11/12/1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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'NOV 12 1996 BOOK Attorney Vitunac pointed out that the amended franchise uses the word "shall" in regard to maintaining fire flow, and he believed the Board knew the difference between "may" and "shall." Attorney Henderson argued that the amendment took words out of the county's normal franchise ordinance and referred to plants to be built. This plant was already in place, and he did not believe it was intended that an old plant had to be brought up to standards at a huge cost. His only other problem with staff's recommendation was that the order issued in January of 1985 literally told the utility to stand in a corner for one year without any rate of return. At the end of that one year, the county would determine if they were operating efficiently and then the new tariff would spring into effect. The rates were scheduled to spring into effect last January 10th, but because of_ the many hoops the Utility Department required them to go through, it wasn't until the end of July that they had pretty well satisfied them. Attorney Henderson stated that he would like to see the rate of return kick in when it was supposed to, which was in January of 1986, or at least when the department found the utility to be operating efficiently, which was about September 1st. Mr. Wilson has pledged personal assets on about $20,000 of capital improvements which were required, and he should be allowed to recover that and requests the Board's consideration. Director Pinto stated that staff feels that the utility company had the opportunity as soon as the order was issued to fulfill all the requirements immediately and apply for the increase when the one year came due. Because of the untimely manner in which the utility department received the information, which takes a considerable amount of time to review, staff recommends that the utility company be allowed to receive the increase in the next billing cycle. It was determined that no one further wished to be heard. 14