It’s time to change channels

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Weeks after a legal war of words began between the city of Dadeville and the James Cable company, the two sides met this week and we feel the citizens were the winners.

The Dadeville City Council met with a representative of the cable company to discuss problems with the contract signed in the 1980s and to allow citizens to voice concerns over technical and customer service problems within the system.

We feel this was a positive first step in an issue that is far from over.

In a previous meeting city attorney Robin Reynolds told the council that the city believed it signed a 15-year deal with what was then CommuniComm, but James Cable believes the contract was perpetual.

The city still has issues with the contract as Reynolds called it Tuesday a “poorly drafted document.”

“If they are going to adhere to a 1980 contract with 1980 service (then) this is a non-exclusive contract,” he said.

Unfortunately this first face-to-face meeting will not resolve the myriad complaints from citizens over service either.

“We just want cable,” Dadeville resident Richard Zeanah said at the meeting. “We just want things fixed.”

Hopefully this meeting will help to bring a resolution to the contract dispute and a dismal situation for the 400-plus Dadeville customers still on the James Cable system.

Frankly we feel the city should find a way out of the contract it signed two decades ago and give its citizens a better option for cable service.

We are pleased to see the city take this positive step to resolve the issue, but any resolution that does not involve the changing of cable providers will be disappointing.

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