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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
October 15, 2001
9E
Frank Boyles, City Manager
AGENDA ITEM: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING REIMBURSEMENT
TO THE PRIOR LAKE SAVAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR PUBLIC
EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL SUPPORT.
DISCUSSION: History: For at least five years while Triax was the City's cable television
provider, they entered into an agreement with the School District to reimburse
one-half the cost of the School District Cable Coordinator's time (approximately
$20,000-$25,000 per year). The rationale for the agreement is that the Cable
Coordinator, Jim Schindler, has been responsible for operating the government
access and educational access channels, spending about 50% of his time on
each channel. Administration of the channels involves entering and deleting
messages from the character generator. It also involves video taping, editing and
re-broadcasting shows for telecast on the appropriate channel. Finally, the
operator schedules programming on the channel and supplies the schedule to
the press.
Once Triax sold the system to Mediacom, the agreement between the School
District and cable operator expired. Mediacom indicated that they had no interest
in entering into separate financial agreements with the School District. The
School District approached the City requesting assistance.
Current Circumstances: Mayor Mader worked with the staff at the time to
negotiate a new Franchise Agreement. To assist the School District, the Mayor
proposed that the City address reimbursement of the School District in the new
Franchise for as long as the School Cable Coordinator administers the Prior Lake
Government Access channel.
The City was successful in negotiating a per subscriber Public, Education and
Government (PEG) fee in the Franchise Agreement, a portion of which could be
used to reimburse the School District for costs associated with the administration
of the City's government access channel.
Initially, the City and School District worked to prepare an agreement which
would memorialize the responsibilities of the City and School District as they
relate to administration of the Prior Lake Government Access channel. This was
before my proposal in the 2002 City budget that a position responsible for
coordinating City communications be established. That position, in addition to
coordinating written communication and the Web page, would also administer the
City's Government Access channel. This works well for the School District since
they project that they will require 100% of Jim Schindler's time in the near future.
16200 Eagle Creek Ave. S.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372-1714 / Ph. (952) 447-4230 / Fax (952) 447-4245
1:\COUNCIL\AGNRPTS\2001\CABLE COORDPIiil~AL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
We have agreed that July 1, 2002 would be an appropriate date for the City to
become responsible for its own access channel, allowing Jim to focus 100% of
his time on school related communication issues. Of course, any City funding for
cable channel administration would cease at that time.
The School District has formally asked the City to reimburse 50% of Jim
Schindler's salary for the following time period:
1.--jui"y-T:-..1.999-.through.oCtob.er...1"S;.1"999 .--..--.-r...-..-.-.--$-6~46.5.~-16-.1
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! October 16, 2000 through October 15, 2001 i $22,909.34 !
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The period July 1, 1999 to October 15, 1999 is before the new franchise was
executed and is not technically our responsibility. I have, nonetheless, written a
letter to Mediacom asking that they pay the School District for that time period.
Conclusion: The School District, through Jim Schindler, has continued to
provide PEG services to the City. Specifically, they have continued to administer
the Prior Lake local government access channel and produced an increased
number of local government telecasts such as Inside City Hall and City Council
Corner. The essential question is does the Council believe it is appropriate to
reimburse the School District for 50% of their costs.
ISSUES:
The new cable Franchise Agreement became effective October 15, 1999. The
last payment the School District received from Triax was in January 1999 for the
1998-99 school year. They have asked the City to pay for this time period. I have
taken the position that we will request that Mediacom do so. I sent a letter to this
effect to Mediacom. They have not responded. The amount requested for this
period is $6,405.16 which represents 50% of the School District costs for that
period.
The School District has also requested 50% reimbursement for October 1999 -
October 2000 and for October 2000 - October 2001 which amounts to
$44,999.31. The total amount requested by the District is $51,404.47.
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
Since October 1999, the City has collected PEG fees in the amount of
$45,506.80. Any School District reimbursement would be drawn from this
account.
ALTERNATIVES: The Council has three alternatives:
(1) Elect not to pay any portion of the PEG costs incurred by the School District.
(2) Elect to reimburse $51,404.47 which includes all fees requested by the
School District before the Franchise Agreement was approved.
(3) .Elect to reimburse $44,999.31 which represents the fees requested for the
period beginning October 1999 (the effective date of the new Franchise
Agreement) to October 15, 2001.
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RECOMMENDED
MOTION:
Alternative (2). The School District has provided uninterrupted services to the
Government Access Channel. The PEG access account has funds available to
reimburse the School District for the period of time that the Franchise Agreement
has been in effect. Funds are not available to repay the District for any time prior
to the effective date of the Franchise Agreement. We will continue to work with
the District in an effort to recover the additional funds from Mediacom.
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