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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,June 16,2014 Page 28 vide. Regarding viewership ratings for access channels provided by Mr. Cole- man, Councilmember Etten argued that when looking at the overall offering of 160 channels, there may be more people watching access channels than sports channels offered by Comcast. Councilmember Laliberte agreed with the majority of the comments of her col- leagues, expressing her disappointment with this looming deadline and being forced to vote for a litigious path, even when negotiations were ongoing. Coun- cilmember Laliberte agreed that there was room to give from both parties; and agreed that there were a lot of channels with varying degrees of viewership. Councilmember Willmus spoke in support of this motion, agreeing with Coun- cilmember Etten's comments. On a personal level, Councilmember Willmus ex- pressed his frustration in all of this. Based on the communications he'd received over the last month about this being a property tax issue for Roseville, Coun- cilmember Willmus disputed the misperception of that, opining that it perhaps came from semantics being presented or Roseville being synonymous with the NSCC. Councilmember McGehee expressed appreciation for everyone's comments, opin- ing that the most important thing available on public access television were access to City government channels and keeping people interested in their local govern- ment. She also spoke in support of programs from the local public school events such as athletic events and concerts. In his review of viewership, Mayor Roe noted that percentages indicated a fairly good percentage for CTV channels, with schools dropping off some, and advised that he did not want to discount viewership. However, Mayor Roe clarified that the real question is about this preliminary denial. While wishing that the City of Roseville was in a position to accept Comcast's proposal, Mayor Roe noted that this was largely under the control of Comcast and it would have seemed in their best interest to give member cities an offer they couldn't refuse to address capital needs and acknowledge additional funding, with their proposal well short of the numbers laid out in the RFP. Mayor Roe noted that Comcast had cut funding for C-TV, with a portion of capital funding subtracted from their proposed franchise fee and shifted to C-TV, which would not keep them in operation in any manner similar to their operations today. Mayor Roe noted that comments to-date from member cities indicated the same disappointment,and even though staff and legal consultants at the NSCC had asked for on several opportunities to pause for in- formal negotiations, but Comcast had refused to do so. Mayor Roe advised that he found that concerning, but expressed his hope that resolution could come with the informal process. Roll Call Ayes: Willmus; Laliberte; Etten; McGehee; and Roe. Nays: None.