The City of Warsaw hasn’t received Fort Wayne cable channels for over seven years, but residents still want them.
The current local stations are from the South Bend area.
Monday night, the city’s Common Council reviewed Comcast’s quarterly franchise fee to the city, which was $13,737.60. The fee is based on 3 percent of the cable company’s total revenues, Thallemer said.
Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen said it’s about $100 more than what it was last year. She added it is a state contract.
A member of the audience asked, “If you’re talking to them, is there any way to encourage them to get the Fort Wayne stations?”
Mayor Joe Thallemer responded that he’s been in extensive conversations with them for that “very request.”
“The FCC has service areas that they determine,” he said, noting that it’s all based on geography.
“The problem is, if you want a signal from an adjacent service area, there’s a concern that there’s a conflict with advertising revenues and so forth,” Thallemer said.
It is FCC service areas that dictate what Warsaw gets, he said.
“I also found out when I talked to them that it’s not a unique problem to our area. It’s a problem all over. I can’t navigate the FCC labyrinth of ideas and concerns and rules changes, but it’s my understanding that they’re looking at something that would open that up just a little bit. But, I’ve made the request,” Thallemer said.
He said he’s had two meetings with Comcast and they understand the city’s concerns, but their hands are tied.
In other business:
• Ordinance 2015-08-03 regarding elected officials’ salaries was approved on second reading by a vote of 5-2, with council members Jeff Grose and Diane Quance against.
At the last council meeting, the ordinance was amended and approved 4-2 on first reading to give elected officials only a 2-percent increase for 2016, a reduction from the wage committee’s proposal. Grose and Quance voted against the ordinance then, too, because they wanted the increased salaries that the wage committee had proposed.
• Thallemer swore in Ron Shoemaker as the District 2 councilman, replacing the late Charlie Smith. Shoemaker was chosen in a caucus Thursday to fill out Smith’s current term, which expires Dec. 31, and to serve a four-year term beginning Jan. 1.
Since an elected official can not serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals, Shoemaker will have to vacate his seat on that board, Thallemer noted.
“We’re happy to have Ron. He’s great interest in the city. He has some experience as an elected official. And I think he was most qualified and we’re happy to have him, and we’ve got a lot of work to get done,” Thallemer said.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Shoemaker said after being sworn in.
• The planning department requested five transfers of funds totaling $28,000 for the purchase of a Jeep Wrangler, which the council approved. The department must still get permission from the Board of Works to purchase the vehicle.
• A resolution authorizing the renewal of the City-County Athletic Complex lease was unanimously approved. The lease between the city and R.R. Donnelly is for 48 months and has been renewed every four years since it was first entered into on June 1, 1987.
(Story By The Times Union)
