CABLE TELEVISION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA FOR SUBMISSION AND REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS FOR USE OF CABLE TELEVISION INTERCONNECT FEES

APPLICANT QUALIFICATIONS AND PROCEDURES

1. At the time the application is submitted, all applicants must meet one or more of the following criteria:

(a) Be a resident of an area served by a cable television system holding a franchise with the City of Omaha.

(b) Be a governmental entity, religious organization, or accredited educational institution.

2. All applications shall describe in detail the purchases or projects for which the money will be used. This description shall provide any information required by the Cable Television Advisory Committee Interconnect Fee Review Subcommittee, including identifying the sources from which purchases will be made, the anticipated use of any equipment or property purchased, the anticipated ownership of any equipment or property purchased, the length of time during which the funded project will be conducted, and the community interests to be served by the purchase or project. An itemized budget for the purchase or project shall be submitted with the application. The application must be typewritten on a form approved by the Subcommittee and shall be signed by the person making application or a person authorized to act on behalf of an applying organization.

3. Applications shall describe a measurement method by which the success or failure of the project will be gauged.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PROJECTS OR PURCHASES

1. All monies shall be used exclusively to promote and assist public, community, or governmental access cable television programming. Such uses may include, but not be limited to: advertising and promoting access programming; producing and distributing a program guide for the access programs; purchasing, renting, or otherwise obtaining equipment to be used by the access programmers to supplement the equipment provided by Cox Communications, Inc.; and paying unusual expenses necessarily incurred in producing access programming.

2. No monies may be directly or indirectly received by any cable television system holding a franchise with the City of Omaha.

3. Funding will be provided in a manner determined by the City Council. The preferred method of funding shall be through reimbursement of verified expenses or an imprest fund administered by the Finance Department. An applicant may submit justification for funding as a non-repayable grant payable upon approval. The amount of any award will be determined based on the needs of the proposal and the availability of funds.

4. In awarding funding, preference shall be given to proposals or projects that are innovative, expand services, improve the quality of programming, or increase the awareness of access programming.

5. Funding may not be used to replace funding used by the applicant prior to the application for ordinary operational or production expenses. Requests for funds to pay salaries or other general overhead will not normally be considered.

6. Funding shall not be provided to projects that are commercial in nature.

7. All applicants must establish that they have sufficient expertise, funding, and personnel to complete the project or proposal.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

1. Only one application for funding may be submitted by a person or organization during any calendar year. Applications for funding must be submitted on or before December 31 of each year to the Omaha City Council. Submitted applications will be forwarded to the Review Subcommittee for review without additional City Council action. Review shall occur on a schedule set by the Review Subcommittee. The City Council staff shall provide the Review Subcommittee members with copies of the applications and supporting documentation. Summaries of the applications and supporting documentation may be provided in lieu of the applications if the Review Subcommittee so directs.

2. The Cable Television Advisory Committee shall establish an Interconnect Fee Review Subcommittee consisting of four (4) or more members selected from CTAC. The Review Subcommittee shall meet and review all applications for funding from the interconnect fee fund established by Omaha Municipal Code section 19-425. Members of the Review Subcommittee shall be appointed in the same manner as members of standing committees.

3. The Review Subcommittee shall report to the Cable Television Advisory Committee its recommendations for approval or disapproval for each application. The Cable Television Advisory Committee shall submit to the City Council its recommendations for approval or disapproval of all applications for funding together with a designation of the manner of payment. The recommendations shall be based upon the funding criteria and procedures approved by the City Council.

4. At such times as determined by the Review Subcommittee, every organization or person receiving funding shall submit to the Subcommittee progress reports describing in detail the use of its interconnect funding. Within thirty (30) days after completion of the project or all purchases funded by interconnect fees, the organization or person receiving funding shall submit a final narrative or videotape report evaluating the success of the project or purchase keyed to the measures of success identified in the application. In addition, the report shall include an itemized expenditure report and such other information as is required by the Review Subcommittee. All unused funds shall be promptly returned to the City and the Review Subcommittee shall be notified. All reports shall be forwarded to the Finance Department.

5. The City reserves the right to discontinue any funding or deny future funding if the organization or person violates any law, engages in any activity injurious to the City's interests, fails to make satisfactory progress or comply with any approved criteria or procedures, or uses any funding for purposes other than identified in the approved application.

6. All organizations or persons receiving funding shall maintain all records, books, and accounts as are deemed necessary by the Finance Department to assure proper accounting of all funded expenditures. Such records, books, and accounts shall be kept for one year beyond submission of the final report. Any representative of the City or CTAC designated by the Review Subcommittee shall have access to any books, documents, papers and records of the organization or person which relates to the proposal funded by interconnect fees for the purpose of making audit, examination, excerpts, and transcriptions.

7. To the extent warranted, any purchase of equipment with interconnect fee monies shall be made only after the proposed purchase is reviewed by Cox Communications Omaha or its successor franchisee to determine compatibility with other cable television service equipment and to determine that the purchase price is not excessive. Review shall include Cox obtaining a price quote from vendors acceptable to Cox. To the extent possible purchases shall be made from such vendors at that price and payment shall be made directly from the City to the vendor upon documentation submitted by Cox. Equipment purchased in this manner shall be delivered first to Cox, who shall verify the purchase and provide appropriate training or direction to the purchaser in how to use the equipment.

8. Any equipment (including durable goods or material) purchased with interconnect fee moneys shall be the property of the person or organization receiving the award of funds but, to the extent described in this paragraph, the City shall retain an interest in certain equipment. All equipment obtained with interconnect fee moneys shall be used only for the purposes described in the application for funding. Any single piece of equipment obtained primarily with interconnect fee moneys and having a purchase price listed, below (exclusive of taxes and shipping), shall be transferred to the City of Omaha and shall become the property of the City of Omaha if the person or organization receiving funding does not regularly use the equipment for the described purpose during the designated time period following the award of funding.

PURCHASE PRICE	TIME PERIOD

At least $2,000.00 but less than $5,000.00	2 years
At least $5,000.00 but less than $15,000.00	4 years
$15,000.00 or greater	6 years

The person receiving funding or an authorized representative of an organization receiving funding shall in the progress reports required by these criteria certify compliance with this paragraph.

9. A copy of these criteria and procedures shall be provided along with the initial payment of funds or authorization to draw funds from an account. Acceptance of interconnect funds shall signify agreement to comply with the terms upon which the funding is awarded.