HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-054 Agrmt - Telecom Consulting - Charter Audit
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The Howell Group, LLC. dba
Telecommunications Consulting Associates
Service Agreement
The City of Ashland, Oregon (Local Franchising Authority, City) hereby agrees to hire
Telecommunications Consulting Associates (TCA) for the purposes set forth below in the
attached letter and incorporated herein. '
Scope of Work-Included in my Scope of Work are the following activities:
. Review the enabling ordinance, if one exists, and existing franchise
agreement(s) with Charter Communications.
. 1 will conduct a franchise fee audit of Charter for six (6) years, unless
prohibited by the City's franchise agreement. Once the fee audit is completed,
the data will be presented in spreadsheet form and will detail any payment
discrepancies and penalties.
. 1 will draft all correspondence to Charter for you to place on your letterhead.
This correspondence will detail the findings and make demand for any
restitution, including a Settlement Agreement.
. After this work is complete, 1 will draft a Summary Report detailing all of my
findings. 1 will also assist the city in reaching a settlement agreement with
Charter and track your payment.
Terms of Payment
Audit Fee: This audit Scope of Work will be billed at 50% of any funds that are
recovered by the City as a result of our audit. This audit scope of work is delineated in a
letter from John Howell, which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference.
Payment to TCA of the Percentage Compensation shall be due 20 days following City's
receipt of any monies recovered either as settlement, refund, credit, trade out, service in
kind or as an award from the franchised cable operator.
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DATE
On behalf of the City of Ashland, Oregon
DATE March 30, 2011
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John C. Howell, TCA
TCA,!OI Flat Rock Gap Road, Waynesville, NC 28785 (PHONE) 828.627-8415 (FAX) 828-627-8505
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSULTING ASSOCIATES
101 Flat Rock Gap Road
Waynesville, Ne 28785
munihelp@bellsouth.net
828-627-8415(0) 828-627-8505(F)
March 30, 2011
Lee Tuneberg, Finance Director
City of Ashland
20 East Main Street
Ashland, OR 97520
Dear Lee,
I just completed audits of Charter in Grants Pass, Jacksonville, Klamath Falls, Phoenix
and Central Point and I am beginning audits in Medford and Lincoln City. Last year I
audited Charter in Milton-Freewater, Sandy and Hood River. While I can never promise
that I will find underpayments during an audit, I am confident that we will discover some
level of discrepancies in the City of Ashland based on my past experience with Charter. I
am including in this correspondence a detailed description of my Scope of Work, a
service agreement (last page) and a list of my references. Included in my Scope of Work
are the following activities:
. Review the City's eXlstmg enabling ordinance, if one exists, and make
recommendations to enhance it to be in compliance with recent FCC and
legislative directives as well as typical municipal protections.
. Review all transfer and assignment documents.
. Review the existing franchise agreements with Charter and make
recommendations for changes either at a renewal interval or transfer.
. I will conduct a franchise fee audit for Charter as far back as we can based on
any limiting language in either the franchise agreements or the City's code of
ordinances. I will make this determination after I have reviewed these
documents, and spoken with you. This process will commence with my
drafting a letter for you to place on your letterhead to Charter requesting
certain documents heretofore unavailable to the City. Once the fee audit is
completed, the data will be presented in spreadsheet form and will detail any'
payment discrepancies and penalties.
. Finally, I will draft all correspondence to Charter for you to cut and paste to
your letterhead. This correspondence will detail the findings and make
demand for any restitution or submission of additional data, such as secondary
address research.
After this work is complete, I will draft a Summary Report detailing all of my findings.
This report generally is 3-7 pages and includes all spreadsheet documentation. The fee for
CiTY RECORDER
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providing all of the above items is a 50% contingency fee basis. This places 100% of the
risk on our firm. If we find nothing, you pay nothing and if we are successful in getting a
recovery for the City, then we split it. The City will keep 100% of all future fees that we
identify during the audit. I have attached a contingency fee proposal at the end of this
letter.
I look forward to hearing from you and please call if you have any questions. I have
attached a list of my references across the country.
Sincerely,
John C. Howell
Tennessee Cities our firm works for: Jackson, Cleveland, Elizabethton,
Fayetteville, Lenoir City, Parsons, Loudon, Knoxville, Alcoa, Maryville, Clinton,
Johnson City, Bristol, Bolivar, LaVergne, Morristown, Waynesboro, Kingston,
Madisonville, Sweetwater, Church Hill, Dandridge, Rogersville, Tellico,
Collinwood, Crossville, Comersville, Watauga, Ashland City, Kingsport,
Surgoinsville, Paris, Milan, Savannah, Sparta; Mount Carmel, Manchester,
McMinnville, Pulaski, Goodlettsville, Clarksville, Newport, Tullahoma, Dover,
Decaturville, Mount Pleasant, Lebanon, Whitwell, Powells Crossroads, Kimball,
Henderson, Spencer, Cookeville, McKenzie, Martin, Crump, Monterey, Alamo,
Bluff City, Selmer, Tracy City, Pigeon Forge, South Pittsburg, Loretto, Dayton,
Jefferson City, Sevierville and Shelbyville;
North Carolina: Cities of Asheville, Laurinburg, Sylva, Spruce Pine, Scotland
Neck, Bakersville, Washington, Waynesville, Winston-Salem, Belmont, Mount
Holly, Fletcher, West Jefferson, Tryon, Marion, Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro,
Carolina Beach, Boone, Seven Devils,Laurinburg, Beech Mountain, Sugar
Mountain, Banner Elk, Black Mountain, Hickory, Conover, Newton, Maiden,
Long View, Claremont, Catawba, Lenoir, Granite Falls, Blowing Rock, Concord,
Holly Ridge, Lincolnton, Hildebran, Montreat, Morganton, Spring Lake,
Taylorsville, Roxboro, Hendersonville, Laurel Park, Flat Rock, Mills River
Valdese and Thomasville.
Georgia: Woodstock, Peachtree City, Watkinsville, Ringgold, Grovetown, Dalton
and Athens; The Counties of Clarke, Polk, Crisp, Troup, Dougherty, Cherokee,
Whitfield, Fayette, Rabun, Habersham, Haralson, Barrow, Baldwin, Bulloch,
Coffee, Pike, Pierce, Pickens, Thomas, Lanier, Walker, Colwnbia, Floyd,
Jackson, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lowndes, Oconee, Sumter, Murray, Union, Dade,
Lee, Dawson and Upson.
South Carolina: Gray Court, Greenwood, Camden, Greer, Lyman, Simpsonville,
Spartanburg, Greenville, Mauldin, Seneca, Mount Pleasant, Hartsville, Clemson
Gaffney, Pickens, Sumter, Travelers Rest, Rock Hill, Clinton and Central; The
Oregon: Sandy, Milton-Freewater, Grants Pass, Central Point and Hood River