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HomeMy WebLinkAbout94-91 RESOLUTIONTy RESOLUTION NO. 94-91 A RESOLUTION REGULATING PUBLIC ACCESS, EDUCATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL CABLE TELEVISION CHANNELS PURSUANT TO THE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT APPROVED BY ORDINANCE NO. 3413, MARCH 7, 1989. WHEREAS, the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and Warner Cable Communications, Inc. have entered into a franchise agreement regarding the operation of a cable television system in the city; WHEREAS, under Section XVII of the franchise agreement, approved by Ordinance No. 3413 on March 7, 1989, the city has the obligation and authority to regulate three cable television channels designated for public access, educational, and governmental use; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF -DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS: Section 1. Public Access Channel.. The channel designated for public access shall be operated by Fayetteville Open Channel, Inc. a nonprofit corporation, for the period specified in and under the terms of the contract between Fayetteville open Channel, Inc. and the City of Fayetteville approved by Resolution No. 161-90, October 16, 1990. Fayetteville Open Channel, Inc. shall be responsible for the programming on said channel, which shall be used only for public access purposes. Section 2. Educational Channel. The channel designated for educational use shall be operated by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, for a period of two years from the date of this resolution. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, shall be responsible for the programming on said channel, which shall be used only for educational purposes. Section 3.. Governmental Channel. The channel designated for governmental use shall be operatedby the City of Fayetteville. The city shall be responsible for the programming on said channel, which shall be used only for governmental purposes; provided, however, that said channel may from time to time be made available for use by the Fayetteville Public Schools. • Section 4. Commercial Use Prohibited. The public access, educational, and governmental channels shall not be used for commercial programming or other commercial purposes. PASSED AND APPROVED this .21st day of May , 1991. APPROVED: By: „ATTEST: �. a„t • 7 • • • tr. REPORT OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON CABLE TELEVISION. May 3, 1991 BACKGROUND The Fayetteville cable system, which dates from 1952, is one of the oldest in the nation. Warner Cable Company,the current franchisee, serves approximately 16,900 subscribers in the. Fayetteville area. This figure is indicative of the dependence of the Fayetteville community on cable service. In mountainous areas of the country, such as we have here, cable TV is a necessity, not a luxury. Without cable, many households could not receive television signals from local network affiliates or AETN. Warner Cable has served the Fayetteville community since 1975. In 1982 the Board of Directors appointed a cable television committee to investigate cable service in Fayetteville. At the time, Fayetteville had a basic 12 - channel system and many people in the community were not happy with the cable service. They felt they were paying a great deal for the cable, but were not receiving the services provided to some of the other cities surrounding Fayetteville. The cable TV committee investigated these complaints and made a number of recommendations to the Board. In their report the committee acknowledged the importance of cable television service to the community and asked the Board to consider establishing an advisory cable TV commission "to develop goals and standards of performance for cable TV in Fayetteville, as well as to deal with complaints and special projects." They also recommended the city develop performance standards for cable and require that the system be updated to a "state of the art" system. Most of the committee's recommendations were not put into effect, but their work did pave the way for the establishment of the 1987 Task Force on Cable. The 1987 Task Force completed an in depth study outlining the problems with the cable system by comparing this system to others in the nation. The recommendations of this committee were used as the starting point for franchise negotiations with Warner which began soon after completion of their report. The 1987 report again recommended the establishment of a cable commission. The report stated, "The fact that the City Board has appointed two separate cable television study groups over the past five years suggests that there is a need for permanent body to oversee cable in Fayetteville. The 1982 study committee recommended the creation of such a body, and we concur." An ad hoc cable committee was formed in 1988 to negotiate the franchise agreement with Warner. Its membership consisted of Jim Pennington, City Manager; Scott Linebaugh, Asst. City Manager; James McCord, City Attorney, and John Watkins, UA Law Professor. This same committee, minus Jim Pennington, and with Jerry Rose replacing James McCord, is continuing to meet to this day. SYSTEM UPGRADE Under the present franchise agreement with Warner, the system has been upgraded to one with a capacity for 61 channels, more than twice the capacity of the previous 22 - channel system. The system is also capable of delivering stereo signals and is "addressable," thus allowing "pay per view" services by which a subscriber may receive a single event such as a boxing match, concert or movie. Under the old franchise agreement the city was paid a 3% annual franchise fee. Under the new agreement, the city now receives 5% of Warner's annual gross profits, the maximum allowed by law. The former agreement had very few provisions for public access to the cable. It simply stated that if the city would like the use of a channel, the cable company would provide one at no cost to the city. The city itself never exercised this option. Section XVII of this agreement deals with support for public access. In this section, Warner agreed to make a one- time payment of $230,000 to the city to finance "the construction, purchase and/or renovation of a city owned building to be utilized for access programming purposes." The citywas also given 3 -channels for public, education, and government use. Warner also agreed to give the city $70,000 to be used for capital expenses associated with the access facilities. The exact time of payment of this $70,000 is currently being worked out with Warner. BACKGROUND ON FAYETTEVILLE OPEN CHANNEL Fayetteville Open Channel was incorporated in 1979. The then director of Ozark Legal Services, Doug Wilson, learned of public access stations operating in other parts of the county and took on the task of organizing a public access group here. The newly. established FOC Board approached the City Board and asked that they be designated the city's access provider thereby enabling them to use time on the cable for public access programs. Permission was given by the Board and FOC began its negotiations with Warner. Warner began supporting FOC with operational funding in 1980 and continued to fund them until the franchise agreement with the city expired in October, 1990. At that point, according to 3 the terms of the franchise agreement, the City of Fayetteville took over operations of the public access channel as well as governmental and educational access. In October, 1990 the city contracted with Fayetteville Open Channel to operate the city's public access channel. FOC was granted a one year contract and $75,000. This contract will come up for review in September. The other two access channels, governmental and educational, are not yet operational and will not be until September, 1991 at the earliest according to the terms of the franchise agreement. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Under the terms of the new franchise agreement with Warner, the city regulates the three new access channels. This means the city will designate these channels to be used by another entity or administer them itself. The committee recommends that a Cable Television Board be established to oversee the operations of the access channels. At the same time, the channels should be used in the following manner. a. Educational Access - This channel should be turned over to the University of Arkansas for their use. The Fayetteville Public Schools are not presently in a position to operate an access channel. The University is ready and willing to take on the operations of this channel for University programming. The city should contract with the U of A to operate this channel, in the same way it contracted with FOC to operate the public access channel. All program decisions should be left up to the University. b. Public Access - Fayetteville Open Channel should be designated the public access provider on an annual contractual basis. The City should consider assisting with the administration of FOC by taking over some of the administrative duties currently being handled by the FOC manager, leaving the FOC staff free to better serve the community through training and program production. Some of the duties which could best be handled by a city staff member are grant writing, financial record keeping and reports, and equipment maintenance and purchase. c. Governmental Access - A city employee should administer the government access channel. Production work for government programs should be contracted out On an annual basis with Fayetteville Open Channel. The city can also contract with FOC to handle cablecasting of government programs. The Cable Television Board should oversee the operations of all three access channel. Any problems arising from programming on these channels should be resolved by the Cable Television Board, with appeals to the City Board of Directors possible. 2. The Cable Television Board should also be charged with the job of promoting public awareness and use of the access channels. 3. Annual funding for the access channels should be the responsibility of the Cable Television Board to recommend to the City Board. 4. The Cable Television Board should be charged with overseeing the operations of Warner Cable under the terms of the present franchise agreement. Re -regulation of the cable industry. may soon be a reality according to an article in the April 25, 1991 issue of.the Arkansas Gazette which is attached to this report. 5. The construction and administration of the city's access facility should be handled by the Cable Television Board. Current plans are to renovate the old Ozark Mountain Sports Building on Spring Street across from the new Walton Arts Center. The contract with the architect, Hailey and Associates, will be presented for your consideration at the May 21 meeting. According to our best estimates, the building will be completed sometime during the spring, 1992. 6. The city will need to establish a new staff position to work with the Cable Television Board and City Manager to (1) carry out the administration of the public and government access channels. This will involve financial record keeping for both channels, grant writing for projects on both stations, overall programming of government access. (2) oversee the performance of the cable operator, receive complaints from the public regarding cable service and access channels, (3) oversee the construction and operations of the city's access facility, (4) arrange the monthly meetings of the Cable Television Board, (5) make recommendations to the Cable Board on the annual funding of government and public access, (6) determine equipment needs for access facility, handle equipment purchase and maintenance. The position shall be, funded by franchise fees paid by Warner Cable. The committee recommends the establishment of the Cable Television Board as soon as possible so that items needing immediate attention can be taken care of, such as the construction of the building for public and government access, the purchase of equipment to get government access on the cable, and the administrative relationship between FOC and the City. THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE April 25, 1991 Page 1 Nader urges reregulation to fight cable rated Gannett News Service • WASHINGTON — Consumer advocate Ralph Na- der announced a new grass-roots project Wednesday designed to combat the country's rising cable televi- sion rates by once again regulating the industry. ,, He said the first goal of his Teledemocracy Project will be to toughen legislation now before Congress to give cities and counties the power to regulate cable t rates and monitor the performance of cable compe- 1 hies. He also wants consumers to help shape the nation's media policy as Congress and the Federal Communi- cations Commission sort out the roles of cable TV and the, regional telephone companies, which want a part of the ,cable business, project director Jeffrey Chester said ',The future health of our democrar,.y is very much dependent on the quality of our television system ••••••••••-•---o--• • because, like it or not,; television has become the predominant source of news, and shapes our culture," Chester said. - A project survey of 12 of the nation's largest media markets found that rates for comparable levels of cable programming • have jumped' as much as 33 - percent in the past year, he said. - For example, the cost for basic service in Detroit increased 24 percent from $14.50 to $17.95. Storer Cable, which serves 76,000 households in Little Rock and North Little Rock, raised its rates April 1 to $20.85 for basic service. It was the fifth increase since 1986, and during that period, rates have gone up 90 percent. "Last month, in the consumer price index, cable Went up higher than almost all other commodities," Chester said. "The only things out -increasing cable were funerals and 'expenses on tobacco." • '\ 1 CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS • • ORDINANCE NO. 811015' AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2 OF ORDINANCE NO. 810806-A OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN OF 1967, BY INCREASING THE NUMBER OF VOTING MEMBERS TO THIRTEEN (13); BY, INCREASING THE NUMBER OF NON-VOTING ER -OFFICIO MEMBERS TO FOUR (4); SUSPENDING THE RULE REQUIRING THAT AN ORDINANCE BE READ ON THREE (3) SEPARATE DAYS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN: PART 1: That Section 2 or Ordinance No. 810806-A is hereby amended to read as follows: There is hereby created and established the Austin Cable Commission which shall consist of thirteen (13) citizens of the City of Austin who shall be appointed by the City Council and four (4) ex -officio members. The non-voting ex -officio members shall be as follows: one (1) represen- tative from Capital Cable Company,who shall be appointed by the Company; one (1) representative from the County of Travis, who shall be appointed by the Commissioner's Court of Travis County; one (1) representative of Austin Independent School District, who shall be appointed by the District's School Board; and one representative of the State of Texas, who shall be appointed by the State of Texas. All members appointed by the City Council shall be residents of the City of Austin and shall have resided within the City of Austin for at least six (6) months prior to their appointment. Said members shall be appointed to two (2) year staggered terms. When all thirteen (13) citizen members of the original Board members have been appointed there shall be a drawing to determine which six (6) original citizen members will serve through July, 1982, and which seven (7) will serve through July 1983. After the original terms of service, the City will appoint seven (7) new members in odd numbered years and six (6) new members in even numbered years. PART 2.. The rule requiring the reading of ordinances on three (3) separate days is hereby suspended, and this ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days following the date of its passage as provided by the Charter of the City of Austin. PASSED AND APPROVED , 1981. APPROVED: Acting City Attorney 200CT81 SN:db ATTEST: • Mayor City Clerk CITY OF AUSTIN. TEXAS ORDINANCE ND. 81 • AN ORDINANCE CREATING THE AUSTIN CABLE COMMISSION, ESTABLISHING THE PROCEDURES FOR THE AUSTIN CABLE COMMISSION; ESTABLISHING THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMISSION; PROVIDING FOR APPEAL OF CERTAIN DECISIONS TO THE CITY COUNCIL; PROVIDING FOR THE CONIRACTING OF SERVICES FOR ADMINISTRATION; ESTAB- LISHING A TERMINATION DATE FOR THE COKAISSION; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; SUSPENDING THE RULE REQUIRING THAT AN ORDINANCE BE READ ON THREE SEPARATE LAYS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN: SECTION 1. PURPOSE AND INTENT. It is the purpose and intent of the City Council to create a permanent Austin Cable Commission to serve as an advisory commission to the Austin City Council on cable television issues, and to coordinate and promote the use of public access. SECTION 2. CREATION AND COMPOSITION. There is hereby created and established the Austin Cable Commission which shall consist of eleven (11) citizens of the City of Austin who shall be appointed by the City Council and one non-voting ex -officio member. One representative frau Capital Cable Company, who shall be appointed by the Company, shall serve as the non-voting ex -officio member. All members appointed by the City Council shall be residents of the City of Austin and shall have resided within the City of Austin for at least six (6) months prior to their appoinbnent.. Said members shall be appointed to two (2) year staggered terms. When all eleven (11) citizen members of the original Board members have been appointed there shall be a drawing to determine which five (5) original citizen members will serve through July, 1982, and which six (6) will serve through July, 1983. After the original terms of service, the City Council ;will appoint six (6) new members in odd numbered years and five (5) new members 'in even numbered years. Members shall be broadly representative of the community interests in cable communications and the Commission shall at all times have members repre- sentative of the fields of education, consumer interests, the arts and cable communication technology. The Cable Commission may elect from its membership such officers and committees as it may determine necessary for the proper performance of its duties. SECTION 3. PROCEDURES. (a) The Cable Commission shall meet no less than once each month and more frequently as may be determined by the Cable Canmission. (b) A quorum of the Cable Commission shall consist of a majority of active members in good standing. (c) Vacancies in an unexpired term shall be filled by the Council for the remainder of the term. c -517,i 40 PazPfkl r 5 . 74) 'The Cable Commission shall establish rules and regulations for oom- missi• procedures. SECTION 4. DUTIES. (a) • The Austin Cable Commission shalladvise the Citv Council and make recommendations nn allsable related issues including but not limited to tfe follaaing, areas: - (1) Prepare an annualreport to the City Council addressing cable television issues including but not limited to access, institutional network, rates, channel capacity. (2) Seek new sources of funding for access television projects. Make recommendations to Council on the allocation of annual financial s pport provided by the Company and other sources. 1/(4) Review and advise Company to the City. Monitor subscriber Council on all reports submitted by the rates and the Companys' financial perform- ance relative to pro formas. (6) Monitor Company's rate of return. Participate in the evaluation sessions of the Company's per- formance inc uding development of criteria to be used for evaluations. fa340P-*4 (b) The Austin Cable Commission shall promote the use of cable access by such means as, but not limited to: (1) Promote public awareness, use and viewership of access televi- sion programming, and work with the Company in such promotions. (2) Promote public awareness .and use`of the institutional networks. (3) Coordinate access volunteers and contact and schedule these volunteers to assist in the various aspects of the access center operations. (4) Sponsor, in cooperation with the Company and others, production and programming workshops for prospective access users. (5) Ensure regular communications and cooperation between the Com- pany and the users of access channels. (6) Identify community needs and problems in Austin and define innovative programming approaches to those needs and problems. (c) Further, the Austin Cable Commission shall have the following duties and responsibilities: (1) establish guidelines, promulgate rules and regulations 9W- erning access use and operation of the access center. --2-. • 4-114.4 • • t ' CITY OF AUSTIN. TEXAS • (2) Schedule use of access channels, facilities and equipment. (3) Selection of cable television origination equipment to be used by access. ities. (4) Responsibility for management of access equipment and facil- (5) Coordinate training of individual access users in television production. (6) To the extent permissible by law, to resolve all access program content matters. • (7) Coordinate the institutional network's activities including the allocaticn of channel space. SECTION 5. APPEAL. Decisions made by the Austin Cable Cc mission pursuant to duties and responsibilities set out in Section 4(c) may be appealed to the City Council within ten (10) -days of such decision whenever a person or group has been denied all use of access time, equipment or facilities or has been denied all fund allocation. Such decisions by the Commission may be reversed by the City Council upon a showing from the written record of the Commission meeting at which the facts were presented and the determination made, that the decision of the Commission was arbitrary and capricious. Ail other decisions made by the Commission pursuant to Section -4(c) shall be final. StLi1ON 6. AIYIIINISTRATIVE SERVICES. Upon a determination by the Austin Cable Commission that it needs contractual personal and professional services, the Commission may recommend to the City Council that such services be provided. All contracts with independent contractors shall be approved in accordance with the City Charter. SECTION 7. TERMINATION. The Austin Cable Commission shall be subject to termination by the City Council at the time of expiration or any revocation of the franchise ordinance granted to Capital Cable company. SECTION 8. The paragraphs, sentences and clauses of this ordinance are sever- able and should any paragraph, sentence, phrase or section of this ordinance be declared unconstitutional by the lawful decree of any court of competent juris- diction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect the remaining paragraphs, sentences, phrases or sections of this ordinance. -3- • 4 411 CITY OF AUSTIN. TEXAS. SECTION 9. The rule requiring the reading of ordinances on three separate days is hereby suspended, and this ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days following the date of its passage as provided by the Charter of the City of Austin: PASSED AND APPROVED S 5 , 1981 S Mayor APPIdOVED• ATTEST: City Attorney City Clerk SN:bj -4- • • • ADMINISTRATIVE RULES OF THE , AUSTIN CABLE COMMISSION • 4 ADMINISPRATIVE RULES OF THE AUSTIN CABLE OCIvThllSSION INTRODUCTION SECTION 1. Definitions For the purposes of these Administrative Rules, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivation shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number, and the use bf any gender shall be applicable to all genders whenever the sense requires "thaixperson" may also be referred to as Chairman, Chairwanan, or Chair, and prefixed by the word "Vice," if appropriate. The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory and the word "may" is permissive.. Words not defined shall be given their common and ordinary meaning, unless the same are cable television technical words or phrases - a. "Cable Communications Officer" ("Cable Officer") is the person appointed by the City. Manager of Austin, pursuant to Ordinance No. 810514-Q (Chapter 48, Code of the City of Austin), whose duties include consultation, conferring, and cooperating with the Commission, among others, in the enforcement and administration of the Company franchise and related contracts.(Sec. 48-3) b. "City" is the City of Austin, a municipal corporation, body politic, home -rule city, and political subdivision of the State of Texas. "City staff" refers to -the "Cable Carmunications Officer" and such other employees of the City of Austin as are designated to assist the Commission. c. "Commission" is the Austin Cable Commission and, if the context so indicates, may include one or all of its_canunittees. "Commissioners" refers to duly appointed members of the "Commission." d. "Company" is Capital Cable Company or Austin CableVision, or other name, a Corporation, authorized to do business in Texas, or its successor, transferee or assignee, and the principal cable television franchisee of the City. e. "Council" means the governing body of the City of Austin. f. "Voting member" means one of the thirteen citizen members appointed as such by the City Council. g. "Non-voting member" means the Cable Communications Officer and all ex-officioper se members of the Commission. c • h. Whenever "act of the Commission," "action of the Commission," "approval of the Commission" or "vote of the Commission" appear herein, such phrase shall mean the competent vote required by law or rule sufficient for such act, action, approval, or vote, to be effected. When the word "committee" is substituted, the same meaning shall apply. i. Whenever reference is made in these Rules to a designated officer -title or a designated entity or group, such reference includes, unless otherwise stated, or the context indicates the contrary, the successor of such officer's or entity's, or group's relevant function or relationship, as the rase may be. Such references also embrace persons duly acting as such officer, whether temporarily appointed or such officer's proper designate, whether by rules or otherwise, unless otherwise stated or plainly indicated. . ARTICLE I. Name; Purpose and Intent. a. All items stated in the caption of Article I are set forth in City of Austin Ordinance No. 810806-A, here referred to by the short title, "Cable Commission Ordinance," which reference will be deemed to include also City of Austin Ordinance No. 81-1015, amending Section 2 of the Cable Commission Ordinance by increasing the membership, specifying the agencies represented ex -officio, the qualifications for membership in voting members, and the method of determining, and period for, originally -appointed voting members. The cited ordinances are incorporated herein by this reference. b.(1) Any member desiring to resign from the Commission shall submit his or her resignation in writing to the Chair of the Commission. In accordance with City Council policy, resigning members shall continue to serve until they are replaced. (2) All members shall be deemed active and in good standing unless the Commission certifies otherwise The-Cannission, in event of dispute and upon written petition, may resolve all questions finally as to activity, standing, and tenure, subject only to appeal to the City Council. ARTICLE II. Meetings. a. The regular meeting of the Commission shall be held at 7:00 p.m., the second Tuesday of each month. The Commission, for good cause, and with prior notice, may designate an alternate time for a regular meeting from time to time. b.(1) Notice of all meetings, and changes of the Commission shall be in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings law, Article 6252-17, Texas Civil Statutes, as amended. (2) If a quorum for any meeting of the Commission or its committees does not convene within one half hour of the noticed time for such meeting to convene, then no such meeting shall be held. i • • c. Special meetings or study sessions may be called for any time and place on any subject germane to Commission duties and responsibilities on the request of any Ccnmission member with approval of a majority of the Commission. d. Special call or emergency meetings may also be set upon the written'petition of 5(five) voting members of the commission coordinated through the Chair ARTICLE III. Quorum and Voting. Seven active voting members of the Commission in good standing shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Unless otherwise indicated, the Commission shall. act by majority vote of the voting members at a properly constituted meeting. ARTICLE IV. Officers and Duties. a.(1) The officers of the Commission shall be a Clair and a Vice - Clair The officers shall be elected by majority vote of the Commission. a.(2) By a majority vote of the Commission, committees may be established as necessary to carry on the work of the Commission. Committee members shall be appointed by the Chairperson with consent of a majority of the Commission from among volunteering commissioners wihen possible. Committees will choose their chairpersons. Committees will report and rake recommendations to Commission on matters within their respective assignments. No committee shall constitute a quorum of the voting members of the Commission. Committees may not conduct business, make policy decisions, or render press releases on behalf of the Commission, the City of Austin, City Council, or the City staff, unless properly and expressly authorized to do so. b. The said officers shall be elected from among Commission members, initially at a meeting time agreed upon by the Commission following the adoption of Article IV of the Administrative Rules; thereafter, the officers.shall be elected annually at the November regular:meeting. c. Duties of the Chair shall include: (1) Presiding at all meetings of the Commission. (2) In collaboration with the Commission and Cable Officer, formulating all regular and special Commission agendas. (3) Taking attendance at all Commission Meetings. (4) Signing all official documents and correspondence on behalf of the Commission. (5) Acting as the official spokesperson of the Cannissioii, the principal liaison of the Commission with the City Council, and with others as the Commission directs. • • • (6) Receiving, transmitting, and monitoring responses on Commission requests for legal opinions, reports, or other information frau City staff, the Company, or others. (7) Performing any lawful duty assigned either by vote of the Commission or by these Rules, d: Duties of the Vice -Chair shall include: (1) Performing all duties of the Chair in'the absence of the Chair. (2) Performing any lawful duty assigned by vote of the Commission, by these Rules, or by the Chair of the Commission. ARTICLE V. Duties of Commissioners. a. The duties and responsibilities of voting members shall include: (1) Initiating all official action by a motion or a second. (2) Voting, when present, on any question put to a vote unless excused from voting by the Commission. (3) Attending all regular meetings, unless otherwise excused, and special called meetings of the Commission. (4) Applying for excused absences from meetings of the Commission by submitting a request to the Chair, Vice -Chair or their designee prior to but not later than the next regular meeting of the Commission. (5) Serving on all committees to which appointment has been made by the Commission. (6) Performing any lawful duty assigned by majority vote of the Commission. b. The duties and responsibilities of ex -officio members shall include participating in all deliberations, requesting items for agendas and serving on committees. They shall not: (1) vote on Commission actions. (2) hold office within the Commission. (3) make motions or seconds for formal Commission action. c. Observing a standard of conduct as provided for in Chapter 2, Art. V. Section 2-33(c) of the Code of the City of Austin which reads as follows: "If any city official or employee has a personal pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any decision pending before such official or employee, or the body of which the official or employee is a member, the official or employee shall not vote, discuss or. otherwise participate in the consideration of the matter, but shall publicly disclose the nature and extent of such interest in the official records of the body prior to any determination of the matter." • ARTICLE VI. Order of Business. a. For all meetings, an agenda, with appropriate supporting documents, shall be mailed to all Commissioners at least three(3) days in advance of the meeting day b. The agenda orderfor regular Commission nactings shall be as follows: (1) Call to order. (2) Call of the Roll. (3) Approval of minutes of prior mccting(s). (4) Adoption of agenda. (5) Citizen communications by persons wishing to address matters not on the agenda, subject to such time limitations as the Commission may establish. The Commission, however, shall not act on such matters. Citizens wishing to address matters on the agenda may be heard when the Commission takes up such agenda items, subject to such time limitations as the Commission may establish. (6) Sequential consideration of other items duly noticed for the meeting. (7) Presentation of Company report of: (i) Progress in meeting scheduled performance dates under its franchise. (ii) Address Commission requests. (8) Presentation of reports of: (i) Cable Communications Officer. (ii) Commission Committees. (9) Setting agendas of next regular and/or special called meeting. (10) Setting place and time of next special meeting of the Commission. (11) Setting place and time of next study session of the Commission. (12) Announcements by individual Commissioners. (13) Adjournment. By majority vote the regular agenda order may be altered in any meeting. - c. An item may also be considered for placement on any Commission agenda on any Commissioner's written request supported by such relevant documentation as the Commissioner can reasonably assemble, filed with the Chair or the Cable Officer at least seven(7) days prior to the meeting for which agenda placement is desired