36.04A.250 Penalties—Civil and criminal.

(a)    Subject to the procedural provisions of Section 36.04A.270, franchises granted pursuant to this chapter shall provide for the following minimum penalties chargeable to a grantee as liquidated damages to the letter of credit or other performance guarantee established by the franchise agreement:

(1)    For failure to extend cable service within the franchise area as required: two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per day per affected potential subscriber;

(2)    For failure to provide any capability for public, educational and governmental use of the system as required by a franchise agreement: five hundred dollars ($500) for each violation per day;

(3)    For violation of applicable customer service standards: twenty-five dollars ($25) per violation per day multiplied by the number of affected subscribers, which after recovery of costs and fees, shall be used by the county to provide refunds to such subscribers;

(4)    For failure to upgrade a cable system as provided for by a franchise agreement: one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day;

(5)    For all other material violations of the franchise agreement other than those specified in this section, for which actual damages may not be ascertainable: two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per day for provision of the franchise agreement which is violated.

(b)    The date of violation will be the date of the event and not the date the grantee receives notice of the violation, provided, if county has actual knowledge of the violation and fails to give the grantee the notice called for herein, then the date of the violation shall be no earlier than ten (10) business days before the county gives the grantee the notice of the violation. The county must provide written notice of a violation. Upon receipt of notice, the grantee will have a period of thirty (30) days to cure the violation or thirty (30) days to present to the county a reasonable remedial plan. The county shall decide whether to accept or reject the remedial plan presented by the grantee. Liquidated damages occur only in the event that either a cure has not occurred within thirty (30) days or the county rejects the plan. The procedures provided in Section 36.04A.270 shall be utilized to impose any liquidated damages.

(c)    The imposition and collection of such penalties shall in no respect affect:

(1)    Compensation owed to subscribers; or

(2)    A grantee’s obligation to comply with all provisions of this chapter or of a franchise agreement; or

(3)    Other remedies available to the county.

(d)    It shall be a gross misdemeanor for any person to intentionally or knowingly construct, operate or maintain a cable system or provide cable service over a cable system within the county without a franchise granted by the county authorizing such activity.

(e)    In addition to or as an alternative to any other remedy, the county may seek such legal or equitable relief as is appropriate to obtain compliance with Section 36.04A.030. (Sec. 2 of Ord. 1998-12-21)