Staff recommends dissolving Staunton’s cable commission as franchise work dwindles

City staff recommended that Staunton City Council dissolve the city’s cable commission, saying franchise management has become largely boilerplate and public complaints are infrequent.

Kurt Plowman, the city’s information technology director, briefed council that the commission’s original role managing complex franchise agreements dated to 1988 but that those agreements are now standard templates and that streaming has reduced cable’s local role. "Franchise agreements don't deal with streaming," Plowman said, and the commission’s workload has diminished to the point that staff can handle most functions.

Plowman said the city retains a published phone number for cable complaints that still rings to staff and that he maintains carrier contacts to address service issues. Councilors asked when the commission last met (staff estimated perhaps a virtual meeting during the COVID era and only intermittent meetings since), whether the public’s ability to lodge grievances would change, and whether there was coordination when Glo Fiber installed new infrastructure; staff said Glo Fiber approached the city and the franchise agreement was adapted from the Comcast template.

Staff recommended placing dissolution of the cable commission on the consent agenda for formal action. Council indicated no objections to that approach and staff said they would prepare a consent agenda item to finalize the change.