Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Charles County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on July 7, 2026, at 4:00 PM. The meeting covered two public hearings: a proposed cable television franchise agreement with Verizon and a zoning text amendment regarding accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Both hearings included staff presentations, commissioner questions, and public testimony. The board voted to approve both items.
Charles County Government presents the Board of Commissioners meeting. Good evening, Commissioners. We're going to begin this evening's session with the roll call. Commissioner Bowling. Present. Commissioner Coates. Here. Commissioner Stewart. Commissioner Patterson. Present. And Commissioner Collins. Here. Thank you. Commissioners will now move into your public hearings. The purpose of this evening's session is to hold a public hearing in person and virtually on proposed Charles County Cable Television Franchise Agreement with Verizon. If it pleases the Commissioners, I will dispense with the reading of the public notice. For the public, when it's your turn to speak, please state your name and address clearly and for the record. Statement should relate to the subject matter of this identified hearing. Statement should be brief to the point and limited to three minutes or less. Proper language is required at all times. Additionally, please understand that this is a public hearing, which means that this is the Commissioner's opportunity to hear from the public. This is the public's opportunity to speak. Consequently, the commissioners will not be entertaining questions or debating the issue. The commissioners do reserve the right to extend the time frame or to continue the hearing until another date. With that stated, we will now begin the public hearing. Good evening. Bill Kidwell, Chief Information Officer for the County. I'm with me this evening is Tom Robinson from CBG Communications. He worked alongside the county, as with Cohen Law Group, to come to the drafted franchise agreement we have before you. Tom will provide an overview of the proposed agreement and summarize the key provisions and changes. And at this time, I'll turn it over to him. Okay, thank you, Bill. And thank you, Commissioners, for the opportunity to speak with you this evening and present some of the highlights of the proposed cable franchise with Verizon. It's a renewal franchise. Their uh current franchise uh ended uh and was extended a couple of times so that the negotiating process could continue. Uh this new friend franchise uh would take effect this summer if the commissioners approve it. And I thought it would be uh useful to go over um the highlights that are consumer centric. Um I believe there's a PowerPoint presentation. And if uh that will be brought up on the screen, I think it's also in your uh packet. And I'll go through on it. I'm not sure I've gotten the new PowerPoint. Well, if not, I can go through some of the highlights and just Oh, here I have it now. So I'm gonna be able to pull it up.