Barbwire by Barbano: Cable TV Agenda Benders

SIDEBAR: THE DRAFT AGENDA BARBANO SUBMITTED FOR THE CANCELLED FEB. 27 MEETING

  1. MINUTES. Review and approval of minutes of previous meeting from Kate Marshall.
  2. LEGISLATION. Discussion of legislation to remove the recently imposed cap on a municipality providing cable service. As you noted in my memo dated Feb. 11, I have placed Kate Marshall's committee on point on this issue.
  3. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS.
    3A. OPERATIONS/Thornsberry, chair (+ Gorman, Padilla) — At our last meeting, Noel Thornsberry requested that Marsha Berkbigler provide complete documentation on Charter's sales packaging and billing/service policies.
     3B. COMPLAINTS/Inman, chair (+ Gorman and Stone) —
Barbara Stone has cleared it with Deputy City Atty. Gabrielle Kerr (sp?) that Barbara and I can legally meet with Jackie Inman as long as we don't deliberate toward a decision. I've written to Jackie to see if she can have coffee with Barbara and me before Feb. 27. We will discuss Jackie's serving in another capacity, if possible. At minimum, we will assess the status of complaints she has in progress and get her perspective on the stumbling blocks she has encountered.
     3C. Along the line of scrupulously following the state open meeting law, I think we need to agendize a bit of time for Mr. Shipman to advise us all about how we can do our subcommittee work without infringing on the law.
     3D. COMMUNICATIONS/Marshall, chair (+ Stone and Thornsberry) — See Item No. 2, above. I will try to have a report ready regarding the legislative history of the current bar to municipal provision of service. Anyone else who can shed light on this issue, please advise.
   4. REPORTING DEFICIENCIES. Anjeannette Damon of the Reno Gazette-Journal, in researching a story which may break before our meeting, told me that she has identified that the city and Charter have been in noncompliance with Reno Municipal Code, sections 5.90.1370 (Consumer Protection) and 5.90.1380 (Periodic Reports). Discussion and update.
   5. CHARTER REPRESENTATIVE PRESENTATION. Report from and questions to Charter's Marsha Berkbigler regarding lack of cooperation with Ms. Inman and material she will provide for the Operations Committee. We might also pose some questions from Item 4.
   6. CONSULTANT'S REPORT. Discussion of Sepe report on Charter's operations, if any.
   7. OLD BUSINESS.
   8. NEW BUSINESS.
  9. PUBLIC COMMENT. At the beginning of the meeting, I will reiterate the policy of the chair that we will take public comment on any agenda item while that item is before us, upon request and at the discretion of the chair.
   10. NEXT MEETING DATE/TIME.

Finally, a personal note which I will read into the record on Feb. 27. As some of you may have seen, I have been acting as a regular commentator on Nevada Newsmakers with Sam Shad, an activity in which I have participated for more than a decade. Since Feb. 3, 2003, the program has been airing on KRNV TV-4 from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m, Mondays through Thursdays, with re-runs at 9:30 p.m. the same day on Reno-Sparks-Carson Charter Cable channel 12 and Charter channel 19 in Douglas County. Audio of the programs re-airs on KKKOH 780-am radio on Sunday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Charter Communications recently began a partial sponsorship of Mr. Shad's program. I had, have and will have NO involvement with their arrangement and derive no monetary or any other consideration from their relationship. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thanks for your continuing interest and hard work. I look forward to seeing you on Feb. 27.

Be well. Raise hell.

Andrew Barbano, Chair
City of Reno Citizens Cable Compliance Committee
http://www.decidingfactors.tv

THE MARCH 27 AGENDA FROM CITY HALL

CITIZENS CABLE COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE (CCCC)
MEETING AGENDA
WEDNESDAY,
6:30 PM
March 27, 2003
Reno City Hall
490 South Center Street, Council Chambers
Reno, Nevada 89501

The announcement of this meeting is posted at, Reno City Hall at 490 South Center Street, City of Reno Community Development Building at 450 Sinclair Street, the Washoe County Library Downtown branch, , the City of Reno Public Works Department, 4th Floor and Paine-Webber Building at 350 South Center Street

ALL ITEMS ARE FOR CCCC ACTION UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED WITH AN ASTERICK (*) [sic]

We are pleased to make reasonable accommodations for members of the public who are disabled and wish to attend meetings. If you should require special arrangements for the meeting, please contact 334-3112 at least 24 hours prior to meeting date.

Roll Call
Approval of minutes
Discussion and review of the Open Meeting Law relating to CCCC subcommittees and e-mails.
Discussion and clarification of the role of the CCCC and CCCC Chairperson
City Council Resolution No. 6077
Unofficial City website
Legislative lobbying
Committee member conduct
Handling of complaint process
Media contacts

Discussion of Assembly Bill 298 - Prohibits state and local governments from paying for certain publications, advertisements and television programming that are reasonably likely to affect outcome of election

Discussion of Senate Bill 278 - Revises provisions relating to powers of certain local government entities to provide services of community antenna television system

Subcommittee status reports
Complaint Committee
Charter Operations Committee
Communications Committee

Discussion of resignation of Mrs. Inman from CCCC.

Discussion of old Business:

Report from Jonathan Shipman on whether public comment can lead to interactive discussion with the CCCC.

Report from City of Reno Public Information Officer Sharon Spangler on alternative CCCC meeting dates for the months of November and December and re-airing of CCCC meetings on SNCAT Channel 13.

Report from Charter Communications Government Affairs Director Marsha Berkbigler on; the number of customer service representatives available per shift, Charter's rebate credit policy, overview of information kept by Charter regarding customer service matters, and Charter's adherence to the seven day turnaround requirement for picking up digital cable boxes from a customer who has requested termination of service.

Report from City of Reno Community Relations Director Steven Wright on proposals and processes that he intended to put in place to deal with complaints received about Charter's service.

NOTE TO READERS: New business is not on the agenda. I'll make city staff aware.

Identification of agenda items for the next meeting of the CCCC.

Public Comment (*) — Limited to no more than (3) minutes per speaker. Persons wishing to speak must notify the CCCC Recording Secretary prior to or during the meeting. Forms for this purpose will be provided. Be certain to state your name, address and state whether you are a current or former Charter Communications cable television subscriber.

Adjournment