[Ord. 1375, 2/14/1977, § 50]
After any franchise is granted, there shall be appointed a commission,
to be known as the Borough of Pottstown Cable Communications Commission.
[Ord. 1375, 2/14/1977, § 51; as amended by Ord.
1847, 3/10/1997, § 1]
The Commission shall consist of five residents of the Borough
representative of its population characteristics, appointed by the
Borough Council. Each member shall serve a term of three years; provided,
however, that appointments to the first Commission shall be for such
terms as follows: two members for a term of three years; two members
for a term of two years, and one member for a term of one year. Any
vacancy in office shall be filled by the Borough Council for the remainder
of the term. No employee or person with ownership interest in a cable
television franchise granted pursuant to this Part shall be eligible
for membership on the Commission.
[Ord. 1375, 2/14/1977, § 52; as amended by Ord.
1735, 4/12/1993]
The Commission, in addition to any functions assigned to it
elsewhere in this Part, shall have the following functions:
A.
Advise the Council on any renewal or renegotiated application for
franchise.
B.
Advise the Council on matters which might constitute grounds for
revocation of the franchise in accordance with this Part.
C.
Resolve disagreements among franchisees, subscribers and public and
private users of a system; such decisions of the Commission shall
be appealable to the Borough Council.
D.
Coordinate the franchisee's consultant services for best use of public
facilities and channels of the system.
E.
Determine general policy relating to the service provided subscribers
and the operation and use of public channels, with a view to maximizing
the diversity of programs and services to subscribers. The use of
public channels shall be allocated on a first come, first served basis,
subject to limitation on monopolization of system time or prime times.
F.
Encourage use of public channels among the widest range of institutions,
groups and individuals within the Borough. This endeavor shall be
conducted with a view toward establishing different categories of
uses, and the annual reports by the Commission to the Borough Council
shall be by such categories, defined as follows:
(1)
Local educational uses including library, public schools, etc.
(2)
Public access for local programming under public control with guaranteed
access for students and minority groups.
(3)
Local government access channel (including fire, police, burglar
alarms and public announcements).
(4)
Off-the-air network and independent entertainment programs.
(5)
Off-the-air educational programs.
(6)
Information retrieval and professional communication.
G.
Cooperate with other systems, and supervise interconnection of systems.
H.
Audit all franchisee records required by this Part and, in the Commission's
discretion, require the preparation and filing of information additional
to that required herein.
I.
Make an annual report to the Council, including: an account of franchise
fees received and distributed, the total number of hours of utilization
of public channels, and hourly subtotals for various programming categories,
and a review of any plans submitted during the year by franchisees
for development of new services.
J.
Conduct evaluations of the system at least every three years, with
the franchisee, and pursuant thereto, make recommendations to the
Council for amendments to this Part or the franchise agreement in
accordance with provisions in regard to renegotiations.
K.
The Commission members shall serve without compensation.
L.
Commission may, with consent of the Borough Council, hire outside
consulting service where required to perform their functions; however,
all disbursements shall be made in accordance with the terms of the
Borough Code and shall be processed through the Borough Secretary's
Office.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Former § 934, Action by Majority,
adopted 2/14/1977 by § 53 of Ord. 1375, was repealed 4/12/2010
by Ord. 2073.
