05/14/1991 City CouncilEDMONDS CITY COUNCIL ADMINISTRATIVE MINUTES
May 14, 1991
The administrative meeting of the Edmonds City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Coun-
cil President Palmer at the Library Plaza Room, 650 Main St., Edmonds. All present joined in the
flag salute.
10=11WHI
Jeff Palmer, Council President
Steve Dwyer, Councilmember
Roger Hertrich, Councilmember
Jo -Anne Jaech, Councilmember
William Kasper, Councilmember
John Nordquist, Councilmember
Jack Wilson, Councilmember
Ted Hunter, Student Representative
ABSENT
Larry Naughten, Mayor
REVIEW OF CABLE TV FRANCHISE AND NEGOTIATIONS
STAFF
Scott Snyder, City Attorney
Barb Mehlert, Council Asst
ouncil President Palmer noted that Les Page, Cable Consultant, would be briefing the Council on
urrent negotiations.
City Attorney Scott Snyder said that the Council has received a copy of "the last best offer"
from the cable company. Mr. Snyder said that Mr. Page has provided the Council with a back-up on
the specific provisions that have been changed from the City's last review of the proposal. Mr.
Snyder went on to explain that he went back to the beginning of the cable negotiations and re-
viewed the issues that the Council and the Cable Commission had identified being key items from
the negotiating stand. Mr. Snyder said that from the beginning, the Council had reservations
about a long term franchise and were reluctant to enter into a ten year franchise unless some
basic concerns were addressed. Mr. Snyder said that the main concerns of the Council were:
1. The ability of the Franchise to keep pace with technological developments in surrounding
communities, and to take into account the changes in the technology in the ten year period.
2. If Congress re-enacted a rate regulation, the City would have the ability to exercise
that authority and not be barred from it by the terms of the franchise.
3. An upgrading of the technological performance, making sure that the franchise fee was appro
priate in light of that being charged in other communities and authorized by the Senate.
4. The insertion of meaningful consumer protection provisions.
Mr. Snyder said he has discussed the proposal with Mr. Page and proposed an Executive Session to
discuss the details of their conversations.
Cable Consultant Les Page proceeded to inform the Council that since the City of Edmonds started
+.he review process of the cable franchise three years ago, the technology with regards to the
able industry has grown enormously. Mr. Page said that one area of concern to him is the lan-
uage in the proposal as it relates to number of programmed channels that Chambers offers to
onsumers. Mr. Page said that a cable company can offer numerous channels, yet a portion of
.hese channels might not be programmed channels.
The Council recessed to an executive session at 7:20 p.m. to discuss the current cable franchise
proposal for approximately 40 minutes and then the Councilmembers went to their respective commit-
tees for the remainder of the meeting.