98-11 ORDINANCE NO. 98-11
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AVENTURA,
FLORIDA, AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 97-20 WHICH
PROVIDED THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE
OPERATION OF CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS AND
PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE GRANT OF
FRANCHISES; AMENDING SECTION 14. B, SECTION
15.G, SECTION 16.C, SECTION 18.E, F, G, I, K, Q AND S;
PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; PROVIDING FOR
SEVERABILITY AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City's Telecommunications legal advisors, Leibowitz and
Associates, P.A., recommend a series of amendments to facilitate the City's Cable
Television franchising process; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Aventura is desirous of adopting
the amendments.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF AVENTURA, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS:~
Section 1. Ordinance No. 97-20 is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 14.
B. Unless a Franchise agreement provides otherwise, the City may require a
Franchisee she!! t. go make cable service available to every dwelling and
every building within the Franchise service area or the Franchisee's
~ Underlined text has been ' "*"'"~' *~' ..... ~'
added .............. ~.. text has been deleted from existing language.
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 2
designated services area as defined in a Franchise agreement unless
prohibited by a private property owner from doing so.
Section 15.
G. In any Franchise granted pursuant to this Ordinance, the City may require
a Franchisee shall t__o agree to maintain that level of technology to satisfy
the state of the art as defined in Section 2(CC) herein.
Section 16.
C. A Franchisee shall provide, at the request of the City and as designated in
a Franchise Agreement, Access Channels to be allocated to
education and government use at the sole discretion of the City.
Section 18.
E. A Franchisee shall employ and maintain sufficient qualified personnel and
equipment to be available (I) to accept payments; (ii) to exchange or
accept converters or other equipment; (iii) to receive subscriber
complaints or requests for service or repairs on ~ ~',~,. '" *~"~'~.,,, ,v .......,~,~'"~;o *...v, .... ,..*"
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 3
normal business hours and some evening and weekend hours; (iv) to
schedule service installations, undertake normal repairs, initiate action
with respect to any subscriber service complaints within twenty-four (24)
hours; (v) to enable a service technician to respond to service calls
bNenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days a week including holidays
when more than 5 subscribers served from the same nearest active
electronic device, such as an amplifier or node, call with the same
complaint.
........ · ~ ....... ,~-,-~,, ~-~o;o' Installation and Service:
1. Standard installation work shall be performed within seven
(7) business days after an order has been placed except in those
instances where a subscriber specifically requests an installation date
beyond the seven (7) business day period. "Standard" installations are up
to one hundred and fifty (150) feet from the existing distribution system. If
scheduled installation is neither started nor completed as scheduled, the
subscriber will be telephoned by an employee of the Franchisee the same
day. Evening personnel shall also attempt to call subscribers at their
homes between the hours of 5:30 and 8:00 p.m. If the call to the
subscriber is not answered, an employee of the Franchisee shall
telephone the subscriber the next day;
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 4
2. Franchisee will respond to service interruptions promptly and
in no event later than twenty-four (24) hours after the interruption becomes
known. Other service problems will be responded to promptly and in no
event later than forty-eight (48) hours after the problem becomes known.
All service interruptions, and service problems within the control of
Franchisee, shall be corrected within seventy-two (72) hours after receipt
of a complaint;
3. The appointment window alternatives made available for
installations, service calls, repairs, and other installation activities will be
either a specific time, a four-hour time block during normal business
hours, or at the election and discretion of the subscriber, "all day";
4. Franchisee may not cancel an appointment with a subscriber
after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled
appointment; and
5. If at any time an installer or technician is running late for a
scheduled appointment, an attempt to contact the customer will be made
and the appointment rescheduled as necessary at a time which is
convenient for the customer.
Subseribch~, Individual subscribers who have experienced a missed
installation or service appointments due to the fault of Franchisee shall
receive a credit of not less than twenty dollars ($20.00). If th ...............
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 5
,~. ~.~.,,. 4,,,,, /~onnm Such individual refund created to an
individual subscriber shall not in any manner mitigate any fine that may be
imposed by the City pursuant to Section 18(s) herein.
G. Disconnection.
1. Volunta~ Disconnection.
(b) Franchisee shall promptly disconne~ any subscriber ~o so
requests from the Franchisee's Cable System. No period of notice
prior to v01unta~ termination of se~i~ may be required of
subscribers by any Franchisee
(c) A subscriber may be asked, but not required, to disconnect
the Franchisee's equipment and return it to the business office.
(d) Any security deposit and/or other funds due the subscriber
shall be refunded on disconnected accounts after the conve~er has
been re~vered by the Franchisee. The refund process shall take a
maximum of thidy (30) days from the date that the conve~er or
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 6
other equipment was returned to franchisee or made available to
Franchisee for pickup to the date the customer receives the refund.
I. Franchisee shall notify the City Manager imm~if a service
interruption affects fifty (50) or more individual subscribers for a time
period greater than four hours.
K. A Franchisee shall develop written procedures for the investigation and
resolution of all subscriber or City resident complaints, including, but not
limited to, those regarding the quality of service and equipment
malfunction, which procedures shall be subject to the review and approval
by the City Manager. A subscriber or City resident who has not been
satisfied by following the Franchisee's procedures may file a written
complaint with the City Manager, who will investigate the matter and, in
consultation with the Franchisee as appropriate, attempt to resolve the
matter. A Franchisee's good faith or lack thereof in attempting to resolve
subscriber and resident complaints in a fair and equitable manner will be
considered in connection with the Franchisee's renewal application.
Franchisee shall maintain a complete list of all complaints not resolved
within seven (7) days of receipt and the measures taken to resolve them.
This list shall be compiled in a form to be approved by the City Manager.
It shall be compiled on a quarterly basis. The list for each calendar
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 7
quarter shall be supplied to the City Manager no later than the 15th day
following the last day of the preceding quarter. Franchisee shall also
maintain a list of all written complaints received, which list will be available
to the City.
Q. Upon request, Franchisee shall certify in writing to the City on January 1
and July I of each year based upon internal due diligence by the
Franchisee that to the best of Franchisee's knowledge it is in substantial
compliance with the standards set forth in this Section 18. At the request
of the City, the Franchisee shall submit such documentation, as may be
required, to demonstrate Franchisee's compliance with this Section 18.
This documentation shall be submitted within forth five (45) days of the
Franchisee's receipt of the City's request.
S. 1. In addition to the powers delegated in subsection 4~- (R) above, the
City Manager shall have the authority to ordor rof'--'nds from ~ French!soo
..... ,. ............. , ...... 3ssess fines against a Franchisee for any
violation of this Ordinance or any franchise issued pursuant to this
Ordinance, which fines will be paid to the City.
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 8
day.,,"~ .... ';,-, ,; .... ~"'~+~ ...... *~+' '+;"" = ...... ~ "~"'"+~"" The '"~' '"'~
SCHEDULE OF REFUNDS TO SU~SCR!"'-ERS
SL-.,;~e w;..,.*:.... ,.~. u~,,.; .... D.,~.,..,-i
av ......... ] , ~,~ ..............
32__. In assessing fines against a Franchisee, the City Manager
shall be governed by the schedule set out below. :[ho Unless otherwise
indicated, the fines listed are to be assessed on a per violation basis with
each day of a continuing violation constituting a separate violation.
SCHEDULE OF FINES
Single Violation Of: Maximum Fines
(a) Section A, hereof. $100.00
(b) Section B, hereof. $300.005100.00
(c) Section C, hereof. $300.005100.00
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 9
(d) (d) Section D, hereof ........ $1000.00
per quarter
(e) Section E hereof. $300.005100.00
(f) Section F hereof. $100.00
(g) Section G, hereof. $500.005100.00
(h) Section H, hereof. $100.00
(j) Section J, hereof $200.005100.00
(k) Section K, hereof. $100.00
(j) Section L, hereof. $209.905100.00
(m) Section M(1)(a)-(i) hereof with bill $100.00 per month billing
cycle
Section M(2), hereof $500.00.' 1100.00
Section M(3)-M(6), hereof .,..vv.vv.~°nn nn, ~100.00
(n) Section N, hereof ,..-.-v.~.~cnn nn~ ;100.00
(o) Section O, hereof..,~v~.v~.~nn nn, ~100.00
(p) Section P, hereof. ,.~,-,,.-~.~,~'~nn nn, ;100.00
(q) Section Q hereof ..v~.~.~'~nn nn, H 00.00
Section 2. Severability,
If any part, section, subsection, or other portion of this Ordinance or any
application thereof to any person or circumstance is declared void, unconstitutional or
Ordinance No. 98-11
Page 10
invalid for any reason, such part, section, subsection, or other portion, or the prescribed
application thereof, shall be severable, and the remaining provisions of this Ordinance,
and all applications thereof not having been declared void, unconstitutional or invalid,
shall remain in full force and effect. The City declares that no invalid or prescribed
provision or application was an inducement to the enactment of this Ordinance, and that
it would have enacted this Ordinance regardless of the invalid or prescribed provision or
application.
Section 3. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force
immediately upon its passage and adoption on second reading.
The foregoing Ordinance was offered by Commissioner Rogers-Libert, who
moved its adoption on first reading. This motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Beskin
and upon being put to a vote, the vote was as follows:
Commissioner Arthur Berger yes
Commissioner Ken Cohen yes
Commissioner Harry Holzberg yes
Commissioner Jeffrey M. Perlow yes
Commissioner Patricia Rogers-Libert yes
Vice Mayor Jay R. Beskin yes
Mayor Arthur I. Snyder yes
The foregoing Ordinance was offered by Commissioner Rogers-Libert, who
moved its adoption on second reading. This motion was seconded by Commissioner
Cohen, and upon being put to a vote, the vote was as follows:
Commissioner Arthur Berger absent
Commissioner Ken Cohen yes
Commissioner Harry Holzberg yes
Commissioner Jeffrey M. Pedow absent
Commissioner Patricia Rogers-Libert yes
Ordinance No. 98-1]-
Page 11
Vice Mayor Jay R. Beskin absenL
Mayor Arthur I. Snyder ~,es
PASSED AND ADOPTED on first reading this 17th day of March, 1998.
PASSED AND ADOPTED on second rea~p~, 1998.
ARTHUR I. ?qYDE-~,
ATTEST: ,
TERESA M. SMITH, CMC
CITY CLERK
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL SUFFICIENCY: