Ventura Municipal Code Art. 5 Reports and Records

The city has the right to inspect and copy at any time during normal business hours at the nearest franchisee office or at such location within the city as the city may designate, all books and records reasonably necessary to monitor compliance with the terms of this code, a cable franchise issued pursuant to this code, the requirements of any applicable law, or when reasonably necessary for the exercise of any right or duty of the city under the same.

A. This right includes the right to inspect not only the books and records of a franchisee, but any such books and records held by an affiliate regardless of who holds them, a cable operator of the cable system, or any contractor, subcontractor or any person holding any form of management contract for the cable system.

B. Each franchisee will be responsible for collecting the information and producing the books and records of franchisee and its affiliates and books and records of others to which it has a right of access, or otherwise controls. For purposes of this article, the terms “books and records” will be read expansively to include information in whatever format stored, including, without limitation, information stored in electronic form. Financial books and records will be maintained in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

C. Books and records requested pursuant to this section will be produced to the city upon request unless franchisee obtains a court order that the documents need not be produced under this section. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Franchisee will not deny the city access to a franchisee’s books and records on the basis that said books and records contain proprietary information. However, all proprietary information received by the city from a franchisee and clearly marked as such will be treated as follows:

A. The city will notify franchisee if any third party seeks release of any document marked confidential and the city determines that the document cannot be protected consistent with applicable law, and will withhold release for the maximum period permitted by law so that the franchisee has the opportunity to seek court protection against the release of the requested documents.

B. The city will notify franchisee if it determines that the document can be withheld pursuant to applicable law, and that determination is appealed to a court or agency of competent jurisdiction, so that franchisee may intervene to defend the city’s determination. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Upon request, a franchisee will file with the city any and all reports filed with the FCC or any other regulatory body having jurisdiction over any aspects of the operations of the franchisee or its direct and indirect parents. Franchisee will also deliver to the city, at the time it is filed or within 10 days after receiving it, the following:

A. Notices of deficiency or forfeiture related to the operation of the cable system; and

B. Copies of any request for protection under bankruptcy laws, or any judgment related to a declaration of bankruptcy by the franchisee or by any partnership or corporation that owns or controls the franchisee directly or indirectly. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

In addition to producing books and records, franchisee will prepare and submit reports upon the director’s request. Each franchisee will collect and maintain such documents as are required to prepare the reports by a time established by the director. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

At a minimum, each franchisee will maintain records so that it can provide the following reports to the director on a quarterly or less frequent basis, as may be requested:

A. The number of service calls (calls requiring a truck roll) received by type, by quarter, and the percentage of service calls compared to the subscriber base by type of complaint.

B. The number and type of outages known by the franchisee by quarter, identifying separately the following:

1. Each planned outage, the time it occurred, its duration, and the estimated area and number of subscribers affected;

2. Each known unplanned outage, the time it occurred, its estimated duration and the estimated area and the number of subscribers affected, and if known, the cause;

3. The total estimated hours of known outages as a percentage of total hours of cable system operation by quarter. The term “outage” has the same meaning as in Section 6.460.605(B). (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Not later than 90 days after the end of its fiscal year, a franchisee will submit a written report containing the information that is required under this article to the director in accordance with forms prepared by the director after providing interested parties with notice and time to comment on the forms.

B. Until such forms are prepared after notice and comment, the reports will be prepared in accordance with the general business practices of a franchisee. The information required under this article will be filed within 60 days of the effective date of a franchise grant, and thereafter need only be filed as part of the annual report if, at the time of filing, the information provided has changed. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

The annual report will include:

A. A summary of the previous year’s activities in the development of the cable system, including descriptions of services begun or discontinued, the number of subscribers gained or lost for each category of cable service;

B. A summary of complaints for which records are required under this article, identifying both the number and nature of the complaints received and an explanation of their dispositions;

C. An independently prepared, fully audited report or a report certified by a franchisee’s chief financial officer of gross revenues from the previous calendar year for the cable system;

D. An ownership report, indicating all persons who at the time of filing control or own an interest in the franchisee of 10 percent or more;

E. A list of officers of the board and members of the board of directors of the franchisee and any affiliates directly involved in the operation or the maintenance of the cable system;

F. An organizational chart showing all corporations or partnerships with more than a 10 percent interest ownership in the franchisee, and the nature of that ownership interest (limited partner, general partner, preferred shareholder, etc.); and showing the same information for each corporation or partnership that holds such an interest in the corporations or partnerships so identified and so on until the ultimate corporate and partnership interests are identified;

1. An annual report for each public company identified in this section which issues an annual report;

G. A report on the cable system’s technical tests and measurements;

H. A complete report on a franchisee’s cable system. This report will state the physical miles of cable system construction and cable system in operation during the previous calendar year, identify any cases where subscribers contributed to cable system extension, provide revisions to the cable system maps filed with the city, and report the results of appropriate electronic measurements to show conformity with FCC technical standards;

I. A report showing, for each customer service standard in this article or in the franchise grant, the franchisee’s performance with respect to that standard for each quarter of the preceding year. In each case where a franchisee concludes it did not comply fully, the franchisee will describe the corrective actions it is taking to assure future compliance.

J. A franchisee’s as-built maps which show the location, size, and a general description of all cable system facilities installed in public rights-of-way and any power supply sources (including voltages and connections). (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

An annual report may be presented at a regular public meeting of the city council to be held not earlier than 10 days following submission of the report. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Upon the city’s request, each franchisee will submit construction reports and make available for review updated as-built system design maps for its cable system for any construction undertaken during the term of the cable franchise. The maps will be developed on the basis of post-construction inspection by the franchisee and construction personnel to assess compliance with cable system design. Any material departures from design must be indicated. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will maintain records of all complaints received with information sufficient to allow the franchisee to prepare the reports required in this article. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will maintain records of outages known to the franchisee, with information sufficient to allow a franchisee to prepare the reports required in this article. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will maintain records of service calls for repair and maintenance indicating the date and time service was requested, the date of acknowledgment and date and time service was scheduled (if it was scheduled), the date and time service was provided, and (if different) the date and time the problem was solved. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

At all times, a franchisee will maintain records of installation/reconnection and requests for service extension, indicating date of request, date of acknowledgment, and the date and time work was completed. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

If any books and records requested pursuant to this chapter or a cable franchise grant are too voluminous, or for security reasons or because the requested records contain trade secrets, cannot be copied and moved, then a franchisee may request that city inspection of such records take place at some other location mutually agreed to by the city and the franchisee; provided, that:

A. The franchisee must make necessary arrangements for copying documents selected by the city after its review; and

B. The franchisee must pay all reasonable travel and additional copying expenses incurred by the city (above those that would have been incurred had the documents been produced in the city) in inspecting those documents or having those documents inspected by its designee. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Each franchisee will take all reasonable steps required, if any, to ensure that it is able to provide the city all information that must be provided or may be requested under a cable franchise grant or applicable law, including by providing appropriate subscriber privacy notices.

Nothing in this section will be read to require a franchisee to violate state or federal law governing subscriber privacy.

B. Each franchisee will be responsible for redacting any information that applicable law prevents it from providing to the city.

C. Books and records required to be retained under a cable franchise grant or applicable law will be kept for at least five years from the date such book or record was prepared.

A cable franchise grant may specify an exception to this requirement for particular voluminous materials, so long as the information contained in those materials is reflected in other documents.

D. The director may, but is not required to, relieve a franchisee of all or part of the obligation to file the reports required by this article where:

1. Preparation of the reports would be unduly burdensome given the size of the franchisee;

2. An alternative means of monitoring the performance of the franchisee is provided for that the director concludes will protect customers and permit the city to discharge its regulatory responsibilities; and

3. The relief is for a specified temporary period and obligations may be revoked if the size of the franchisee changes or the alternative monitoring proves ineffective. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)