Telecom & Video Services Agency Report
March 16, 2009
Thank you for this opportunity to highlight some of the things that the Telecom & Video Services Agency has been involved with during the past month.
ORDINANCE REVISIONS
Our office has continued working with OCC on revising the current 851 Cable Ordinance. The purpose is to make the ordinance consistent with the state law. Last week we shared with you the latest draft from OCC and our comments and suggested revisions to it. Eventually the ordinance will be taken up by the City-County Council.
BRIGHT HOUSE FRANCHISE FEE REVIEW
Counsel has drafted the City’s complaint to be filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) with respect to the impasse that we have to the Bright House 2004-2006 franchise fee audit. We have shared the draft with the City’s auditor and forwarded those comments and observations on to Logan , should OCC choose to incorporate any of those suggestions.
EGOV MEETING
A long held initiative of our office is to promote the utilization of the City’s electronic commerce or EGOV for which constituents can go on-line and make civic related transactions. We set up a meeting with ISA and Local Government On-Line to discuss a promotion campaign to give this City service wider exposure. LG On-Line has submitted some scripts for Alan Dhayer and I to review. We have turned those around and hope we can proceed near future on this initiative.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MEETING
TVSA facilitated a meeting to further discuss utilizing department resources to promote economic development for Indianapolis . Participating in the meeting was the Mayor’s Office, Councilor Jeff Cardwell, Metropolitan Development and Indianapolis Economic Development.
In summary, our goal is to have the Mayor’s Office and Council input to prioritize projects that will promote Indianapolis economic development on a global basis. We have made known our resource limitations in terms of labor and hope that we can have some videos produced by third parties. Eventually, the long term goal is to have a library of economic development material available on our website for global access.
PUBLIC SERVICE DROPS
The City Clerk’s Office has requested a public service drop consistent to the local franchise language that is incorporated by reference within the State law. Counsel has discussed said request with Bright House Networks who has declined to provide the drop at no charge. Our office has drafted a complaint document that addresses the matter of compliance with public service drops. That complaint would need to be filed before the IURC. OCC has that draft document to file with the State.
BROADBAND STIMULUS PACKAGE
TVSA has been advising ISA to what the City may be eligible for regarding the broadband portion of the stimulus package. We have also shared some background and briefing documents with respect to this portion of the stimulus package with the chair of Municipal Corporations as the public library would meet many of the requirements of the stimulus plan.