Sec. 5A-112. Reports and records

The County shall have the right to inspect records and to require a franchisee to provide copies of records at the franchisee's expense at any time during normal business hours at the County cable system office for all books, receipts, maps, plans, contracts, service complaint logs, performance test results, records of requests for service, computer records, disks, or other storage media and other like material which the County deems appropriate in order to monitor compliance with the terms of this Subtitle, its franchise agreement, or applicable law. This includes not only the books and records of a franchisee, but any books and records the County reasonably deems relevant held by an affiliate, a cable operator of the cable system, or any contractor, subcontractor, or any person holding any form of management contract for the cable system. A franchisee is responsible for collecting the information and producing it at the location specified above, and, by accepting its franchise, it affirms that it can and will do so. A franchisee will be given reasonable advance written notice of any inspection request, which shall serve as notice that any or all of the above materials may be inspected.

A franchisee shall maintain financial records that allow analysis and review of its operations in each individual franchise area.

Access to a franchisee's records shall not be denied by such franchisee on the basis that said records contain "proprietary" information. Refusal to provide information required herein to the County shall be grounds for revocation. All confidential information received by the County shall remain confidential insofar as permitted by law.

A franchisee shall maintain a file of records open to public inspection in accordance with applicable FCC rules and regulations.

Each report filed by a franchisee pursuant to this Subtitle shall be certified by a corporate officer as accurate and complete.

If and to the extent requested by the County, a franchisee shall file with the County, in a form acceptable to the County, all reports and materials submitted to the FCC, the Security and Exchange Commission, or any other Federal or State regulatory commission or agency, including, but not limited to, any proof of performance tests and results, Equal Employment Opportunity reports, and all petitions, applications, and communications of all types regarding the cable system, or a group of cable systems of which the franchisee's cable system is a part, submitted by the franchisee, an affiliate, or any other person on the behalf of the franchisee.

Materials filed with the County pursuant to Section 5A-112(b)(1) shall be filed as follows:

A summary of the previous year's activities in development of the cable system, including, but not limited to, descriptions of services begun or dropped, the number of subscribers gained or lost for each category of service, the number of pay units sold, the amount collected annually from users of the system, and the character and extent of the services rendered to such users, including leased access channel users;

A summary of complaints, identifying both the number and nature of the complaints received and an explanation of their dispositions, to the extent such records are kept by the franchisee. Where complaints involve recurrent system problems, the nature of each problem and the corrective measures taken shall be identified;

A report showing the number of service calls received by type during the prior quarter, and the percentage of service calls compared to the subscriber base by type of complaint;

A certification of compliance with applicable customer service standards. If a franchisee is in noncompliance with any standard during any calendar quarter, it shall include in its annual filing a statement specifying areas of noncompliance, the reason for the noncompliance, and a remedial plan;

A copy of the franchisee's rules and regulations applicable to subscribers of the cable system;

An annual statement showing the yearly gross revenues, prepared and audited by a Certified Public Accountant acceptable to the County;

An annual financial report for the previous calendar year, audited and certified by an independent certified public accountant, including year-end balance sheet, income statement showing subscriber revenue from each category of service, and every source of nonsubscriber revenue, line item operating expenses, depreciation expense, interest expense, and taxes paid, statement of sources and applications of funds, capital expenditures, and depreciation schedule;

An annual list of officers and members of the Board of Directors or similar controlling body of the franchisee and any affiliates;

An organizational chart showing all corporations or partnerships with more than a five percent (5%) ownership interest in the franchisee, and the nature of that ownership interest (limited partner, general partner, preferred shareholder, etc.), and showing the same information for each corporation or partnership that holds such an interest in the corporations or partnerships so identified, and so on until the ultimate corporate and partnership interests are identified;

An annual report and SEC 10(k) filing for each entity identified in Subsection 5A-112(c)(8), above, that generates such documents;

A summary of the results of, and, at the franchisee's option, copies of the system's technical tests and measurements performed during the past year;

A detailed copy of updated maps depicting the location of all cable plant, showing areas served and locations of all trunk lines and feeder lines in the County, and including changes in all such items for the period covered by the report;

A full schedule of all subscriber and other user rates, fees, and charges;

Such other information as the County may direct.

The active system plant in miles, specifying aerial and underground mileage;

The new system segments built, in miles, if any, specifying aerial and underground mileage;

The number of subscribers and the penetration rate for each type of service and equipment offered;

The number of disconnects;

The number of outages, identifying separately:

The number of cases in which installation was not provided within the time established in this Subtitle;

The average telephone answering and hold times, and the number of instances in which those telephone answering and hold times exceeded the time limits established in this Subtitle;

The percentage of customer calls that received a busy signal;

The average and minimum number of customer service representatives on the franchisee's staff for telephone answering purposes;

The number of times in which interruptions of service under Section 5A-109(e) was not in compliance with the times established in this Subtitle;

The number of times scheduling and completing customer service did not occur in accordance with Section 5A-109(d)(3).

A franchisee shall submit quarterly construction reports to the County after the franchise is awarded for any construction undertaken during the term of the franchise until such construction is complete, including any rebuild that may be specified in the franchise. The franchisee must submit to the County as part of the quarterly construction report, or make available for inspection with notice of their availability as part of the quarterly construction report, updated as-built system design maps depicting construction completed in the previous quarter. The maps shall be developed on the basis of postconstruction inspection by the franchisee and construction personnel to assess compliance with system design. Any departures from design must be indicated on the as-built maps, to assist the County in assessing operator compliance with its obligations.

A franchisee must submit a copy of any notice of deficiency, forfeiture, or other document issued by any State or Federal agency instituting any investigation or civil or criminal proceeding regarding the cable system, the franchisee, or any affiliate of the franchisee, to the extent the same may affect or bear on operations in the County. This material shall be submitted in accordance with the deadlines specified in Section 5A-112.

The franchisee must submit a copy of any request for protection under bankruptcy laws, or any judgment related to a declaration of bankruptcy by the franchisee or by any partnership or corporation that owns or controls the franchisee directly or indirectly. This material shall be submitted in accordance with the deadlines specified in Section 5A-112.

Records of all complaints received. The term "complaints" as used herein and throughout an agreement refers to complaints about any aspect of the cable system or the franchisee's operations, including, without limitation, complaints about employee courtesy. Complaints recorded may not be limited to complaints requiring an employee service call;

A full and complete set of plans, records, and "as built" maps showing the exact location of all system equipment installed or in use in the County, exclusive of subscriber service drops;

A comprehensive record of all personnel transactions and utilization of contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers by race and sex;

Records of outages, indicating date, duration, area, and the subscribers affected, type of outage, and cause;

Records of service calls for repair and maintenance indicating the date and time service was required, the date of acknowledgment and date and time service was scheduled (if it was scheduled), and the date and time service was provided, and (if different) the date and time the problem was solved;

Records of installation/reconnection and requests for service extension, indicating date of request, date of acknowledgment, and the date and time service was extended;

A public file showing its plan and timetable for construction of the cable system.

The County may, at its discretion, hold performance evaluation sessions. All such evaluation sessions shall be open to the public. The franchisee may be required by the County to notify subscribers of all such evaluation sessions by announcement on a designated local access channel on the system between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M. for five (5) consecutive days preceding each session.

Topics that may be discussed at any evaluation session may include, but are not limited to, system performance and construction, franchisee compliance with this Subtitle and its franchise agreement, customer service and complaint response, subscriber privacy, services provided, programming offered, service rate structures, franchise fees, penalties, free or discounted services, applications of new technologies, judicial and FCC filings, and line extensions.

During the evaluation process, the franchisee shall fully cooperate with the County and shall provide such information and documents as the County may need to reasonably perform its review, including information and documents that may be considered proprietary or confidential.

The franchisee must make necessary arrangements for copying documents selected by the County after review; and

The franchisee must pay all travel and additional copying expenses incurred by the County in inspecting those documents or having those documents inspected by its designee.