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Mayor Billy G. Moore and City Council Members Page 18 January 11, 1999 council shall require. Sec. 11.11. Regulation of city owned public utilities. The council has authority to supervise and regulate the operations of city owned public utilities, including the following: (1t) To establish the rates, terms and conditions for the sale of utility services. (2b) To prescribe rules and standards for the construction, extension, maintenance and operation of production, transmission and distribution facilities. The Council may exercise this authority itself, or it may delegate all or part of the authority to a board of citizens to oversee one or more of the city's up blic utilities. Rationale: These proposed changes have two principal bases: The first is to expand the scope of the article from "public utilities" to "public service companies," to include businesses other than utilities that inherently use rights-of-way, such as solid waste collection companies, vehicles for hire and public transit services. The provisions of this article giving the city council regulatory power over companies using rights-of-way should extend to public service companies, not just public utilities. The second basis is to respond to significant changes in the treatment of public utilities under State and federal law. The 1992 federal Cable Communications Policy Act, the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act, and recent state legislation, including the municipal telecommunications franchising act (H.B. 1777) and retail electric deregulation act (S.B. 7) have greatly changed the ability of cities to regulate utilities. In the case of H.B. 1777, city franchising authority was taken away entirely, to be replaced by right-of-way management regulations and state-formulated fees. The addition of Section 11.01(c) allows for the charter to adapt to these kinds of changes. Other proposed changes to Article XI include: 1. A definition of "telecommunications utility" is added in Section 11.01 to ensure inclusion of all forms of telecom services. 2. In Section 11.03, the reference to granting of franchises is broadened to include other forms of authorization for use of rights-of-way. 3. Sections 11.04 through 11.07 continue to address only utility franchises. In Section 11.04, a public hearing requirement is added for the grant, transfer or renewal of a franchise. Notice of the hearing must be published before the public hearing, not after first reading. In Section 11.05, the