[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Board of Trustees of the
Township of Lawrence 5-13-1982 (Ord. No. 9 of the 2005 Code). Amendments noted
where applicable.]
An ordinance granting to Liberty TV Calbe, Inc., a Delaware
corporation, hereinafter called the "grantee," a franchise to stretch
wire and cable and appurtenant structures over and under the streets
and alleys of the Township of Lawrence and to maintain and use the
same as a coaxial cable distribution system for television distribution
to subscribers' residences and to business and public establishments
for 15 years and regulating the rate of such service.
A.
Pursuant
to full consideration and approval of the grantee's legal, character,
financial, technical and other qualifications, and the adequacy, feasibility
and extent of its construction arrangements, and as part of a full
public proceeding affording due process, the Township of Lawrence,
hereinafter called the "grantor," does hereby grant to Liberty TV
Cable, Inc., and to its successors and assigns, the rights, privilege
and authority and franchise to operate in, over, upon and under the
streets, alleys and highways, and to erect other appurtenances and
to maintain and use the same as coaxial cable system for distribution
of television, radio and other signals into subscribers' homes and
to business establishments within and throughout the Township.
B.
The
grantee shall not transfer the franchise to another person without
prior approval from the grantor.
A.
All
work, excavation, erection of poles and appliances and laying of wires
and the operation and maintenance of the grantee's system shall be
done in compliance with the necessary rules, regulations, ordinances,
or orders which may, during the continuance of this franchise, be
adopted from time to time by the Township.
B.
The
word "necessary," as used in the foregoing paragraph, shall mean such
rules, regulations, and ordinances or orders as the Township Board
may deem necessary to protect and safeguard the health, safety and
convenience of the public and any member of the public residing within
the Township who might be affected by an excavation work or installation
of the grantee, or maintenance, use and operation of its television
distributing system.
C.
If
at any future time the Township Board requires the cable under this
franchise be placed underground as part of the underground wiring
system, no cost of removing or moving said cable underground shall
be paid by the Township; provided, however, that grantee shall not
be required to place any of its cable underground except in those
areas where both the telephone and electric power service facilities
are required to be underground or may hereafter be required to place
facilities underground; and provided further that in new developments,
or in those places where a subscriber or property owner requests that
service connections be placed underground, trenching costs (or a fractional
share of joint trench costs based upon relatively required trench
dimensions of joint users) for underground installations may be charged
to and will be borne by the developers, subscribers, or property owners;
and provided further that in underground installations, amplifier
and subscriber tapoff devices may nevertheless be placed in appropriate
housings on or above the surface of the ground.
A.
All
cables, wires, antennas or other appurtenances shall be constructed
and erected in a workmanlike manner.
B.
Nothing
in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the Township from sewer,
planking, bridging, grading, altering, or otherwise improving any
of the streets of the Township. This chapter shall further not be
so construed as to deprive the Township of any rights and privileges
which it has now or which may be conferred upon it to regulate the
use and control of streets. The Township shall further have, at all
times, the right to make use of the poles of said grantee for wires,
cables, or conductors for any and all Township-owned wire system,
provided that such use does not conflict with grantee's prior occupancy.
C.
In
the event any of the grantee's poles, cables, wires or other appurtenances
interfere with any future use that the Township desires to make of
its streets or alleys, the grantee shall, at its own expense, promptly
relocate such poles, cables, wires or other appurtenances upon being
notified to do so. Whenever the grantee, its successors and assigns
shall disturb any of the streets for the purpose aforesaid, it or
they shall restore the same to good order and condition as soon as
practicable without unnecessary delay, and failing to do so, the grantor
shall have the right to fix a reasonable time limit within which such
repairs and restoration of street shall be completed, and upon failure
of such repairs being made by said grantee, its successors and assigns,
the Township shall have the right to make such repairs and to be reimbursed
by the grantee, its successors and assigns.
A.
All
construction hereby authorized shall conform to the requirements of
the National Electrical Code as developed by the American National
Standards Institute, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Code,
and all other applicable laws, ordinance rules and regulations of
the Township and the State of Michigan, as from the time to time amended.
B.
The
grantee shall during the continuance of this grant provide facilities
and service sufficient at least to meet the rules and regulations
and technical standards of the Federal Communications Commission.
A.
Whenever
any person has obtained permission of the proper Township officials
to use any of the streets of said Township for the purpose of moving
any building, the said grantee, its successors and assigns, upon prior
notice of at least two regular business days from such person and
his paying the actual costs thereof, shall raise or remove any and
all of the said wires or cables which may obstruct the moving of such
building so as to allow the unobstructed passage of the same.
B.
Neither
the Township nor any of its employees shall be held liable for the
consequence of any act done in connection with the moving of said
building or rearrangement of wires or for the cost of rearranging
the wires.
In the case it shall be necessary to cut or remove any of the
said wires, cable or other appurtenances or equipment of the said
grantee in order to get fire ladders or other apparatus to a building
during a Township conflagration, the said Township shall not be liable
for any damage done to such wires, cables, conductors, or equipment.
The grantee shall have the authority to trim trees upon and
overhanging Township streets, alleys, sidewalks and other public places
in order to prevent the branches of such trees from contacting the
grantee's wires, cables and equipment, provided that such trimming
be done under the supervision and direction of the Township and at
the expense of the grantee.
A.
This
franchise shall be for a period of 15 years after the effective date
of this chapter, with grantee having an option to renew for an additional
15 years upon application by the grantee at least six months prior
to the expiration hereof and upon approval by the grantor as part
of a full public proceeding affording due process.
B.
This
franchise is governed by and subject to all applicable rules and regulations
of the Federal Communications Commission. Any modifications of the
provisions of 47 CFR 67.31 of the Rules and Regulations of the Federal
Communications Commission governing franchise standards shall be incorporated
into this chapter by the Township and grantee within one year of the
adoption of the modifications, or at the time of the next franchise
renewal, whichever occurs first. It shall be the obligation of the
grantee, upon notification of any change in this rule, to notify the
Township of these changes.
A.
Grantee shall indemnify and save the Township free and harmless from
any and all liability loss, cost, damage or expense from accident
or damage, either to itself or to persons or property of others which
may occur by reason of the exercise of the rights and privileges herein
granted and shall, for the purpose of carrying out the provision of
this section, and prior to commencing construction of any kind, have
in full force and effect and file evidence thereof with the Township
Supervisor a good and sufficient policy (or policies) covering bodily
injury with the limits of $2,000,000 personal injury each person,
$500,000 personal injury each accident and property damage with limits
of $50,000 each accident and $100,000 aggregate, with said policy
(or policies) to be executed by an insurance company (or companies)
authorized and qualified to do business in the State of Michigan and
conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the Township from and against
any and all claims, actions, suits, liability, loss, cost, expense
or damage of any kind or description which may occur to or be suffered
by the Township or by anyone by reason of anything that has been done
by the grantee thereunder which may in any way cause liability by
reason thereof.
B.
The grantee shall pay and by its acceptance of this franchise specifically agrees that it will pay all expenses incurred by the grantor in defending itself with regard to all damages and penalties mentioned in Subsection A above. These expenses shall include all out-of-pocket expenses, such as attorneys' fees, and shall also include the reasonable value of any services rendered by the grantor's attorney, or his assistants or of any employees of the grantor.
The Township declines to exercise its option to set or approve
subscriber rates. The company may modify its subscriber rates without
seeking or obtaining prior approval by the Township.
The grantee shall at all times fully and faithfully perform
all the terms, provisions, and conditions of this franchise and grant
and furnish service, meeting at least the minimum requirements and
technical standards of the Federal Communications Commission and maintain
its property in good order and repair throughout the entire term of
the grant, and upon default by the grantee hereunder of any of the
provisions of this franchise or upon regulations or orders of the
grantor and the continuance of such default or failure for a period
of 30 days after written notice setting forth in detail the exact
nature of such default or failure, such notice to be sent to the corporation
headquarters of the grantee, said Township may by resolution, and
for good cause shown and such default not corrected, terminate this
grant or franchise hereunder, and in case of said forfeiture, the
grantee shall have 120 days to remove all of its wires, cables or
other appurtenances from said streets and alleys, and any not so removed
within said time shall become the property of the grantor.
The grantee shall not as to rates, charge service facilities
rules, regulations, or in any other respect make or grant a preference
or advantage, provided that nothing in this franchise chapter shall
be deemed to prohibit the establishment of a graduated scale of charges
and classified rate schedules to which any customer coming within
such classification would be entitled.
The grantee shall maintain a business office with a toll-free
telephone listing, so located that maintenance service shall be promptly
available to subscribers upon request. Notice of the procedures adopted
by the grantee and the Township for the investigation and resolution
of all complaints regarding the grantee's TV cable operations (a copy
of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A) shall be given to each subscriber
at the time of initial subscription to the cable system. Any person
having a complaint regarding the grantee's operations may direct such
complaint to the grantee or, if not satisfied with the grantee's disposition
of such complaint, to the Township Supervisor, Township Hall, Lawrence,
Michigan 49064, who shall have primarily responsibility for the continuing
administration of this franchise and implementation of complaint procedures.
The grantee shall provide one free installation, connection,
and service therefore to each public school and municipal building
located within the corporate limits of the Township of Lawrence.
The company shall pay to the Township to defray the Township's
cost of administering this franchise a sum equivalent to 3% of the
annual gross subscriber revenues taken in and received by it from
delivery of television signals within the Township. For the purpose
of this franchise, gross subscriber revenues shall be limited to that
revenue the licensee receives as a result of providing its customers
with regular subscriber services, and shall not include revenues derived
from per-program or per-channel charges, leased channel revenue, advertising
revenues, or any other income derived from the system. The franchise
fee set forth herein shall be due and payable in cash in full within
60 days following the close of each fiscal year of the company.
The grantee, subject to the provisions contained in §§ 9-2 to 9-5 herein, is authorized to construct and operate the cable television system in any and all areas of the Township, and it shall, upon request, extend its facilities to any and all such areas; provided, however, if in the opinion of the grantee such an extension is economically impracticable, the grantee may seek financial assistance from the developer, contractor, subscriber, or property owner requesting service before it is required to enter into any new construction. Once construction has begun, however, erection of new facilities shall be completed without unreasonable delay. Disputes, if any, concerning the meaning of "economically impracticable" as used herein shall be subject to review by the Township Board.
A.
Upon enactment of this chapter, either of the following actions by any person, corporation or unincorporated association shall be unlawful and subject to criminal penalty as described in Subsection D below:
B.
The unauthorized connection, whether physically, electronically,
acoustically, inductively or otherwise, with any part of a licensed
CATV system with the Township for the purpose of taking or receiving
television or radio signals, pictures, programs or sounds, or for
the purpose of enabling others to receive such signals, pictures,
programs or sounds.
C.
The willful tampering with, removal of, or injury to any cables,
wires or equipment used for distribution of television or radio signals,
pictures, programs or sounds without the consent of the system owner.
D.
Violators of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and each and every day or portion thereof during which
any violation of any of the provisions of the section is committed,
continued, or permitted, shall be deemed a separate offense, and upon
conviction of any such violation, such violator shall be punishable
by a fine of not more than $100 and/or 90 days' imprisonment. Any
equipment or structure erected or maintained and any work commenced
or continued in violation of this chapter shall be and is hereby declared
unlawful, and the Township Board shall institute necessary legal proceedings
for the abatement, removal or enjoinment thereof in the manner provided
by law and shall take such other steps as may be necessary to accomplish
these ends.
The grantee, upon the retirement of its operating equipment,
shall install and maintain equipment equal to or approximating the
capability of then-current CATV technology to the extent that this
is practicable and economically feasible.
If any sections, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion
of this chapter is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional
by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed
a separate, distinct and independent provision, and such holding shall
not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions
thereof.
The grantee shall signify its acceptance of this franchise by
filing written notification thereof with the Township Board within
30 days from final passage of this chapter by the Township Board and
approval by the Township Supervisor. The franchise shall become effective
on the date such acceptance is received by the Township Board.
