If you remember when “Twin Peaks” and “The Cosby Show” were prime time TV fare, you remember when the city of Spokane entered the cable television franchise that is now held by Comcast. That was 1990, when John Spellman was governor of Washington, when Major League pitcher Nolan Ryan won his 300th game, when Elk Drug in Browne’s Addition closed, and when Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait drew the United States into war in the Persian Gulf and pushed gasoline prices over $1.25 a gallon at home.

A lot can happen in 15 years, but that franchise agreement – although it’s changed hands from Cox to TCI to AT&T to Comcast – has lasted.

Actually, the franchise is beyond its 15-year expiration date but a renewal has been under negotiation for a year and a proposed agreement and accompanying documents are scheduled for the Spokane City Council’s consideration on Nov. 21.

Not so fast, some critics are saying. This is a complicated package with a substantial bearing on television-watching citizens’ lives. The intricacies require more public examination before the city agrees to another long-term commitment, the critics say, and they have a point.

A nationally regarded consultant hired by the city has concluded that the proposed renewal is the best deal the city can get, and that may be so. But the terms have been worked out on the city’s behalf essentially by City Attorney Bob Beaumier and the mayor’s public affairs officer, Marlene Feist. Even the Cable Advisory Board has had little opportunity to delve into it. The board gave its OK on Monday and recommended the City Council approve the renewal, but that was more on the say-so of Beaumier than from an independent examination.

Critics who have studied the proposal say it lets the franchise holder off the hook for compliance failures during the past 15 years. That and other assertions call for a public discussion.

If nothing else, the time frame of the proposal is worrisome. As drafted, the renewal would last for 12 years – a long time in an era of racing technology, not to mention legislative, regulatory and political shifts.

In the past 15 years, Congress has made at least two substantive changes to telecommunications law. Within that same period, the White House has changed hands twice and control of Congress made a dramatic shift. Broadband and Internet capacities have evolved as integral elements of cable service. High-definition television is moving into the picture, along with who knows what other advances.

As Beaumier himself acknowledged in a 1996 article written just after Congress had written a new telecommunications act, local regulation of cable television companies faces “possible problems in coordinating with ongoing federal regulatory changes.”

Twelve years is an uncomfortably long commitment under the circumstances. The City Council should take its time and make sure it understands the ramifications of this franchise renewal before rushing into a decision.