Minutes 01/06/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1.10 TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1998 A special and duly-called joint meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, and the Board of Supervisors of Henry County, Virginia, with Mayor George B. Adams, Jr. and County Board Chairman Jack Dalton presiding, was held Tuesday, January 6, 1998, at 7:00 p.m., in the auditorium of Fieldale-Collinsville High School, Collinsville, VA. The purpose of the meeting was to hold a Special Joint Public Heating with the Henry County Board of Supervisors to take public comment related to renewal of each jurisdiction's Cable Television Franchise. All members of Council were present: George B. Adams, Jr., Mayor; Dr. Mark A. Crabtree, Vice-Mayor; Bruce H. T. Dallas; Elizabeth H. Haskell; and M. Gene Teague. All members of the Henry County Board of Supervisors were present as well: Chairman Jack E. Dalton; R. E. Seidle; Paula M. Bumette; Debra Buchanan; H. G. Vaughn; and Samuel J. Pilson. Following the call to order by both Mayor Adams and Chairman Dalton, both Board and Council opened the joint public hearing, in order to take comments from numerous persons regarding proposed renewal of the Cable Television Franchises with Adelphia Cable Communications. These comments included the following: Mr. Ace Adkins of Ridgeway, Virginia, spoke against a franchise term of twelve years or six years, stating that technology is changing too fast to support such a decision. Mr. Adkins also expressed concern about increases in cable rates, and asked whether that might be expected. Mr. Joe Price, Virginia Regional Manager for Adelphia, answered that they would respond to the market, and that some rate increases would probably occur. Mr.. Adkins then asked if the quality of service and programming would improve, to which Mr. Price replied that the system would be rebuilt to improve both signal quality and expansion of the number of channels. Mr. Adkins also expressed his concern that the Town of Ridgeway had been left out of the discussions and negotiations with Adelphia, to which County Administrator Sid Clower replied that Mr. Mike Grogan, Councilman from Ridgeway, had attended the meetings with Adelphia early in the process, but had stopped attending.