09/26/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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D12AFT Regular Council Meeting 9/26/05 Page 6 that eventually we can get things shaped up enough to bring it back and give you all an opportunity to see some of the work that they have been doing. LEGAL DEPARTMENT -Diane Calta Ms. Calta had a couple of items. First, there was an amendment to the Cell Tower Agreement at 610 SOM that had been circulated in packets. She wanted to let everyone know that the company that proposed that amendment, American Tower, has agreed to withdraw the amendment and pay the $7,500.00 rental fee per year instead of asking for that amendment which would have reduced the fee to $650.00 a year. Also, there were some questions about that tower to confirm that it is receiving what would be considered a fair market rent. We are looking into that. Phil'is looking into the numbers, but Ms. Calta thinks that that tower is generating about, right now, without that additional fee, close to $50,000.00. We are looking to see if that is in line with what other communities are receiving in other similarly-situated towers. Ms. Calta also announced that we have a representative here from Adelphia, Don Vavrus, the manager of government affairs and a representative from Time Warner Cable, William Jasso. They are both here this evening regarding the cable legislation. As everyone should know, Adelphia has been in bankruptcy for a few years now and they are merging with Time Warner, taking over those franchises. Each community that has a franchise with Adelphia has been asked to consent to that transfer which is the term of your franchise agreement. Any time there is a transfer, municipalities are required to review that transfer. That legislation is on tonight for Council consideration. Ms. Calta would ask if possible that it be passed this evening due to a deadline of October 12th for that consent to be provided to Time Warner and Adelphia and Council's next meeting will not be until after that October 12ei deadline. Mr. Marquardt asked what the reason was for the deadline. Ms. Calta indicated that the deadline is imposed pursuant to federal rules that allow you 120 days to review any transfer request. That is where the deadline comes in to play. FIRE -Chief Mohr Chief Mohr reported that as the Mayor mentioned, the two firefighters, John Panzero and Gino Carcioppollo have been assigned to FEMA. They are in the Port Arthur, Beaumont Texas area, so this time they are at ground zero of this most recent hurricane. We talked to them Saturday, they were in convoy with other military and FEMA people from the Dallas area up there and we have not heard from them because there is no cellphone towers in that area, so we have not heard from them, but they are definitely at the center of activity for this hurricane. Mr. Buckholtz asked if everyone received the memo circulated about our responsibility with regard.to the homeland security and logging on to that website. Chief Mohr indicated it was the NIMS. Mr. Buckholtz asked if everyone knows what to do with it. Chief Mohr offered his assistance for anybody that needs help with it, but that is a federal requirement that we all have to comply with. Mr. Buckholtz said that he did not know if we were going for federal funds, but he knows we are always looking everywhere, so he thought we needed to do this. ~~ . ~] [1