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HEARING - Consider recommendations regarding granting a cable franchise agreement to Cox Communications, Inc. for a thirteen-year period, with provision for an additional two-year extension (for a total of fifteen years) if all required construction for the County INET is completed within twenty months, commencing on the effective date of the ordinance, as follows: (EST. TIME: 15 MIN.)
a) Consider the adoption (Second Hearing) of the ordinance;
b) Approve a budget revision recognizing as revenue a Government Access capital grant in the amount of $1,150,000 to be provided by Cox within 60 days of the effective date of the franchise and appropriating as expenditure $250,000 to the City of Goleta for capital equipment needs and connection costs for government access programming, and expending the remaining $900,000 in subsequent fiscal years for County Government Access purposes;
c) Approve the following actions pertaining to I-Net services:
i) Approve budget revision recognizing as revenue a capital grant of $400,000 for initial construction of facilities and installation costs for an Institutional Network (I-Net) to be provided by Cox within 30 days of the effective date of the franchise, as provided in the ordinance, and appropriating an equal amount as expenditures for payment to Cox Com/ Cox Business Services for performing this work;
ii) Acknowledge and accept a commitment by Cox to provide a capital grant not to exceed $200,000 for future additional I-Net locations and service upgrades to be provided by Cox as needed;
iii) Acknowledge and accept a letter from Cox regarding "Discounted Commercial Services" (Attachment B);
d) Approve a budget revision recognizing as revenue a grant in the amount of $208,000 to assist the Goleta Union School District with an initial payment to match its Universal Service Fund (USF) application and appropriating an equal amount as expenditure to be used by the Goleta Union School District for payment to CoxCom/ Cox Business Services for high speed I-Net services;
e) Consider approval of recommendations regarding Public and Educational Access as follows:
i) Convene immediately the Public Access Transition Team to facilitate the transition of management responsibility for public access from Cox to an independent non-profit access center;
ii) Commit the County to make available a site for an access center facility no sooner than January 1, 2003;
f) Acting as the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Fund for Public and Educational Access (SBFPEA):
i) Approve By-Laws of the Santa Barbara Fund for Public and Educational Access (Attachment D to the Board Letter Dated December 4, 2001);
ii) Authorize the Auditor Controller as Chief Financial Officer to establish a special revenue fund for this non-profit entity and to deposit funds of the corporation with the Santa Barbara County Treasurer-Tax Collector;
iii) Approve a budget revision recognizing as revenue a voluntary, charitable donation of $1,700,000 as described in the letter from Cox regarding "Public Access Commitments" (Attachment C to the Board Letter Dated December 4, 2001)
iv) Approve a budget revision recognizing as revenue $1,000,000 as a capital endowment to be provided by Cox Com, Inc. within 30 days of the effective date of the franchise, for equipment and facilities for support of public and educational access;
v) Approve a budget revision recognizing as revenue $250,000 to be provided by Cox Com, Inc. within 30 days of the effective date of the franchise as a capital grant for equipment and facilities for support of public and educational access (and acknowledge Cox's commitment to make a subsequent grant of $200,000 to the Access Center for capital purposes.)
vi) Appoint Scott Ullery, Deputy County Administrator, as a Vice-President of the Corporation;
vii) Direct staff of the Santa Barbara Fund for Public and Educational Access to work with the Public Access Transition Team to arrange for the establishment and funding of a Public Access Center as a separate non-profit entity;
g) Adopt a Resolution authorizing the County Treasurer to accept deposit of funds for local public agencies pursuant to provision of Government Code § 53684 and to accept funds of the Santa Barbara Fund for Public and Educational Access (Attachment E to the Board Letter Dated December 4, 2001).
COUNTY ADMINSTRATOR'S RECOMMENDATION: APPROVE
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