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AGENDA ITEM - 8K <br />-fi DEN HILLS <br />MEMORANDUM <br />DATE: February 9, 2026 <br />TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers <br />FROM: Jessica Jagoe, City Administrator <br />SUBJECT: Resolution 2026-007 Delegating to the North Suburban Communications <br />Commission authority to prepare Broadband Franchises <br />Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: <br />N/A N/A N/A <br />Council Should Consider <br />Motions to approve, table, or deny the following: <br />• Resolution 2026-007 Delegating to the North Suburban Communications Commission <br />(NSCC) authority to prepare Broadband Franchises. <br />Background/Discussion <br />At the January 12th work session, Council gave direction to city staff to proceed with delegating <br />authority to NSCC to prepare broadband franchise agreements in Arden Hills and to provide <br />formal notice to future applicants of right-of-way permits of the need to obtain a franchise from <br />the Commission. <br />Franchising gives municipalities the legal authority to manage their public rights -of -way and <br />negotiate enforceable agreements with private broadband providers. For Arden Hills, the NSCC <br />has the delegated authority to negotiate and manage the cable communications systems on behalf <br />of its member cities. A broadband system under state law is considered a cable communications <br />system. Therefore, the City can make the determination that when a permit application is <br />submitted to construct a cable communications system (i.e. broadband system) that the applicant <br />shall be instructed to obtain a franchise from the NSCC as a prerequisite to issuing permits. At <br />its December meeting, the NSCC Board passed a recommendation that each member city should <br />direct any applicant for fiber construction to them for franchising discussions. <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />