City of Ithaca, NY Chapter 18 Cable Access Oversight Committee

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 18-1 Title.

There shall be a new chapter added to the Code of the City of Ithaca which shall be entitled "Pegasys Access Oversight Committee" and may be cited as "Access Oversight Committee."

§ 18-2 Membership.

A. The Access Oversight Committee shall have five voting members, three from the City of Ithaca of which one shall be a member of Common Council; one from the Town of Ithaca and one from Cayuga Heights. The Mayor shall appoint the members of the Access Oversight Committee subject to the approval of Common Council. The Town of Ithaca and Cayuga Heights shall recommend to the Mayor individuals from their respective municipalities for appointment to the Committee. A representative of Time Warner shall serve as a nonvoting, ex-officio member of the Committee.

B. Should another municipality or municipalities become participating municipalities in the future, then such municipality or municipalities shall be entitled to recommend one individual from their municipality for appointment to the Access Oversight Committee. However, at such time, the City of Ithaca shall be entitled to appoint an additional member or members of the Access Oversight Committee such that in no event shall the proportion of membership of the City of Ithaca fall below 51%.

§ 18-3 Terms; officers and meetings; minutes.

A. Members of the Access Oversight Committee shall be appointed for a term of three years, except that of the initial appointments, two shall expire on December 31, 2004, one of whom shall be a City representative; two shall expire on December 31, 2005, one of whom shall be a City representative; and one shall expire on December 31, 2006, one of whom shall be a City representative.

B. The Committee shall meet on an as-needed basis but no less than quarterly. At the first meeting of each year, the Access Oversight Committee shall elect a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and a Secretary and shall adopt a meeting time.

C. Copies of the minutes of each meeting shall be transmitted to the City Manager and the Common Council.

[Amended 11-3-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-09]

§ 18-4 Duties and responsibilities.

A. The Access Oversight Committee shall approve the timing, use and amount of PEG access equipment and facilities to be acquired each year over the term of the franchise between the City and Time Warner.

B. The Access Oversight Committee may make rules for public access (but not for educational or government access) to assure the availability of the studio and portable equipment on a nondiscriminatory basis. The rules will deal with issues such as who can use the access equipment, what are the procedures for signing up for studio space and equipment, and how are schedules for cablecasting established.

C. Consistent with staff and available funding, the Access Oversight Committee may adopt business hours for the Access studio, provided that, in addition to other live programming, live programming will be accommodated between the hours of 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight at a minimum of two evenings per week, as needed, to accommodate safe harbor programming.

D. The Access Oversight Committee shall establish a usage fee for each separate use of access equipment and/or facilities to access users who do not reside in participating municipalities. Such fees shall be disbursed for PEG purposes at the discretion of the Committee.

E. The Access Oversight Committee shall review annual reports on the provision of equipment, facilities and funds provided by Time Warner access staff and present an annual report to Common Council on said reports. The Access Oversight Committee may review Time Warner records and records of access providers regarding the use of funds described in said reports.

F. The Access Oversight Committee shall review and monitor all access policies, rules, procedures, facilities and equipment, studio hours and staffing levels. Access Oversight Committee approval shall be required annually for the purchase of equipment, the studio hours available to access users, staffing level, budget and access rules.

G. By May 31 of each calendar year, the Access Oversight Committee shall provide the Common Council of the City of Ithaca, the Supervisor of the Town of Ithaca and the Mayor of Cayuga Heights with a recommended annual budget for equipment and facilities for the following year such that the participating municipalities may meet their obligation to provide Time Warner with an annual budget for public, educational and governmental access operations, which budget is due by June 30 of each calendar year.