or additional sums payable under the provisions this Ordinance. All amounts paid shall be'subject to recomputa- tion by the County within sixty (60) days of the receipt of the franchise annual report. This time limitation shall not apply should the franchisee provide false or erroneous information. In the event that recomputation results in additional revenue to be paid to the County, such amount shall be subject to an interest charge at the highest rate permitted by law. Nothing in this provision shall limit franchisee's liability to pay other local taxes and charges. 6 That Section 12A of the ordinance be amended to read as follows: A. Emergency Override. The cable system shall include an "Emergency Alert" capability which will permit-the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners or his designee to override, by channels simultaneously programming in the case of public emergencies. The franchisee shall designate a channel which will be used for emergency broadcasts. If franchisee is granted a franchise based upon an unified system with one or more municipalities within the County only one.Emergency override channel will have to be kept available - for such'an unified system. - 7. That Section 14A of the ordinance be amended to read as follows: A. Consumer Complaint Response. The franchisee shall maintain an office within the County of Harnett that is open during all busi- ness hours, has a publicly listed telephone number, and is so operated that complaints and requests for repairs or adjustments may be received on a twenty -four (24) hour basis. The franchisee shall have a resident manager and engineer within in the County of Harnett and shall have office, marketing, and technical staffs professionally trained in the cable communications industry. Adopted this the 18th day of October, 1982. Board of Commissioners for County of Harnett BY: Chairman Approved as to form Edward H. McCormick, County'Attorney FIRST READING OF Commissioner Collins made a motion to pass the first reading of "An "ORDINANCE GRANTINGOrdinance Granting A Cable Television Franchise to Univision Cable A CABLE TELEVISION Systems, Inc." Commissioner Stewart seconded the motion and it FRANCHISE TO UNI- passed with the following vote: Ayes: Commissioners Brock, Collins VISION" and Stewart; Noes: Commissioner Shaw. WHEREAS, The Board of Commissioners for Harnett County adopted on the 1st day of June 1981 an ordinance entitled "An Ordinance Providing for the Method of Franchising the Construction, Operation and Maintenance of A Cable Television System in the County of Harnett, State of North Carolina" (hereinafter referred to as "Methods Ordinance ") and, WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County adopted on the 8th day of September of 1981 certain amendments to said ordinance, and again adopted certain amendments to said ordinance on the 18th day of October 1982, and WHEREAS, The Board of Commissioners of Harnett County have received two proposals for the installation and operation of a Cable Television System or. Systems in the County of Harnett and have actively solicited additional proposals through personal contacts; and , WHEREAS, the County of Harnett received two proposals to serve fran- chise areas within the County which were from the following: Billy R. Jones of Atlanta, Georgia Univision Cable Systems, Inc., and .159 WHEREAS, the proposals by the bidders listed above offered service to most of the populated areas of the unincorporated portions of the County; and WHEREAS, a public hearing relative to the granting of a CATV franchise was held at the County Office Building in Lillington after due legal adver- tisement on the 18th day of October, 1982; and WHEREAS, the ordinance set forth in paragraph one above and the amendments thereto require that certain findings be made before granting a franchise by ordinance, said findings relate to the franchisee's legal, financial and tech- nical qualifications as well as the adequacy and feasibility of franchisee's construction arrangements, and additionally that findings be made as to what is in the best interest of the public and potential subscribers; and WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County have made investi- gation into the legal, financial and technical expertise of all applicants and as to what is in the best interest of the public and potential subscribers (throughout the unincorporated areas of the County) and the Board of Commis- sioners of Harnett County have made and do make the following findings: 1. That the proposal of Univision Cable Systems, Inc. offers Cable Television service to a great number of citizens of the County and at the lowest cost to the consumer. 2. That the proposals of both applicants offer equivalent channel coverage to the consumer and equivalent capacity to expand coverage in the future; except that the offer of Billy R. Jones makes less coverage available for the basic service rate. 3. That Univision Cable Systems, Inc. has furnished proof of financial ability to construct a system to serve Harnett County through finan- cial statements as required by the ordinance. 4. That applicant, Univision Cable Systems, Inc., has previously con- structed systems in Duplin, Onslow and Pender Counties and by its record of performance has shown the technical expertise to construct and operate the proposed system. 5. That investigation has shown applicant's construction proposal to be adequate and feasible in that it offers a 400 MHZ system, with cas- cades within acceptable limits, all to design specifications set forth in its proposal; and WHEREAS, based upon the above findings of fact the Board of Commissioners has concluded that it is in the best interest of the public and the potential subscribers that a non -- exclusive franchise for the operation of a Cable Tele- vision System in the unincorporated areas of Harnett County be granted to Univision Systems, Inc. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County as follows: 1. That Harnett County (hereinafter referred to as "the County ") hereby grants the non - exclusive right, privilege, and franchise to Univision Cable Systems, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Univision ") to construct, operate and maintain a cable television system in the unincorporated portions of Harnett County for a period of fifteen (15) years from and after the date of acceptance of this ordinance and for such purposes to use any roads, alleys or other public property of the County but subject always to present and future ordinances pertaining thereto. The County expressly reserves the right to grant other rights, privileges, and franchises to any other person or entity at any time during the term hereof. 2. The rights, privileges, and franchises hereby granted are expressly subject to the following: (A) All provisions of an ordinance heretofore adopted by the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County on June 1, 1981, as amended on September 8, 1981 and October 13, 1982, entitled "An Ordinance Providing for the Method of Franchising the Construction, Opera- tion and Maintenance of a Cable Television System in the County of Harnett, State of North Carolina" (hereinafter referred to as "the Methods Ordinance ") all provisions of said ordinance being hereby specifically incorporated herein by reference; and (B) All provisions of the franchisee's application for franchise which application was prepared for and submitted to the County of Harnett (the application is hereafter referred to as "proposal of Univision ") a copy of the proposal is on file with the office of the County Clerk, all provisions of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference as well as a map previously furnished as part of a proposal by Future Cablevision of North Carolina, Incorporated which is incorporated by reference into the proposal of Univision and referred to therein, which map is also on file in the office of the County Clerk. 3. That the right, privilege and franchise herein granted to Univision is subject to the following additional conditions: (A) That Univision accept any franchises offered by the Towns of Angier, Coats, Erwin and Lillington in accordance with the terms of any ordinances passed by those towns. 160 That the CATV system to be constructed by franchisee in the franchise areas of Harnett County, Angier, :Lillington, Coats and Erwin include a minimum of 175 miles of energized cable upon completion of areas A and B described in franchisee's _proposal; said provi- sion: not to apply in event` of employment of microwave distribution system. That Univision not overbuild North Carolina Communications, Inc., in the area currently served by North Carolina Communications, Incorporated or its:.successor in interest' or'offer service to existing customers of North Carolina Communications, Inc. until it has exhibited evidence to the County Board of Commissioners of • Harnett County that it is offering - service to all other areas of the County with thirty or more homes per cable mile as that term is defined in the ordinance referred to in paragraph 2A above and to the basic service area shown on its map incorporated as part of its proposal to the County and additionally that Univision satisfy the Board of Commissioners that it is in the best interest . of the. County and potential customers that it be permitted to overbuild North Carolina Communications, Incorporated in its fran- chise area (the purpose of this restriction being to maximize CATV service within the County).- However, overbuilding initially; shall be permitted to the extent necessary to run trunk lines through said area to serve other potential customers. (D) That Univision offer to customers. within the county, set top con- verters with a 35 channel capacity or greater with a lighted display; that said set top converters be addressable from the head end so as to permit selective scrambling and unscrambling of premium channels. That Univision offer additionally infra red remote control channel selectors at a reasonable rental rate, comparable to that offered by other systems in the state of North Carolina; and said rate to be approved by the Board. That each satellite earth station dish installed by Univision be a minimum of five meters in diameter. That the system to be installed have standby power capabilities at. the cable power. supplies as well as, at the head ends, which power isupplies will enable the system to. carry a back up power support a minimum of four hours in event of power outages. That the system installed be the 400 MHZ cable system described in the proposal of Univision. That Univision provide and activate two -way capability of the sys- tem to be installed when and if either local government or the educational facilities request it for public purposes; however, in the event of installation of a terrestrial system, said man datory activation shall not exceed 10% of the total number of trunkline amplyfiers, and in the event of an AML distribution system said capability shall be mandatory only as to one receiving hub and then only for one channel. (J) That the cable system to be installed meet the following techni- cal standards at all points: Frequency Stability- +11 kHz (3hrs.) 24 -hour Signal level stability - 6dB_ Overall difference in signal level 6dB Hum modulation 17 System carrier -to -noise 43dB Terminal isolation 30dB Cross- modulation - -51dB CompositeTripleBeat 53dB (NCTA- 008 -0477) (C W Carriers) Second - order intermode 60dB Chroma delay . 250 n sec (K) That. Univision offer CATV service to all currently existing public schools in the Franchise areas of the County, and the Towns of Angier, Coats, Erwin and Lillington with the exception of Mary Stewart School which if coverageisnotjustifiedbyresidential - density can be covered under Section 8B of the Methods Ordinance. (L) That in addition to complying with the service area requirements set forth in the County Methods Ordinance in Section 8(b), in the event that franchisee elects to use a master AML head end in lieu of separate head ends, then the franchisee is to install AML receivers in locations of the county with sufficient residential density (that is density which can be reached from an AML site by extending energized cable` over surrounding areas having an average' density of 30 residential units per mile) to enable franchisee to receive the same gross annual yield on investment for the AML site and energized cable as franchisee is receiving throughout the then existing county wide system inclusive of the towns of 161 Angier, Coats, Lillington and Erwin. (M) The installation and construction of the Cable TV System shall conform to the standards set forth in the National Electric Code as it appears in the North Carolina State Building Code. (N) That franchisee will expand the channel offering to customers at a rate of not less than one channel per year. 4. That Univision, by accepting the rights hereby granted, covenants that it will perform and keep all acts, covenants and obligations imposed, represented or promised by the provisions of this ordinance, the Methods Ordinance, and the proposal of Univision, including the completion of the construction of their plants, and the activation of their systems in accord- ance with, to the extent of, and within the periods of time shown on the construction schedule in the proposal of Univision, and any failure to do so will be grounds for termination of the rights hereby granted in accordance with the CATV Ordinance. 5. The effective date of the ordinance shall be the date of its final adoption. 6. The effective date of the Franchise shall be as set forth in Section 6C of the Methods Ordinance and that date shall be utilized for commence- ment of the time table for construction contained in the proposal. 7. The acceptance of the franchise ordinance by Univision shall con- stitute representations and covenants by said franchisee that: (A) It accepts and agrees to all of the provisions of this Ordinance and those instruments incorporated herein by reference; (B) It has examined all of the provisions of this and the Methods Ordinance and waives any claims that any provisions hereof are unreasonable, arbitrary or void. (C) It recognizes the right of the County to make reasonable amend- ments to the franchise ordinance or franchise agreement during the term of the franchise, provided that no such change shall com- promise the franchisee's ability to perform satisfactorily its obligations or rights under this ordinance or the franchise agree- ment. It further recognizes and agrees that the County shall in no way be bound to renew the franchise at the end of franchise term; (D) It acknowledges that its rights hereunder are subject to the police power of the County to adopt and enforce general ordinances necessary to the safety and welfare of the public; and it agrees to comply with all applicable general laws enacted by the County pursuant to such power; (E) In addition to the standards of construction, maintenance and operation set forth in the Methods Ordinance, this ordinance and in its proposal, it will meet the standards of the CATV Industry related to signal quality and technical standards of construction operation and maintenance of the system and the state of the art of the industry; (F) With reference to the provisions of Section 9H of the Methods Ordinance, it will make single installations of its standard community service facilities in accordance with the terms of said section at such additional County owned facilities as may from time to time be designated by the County Manager. 8. When the franchise ordinance is accepted by Univision as provided in the Methods Ordinance, this Ordinance together with the proposal of Univision and the Methods Ordinance shall constitute the Franchise Agreement (as defined in Section 3.I of the Methods Ordinance) with respect to Univision; when conflicts exist between the three documents constituting the franchise agreement the controlling provision shall be that provision most favorable to the CATV consumer. 9. If any section, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the valid- ity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. FIRST PASSED THIS the 18th of October, 1982. SECOND PASSAGE THIS the Chairman day of , 1982. Chairman ADOPTED UPON SECOND READING THIS the day of , 1982. Chairman r-162 LAMM.AVENUE RUSS DRIVE Commissioner Erodk made a. motion that the Board pass the following resolution -to add Lamm - Avenue and Russ Drive in Churchland Estates Subdivision to the State Secondary Road System. Commissioner Collin seconded the motion and it carried. BE IT:RESOLVED BY THE HARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, that North Carolina Department of- Transportation be and is hereby requested, by the proper execution of this document, to add Lamm Avenue and Russ Drive in ChurchlandEstates Subdivision, Harnett County, to the North Carolina State Secondary Road System. Done this 18th day of October, 1982. s/ Jesse Alphin Chairman Harnett County Board of Commissioners ATTEST: s/ Vanessa W. Young Clerk Harnett County Board of Commissioners SUBDIVISION PLAT Clenton Smith appeared before the Board and presented for their ALFRED JOHNSON approval, a subdivision plat for Alfred Johnson, Barbeque Township, located en SR 1210. ICommissioner Stewart made a motion to approve the plat, subject to _Henry Thompson's signature being on the plat. Commissioner.' Shaw seconded the motion and it carried. AIRPORT BIDS ,ON Ralph Shaw, Airport Committee member, - appeared before the Board EXPANSION RAMP and discussed the bids for the expansion of ramps at the Airport., He recommended the low bidders, which were Cumberland Paving Com- pany, and Rockwell Radio and Electric with a total bid of $87,741:" Commissioner Shaw made a motion to accept the low bidders and have the County Manager, the Airport Advisory Board, and Clenton Smith negotiate with the low bidders to bring the bid down to the money allocated for this project, which is $80,000. If .successful in lowering the bid, they be allowed to sign the contract; however, if they can not bring the bid down within the $80,000, allocation the lighting on this contract can be deleted. Commissioner Stewart seconded the motion and it carried. REVENUE REPORT The-Revenue-Report: as of September 30, 1982, was filed with the Board. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business the Harn t County Board of Commissioners duly adjourned at 9:15 p.m(. ai an r/ Clerk 2i /744,12a7 SecrTtary