09-23-2013 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 9, 2013 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 11 (12. ENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT, Continued) McMillan reported there have been two subcommittee meetings consisting of seven members and that there have been some pretty good discussions regarding franchising. McMillan stated Orono is further down the road with direct franchising than some of the other member cities and that in her view going forward the subcommittee will help everyone understand the situation. McMillan noted the cities of Minnetrista and Victoria will likely be leaving the LMCC and direct franchising with Mediacom. McMillan indicated Orono has received a number of compliments about working with the other cities to explore options to see if the member cities can stay together. Levang commented there is a fair amount of energy for the 17 member cities to stay together but how that will actually work is unclear at this time. Two of the cities currently have direct franchise agreements signed and others are seriously looking at going that route. Orono is providing another opportunity for the cities to discuss ways in which they can continue to work together and whether that is still possible. Levang noted the subcommittee had a good meeting last week with Brian Grogan and that his expertise in franchising was very helpful. The subcommittee at this point is looking at the Southwest model, which is a very good model, and the subcommittee will see what happens in the next week as the withdrawal process is looked at and what that will all entail. Levang indicated the subcommittee at this point is not receiving a whole lot of information about how the process is going with the LMCC. Levang stated some of the tasks recommended by Mr. Grogan to examine are what the objectives are, what everyone would like out of a franchise, and what Orono would like out of a franchise going forward. Some of the questions that need to be answered are whether the City Council would like to have mini cameras in the chambers and what types of programming should be offered, such as school or church programming. Levang indicated the Council has not had that discussion yet, which needs to be had, and that the subcommittee will be discussing that topic this week at its upcoming meeting. McMillan commented the LMCC has done some good things with taping the city council meetings and the agenda parsing and providing that to the cities. The question is whether or not that is an important thing for the cities that stay with LMCC to have or whether they want to try to outsource that work. McMillan stated she would have preferred to have had this discussion a year ago to allow the cities to have more time to think about the issues. McMillan noted unfortunately the member cities only have six weeks to make a decision. Printup asked when the six weeks is up. McMillan stated the LMCC is talking about having a franchise renewal agreement ready by the end of October or the first part of November. McMillan stated the cities need to make a decision by October 15 if they want to withdraw, which does not allow a lot of options for those cities that are not able to decide right now. McMillan noted currently the fees are going straight to the LMCC rather than the general fund of the cities and that the cities need to decide what to do with the PEG fees. McMillan stated one of the issues with paying all of the PEG fees is that Orono does not own one camera in the council chambers or any other equipment. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 09/23/2013 Approval of Council Minutes 09/09/2013 [Page 9 of 11]