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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/05/2007• B A K E R S F I E L D Sue Benham, Chair Rho a Smiley, Pu Information Officer David Couch For: Alan Tandy, City Manager Jacquie Sullivan AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, June 5, 2007 - 1:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room -Suite 201 City Hall, 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA The meeting was called to order at 1:08 PM. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmember Sue Benham; Chair Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan Absent: Councilmember David Couch Staff present: Alan Tandy, City Manager John W. Stinson, Assistant City Manager Rick Kirkwood, Management Assistant Ginny Gennaro, City Attorney Janice Scanlan, Assistant City Attorney Joseph Ahuna, City Attorney Intern Rhonda Smiley, Public Information Officer Raul Rojas, Public Works Director Kevin Barnes, Solid Waste Director Glen Grundeis, Bakersfield Police Department Bryan Lynn, Bakersfield Police Department Others present: Kevin Gerrity, Bakersfield Californian Peter Samore, KUZZ News 2. ADOPT MAY 8, 2007 MINUTES Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS None AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, June 5, 2007 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Update regarding plastic bag issue. This item was deferred to the meeting of July 10, 2007. 5. NEW BUSINESS Page 2 A. Discussion and recommendation on a proposed ordinance regarding statewide cable franchising -City Attorney Assistant City Attorney Janice Scanlan gave an overview of Assembly Bill 2987, which was adopted by the California Legislature in September 2006. This law takes cable franchising authority away from local government and gives it to the state. In March 2007, AT&T applied to the Public Utilities Commission for astate-wide video franchise, and was granted this request on April 5, 2007. The City currently has franchise agreements with Bright House Networks and Cox/Cebridge/Sudden Link. Bright House Networks' purchase of the Cebridge facility was approved by the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission and should close within 30 to 60 days. This will result in Bright House Networks being the only City franchise. AT&T is now approved to provide video service state-wide which includes Bakersfield; therefore, the consumer will be able to choose between AT&T and Bright House Networks. Currently AT&T does not contain the necessary infrastructure to provide video services locally (boxes, lines, etc). The City is required to enforce customer service and other issues that would normally be handled by the Public Utilities Commission. The Legislature has informed the local entities of the related fines. The City will collect these fines and then remit half of the money to the state. State franchise holders will also pay to the City the current franchise fee of 5% of gross revenues. The definition of gross revenues varies between this legislation and the current Bright House Networks agreement. The franchise holder is required to follow City standards in order to obtain an encroachment permit. Bakersfield currently does not have an appeal process, but there must be one in place in case of denial. Committee Chair Benham and Committee member Sullivan voted to send to City Council for approval, with Committee member Couch absent. S:\Council Committees\2007\07 Legislative&Litigation\Jun 5\Jun 5 Agenda Summary Report.doc AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT LEGISLATIVE AND LITIGATION COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, June 5, 2007 Page 3 B. Discussion and recommendation on an amendment to the cabaret permit ordinance -City Attorney City Attorney Gennaro stated that the City's current cabaret permit ordinance indicates that any violation of the ordinance results in the revocation of the permit. It was suggested that suspending the permit should be another alternative. It should be noted that the suspension should not exceed a certain amount of time. Committee Chair Benham asked how the cabaret permit ordinance works with the Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) license. Sergeant Grundeis stated that an event with live music, dancing, and selling alcohol will require a cabaret permit and an ABC license. The cabaret permit and ABC license do not affect one another. If a business is in violation of the ABC law, which is a state law, the Police department can take action. Due to different measures of violations, it is suggested that the language in the ordinance read "may be immediately suspended" instead of "shall". Committee Chair Benham agrees with the suggested wording for the ordinance, and also for the suspension period not to exceed 180 days. The actual suspension time will be determined by the Police Department. If the business does not agree with the suspension time, they may appeal this decision to the City Manager. Committee Chair Benham and Committee member Sullivan voted to send to City Council for approval, with Committee member Couch absent. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS None 7. ADJOURNMENT 1:35:49 PM cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council APPROVED JULY 16, 2007 S:\Council Committees\2007\07 Legislative&Litigation\Jun 5\Jun 5 Agenda Summary Report.doc