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O <br />case, would be. the County. Therefore, the franchise fees have been <br />based on a calculation against the gross operating costs of the <br />treatment plant. <br />Director Pinto emphasized that under no circumstances do we <br />want to set up a situation that makes it worse for the people in <br />the park. He didn't believe they ever have had a good owner at <br />Countryside. The only way we could get the present owner to talk <br />to us is to call for this public hearing and -,require that this <br />franchise be transferred properly or put into some sort of <br />receivership. We have tried to call them repeatedly but their <br />Oregon office did not get any information back to us. <br />Director Pinto suggested that the Board hear from Ellenburg <br />Capital about what they propose to do if this franchise is <br />transferred to them. He recommended that the transfer be approved <br />with the stipulation that Ellenburg agrees to the franchise <br />amendments that he would list later in this hearing. If the owner <br />cannot come up with legitimate expenses on the treatment plant, <br />then he should bring the maintenance fund up to the amount it <br />should be. <br />Attorney Vitunac advised that there is no legal franchise <br />holder at the moment. There is a de facto franchise holder, which <br />is Ellenburg, and the normal process is that as part of the.sale <br />from Realcor they should have come to the County and applied for <br />the transfer of the franchise. If they had, all these matters <br />would have been taken care of as part of the closing. What <br />happened was a midnight closing as far as the County is concerned. <br />It happened without our knowledge or involvement, and then Realcor <br />went out of business quickly leaving a gap. Our hope is that <br />Ellenburg will comply with our new regulations and be an active, <br />legitimate franchise holder. However, the law allows an <br />independent party to be appointed as a franchise holder if <br />necessary, and that person would be responsible for the assets of <br />the utility which was owned by Ellenburg and also responsible to <br />run the park for the protection of the residents, and thirdly, to <br />protect the public's interest in seeing that it all works well. <br />The law says that a receivership has to be in the hands of an <br />impartial person. <br />Commissioner Adams was inclined to go with staff's original <br />recommendation and force some action one way or the other. <br />Chairman Macht opened the public hearing and asked if anyone <br />wished to be heard in this matter. <br />12 <br />OCTOBER 17, 1995 BOOK 96 PAGE 9 7 <br />