An agreement was reached on Tuesday between the Morgan County Commission and AT&T for the use of rights-of-way of county roads to build out a new IP Video Services system.
One of the terms of the franchise agreement is that AT&T will pay Morgan County a fee equal to 5 percent of the gross revenues derived from the cable television services offered, effective Dec.31, 2010, through 2018.
Acting County Attorney Bob Harris conferred with AT&T representative Ben Hargrove and one of the company’s attorneys by telephone before he advised the governing body to move forward on the contract proposal.
“The contract is OK,” Harris said. “You are going to receive 5 percent of something that you are not getting now.  You could have a problem if a competitor comes along and wants to use the same rights-of-way to install another cable system.”
District I Commissioner Jeff Clark questioned Hargrove about the length of the contract and how much of the county would the new cable service cover?
Hargrove said contracts of five, six or 10 years are customary and indicated the system will not be installed on all county roads.
“Our goal is to provide the service to as many customers as we can,” Hargrove said.
“I think it will benefit the county,” Clark said. “I know there are a lot of people out there waiting for it.”
The commission acted on other matters as follows:
• Amended a previous resolution by naming the West Park football field as the “Clyde ‘Pop’ Gillott/Eddie Turrentine Field.”
• Authorized the chairman to apply for the Technology Grant Program, which is funded and administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in the amount of $160,000 for the replacement of aging computer equipment in the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office
• Approved a certificate to subdivide for Mike and Jimmie Hopper on Chambers Road in District 3.
• Adopted a resolution setting speed limits of 25 mph on Cascade Road and  20 mph on Cascade Creek Drive and Cascade Creek Circle in District 4.
The move was made on a recommendation from Senior County Engineer Greg Bodley, following a traffic study.
• Authorized funding for the new Morgan County District 3 Shop with expenditures over $330,000 to be re-paid out of District 3 funds at a minimum of $50,000 per year.
•Authorized the chairman to execute any and all grant documents from the U.S. Department of Drug Task Forces through the Methamphetamine Initiative, with Etowah County acting as administrator, in the amount of $139,028 with no match for the Morgan County Sheriff’’s Office.
•Approved payment of $10,780 to G.B.W. Architects for construction plans for the new District 2 Shop.