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BOOK 96 PACE,32 <br />Utilities Director Terry Pinto advised that there are two <br />issues involved in this matter: 1) The existing franchise that was <br />issued to Realcor, which is no longer in existence, has some <br />deficiencies; 2) the present owner of Countryside, Ellenburg <br />Capital, has applied for the franchise to be transferred to them <br />and to be operated by them. The Utilities Department and the <br />Commission has been very careful to try to protect the 600 plus <br />residents of this park and has been reluctant to take certain <br />actions against the present owner and the franchise holder merely <br />because we know that the trend for mobile home parks is to pass <br />utility costs through to the residents of the park. <br />Director Pinto explained that the County has tried time and <br />time again to negotiate the issues involved to the best interest of <br />the utility users in the entire county, particularly the residents <br />of the mobile home park. Director Pinto was not too concerned <br />about the owner of the park because he felt they have violated our <br />confidence many times, but he emphasized that the County has to <br />take whatever steps are necessary to protect the operating <br />utilities at Countryside and the people receiving the service from <br />those utilities. He felt the money issues with regard to franchise <br />fees and impact fees could be worked out if we could sit down with - <br />the owner and go over the figures carefully. An example of that is <br />the escrow fund for renewal and replacement equipment within the <br />park. There is a requirement that 2Z percent of gross revenues be <br />placed into this fund which is to be kept to guarantee that certain <br />renewal and replacement is done to the system. It is to the <br />utility's advantage to keep in close contact with us because it <br />allows certain maintenance of the park to be funded from the <br />Renewal & Replacement fund. Currently, there is approximately <br />$32,000 in the fund, and we think the park owner owes the escrow <br />fund another $30,000 or so. All we have to do is reconcile the <br />account and if the owner of the park can show us that they have <br />made an equal amount of legitimate repairs to the plant within the <br />last 3 or 4 years, they can utilize the monies within the account <br />and the account will balance out. We know that they have made such <br />repairs, so we are confident that issue can be resolved. <br />Director Pinto explained that the amount of franchise fees <br />owed is somewhat of a complicated issue. In this case, it is kind <br />of strange to charge any franchise fees because no rates were being <br />charged within the park. Normally, franchise fees are a percentage <br />of the rate structure and it is a direct pass through from the <br />people using the service to the governing authority, which in this <br />11 <br />OCTOBER 17, 1995 � <br />M <br />