City Council Approves New Cable TV Provider

By David Tewes, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Apr. 5–The city council cleared the way Tuesday for a new company to take over Victoria’s cable television franchise and a city official said in the process he was able to get concessions favorable to the public and the city.

The action transferring the franchise contract will allow Cebridge Connections Inc. to buy the Cox Communications Inc. cable system that serves 20,000 subscribers in Victoria.

The franchise agreement authorizes the cable company to have its utility poles, lines and other equipment on city rights of way. It will pay the city about $500,000 a year in return for that right.

But City Attorney David Smith said as part of the agreement he was able to get the new company to agree to at least maintain the current level of cable service. He said that includes keeping public TV stations KLRN and KUHT on the basic service.

Smith said the company also agreed to maintain sufficient staff in the local office to serve customers at the current level for at least three years.

He said other concessions include keeping the local emergency alert system and maintaining a local office with the same hours for at least a year. The new company will also make cable Channels 7 or 11 available for city government programming and at the request of the city pay 50 cents per subscriber for education or government channels or programming.

Smith pointed out that the city has no control over how much the cable company will charge for its services.

But Pete Abel with Cebridge said there are no plans to change the cable television lineup and there are no plans to increase rates. He also said the phone number for customer service will remain unchanged after the deal closes later this month or the first part of next month.

“They can continue to call the same number and the same people they call today because those people will be joining our company,” Abel said.

Gene Regan with Cox said the name of the cable company will change and it probably won’t be Cebridge. But he said officials are still working on coming up with a new name.

While the high-speed Internet service provided by Cox is not regulated by the city’s franchise, Regan said it is part of the package being sold to Cebridge. He said the new company will continue to provide that service.

“At some point, people’s e-mail addresses will change,” he said. “But there will be a transition process so people won’t have worry about missing any e-mails.”

Regan said there will likely be a three to six month transition period where customers will get an e-mail address with the new domain name. But he said during that period e-mails sent to the old addresses will be forwarded to the new ones.

“Customers will be advised of the time periods and the change well in advance,” Regan said. He also said he’s not sure how customer Web sites hosted by the cable company will be affected because those details are still being worked out.

In other business, the council agreed to give itself a $75 a month pay raise beginning May 1.

Mayor Pro Tem Bill Russell, who said council members are paying more for gasoline and telephone calls necessary for doing city business, proposed the idea. He noted that he will be leaving the council in May and will not benefit from the raise.

The mayor’s pay will increase from $250 to $325 a month, the mayor pro tem’s pay will increase from $175 to $250 a month and the pay for the other five council members will increase from $150 to $225 a month.

Andrew Jacob, the city’s assistant finance director, said the mayor also gets $3,000 a year for an auto allowance, while the other council members get $600 a year. That would not change.

The council also:

— Approved on final vote an ordinance outlawing curbstoning, making it illegal for people to park vehicles at a location if they have no reason to park there, other than to display the vehicle for sale. It is a defense to the law for people to park for-sale vehicles on someone else’s property if they had written permission from the owner. Violators could be fined up to $500.

— Agreed to pay farmer Brian Adamek and his mother, Elaine Adamek, $2,000 an acre for the 209 acres the city needs to expand the city landfill located between Victoria and Bloomington.

— Awarded an $84,240 contract to MV Henke Enterprises Inc. of Hallettsville for grinding up brush at the city brush site at the Victoria Regional Airport.

— Awarded a $996,491 contract to Brannan Paving Company Ltd. of Victoria for construction of LaSalle Crossing, which will connect Navarro and Hathaway streets.

— Approved on final vote a $140,400 contract with the Victoria Park Improvement Association for construction of concrete golf cart paths at the Riverside Golf Course.

— Approved on final vote a $526,130 budget transfer to fund the Glascow Street improvement project. The improvements will be designed to aid the flow of traffic to and from new and existing commercial developments near the intersection of Glascow and Navarro.

— Approved on final reading renewal of the juvenile curfew ordinance.

— Received a staff report on the Texas Department of Transportation 2006 Transportation Enhancement Program grant.

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