Ordinance No. 79-84 CITY OF TIGARD, OREGON
ORDINANCE NO. 79- 8 ►�
AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION OF A CABLE COMMU-
NICATIONS SYSTEM FOR TIGARD, PROVIDING PROCEDURES FOR GRANTING FRANCHISES,
AND ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.
THE CITY OF TIGARD ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Short Title. This ordinance shall be known and referred to as
the Tigard Cable Communications Ordinance.
SECTION 2. Definitions.
A. Cable Communications System. As used herein,
"Cable Communications System" or "System" means a system
of antennas, cables, amplifiers, towers, microwave links,
cablecasting studios, and any other conductor, converters,
equipment or facilities designed and constructed for the
purpose of producing, receiving, amplifying, storing,
processing, or distributing audio, video, digital or
other forms of electronic or clectrical signals.
B. Franchise. Ps used herein, the term "Franchise"
means the privilege con erred upon a person, firm or
corporation (franchisee) by the City of Tigard to operate
a cable communications system under the terms and
provisions of this ordinance.
SECTION 3 : Declaration of Powers. -he city, by and through its council,
recognizes, declares and establishes its authority to regulate the
development and operation of a cable communications system (hereinafter
"System") for the City of Tigard and to exercise all powers necessary for
that purpose, including, but not limited to, the foregoing:
A. To grant by resolution non-exclusive franchises
for the development and operation of a System or Systems;
B. To contract, jointly agree or otherwise provide
with other local or regional governments, counties or
special districts for the development, operation, and
regulation of a System or Systems or franchises therefore,
notwithstanding the fact that the System extends beyond
the boundaries of the city;
C. To create local improvement districts for the
development or extension_ of a System, and to provide for
the undergrounding of the System as a local improvement,
as that term is now or hereafter defined by Oregon Revised
Statutes, Chapter 223, or city ordinances;
D. To purchase, hire, construct, own, maintain,
and operate or lease a System and to acquire property
;necessary for any such purpose;
E. To regulate and supervise all facets of a
System, including but not limited to:
(1) Consumer complaints;
(2) Disputes among the city, franchisees,
and consumers;
(3) Fair employment practices;
(4) The development, management and
control of a government access
channel as well as development of
other access channels;
(5) Rates and review of finances for
rate adjustments;
(6) Construction timetables and
standards;
(7) Modernization of technical aspects;
(8) Ensuring adherence to federal and
state regulations;
(9) Franchise transfer and transfer
of control of ownership;
(10) Franchise renewal and/or franchise
revocation;
(11) Enforcement of buy-back, lease
back or option to purchase
Provisions; and
(12) Receivership and foreclosure
procedures.
SECTION 4: Selection of Franchise.
A. In the event that the council finds it in
the best interests of the city to grant a franchise for
a System, the procedures set forth herein shall be
followed. On motion of the council, the city administrator
or his designate shall be directed to prepare a request -LGr
proposal (hereafter referred to as an "RFP") containing
at least the following:
_ (1) Information and instructions
relating to the preparation and
filing of bid proposals;
Ordinance No. 79-84
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(2) Requirements regarding the
development, operation and
regulation of a System, including f
but not limited to the following:
a) the length, renewal and transfer
or assignment of the franchise,
including foreclosure and
receivership provisions,
b) a description of the franchise
territory and the extension of
service,
C) the system design, including
channel capacity, channel uses,
access programming facilities,
specialized services, point to
point service, two-way pro-
visions, subscriber privacy,
interconnection of systems,
and underground and above
ground installation requirements,
d) Technical performance standards,
e) records and reporting,
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f) indemnification, insurance, and
liability for damages; and
g) provision of an option for the
city to acquire the System upon
revocation or expiration of the
franchise;
(3) Criteria to be used in evaluating
applicant proposals.
B. The Council, by resolution, may:
(1) Approve the RFP as proposed, or
modify or otherwise make amendments
thereto as it deems necessary.
(2) Authorize the city administrator to seek
bids for a System pursuant to the RrP.
C. The city council may ,employ the services of a technical
consultant, as necessary, to assist in the analysis of any
matter relative to the RFP and to the evaluation of any bid.
D. The city council or its designate shall prepare an
evaluation of the bids received, and shall submit the
eval.uatiOn to the council together with any recommendations.
The evaluation shall be made mailable tothe public for
inspection, 4
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Ordinance No. 79-84
E. The council may award a franchise to an applicant
only after a public hearing on the application and bid, notice
of which shall be published in a local newspaper of general
circulation in the city at least ter. (10) days prior to the
date of the hearing. All applicants shall be notified by mail
of the public hearing; provided, however, that no defect in
the notice or failure to notify shall invalidate the franchise
awarded.
F. No franchise or award thereof shall be dee«ed
final until passage of a resolution containing the terms and
conditions thereof. The franchisee shall bear the costs of
all publications and notices given in connection with the
award of the franchise.
SECTION 5: Administration of Tigard Cable Communications Ordinance and
Franchise. Tigard City Council shall have the power(s) to carry out any
or all of the following functions:
(1) Employ the service of a technical
consultant, to assist in the analysis
of any matter relative to any franchise
under this ordinance;
(Z) Act on applications for franchises;
(3) Act on matters which might constitute
grounds for revocation or termination
of a franchise pursuant to its terms;
(9) Resolve disagreements among franchisees
and public and private users of the
System;
(5) Act as hearing board for all requests
for rate settings or adjustments;
(6) Coordinate the franchisee's consultant
services to facilitate government,
educational, community group and
individual use of the public channels;
(7) Determine general policy relating to '
the service provided subscribers and
the operation and use of access
channels, with a view to maximizing
the diversity of programs and services
to subscribers. The use of access
channels shall be allocated on a
first came, first served basis, subject
to limitations on monopolization of
System time, or prime time(s);
(8) Encourage use, of access channels among
the widest range of institutions,
groups and individualswithin the city;
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(9) Submit an annual report which contains,
at a minimum, the total number of hours
of utilization of access channels, a
review of any plans submitted during the
year by a franchisee for development of
new services, and hourly subtotals for
various programming categories. The
annum report shall include the
following programming categories:
a) local educational uses including
library, public and private schools,
b) public access for local programming
under public control,
c) local government access (such as
fire, police, burglar alarms, and
public announcements) ,
d) channel time use for lease for
pay television,
e) channel time use for leave for
business or municipal uses,
including telemetry of information,
and
f) information retrieval and
professional communication;
(10) Act in intergovernmental matters relating
to Systems, cooperate with other Systems,
and supervise interconnection of Systems;
(11) Submit budget request(s) to the Budget
Committee for requested appropriation
of funds to carry out its functions;
(12) Review all franchisee records required
by the franchise and, in the city council's
discretion, require the preparation and
filing of information additional to that
required by the franchise;
(13) Conduct evaluations of the System at
least every three (3) years with the
franchisee, and pursuant thereto, this
ordinance or the franchise agreement;
(14) Pass regulations and procedures
necessary to enforce franchises and
to clarify" terms thereof.
Ordinance No. 79-84
'age 5 .�.....,
3ECTION 1. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are severable.
If any
section or part of this ordinance is for any reason held
eo be invalid, superceded or otherwise determined to be of no force and
affect, such decision shall not affect the validity or enforceability of
the remainder of this ordinance.
SECTION 7: Violation, Penalties and Remedies.
A. Violation and Penalties. Any person, firm or
corporation, whether as principal, agent, employee or other-
wise, violating or causing the violation of any provision of
this ordinance or performing any of the acts and/or functions
itemized under Section 2A of this ordinance, which defines a
cable communications system, without having been awarded a
franchise to perform said acts or functions pursuant to the
terms of this ordinance shall be deemed to have committed a
Class A misdemeanor. Each violation occurring on a separate
day is considered a separate violation of this ordinance.
B. Cumulative Remedies. The rights, remedies and
penalties provided in this section are cumulative and not
mutually exclusive and are in addition to any other rights,
remedies and penalties available to the city under any
other ordinance or law.
C. IRelief. Upon authorization by the
city council, the city attorney may institute a suit in
equity in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon or other
appropriate court to enjoin the continued violation of any
provision of this ordinance.
PASSED: By ���i.�a(nimoc�S vote of all council members
present thisday of
1979, after being read two times by number and
title only.
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RECO DER, CITY F T RD
APPROVED: By the mayor this 9H` day of w p ► 1979.
Y R, CITY D
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