03/22/1993 - City Council Special
MINUTES
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
March 22, 1993
A special City Council meeting was held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 22, 1993 in the data
processing area at the Burnsville City Hall. The purpose of the meeting was a joint meeting with the
Burnsville City Council and advisory Cable Commission that serves both communities. In addition to
members of the Burnsville City Council and staff and joint members of the Burnsville/Eagan Cable
Commission, present were Mayor Egan, City Councilmembers Awada, Hunter and Masin and from the Eagan
City staff, Assistant to the City Administrator/Acting Director of Community Development Hohenstein and
City Administrator Hedges. City Councilmember Wachter was absent. -
JOINT BURNSVILLE CITY COUNCIL/EAGAN COUNCIL/CABLE COMMISSION DISCUSSION
Cable Commission Chairperson Jerry Hanson welcomed both City Councils and then reviewed the
agenda for the joint work session. Commission Vice-Chair Doug Dahl reviewed the Cable Commission's
role and activities, commenting on the Joint Powers Agreement that was established in 1983, Commission
member responsibilities which include local programming, citizen/company relations and finally, the
Commission's activities. He stated that Commission activities have varied from monitoring the franchise
agreement, cable ownership transfers, cable legislation, various audits, citizen cable complaints, subscriber
surveys and many other related activities. He further stated that the Commission has established certain
goals and objectives for 1993 which include continuing monitoring/enforcement of the franchise and
developing recommendations for the transition year 1993.
Joint Cable Coordinator Mike Reardon reviewed the 1992 Cable Act which amends the 1984 Act in
numerous sections requiring such regulations enacted by the FCC, such as subscription rates to the basic
service tier must be "reasonable," be comprised at a minimum of all local broadcast access channels, the
FCC can ensure that rates/fees for other programming services are not unreasonable, and many other
provisions that the FCC has further regulation over.
Cable Coordinator Reardon also stated that In connection with most of the provisions set forth in
the 1992 Cable Act, legislation mandated the FCC to conduct 24 rule-making proceedings and as applicable,
to adopt regulations, standards and procedures. He stated that the majority of the proceedings are to be
completed by April 3, including rate regulation. He further stated that pending the FCC's issuance of its rate
regulation rulings, it appears that the joint commission, through the direction of the Cities of Burnsville and
Eagan, will be able to regulate the cable company's subscriber basic service rates. .
Chairperson Jerry Hanson commented on the status of the public access transfer stating that the
original 1983 franchise proposal contained amendments to public, educational and government access
which required the cable operator to have the responsibility of managing, operating and funding a staffed
public access facility and further that access channel allocations would be provided for government, public,
educational, library, religious, community bulletin board and local origination. He then reviewed the
subscribers' views on access stating that 79% deem public access as very or somewhat important and
further an historical perspective on the transfer of access given the civil ownership transfers that occurred
in recent years. He stated that most recently, the Cable Coordinator had informed the Councils of
Meredith/New Heritage's transfer request and the Commission's discussions regarding the need to address
the issue and bring closure to It in the near future. Hanson further informed the Councils of the
Commission's intent to develop a business plan which will thoroughly explore non-company managed public
access. According to the City Councils, the key policy decision is whether the 5% franchise fee or the
amount over the 5% the company is currently spending should be used to finance the public access.
Page 2/EAGAN SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
March 22, 1993
The Councils, Commission and staff discussed the issues of rate regulation and an access transfer.
Coordinator Reardon was requested to review the 1992 Cable Act language on Public Utilities Commission
regulation of rates, and other aspects of the legislation. It was understood that the Commission and staff
would develop the business plan as noted, and at a future date, the Commission and/or staff would report
back to the Councils their findings for further discussion. In addition, as the Cable Act is better defined by
the FCC, staff will report back to the Councils new information on rate regulation.
Following a series of questions and general comments, the meeting was adjourned at approximately
8:40 p.m.
TOUR OF BURNSVILLE CITY HALL
A Burnsville staff representative, Jill Shorba, provided a tour of the Burnsville City Hall which includes
their community center and law enforcement area stating that the 80,000 square foot facility was completed
in 1989 and office space occupies about half of the square footage at the present time. The remaining
40,000 square feet is used for community room space and events as well as storage.
OTHER BUSINESS
There being not further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:20 p.m.
TLH
Mardi 22, 1993
Date City Clerk