Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout1980_09_24 308 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF LEESBURG TOWN COUNCIL, SEPTEMBER 24 , 1980 . A regular meeting of the Leesburg Town Council was held in the Council Chambers, 10 West Loudoun Street, Leesburg, Virginia, on September 24 , 1980 at 7 : 30 p.m. The meeting was called to order by the Mayor, with Mr. Tolbert giving the invocation, and followed with the Salute to the Flag led by Mr. Willis . Present were: Mayor Kenneth B. Rollins, Councilmembers Charles A. Bos, Stanley D. Herrell, Jr. , G. Dewey Hill , Jr. , Marylou Hill, John W. Tolbert, Jr. and Howard M. Willis , Jr. ; also Town Manager John Niccolls , Assistant Manager Jeffrey H. Minor, Director of Engi- neering Andrew G. Shope and Town Attorney George M. Martin. The minutes of the regular meeting of September 10 , 1980 were approved as written. MANAGER'S REPORT : (1) Mr. Niccolls called attention to the written Activity Report which was distributed Friday with the packet . (2) The new apron at the Airport was paved over last week- end and it looks like a good job . This is the Airport Improve- ment Project undertaken last construction season and which was tied up in the winter weather and some storm drainage problems . This project can be closed out in the next couple of months . Airport parking will then be available. The importance of this project is that the FBO can use this facility to draw additional aircraft on paved parking and increase revenue, which ultimately improves our position at the Airport. ( 3) The Highway Department informed the Director of Engi- neering that the signals at Plaza and East Market Streets should be under construction within the next three or four weeks. We have waited for these long enough. (4) Today Arthur Harding , our attorney, George Martin, Jeff Minor and he met to go over the draft cable franchise ordinance, as directed by Council ' s action of August 27 . They felt that, in a meeting later today with Lee Ruck, counsel for Storer Broad- casting, there is about 85% agreement on the precise language of this instrument. The town selected two or three provisions that they will underwrite and Mr. Ruck was asked to rewrite some of the provisions with which he had a problem. Then they will get together again to resolve any differences they have. ( 5) He distributed to Council a "Summary Projection of Fi- nancial Condition" . This gives a projection of what the fund balances are likely to be at the close of this year. Also, a schedule of cash and investments, as of September 22, is at- tached to that report . MAYOR' S REPORT : (1) Mayor Rollins questioned the $26, 500 construction cost for a single-family dwelling in Carrvale (Page 2 of the Activity Report) - he felt this is in error. Mr. Niccolls said this is what they give us by way of value for the structure itself - he believed this represents the value of the material . There is no benefit to them to undervalue the homes - our traditional practice has been to accept what they give us . He will discuss this with Mr. Forbes - perhaps he can make a more reasonable estimate . They are obviously unreasonable and inaccurate. ( 2) He did not believe the street crews have completed patch- ing in preparation for fall resurfacing. They have done nothing on West Market Street between Ayr and Morven Park Road . ( 3) He has been a constant critic of not having proper com- paction on water and sewer lines . A good example of this is what happened on Valley View Avenue - the work was constructed about 12 years ago and it has gone down 4 to 5 feet because it was not properly compacted. This is costing the town untold thousands of dollars . He commended the town forces for the work they are doing . He hoped the present Standards have corrected this situation. MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 24 , 1980 MEETING. 309 COUNCILMEMBER INQUIRIES AND COMMENTS : Mr. Bos said a resident at the corner of North and Wirt Streets has complained to the Police Department about a No Parking sign on Wirt Street at that corner. This is needed for school buses to make the turn at that corner. It was proposed that No Parking be from 7 :00 to 5 : 00 only, however no-one has contacted him further about ' this situation . Mr. Niccolls said he would take care of this . Mrs . Hill requested a sign on the Vinegar Hill parking lot to indicate that the permit parking spaces are not for free parking. Several people have complained to her when they received tickets for such illegal parking. Mr. Willis said the fire detection and signal equipment has arrived for the log cabin. They hope to have it installed by Sat- urday night. On motion of Mr. Herrell, seconded by Mr. Bos, Council voted unanimously to go into executive session for the purpose of con- sulting with the Town Attorney, Town Manager and Assistant Manager on the legal issues pertaining to the cable television franchise: COCO Aye : Councilmembers Bos , Herrell , D. Hill, M. Hill , Tolbert, N Willis and Mayor Rollins . W Nay : None. Q Council reconvened at 8 : 28 p.m. Q CABLE TELEVISION: Mayor Rollins said he discussed with Council the procedure to be used tonight concerning this matter. This has been a very diffi- cult and agonizing issue for everybody - there have been two public hearings and four meetings (two before the committee and two before this council) . Council was ready to vote on this matter at the last session but, in deference to Mr. Tolbert, the Chair ruled that it be put over for two weeks in order to give him an opportunity to present a resolution he requested permission for. Mayor Rollins said the procedure would be to hear any inter- ested citizen of Leesburg on this matter. However, a limit of two minutes per person will be allotted. The Council will then con- sider this matter - no further public participation will be allowed. Ms . Julie Taylor, attorney representing The Monitor, said they have already presented to Council a copy of letter sent to the Justice Department asking that they institute investigation as to whether or not there were, in fact, any anti-trust viola- tions involved in the Times-Mirror-Storer-Catoctin Cable agree- ment. Also, it appears to them that this agreement is clearly violative of the Town 's cable TV ordinance. Sec. 5. 1-42 states that"the franchisee (Storer) shall not, in making available the ‘ services or facilities of its system, make or grant a preference or advantage to any subscriber or potential user of the cable television system, and shall not subject any such person to any prejudice or disadvantage. She defied any of the many lawyers present tonight to explain why it is not perfectly clear that this agreement does, in fact, violate the town ' s ordinance. The agreement grants to the Times-Mirror, and to no-one else, exclusive use and benefit of one local origination channel at no cost and gives them the right to the local news cut-away on all national all-news channels . Storer also undertakes to pro- vide the Times-Mirror with use of its studio facilities, mobile vans, cameras, other necessary broadcast equipment - the Times- Mirror also gets to keep all advertising by the companies it ' s programming on this exclusively held channel . All these provi- sions, without a doubt, do grant a preference or advantage to the Times-Mirror. The Town ' s ordinance forbids this. The cable system should be equally accessible to all users - this agreement contradicts that purpose. This is ample reason for Council to re- scind its original resolution. One of the reasons for having a system equally accessible to everyone is to encourgae full and free MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 24, 1980 MEETING. 310 competition which, in the news industry, encourages complete and unbiased flow of information to the general public . Council , as protectors of the public interest, should consider the effect of that agreement on the flow of that information to the public : (1) Making the Times-Mirror the sole purveyor of news through the local cable TV system; (2) The Times-Mirror, by virtue of this agreement, has acquired considerable personal interest in the success or failure of Storer Broadcasting and Catoctin. The Times-Mirrort.is a leading local news source, but how unbiased they will be in reporting to the public stories that may subsequently develop concerning the adequacy of the cable system or whether or not there should be a rate increase. is questionable since they will have a personal interest in the out- come. She urged Council to consider two factors : This agreement violates the Town ' s own ordinance, and the effect it will have on the public welfare to the extent it restricts full and fair dis- semination of news to the public. Mr. Reginald K. Gheent a resident of Leesburg, is in favor of Matrix as the entity to receive the franchise for cable TV. The Town staff, with its consultant, recommended Matrix. Only one member of the three member committee recommended Matrix. So far as he is aware, no effort was made on the part of the Council to refer this matter back to the committee to try for a majority opinion. He favored Matrix for two reasons : (1) They proposed a citizen advisory committee, to be appointed by the Council, to give the public and the Council some method of looking into and guiding the successful bidder in seeing that we would have pro- tection insofar as the public is concerned. (2) Matrix did offer to contribute a part of its earnings in order to make it a viable committee, providing the Town contributed to it. He be- lieved that they also offered the committee, in trust, some of its stock. There has been considerable evidence presented sup- porting the recommendation of the Town staff and to alert the Council to take the time to consider all of the disadvantages of a Storer franchise. Ignoring the staff 's recommendation and the subsequent events seems to cast a suspicion that there is an ef- fort to accommodate the political pressures and personal ties with local investors that might give rise to charges of influenced ped- dling. From what he has gathered from various media reports and the above, there seems to be reason enough for the Council to take a second look at what appears to be a hasty decision to pass out a franchise that will guarantee a monoply on the local cable TV mar- ket and possibly the dissemination of local news to an exclusive agreement with the leading local newspaper. It is hoped that those councilmembers who were in favor of the staff ' s report will be able to persuade the Council to take a second look at the whole cable TV picture and award a franchise that will be in the best interest of the customers who will be the beneficiaries of a wise decision by the Council, but who will surely be the losers if the Council does not make the proper decision. PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO RESCIND RESOLUTION NO. 80-102. On motion of Mr. Tolbert, seconded by Mr. Bos , a resolution to rescind Resolution No . 80-102 , which was the resolution adopted on August 27 , 1980 - the intent to award the cable television fran- chise to Catoctin Cable Communications, Inc. (Storer) - was pro- posed. Mr. Tolbert felt it not necessary to go into any further detail but, speaking of the credibility of this Council, he felt the word "integrity" of this Council was left out. If they lose that tonight, he did not know where they would go from there. Mayor Rollins quoted from The Monitor of September 19 , 1980 : "The new agreement (which was the agreement between the Times-Mirror and Storer) also pinned down that the production studio would defi- nitely be in the Times-Mirror building. " He has read the agreement and did not find this a "requirement. " He asked for some comment as to whether or not there is a requirement between the Times-Mirror and Storer that the production studio would have to be in the Times- Mirror Building? Mr. Kelly (with Storer) said this was discussed with the first deliberations with the Times-Mirror. They said they MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 24 , 1980 MEETING. 311 took a look at it and said the facility is not suitable for the studio. They are looking for a suitable location. There is no agreement for leased space or rental space, or in any way to- cohabit the building the Times-Mirror is in. Mayor Rollins asked what they are doing concerning this . Mr. Kelly said they are talking about a studio, an office to support the operation here, the mainte- nance and installation trucks and those things that are a part of the cable television industry. The Times-Mirror has rather high ceilings - it is a very busy place. This part of Leesburg is rather congested and would lead to some difficulties with their service. Subscribers and customers will be coming to the office to pay their bills. The Times-Mirror building would not be ac- ceptable. Mr. Hill said he has been a member of this body for a long time. In this case he voted against the recipient. However, it has been his theory that we abide by the rule. The rule is that the majority rules . If we didn 't abide by that (there has to be some finality to any resolution) , we would be forever passing and rescinding resolutions. He can accept defeat, but he also respects the ma- jority vote of this Council . He would vote to rescind it if he thought it was completely out of order or not drawn properly but, CO in this case, the majority voted for it. There has been no sub- CO stantial change and he can and will accept that. This body has N to make a decision by a majority vote. "When the heat gets too hot in the kitchen, you 'd better get out. " A roll call vote de- UJ feated the resolution by a vote of 5 to 2 against: CZ Q Aye : Councilmembers Bos and Tolbert. Nay : Councilmembers Herrell , D. Hill, M. Hill , Willis and Mayor Rollins . 80-105 - RESOLUTION - ACCEPTING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS , RELEASING PERFORMANCE BOND, AND AUTHORIZING ACCEPTANCE OF MAINTENANCE BOND FOR HERITAGE HALL V. ' On motion of Mrs . Hill, seconded by Mr. Willis , the following resolution was proposed and unanimously adopted : WHEREAS , the developer for Heritage Hall V, located on Morven Park Road, has completed public improvements in accordance with town standards and specifications, and these have been inspected and approved, and the as-built plans have been submitted and approved: RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg, Virginia, as follows : SECTION I. The public improvements at Heritage Hall V, located on Morven Park Road, are accepted for public use by the town. SECTION II . The performance bond of Western Surety Company for improvements at Heritage Hall V in the amount of $6 , 336 is released and a maintenance bond with Western Surety Com- pany in the amount of $317 . 00 is approved. Aye : Councilmembers Bos, Herrell, D. Hill, M. Hill, Tolbert, Willis and Mayor Rollins . Nay : None. On motion of Mr. Hill , seconded by Mrs . Hill , the meeting was adjourned at 8 : 50 P.M. Mayor Clerk of 'e Council