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subsidy of the City's General Fund by the utility system; and (3) the formation of <br />an electric utility that is controlled by a governing Board that fairly and <br />proportionately represents the geographic makeup of the City's Electric Utility <br />customer base. <br />3:05 County Attorney Dylan Reingold introduced the Board's outside legal counsel, <br />p.m. Attorney Floyd Self, from Gonzales, Saggio, and Harlan LLP, Tallahassee. <br />Attorney Reingold said he had attended the City meeting on October 21, 2014, <br />and at that meeting, Attorney Robert Scheffel Wright, with Gardner, Bist, <br />Wiener, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A. and utility Attorney for the <br />City, announced that there was a tentative agreement regarding the Orlando <br />Utilities Commission (OUC) contract, and a possible amendment proposal to <br />OUC and the City. He reported that the revised 2008 Power Purchase Agreement <br />(PPA) with OUC included the following provisions: (1) a decrease in the capacity <br />payments under the PPA between OUC and the City by approximately $7 million <br />per year for the first three years of the amended PPA, and thereafter the decrease <br />would be between $4.1 million and $5.3 million per year for the remainder of the <br />term, which runs through 2029; (2) the City purchasing 54 megawatts (mw) of <br />peak power from OUC, which would enable the City to close the Vero Beach <br />Municipal Power Plant; (3) a provision of minimum take of the base capacity of <br />85 mw by the City; (4) OUC having a one-time option to terminate the PPA, no <br />earlier than 2020 with a two-year notice; (5) OUC having a one-time option to <br />acquire Vero Beach's rights to the output of the St. Lucie Project through a PPA; <br />and (6) OUC permanently retaining the gas transportation rights currently <br />assigned to OUC under the 2008 PPA. He also reviewed the Agenda for <br />tomorrow's Joint Public meeting, and identified some of the issues and comments <br />that might be brought up. <br />3:15 Chairman O'Bryan voiced his concerns over the proposed PPA revisions with <br />p.m. OUC, the Town's civil lawsuit against the City for unreasonably high electric <br />rates, and the mediation process under the Statute. <br />3:22 Commissioner Zorc recapped data from the Florida Municipal Power Agency <br />p.m. (FMPA) spreadsheet (on file) that compared ten years of residential and <br />commercial electric rates, and showed that FPL, on a 10 -year average, had <br />consistently been the lowest cost provider. He believed the rates were artificially <br />low to start off with, and after a short period of time, would increase; therefore, <br />he believed this would be another long term bad commitment. <br />3:25 Commissioner Solari spoke about the last FMPA meeting, which showed that <br />p.m. while the Board was discussing price reductions, the City's price was going up, <br />and he believed the control of the increases were beyond the City's control. He <br />did not believe the money would stop flowing from the subsidy that Vero Electric <br />provides to the City's General Fund. He questioned the good faith of the City <br />when the Mayor is taking off the table the one thing that the City has control over <br />(the subsidy); and felt if the City was serious in reducing rates, the first thing they <br />would do is eliminate the 6% from customers' electric bills. He said it would be <br />nice to have good numbers in the package, and hoped the City would not move <br />Special Call Meeting <br />October 27, 2014 Page 2 <br />• <br />