AG 1993 03 03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RECOMMENDATION BY THE CABLE FRANCHISE COMMISSION REGARDING THE SELECTION OF A CONSULTING FIRM FOR THE CABLE RF~FRANCHISING PROCESS B~cknrou~,~ Due to the fact that the franchises of both Cabarrus County and the C~ty of Concord expire concurrently, the cable board felt that thez~ were s~gnificant cost savings in Jointly engaging a cable consultar~t £or the refranch!stng process. The County ~a~%ager, Mr. $ohn Wit?:erspoon, and the City Manager, Mr. Leonard Sossamor~, ~et with Mr. Bob Melton of Vision Cable concer~i~%g the cost of consulting services for refranchising. Mr. Melton agreed that Vision Cable would reimburse the County and the City for this cost. This arrangement, while not required by FCC regulation, is typical in tbs industry and is usually i~cluded in local franchise ordinances. It is included in the current County fran~:hise ordinance which will expire on November 9, 1993. Se!e~tion Proce~.~, The City had sent out RFP~s prior to o~r. contacting them about a Joint effort. Each of the respondents upgraded their p~oposa]s to reflect this combined reGuest. The Chair and Vice-Chair from our board ~ere delegated to meet ~ith Tim Louder, City Engineer, and Steve Slough, City Util~.t~es Director, from the C~ty~s Communlcat~on Committee. ~'~om five responses to th~ RFP, we selected three consultants for interview. Our joint decision was ba~ed on thc interview ~o~ess, talks ~ith other franchising autho~ities an~ a seminar attended by most of our board, some of ~ncord's and two of tbs three ~espond~]ts. ~Q~. The Cable Franchise Commission recommends that the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners award a contract to Rice, W~lliams Associates for the purpose o£ assisting in the refranchising process for providing cable television services to the County. The cost is t~ be approximately 935,000. Implementa~fo~, The combined cost of $70,000 is h{,ped to be at the high end of the spectrum. The 'Cost of Services~ sheet attached is a menu from which we can decide our needs. The intention is that the delegates from the County and the C~ty, along ~ith both Managers, will meet with the selected consultant to negotiate the services required. We are aware that no one's interest will be served by overly utilizing the services of a consultant - the rate payers will eventually bear ~:~ burden. We can, however, prudently use this expertise to try to provide the bsst possible extent]on of service and the best possible level of service to the greatest number of taxpayers.