2002/03/12 City Council Resolution (8)RESOLUTION 2002- 54
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND SIGN AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE BUSKE GROUP FOR CABLE TELEVISION CONSULTING
SERVICES RELATED TO TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF CABLE SYSTEM TO AT &T
COMCAST CORPORATION
WHEREAS, the City received FCC Form 394 on February 28, 2002, requesting City consent
to a transfer of control of its cable television system and franchise from AT &T Corp. to AT &T
Comcast Corporation in accordance with Section 2.9 of the Cable TV Franchise Agreement; and
WHEREAS, FCC rules require that the City take action to deny or approve the request
to transfer the franchise within 120 days after receipt, and that City Council consider the
technical, fiscal and legal qualifications of AT &T Comcast Corporation to operate the cable
system in making their determination; and
WHEREAS, the City needs to review compliance to the Franchise Agreement and other
governing documents and ordinances, and to audit franchise fee payment by AT &T Broadband in
determining if the cable franchise is in good standing and should be transferred; and
WHEREAS, City has determined AT &T Broadband is currently in material non-
compliance with some provisions of the Franchise Agreement, the prior Transfer Agreement to
AT &T Broadband, the City of Rohnert Park Municipal Code and the Customer Service Standards
adopted on behalf of Rohnert Park by the Cable Television Joint Powers Agency; and
WHEREAS, City requires the expertise of a cable telecommunications consulting firm to
review FCC Form 394 - Request For Consent To Change of Control, to audit franchise fee payments,
to assist in negotiating a resolution with AT &T Comcast Corporation of pending non - compliance
issues, to provide policy advice and to help City develop and draft key terms of a Transfer Agreement,
including remedies for current violations of franchise and other governing documents; and
WHEREAS, the Buske Group, previously provided effective cable telecommunications
consulting services to the City, assisted City in rate reviews and a prior franchise transfer, is qualified
and experienced and submitted a competitive bid to provide such services; and
WHEREAS, staff contacted other consulting service providers and found none were available
to provide required services at this time; and
WHEREAS, the Cable TV Franchise Agreement requires that the cable operator
reimburse City for all out of pocket expenses (consulting, legal, technical) to process the transfer
request in an amount no less than $10,000 dollars and no more than $25,000 dollars.
WHEREAS, a portion of the costs of an AT &T franchise fee payment audit and review
of the Form 394 may be shared by other Sonoma County jurisdictions who choose to participate;
and the Buske Group has agreed to charge Rohnert Park for it's proportional share of such shared
costs as part of this Agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Rohnert Park City
Council authorizes the City Manager to finalize the Scope of Work (Exhibit "A" of Agreement) in
consultation with Sue Buske of the Buske Group, and sign the attached Agreement with the
Buske Group for cable TV consulting services in an amount not to exceed Twenty five thousand
dollars ($25,000) for Rohnert Park's share of costs.
DULY AND REGULARLY ADOPTED by the Rohnert Park City Council this 12th day
of March, 2002.
MR
MACKENZIE: ABSENT REILLY: AYE SPIRO: AYE VIDAK- MARTINEZ: ABSENT FLORES: AYE
AYES: (3) NOES: (0) ABSENT: (2) ABSTAIN: (0)
THE BUSKE GROUP AGREEMENT
Consulting Services to Assist in Transfer of Control of Cable Television
System from AT &T Broadband, LLC to AT &T Comcast Corporation
This Agreement is made and entered into this 12th day of March 2002, by and between the
City of Rohnert Park, hereinafter referred to as the "City," and The Buske Group, hereinafter
referred to as the "Consultant."
WHEREAS, the City received FCC Form 394 on February 28, 2002, requesting City
consent to a transfer of control for its cable television system and franchise from AT &T Corp to
AT &T Comcast Corporation; and
WHEREAS, AT &T Broadband is currently in material non - compliance with some
provisions of the Franchise Agreement, the prior Transfer Agreement to AT &T Broadband, the
City of Rohnert Park Municipal Code and the Customer Service Standards adopted on behalf of
Rohnert Park by the Cable Television Joint Powers Agency; and
WHEREAS, City requires the expertise of a cable telecommunications consulting firm to
review FCC Form 394 - Request For Consent To Change of Control, to audit franchise fee
payments, to assist in negotiating a resolution with AT &T Comcast Corporation of pending non-
compliance issues, to provide policy advise and to help City develop and draft key terms of a
Transfer Agreement, including remedies for current violations of franchise and other governing
documents; and
WHEREAS, the Buske Group has previously provided effective cable telecommunications
consulting services to the City, assisting City in rate reviews and a prior franchise transfer; and
WHEREAS, the Consultant is, qualified and experienced to provide such services, and
Consultant has submitted a competitive bid for providing such services.
NOW, THEREFORE, said City and said Consultant for the considerations hereinafter set
forth, mutually agree as follows:
1. SCOPE OF WORK. Consultant shall perform those services described as Tasks in
the Scope of Work attached as Exhibit "A ", and shall complete the required Tasks within any time
frames stated therein. Consultant shall complete a preliminary review of Form 394 and submit
questions and/or a notice of incomplete data required, if applicable, to AT &T Broadband within the
30 day period permitted by law. Consultant shall complete other tasks enumerated in Exhibit "A"
within a time frame sufficient to allow City Council approval or denial of the transfer request within
the 120 day period legally provided by federal law for such review, or Consultant shall obtain
written consent from requestor to extend in writing the time for review.
2. PERSONNEL. Sue Buske shall personally perform the following tasks; 1) meet
with City staff, management and Council members as requested to make key policy determinations;
2) assist City in setting priorities and developing a strategy for resolving compliance issues and
negotiating desired terms of Transfer Agreement with AT &T Comcast Corporation; 3) prepare key
points for draft Transfer Agreement; 4) review draft Transfer Agreement; 5) negotiate as a team
with City Attorney with AT &T Comcast Corporation to resolve non - compliance issues and terms of
Transfer Agreement; 6) supervise and review work product of Consultant staff members assigned to
perform other tasks; 7) coordinate the activities of the Consultant; and 8) perform other tasks City
requests her to personally handle. City is entering into this Agreement based upon its understanding
Sue Buske will perform the specific tasks set forth in this paragraph.
3. COMPENSATION.
A. City shall pay Consultant as compensation in full for such services based
upon the actual time and direct expenses incurred for tasks at the rates set forth in the Standard
Hourly Rates and Charges attached as Exhibit "B ", but in a total sum (professional fees plus all
direct expenses) for completion of all required tasks not to exceed twenty five thousand dollars
($25,000.00). The Consultant shall not incur costs for legal advice from, and the City shall not pay
any fees billed by, Miller & Van Eaton without prior consent of the City Attorney.
B. Consultant shall submit itemized monthly statements for work performed.
City shall make any payment due within thirty (30) days after approval of the invoice by City.
C. Payments due and payable to Consultant for current services are within the
current budget and within an available, unexhausted and unencumbered appropriation of the City. In
the event the City has not appropriated sufficient funds for payment of Consultant services beyond
the current fiscal year, this Agreement shall cover only those costs incurred up to the conclusion of
the current fiscal year, payment for additional work is conditional upon future City appropriation.
4. TERM. The term of this Agreement shall be from March 12, 2002 to August 31,
2002, unless terminated earlier as provided herein, or extended in writing by mutually agreement.
5. NOTICES. All notices, bills, and payments shall be made in writing and may be
given by personal delivery or by mail. Address notices, bills and payments sent by mail as follows:
TO CITY: Angela R. Fogle, Management Analyst
CITY OF ROHNERT PARK
6750 Commerce Blvd.
ROHNERT PARK, CA 94928
TO CONSULTANT: Sue Buske, President
THE BUSKS GROUP
3001 j Street, Suite 201
Sacramento, California 95816
And when so addressed, shall be deemed given upon deposit in the United States mail,
postage prepaid. In all other instances, notices, bills and payments shall be deemed given at the
time of actual delivery. Changes may be made in the names and addresses of the person to whom
notices, bills and payments are to be given by giving notice pursuant to this Paragraph.
6. AMENDMENT OF SCOPE OF WORK. City shall have the right to amend the
Scope of Work within the Agreement by written notification to the Consultant. In such event, the
compensation and time of performance shall be subject to renegotiation upon written demand of
either party to the Agreement. Failure of the Consultant to secure City's written authorization for
extra or changed work shall constitute a waiver of any and all right to adjustment in the contract
price or time due, whether by way of compensation, restitution, quantum meruit, etc. for work done
without the appropriate City authorization.
7. CITY'S RIGHT TO TERMINATE /SUSPEND CONTRACT. At any time and for
any or no reason, City shall have the right to terminate this Agreement, take possession of the
Consultant's work, e.g., studies, preliminary drawings, computations, specifications, etc., insofar as
they are complete and acceptable to the City, and pay the Consultant such equitable proportion of
the total remuneration as the work satisfactorily done by the Consultant at the time of such
discontinuance bears to the whole of the work required to be done by the Consultant under the terms
of this Agreement.
8. CORRECTION OF WORK. The performance of services or acceptance of
information furnished by Consultant shall not relieve the Consultant from obligation to correct any
defective, inaccurate or incomplete work subsequently discovered and all such work shall be
remedied by the Consultant on demand without cost to the City.
9. DELAYS AND EXTENSIONS. The Consultant will be granted time extensions for
delays beyond the Consultant's control. Time extensions will be equal to the length of the delay or
as otherwise agreed upon between the Consultant and the City. In such event, compensation as set
forth in the Scope of Work shall be subject to renegotiation upon written demand of either party to
the Agreement.
10. RECORDS OF PERFORMANCE. Consultant shall maintain adequate records of
contract performance costs, expenses, etc., and make these records available for inspection, audit,
and copying by the City during the agreement period and for a period of three (3) years from the
date of final payment.
11. SUBCONTRACTING. None of the services covered by this contract shall be
subcontracted without the prior written consent of the City. In accordance with Government Code
Section 7550, Consultant agrees to state in a separate section of any filed report the numbers and
dollars amounts of all contracts and subcontracts relating to preparation of the report.
12. ASSIGNMENT. The Agreement shall not be assigned by the Consultant in whole
or in part, without the written consent of the City.
13. INDEMNIFICATION. To the full extent permitted by law, Consultant shall
indemnify, hold harmless, release and defend City, its officers, employees and agents from and
against any and all actions, claims, demands, damages, disability, losses, expenses including
attorney's fees and other defense costs and liabilities of any nature that may be asserted by any
person or entity including Consultant, in whole or in part, arising out of Consultant's activities
hereunder, including the activities of other persons employed or utilized by Consultant in the
performance of this Agreement (including design defects and regardless of City's approval, use or
acceptance of the work or work product hereunder) excepting liabilities due to the sole negligence
or willful misconduct of City. This indemnification obligation is not limited in any way by any
limitation on the amount or type of damages or compensation payable by or for Consultant under
Worker's Compensation, disability or other employee benefit acts or the terms, applicability or
limitations of any insurance held or provided by Consultant and shall continue to bind the parties
after termination/completion of this Agreement.
14. INSURANCE. Without limiting Consultant's indemnification provided herein,
Consultant shall take out and maintain, throughout the period of this Agreement, the following
policies of insurance placed with insurers with a current A.M. Bests rating of no less than A:VII or
its equivalent against injury /death to persons or damage to property which may arise from or in
connection with the activities hereunder of Consultant, its agents, employees or subcontractors:
A. Comprehensive or Commercial General Liability Insurance at least as broad
as Insurance Services Office Commercial General Liability coverage (occurrence form CG 0001),
in an amount of $1,000,000.00 per occurrence. If a general aggregate limit is used, either the general
aggregate limit shall apply separately to this project or the general aggregate shall be twice the
required occurrence limit. Said policy shall contain, or be endorsed with, the following provisions:
(1) The City, its officers, employees and agents, are covered as insureds for liability
arising out of the operations performed by or on behalf of Consultant. The coverage shall contain
no special limitations on the scope of protection afforded to the City, its officers, agents and
employees.
(2) The policy shall not be canceled or materially reduced in coverage without thirty
(3 0) days prior written notice (10 days for non - payment of premium) to City by certified mail.
(3) The inclusion of more than one insured shall not operate to impair the rights of
one insured against another insured, and the coverage afforded shall apply as though separate
policies had been issued to each insured, but the inclusion of more than one insured shall not operate
to increase the limits of the insurer's liability.
(4) For claims related to this project, the Consultant's insurance is primary coverage
to the City, and any insurance or self - insurance programs maintained by the City is excess to
Consultant's insurance and will not be called upon to contribute with it.
(5) Any failure to comply with reporting or other provisions of the parties, including
breach of warranties, shall not affect coverage provided to City, its officers, employees and agents.
B. Automobile liability insurance with coverage at least as broad as ISO Form
numbers CA 000106 92, Code 1 (any auto), for vehicles used in the performance of this Agreement
with minimum coverage of not less than $1,000,000 per accident combined single limit (CSL).
Such policy shall contain or be endorsed with the provision that coverage shall not be canceled or
materially reduced in coverage without thirty (30) days prior written notice (10 days for non-
payment of premium) to City by certified mail.
C. Worker's Compensation insurance meeting statutory limits of Labor Code which
policy shall contain or be endorsed to contain a waiver of subrogation against City, its officers,
agents, and employees and provide for thirty (30) days prior written notice to City in the event of
cancellation. If Consultant has no employees, Consultant may sign and file the following
certification in lieu of insurance:
7 am aware of the provisions of California Labor Code Section 3 700
which requires every employer to be insured against liability for
workers' compensation or to undertake self-insurance in accordance
with the provisions of that code, and I will comply with the
provisions of that code before commencing with and during the
performance of the work of this contract. "
D. Professional liability insurance/errors and omission coverage in an amount no
less than $1,000,000.00 combined single limit (CSL). If insurance is written on a claim -made basis,
Consultant agrees to maintain such insurance in effect for at least three (3) years following
completion of performance under this Agreement.
E. Consultant shall furnish City with certificates and original endorsements
effecting the required coverage prior to execution of this Agreement by City. The endorsements
shall be on forms provided by City or as approved by City Attorney. Any deductible or self - insured
retention over $100,000.00 shall be disclosed to and approved by City. If Consultant does not keep
all required insurance policies in full force and effect, City may, in addition to other remedies under
this Agreement, take out the necessary insurance, and Consultant agrees to pay the cost of said
insurance.
15, STANDARD OF CARE, City relies upon the professional ability of Consultant as a
material inducement to entering into this Agreement. Consultant agrees to use reasonable care and
diligence in rendering services under this Agreement. Consultant agrees that the acceptance of his
work by City shall not operate as a. waiver or release of said obligation of Consultant. The absence,
omission, or failure to include in this Agreement, items which are normally considered to be a park
of generally accepted professional procedure or which involve professional judgment shall not be
used as a basis for submission of inadequate work or incomplete performance.
15. COVENANT AGAINST CONTINGENT FEES. The Consultant warrants that he
has not employed or retained any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working for
the Consultant, to solicit or secure this Agreement, and that he has not paid or agreed to pay any
company or person, other than a bona fide employee, any fee, commission, percentage, brokerage
fee, gift, or any other consideration, contingent upon or resulting from the award or making this
Agreement, For breach or violation of this warranty_ , the City shall have the right to annul this
Agreement without liability, or, in its discretion to deduct from the Agreement price or
consideration, or otherwise recover, the full amount of such fee, commission, percentage, brokerage
fee, gift, or contingent. fee.
17, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, Consultant covenants that it presently has no interest
and shall not acquire any interest, direct or indirect, which would conflict in any manner or degree
with the performance of its services hereunder. Consultant further covenants that in the
performance of this Agreement, no person having any such interest shall be employed.
1$. STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTEREST, If City determines Consultant comes
within the definition of Consultant under the Political Reform Act. (Government Code §87100),
Consultant shall complete and file and shall require any other person doing work under this
Agreement to complete and file a "Statement of Economic Interest" with the Clerk of the City
Rohnert Park disclosing Consultant and /or such other person's financial interests.
19. MERGER This Agreement shall constitute the entire Agreement between the
parties and shall supersede any previous agreements, whether verbal or written, concerning the same
subject matter. No modification of this Agreement shall be effective unless and until evidence by a
writing is signed by both parties.
20, If Consultant should fail to perform any of his obligations hereunder,
within the time and in the manner herein provided or otherwise violate any of the terms of this
Agreement, City may terminate this Agreement by giving Consultant written notice of such
termination, stating the reason for such termination. In such event, Consultant shall be entitled to
receive as _full payment for all services satisfactorily rendered and expenses incurred hereunder, an
amount which bears the same ratio to the total fees specified in the agreement as the services
satisfactorily rendered hereunder by Consultant bear to the total services otherwise required to be
performed for such total fee; provided, however, that the City shall deduct from such amount the
amount of damage, if any, sustained by City by virtue of the breach of the Agreement by
Consultant,
21. NO WAIVER OF BREACH. TIME. The waiver by City of any breach of any term
or promise contained in this Agreement shall not be deemed to be a waiver of such term or
provision or any subsequent breach of the same or any other term or promise contained in this
Agreement. Time is of the essence in carrying out the duties hereunder.
22. THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES. Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be
construed to create and the parties do not intend to create any rights in third parties,
23, ATTQRNFY FEES A_PPLICA_BLE LA_W AND_ FORUM, in the event either party
brings an action or proceeding for damages arising out. of the other's performance under this
Agreement or to establish the rightt or remedy of either party, the prevailing party shall be entitled to
recover reasonable attorney fees and costs as part of such action or proceeding, whether or not such
action or proceeding is prosecuted to judgment, This Agreement shall be construed and interpreted
according to California. law, and any action to enforce the terms of this Agreement or for the breach
thereof shall be brought and tried in the County of Rohnert Park.
24, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR, The parties intend that Consultant, in
performing the services specified herein, shall act as an independent contractor and shall have
control of the work and the manner in which it is performed. Consultant is not to be considered an
agent or employee of the City and is not entitled to participate in any pension plan, insurance, bonus
or similar benefits City provides its employees. In the event City exercises its right to terminate this
Agreement, Consultant expressly agrees that he /she shall have no recourse nor right of appeal under .
riles, regulations, ordinances or laws applicable to employees.
25, TAXES. Consultant agrees to file tax returns and pay all applicable taxes on
amounts paid pursuant to this Agreement and shall be solely liable and responsible to pay such taxes
and other obligations, including, but not limited to, state and federal income and FICA taxes.
Consultant agrees to indemnify and hold the City harmless from any liability which it may incur to
the United States for to the State of California as a consequence of Consultant's failure to pay, when
due, all such taxes and obligations.
26. EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES. Consultant shall not discriminate in its
performance under the Agreement either directly or indirectly on the grounds of race, color,
religion, sex, age, national origin, or other prohibited grounds in its employment practices, and shall
take affirmative steps to ensure that applicants are employed and employees are treated during
employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or other prohibited
grounds,
27. COMPLIANCE WITH LAW. Consultant shall comply with all applicable federal,
state and local laws, rules and regulations affecting the Consultant and his/her work hereunder.
Consultant represents and warrants to City that Consultant has all licenses, permits, qualifications
and approvals of whatsoever nature which are legally required for Consultant to practice
Consultant's profession and to do the work hereunder. Consultant represents and warrants to City
that Consultantt shall, at its sole cost and expense, keep in effectt at all times during the term of this
Agreement any licenses, permits, and approvals which are legally required for Consultant to
practice his /her profession and do the work contemplated by this Agreement,
2$, TITLE TO DOCUMENTS. Title to all plans, specifications, maps, estimates,
reports, manuscripts, drawings, descriptions and other final work products compiled by the
Consultant under the Agreement shall be vested in the City, none of which shall be used in any
manner whatsoever, by any person, firm, corporation, or agency without the expressed written
consent of the City. Basic survey notes and sketches, charts, computations, and other data prepared
or obtained under the Agreement shall be made available, upon request, to the City without
restriction or limitations on their use Consultant may retain copies of the above - described
information but agrees not to disclose or discuss any information gathered, discussed or generated in
any way through this Agreementt without the written permission of City during the term of this
City,
Agreement or until ninety (90) days after receipt of final payment from
2-9. SERI TA'I`IQN. Notwithstanding the fact that one or more provisions of this
Agreement may have been drafted by one of the parties to this Agreement, such provisions shall be
interpreted as though they were a product of a ;joint drafting effort and no provisions shall be
interpreted against a party on the ground that said party was solely or primarily responsible for
drafting the language to be interpreted.
1N , rrNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be
executed the day and year _first above written.
CITY OF ROHNERT PARK:
Joseph D. Netter, City Manager
Per Resolution No. 2002 -54 adopted
by the Rohnert Park City Council at
its meeting of March 12, 2002.
ATTEST:
CTTY CJURK
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
CITY ATTORNEY
THE BUSKS GROUP:
Sue Buske, President
DRAFT
EXHIBIT "A"
SCOPE OF WORK
AND
SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCE
TASK 1. TRANSFER OF CONTROL PROCESS
The Franchise Agreement between the City of Rohnert Park and TCI of East San
Fernando Valley, L.P. ( "TCI -ESFV' or "Franchisee "), owned and controlled by AT &T
Corp, requires City approval of any transfer of cable TV system ownership or control
that may occur. The Franchise Agreement and federal law contain certain information
submittal requirements with which the transferor and transferee must comply. In
addition, federal law specifies certain criteria that may be considered by a local
government when making a determination whether to approve a transfer of ownership.
As the Buske Group will be assisting a number of other local governments with the
AT &T /Comcast transfer of ownership process, they will spread the costs of general
research and background analysis for the transfer review among local governments
they are serving, thus passing on the economic benefits and reduced costs to clients.
Below is a list of specific tasks to be undertaken by the consultant:
1. Review FCC Form 394 filed by AT &T Broadband.
2. Review other associated documents such as the transfer of assets agreements
and associated financial documents.
3. Review any questions submitted City of Rohnert Park.
4. Communicate with designated Rohnert Park City representatives to identify and
review franchise compliance issues and notices sent.
5. Communicate with designated City representatives regarding other ancillary
issues (e.g., rate issues), if any.
6. Notice AT &T within 30 days of receipt of Form 394 of incomplete data or
additional questions.
7. Prepare a memo outlining our findings.
8. Draft the key points for a transfer of ownership agreement and draft a transfer of
ownership resolution for action by City.
9. Jointly, determine reasonable terms, priorities, remedies and protections desired
in the Transfor Agreement
10. Review braft'Transfer Agreement prepared by City Attorney.
11. Develop a clear negotiating strategy and assist City Council and Managemeryt in
key policy determinations
12. Conduct negotiations (as requested) with City. Attorney and AT &T /Comet to
agree on the terms of the transfer of ownership agreement.
13. Provide other assistance related to the transfer of ownership as requested, ley
City representa#vps.
Task 2. Review the Operator's Compliance with the Existing Franchise.
We believe it is wise to undertake a compliance review at the point at which a
transfer is requested, since it is difficult to achieve franchise /contract compliance with
regard to certain matters after a franchise transfer has occurred. This may be the case
even in situations where the CTJPA member communities possess the legal right to
insist on such compliance and the incoming cable operator has the responsibility to
remedy all past noncompliance issues (known and unknown).
As a part of the transfer of ownership process, each CTJPA member
community has an interest in reviewing the operator's past performance to assure that it
and members of the public have received all benefits of the existing franchise. If
noncompliance areas are identified, the affected community may seek corrections to the
areas of noncompliance and penalties or remedies. If the noncompliance is the result of
a lack of clarity in a franchise agreement, the affected community may seek revised
franchise language to eliminate any ambiguities. Review may also result in immediate
improvements in service in some areas. This task would include charting all primary
obligations and determining the level of compliance in areas including but not limited to
reporting, interconnection, required performance bonds and letter of credit, and PEG
access. In order to determine the level of compliance of certain franchise obligations,
one or more of the following tasks may also need to be undertaken.
Estimated Cost Range: $2,000 - $5,000 for Rohnert Park
Task 3. Conduct a Franchise Fee Payment Review.
We have found that when a cable operator request a transfer of
ownership, it is appropriate to review the past franchise fees it has paid. This will assure that a
community has collected the historical amounts due before a transfer of ownership is renewal is
approved. The types of issues that typically arise in assuring that franchise fee payments are correct
include:
• Differences between cash receipts and accrual accounting, including bad
debt accounting polices,
• Procedures for allocating revenues to particular franchising authority areas
when the same operation serves multiple jurisdictions, and to include comparison
of City street maps to AT &T customer address list to determine that Rohnert Park
revenues are properly credited to City franchise.
• Inclusion or exclusion of certain revenue items (e.g., advertising, home
shopping, leased access, late fees, and others); and
• Treatment of the franchise fee amount itself as an element of gross
revenues.
Buske Group shall determine whether payments made since AT &T took over
franchise from Century Communications on September 14, 1999 to present have been correctly
calculated and paid to Rohnert Park.
Estimated Cost Range: $6,000 - $10, 000 for Rohnert Park
TASK 4. Review Customer Service Standards and Consumer Complaints.
We propose to review customer service standards and review consumer
complaints in order to ascertain the level of customer service non - compliance by AT &T
in the City of Rohnert Park. The City has prepared a list of violations and noticed AT &T.
The following tasks are proposed:
(i). First, we will examine all available complaint files held by the City and, to
the extent possible, from AT &T.
(ii). Second, we will review any current customer service standards in effect
and compare them to standards used in other communities.
(iii). Third, we will solicit and review information from AT &T specific to
standards, procedures for handling customer complaints and service, and "tracking" of
customer complaints.
(iv). Fourth, we will compare the information gathered under items (i) and (iii)
to the customer service standards and to City list of violations, and prepare a list of any
additional customer service violations to be noticed by City.
(v) Fifth, we will review the customer service violations noticed by City and
found by Buske review, and work with City staff to develop and negotiate remedies with
AT &T as part of the AT &T Comcast Corporation transfer process.
Estimated Cost Range. $1,000 - $3,000 community
For all desired consulting services, direct costs such as long distance telephone calls,
printing, postage, and travel will be billed to the City in addition to the professional
hourly fees listed on the previous pages of this letter of proposal.
EXHIBIT "B"
STANDARD HOURLY RATES AND CHARGES
City shall pay Consultant as compensation in full for completion of requested tasks from
task List in Exhibit "A ", based upon the actual time and direct out of pocket expenses
incurred at the rates set forth in this Exhibit "B" - Standard Hourly Rates and Charges, but
in a total sum (professional fees plus all direct expenses) for completion of all required
tasks not to exceed twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000.00).
The hourly professional fees for the services listed in this Contract shall, be as follows:
1. Senior Consultant/Negotiator (Sue Buske)
2. Senior Consultants (Fred Christ, Randy Van Dalsen)
3. Financial Analyst (Michael Katz):
4. Legal Advice (Miller & Van Eaton)
$125.00
per hour
per hour
$210.00 per hour
$185.00 - $215.00 per hour
Consultant shall not incur costs for legal advice from Miller & Van Eaton without prior consent of the City Attorney.
CERTIFICATE OF CONSULTANT
I HEREBY CERTIFY that I am the President, and a duly authorized representative of the
firm of The Euske Group, whose address is 3001 J Street Suite 201 Sacramento CA 95816, and
that neither I nor the above firm I here represent has:
al Employed or retained for a commission, percentage, brokerage, contingent
fee., or other consideration any firm or person (other than a bona fide.
employee working solely for me or the above consultant) to solicit to secure
this Agreement
b) Agreed, as an express or impl lied condition for obtaining this
contract, to employ or retain the services of any firm or
person in connection with carrying out the Agreement; or
c) Paid, or agreed to pay, to any firm, organization or person (other than a bona
fide employee working solely for me. or the above consultant) any fee,
contribution donation or consideration of any kind for, or in connection
with; procuring or carrying out the Agreement;
Except as here. expressly stated (if any);
1 acknowledge, that this certificate is sllhie_,ct to applicable. State, and Federal laws, both
criminal and civil..
V11111111tA1 C411U Vl V 11.
DateT
11i1LG
agr\Consult.
Si aic
J1�11CI.Ll.lr e