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The Chairman called the meeting to order and proceeded _ to give a brief history of the County's utility involvement, explaining that the rate study we were committed to has been completed and we will receive a recommendation from Arthur Young & Company tonight. The Chairman then introduced the members of the Board and staff members to those present. Commissioner Bird wished to add a bit about why we went ,,..�.. with Arthur Young and Company and why this study was done. He noted that the County is fairly new in the utility business, and although we felt the system was running smoothly and that the rates were fairly well in line, we wanted an independent analysis done by someone with the expertise to make a recommendation as to what they felt was a fair and equitable rate structure for all our customers throughout the county and hopefully the new rate structure will reflect this expertise. Chairman Scurlock agreed that was an important point. He emphasized that the reason we established the interim rate in such haste was that FmHA, the agency which loaned us the money to make the improvements to our system at 5%, stated that we would be in default of our bond covenants if we did not bring the rates up to where the system would raise enough revenue to support itself. Realizing that we are not experts in this field, we then hired a professional consultant to review the rate structure. The Chairman then asked Utilities Director Terry Pinto to make his presenta- tion. Utilities Director Pinto felt the Board has covered the issues very well. He noted that the first day he started as Utilities Director with Indian River County was the rate hearing setting the interim rates just discussed. Mr. Pinto continued that he appreciated the opportunity to be able to have a consultant such as Arthur Young come in to do the study. He felt it is important to note that we interviewed 3 A APR 4 i9�4 BOOK 56 Pace 68