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came about. He said that he mainly gave it for the benefit of the public. He then asked does the County <br />want to serve the territory area as described in the 1989 service territory agreement and do they have <br />any obligations to serving those areas and do they have the capacity to serve them. The City is <br />concentrating on building a new waste water reclamation facility and he realizes that the County <br />continues to focus on the growing County areas out west. <br />Mr. Turner felt that from what Mr. Brown has presented that it might be beneficial to take each one (1) <br />of the points and flush them out a little more so they can all understand what the offers are. He said that <br />they are all here today regarding the 1989 territorial agreement. If there was a new franchise agreement <br />there would or would not be references to the 1989 territorial agreement and how was this is going to be <br />dealt with in the future. From what he understood there would not be any references to the 1989 <br />territorial agreement. However, the County would not be contesting the validity of the 1989 territorial <br />agreement as they move forward. He said if there was any dispute or litigation involving other parties in <br />which the 1989 territorial agreement is a part of that dispute that the County would be taking a neutral <br />position and would be an interested third party, but not want to be included as a litigantin that particular <br />dispute. <br />Mr. Dylan Reingold, County Attorney, felt that Mr. Turner hit the first point pretty well. He said as he <br />understands the City theory of this is that there are basically two (2) silos. There is the territorial <br />agreement and the franchise agreement and there is history with both of these agreements. He knows <br />one (1) of the things that he has heard from City staff and Mayor Brackett is that they are tired of getting <br />these drafts from the County that keep saying all prior agreements including the territorial agreement are <br />superseded. So the County is happy to take that language out of the franchise agreement as part of the <br />compromise. He said as far as the litigation issue goes what he envisions happening is if the Town decided <br />to sue both the County and the City for taking the position that the territorial agreement is in effect, the <br />County does not plan on hiring outside counsel and they don't plan on spending a lot of money. They <br />would look to the City to defend that issue. They would not take any action that would be contrary to <br />that position and not file anything with the Courts saying they don't believe the territorial agreements is <br />in place. They will listen to whatever the judge has to say and would not be interested in appealing the <br />decision either way. <br />Mr. Turner said the second matter was concerning rates. He said from the City's point of view they would <br />be under the Indian River Shores franchise agreement through 2027. He asked Mr. Bolton for an <br />explanation on rates. <br />Mr. Rob Bolton, Water & Sewer Director, responded on the rates. He said that would present a problem. <br />with the construction of the new water reclamation facility. He said that the City is about to embark on a <br />bond issue. He mentioned the agreement that they have with the Town. He said it is one (1) thing to <br />have roughly 17% of your revenues tied to an agreement and it is another thing to have 35% of your <br />revenues tied up in an agreement that they don't have control over going out to the open bond market. <br />This has been an issue moving forward and why they were looking at the County's ultimate point, which <br />was City rates. He said moving forward in the future after 2027 they would propose that they have City <br />rates moving forward. There is no agreement that ties them to have County rates. He said that the County <br />rates have been based on political reasons addressed years ago. There is nothing in their agreements that <br />ties them into a County rate structure. <br />Mr. Brown commented that the secret of a good compromise is the situation where neither parties are <br />really happy. He can tell them that City residents, Town residents, and unincorporated residents are all <br />Page 3 June 24, 2021 Conflict Resolution Minutes <br />