A public hearing and council discussion regarding the pending cable franchise agreement were held at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Henderson Mayor Clem Seifert began the debate by indicating to the council that the contract is still not ready.
When council member Lonnie Davis asked what issues were outstanding, Seifert raised the issue of wires dangling from poles first discussed during the Nov. 14 council meeting. Seifert said the proposed language in the contract draft holds the city responsible for monitoring whether Time Warner Cable is in compliance. He told the council that the city does not have any intention of monitoring whether the cable company complies with the contract regarding loose wires.
At the last council meeting, Seifert argued against including such a provision in the contract.
Council member Elissa Yount was a strong proponent of the measure. Yount told the council she would compile the concerns and bring them to the Dec. 12 Land Planning and Development Committee meeting. That council committee is directly involved in negotiating the contract.
After some debate as to how to proceed regarding the public hearing and how and when to continue it, Seifert opened the meeting with the intention of continuing it in January. No one from the public spoke. Instead, the council entered into a wide-ranging discussion of the issue.
Council member Ranger Wilkerson told the council that he wants the contract to be shorter than the 10 years currently negotiated.
“I think the service is terrible,” he told the assembled council.
He then told members about his experience of waiting on the telephone for service and the difficulty he experienced with the automated telephone menus. Wilkerson indicated that when a customer calls, he should be able to speak to a person.
City Attorney John Zollicoffer reminded Wilkerson and the council that a 10-year contract is the minimum length of a cable agreement.
Seifert said he has been assured that service problems will be dealt with.
“Were you the man to discuss the problems?” council member Mary Emma Evans asked the mayor. She then told the mayor that she felt the council as a whole should have been involved. Seifert responded by saying that he had discussed the matter in committee.
During further discussion, Wilkerson indicated that Davis had received preferential service from Time Warner because of his position as a member of the City Council.
“It shouldn’t work that way,” Wilkerson advised the council.
Zollicoffer indicated to the council that he had been informed that all but one of the dangling wires brought to the council’s attention had been telephone wires. During the council meeting Nov. 14, council member-elect Bobby Gupton showed photographs of dangling wires at several locations in Henderson, including the intersection of Oxford Road and Dabney Drive.
The public hearing was continued to the Jan. 23 meeting.