Minutes-06/21/1988

The Tiffin City Council met in special session on Tuesday, June 21, 1988 at the Tiffin fire station. Mayor Potter called meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Council members present were Spivey, Stoner, Morgan, Stratton and Eggers. Also present were Bob Michael and Rich Rugger. Motion Spivey second Eggers to approve agenda. Carried unanimously. Michael: I talked to Heritage Cablevision and Mike Hart and they both said that the National Electric Safety Code is designed more for electrical utility companies to follow, not for cable television. It calls for 4 foot buried cable. If electrical service was accidentally cut, it would be a problem, but if cable service was cut it would not hurt anyone. It is probably too stringent and too costly for cable companies to follow everything. Although, they should comply where they can. The council could repeal section 12 or change it to comply wherever feasible. Lines should be kept so far away from other lines. Rugger: The electric company probably doesn't have a ground on most houses, so we can't comply to that requirement. We do put a 4 foot ground rod at each house, but can't connect to electrical ground. Stoner: Are the ground and depth the only things? Rugger: Amend to use National Electric Safety Code wherever possible. From here to Oxford is covered by the State Code in ditches with a minimum 36 inch cover. Spivey: I realize 4 foot is deep, but we should have some standard. Rugger: Cover depth of 18 to 24 inches in alleys and frontage property. Across streets would be 24 inch minimum cover, usually 3 feet. If you dig up the streets, I have to move the cable. Michael: Section 13 refers to FCC rules 76.31 subpart C. This has been repealed, so you should delete the middle paragraph. Section 33 does not have the blanks filled in. Section 24 is also in question. That is entirely up to the council. Rugger: It is not acceptable. Oxford doesn't get 3 percent. This would be cost prohibitive. It would cost me another 38 cents out of the $11.50. The programmers don't even take 38 cents. If the 3 percent is enacted I'd have to raise rates and pass it on to the homeowners. I'm almost totally against it because of the size of the town. We offer three more stations. We're local and can offer a better system. Potter: You've got a better system. The $11.50 is probably under what you should charge. The other charges $12.00 with the 13th month free. In my opinion, we shouldn't settle for less than 3 percent. Raise to $12.00 and we get 38 cents and Rugger gets the other 12 cents. Be competitive. Morgan: Why do you think the town should get money out of this, Glenn? Potter: We need to break even like on the water, sewer and garbage. Morgan: I disagree with you. Rugger: You don't lose any money. Everybody gains.