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CONFLICT RESOLUTION MINUTES <br /> Thursday,July 22,2021—10:00 a.m. <br /> City Hall,Council Chambers,Vero Beach, Florida <br /> PRESENT: City of Vero Beach: Monte Falls, City Manager; John Turner, City Attorney and <br /> Rob Bolton,Water and Sewer Director <br /> Indian River County:Jason Brown,County Administrator and Dylan Reingold, County Attorney <br /> The meeting opened at 10:03 a.m. <br /> Mr.John Turner,City Attorney,reported that today's meeting is a continuation of the Indian.River <br /> County and the City of Vero Beach meeting regarding Chapter 164 of the Florida Statutes <br /> regarding dispute of the 1989 Territorial Agreement between the parties. He said we continued <br /> the matter of the previous meeting to today's date to allow the City the opportunity to review the <br /> proposal offered by the County at their previous meeting. Today they have the same participants. <br /> Staff members are present. We also have the addition of Ms. Cindy Lawson, who is the Finance <br /> Director and she will be available to answer questions regarding financial matters if the parties. <br /> don't have any objection. Ms. Lawson wasn't listed in the notice of the individuals who were <br /> going to be present, but we think she might be very helpful if financial issues come that we need <br /> to address. He thinks what he would like to have is the City Manager do a kind of review of their <br /> discussions on this,the County's offer that they were discussing last time and outline their position. <br /> Mr. Monte Falls, City Manager,thanked Mr. Brown and Mr. Reingold for the framework they set <br /> out at the June 24th meeting that outlined a possibility for settling the dispute. He said to go over <br /> that and correct me ... I think that I have the points, but if I miss them help me fill those in, but <br /> the first one, the County would agree that the Territorial Agreement was still in effect and the <br /> County would remain neutral on any litigation involving the Territorial Agreement, the County <br /> would not contest the validity of the Territorial Agreement, and the County would propose a new <br /> franchise for South Beach that was silent on the Territorial Agreement. The County wanted to <br /> have the same rates for South Beach as Indian River Shores (the Town of Indian River Shores) <br /> has,which are County rates currently through 2027 or the point where the 15-year out in the City's <br /> Franchise with the Town comes about. He asked Mr. Brown if that was correct. <br /> Mr. Jason Brown, County Administrator, answered yes generally and then I think thereafter for a <br /> five(5)-year period there would be a Iimitation that after 2027 our proposal is that those residents <br /> would go to City rates with outside surcharges or no additional surcharges with a five(5)-year rate <br /> protection period where those rates couldn't be raised on those customers more than 5%a year for <br /> five(5)years. <br /> Mr. Falls said I'm sorry I did omit that, but I do recall that. He said so we have discussed it and <br /> we are all of the mindset that we will no longer offer rates that do not reflect the cost associated <br /> with operating our utility and we will agree to offer the same rates to all customers within our <br /> 107/22/21.Conflict Resolution <br />