20080929Vol I Rigby.pdf

ORIGINAL
'.BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN UTILITY
COMPANY, INC. FOR A CERTIFICATE
OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND
NECESSITY.
)
) CASE NO. ROC-W-08-01
)
)
)
)
BEFORE
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:xmomCOMMISSIONER JIM KEMPTON (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER MACK REDFORD ::
.PLACE:Jefferson County Courthouse
210 Courthouse Way
Rigby, Idaho
DATE:September 23, 2008
VOLUME I - Pages 1 - 47
.
CSB REPORTING
Constance S. Bucy, CSR No. 187
23876 Applewood Way * Wilder, Idaho 83676
[phone] * [phone]
Email csb~heritagewifi.com
.1 APPEARANCES
2
3 For the Staff:Kris Sasser, Esq.
4 Deputy Attorney General
472 West Washington
5 Boise,Idaho 83720-0074
6
7
8
9
10
11
12.13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24.25
CSB REPORTING APPEARANCES
(208 )890-5198
.1 I N D E X
2
3 WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
4 William Jenson Statement 4
(Public)Commissioner Kempton 8
5 Commissioner Redford 9
6 Tim Kauer Statement 10
(Public)
7
George Parker,Sr.Statement 14
8 ( Public)Commissioner Kempton 17
9 Austin Farmer Statement 19
(Public)Commissioner Kempton 22
10
George Parker,Sr.Statement 24
11 (Public)Commissioner Kempton 27
Commissioner Redford 32
12
Austin Farmer Statement 35.13 (Public)
14 William Jenson Statement 38
(Public)
15
Lara Edwards Statement 42
16 (Public)
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24.25
CSB REPORTING INDEX
Wilder,ID 83676
.1 RIGBY, IDAHO, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008, 7:00 P. M.
2
3
4 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, it's
5 September the 23rd, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. and we're at the
6 Jefferson County Courthouse in Rigby, Idaho, and for the
7 audience, there's some things that I need to read in here
8 for the formality of beginning this process, so that's
9 what I will be doing here for the next couple of minutes.
10 We're here to conduct a public hearing for the purpose of
11 taking direct testimony of customers and interested
12 parties on the application of Rocky Mountain Utility.13 Company for a certificate of public convenience and
14 necessity to provide domestic water service as a public
15 utili ty in Idaho; more specifically, the application
16 filed by Rocky Mountain Utility Company, Incorporated on
17 May 13th, 2008 for a certificate of public convenience
18 and necessity as specified in Idaho Public Utili ties
19 Commission Case No. ROC-W-08-01.
20 The proceedings in this case are being
21 conducted in accordance with the Commission jurisdiction
22 under Title 61 Idaho Code and Commission Rules of
23 Procedure under the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act
24 31.01.01, so previous activities on this case have.25 consisted, of course, of the filing and there was a
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
1 COLLOQUY
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1 workshop that was held here in Rigby on August 13th, 2008
2 at the Senior Citizens Center. That's kind of where
3 we're starting right now and as far as introductions in
4 the room, on my left is Commissioner Redford. I'm
5 Commissioner Kempton and I'm the Chairman tonight, both
6 of us obviously from the Idaho Public Utili ties
7 Commission. Kristine Sasser is an attorney with the
8 Idaho Public Utilities Commission and Chris Hecht is one
9 of the Staff that helped put together the Staff's
10 recommendation that's posted on the website.
11 What we're here for is to, of course, hear
12 your positions on this particular case. It's not a
13 debating session. It's not one where we present, anybody
14 presents any evidence or anything. We're at a point in
15 the process where we just need to hear from you. The
16 process is very simple and I don't want you to be
17 intimidated by it. It's a formal process, but it's
18 fairly simple. I have the names of those who want to
19 testify. It's not limited to these simply because I have
20 it up here. It's something that I'll use to call the
21 people who have signed up and then if anybody else wants
22 to testify, they can do so.
23 I'll call the name and whoever it is, just
24 come up to the podium and you'll be asked -- first of
25 all, you'll be sworn in and Commissioner Redford will do
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
2 COLLOQUY
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1 the swearing in and then you'll be asked for your name,
2 your address, where you live, who you represent, if
3 anybody or anything other than yourself, and then you'll
4 be free to go ahead and testify. For a number of
5 reasons, we need to have the testimony to us and not
6 spli t between us and the audience, mostly because the
7 recording device is fairly simple and we're going to have
8 to hear what you say and so the presentation, again,
9 should be toward us.
10 Are there any questions on anything so
11 far?
12 AUDIENCE: You said we're not here to be
13 presenting any evidence, if we had something to address
14 as far as, I don't know, any -- I guess what is your
15 definition of evidence?
16 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Actually, I used
17 that term in reference to us as the Public Utilities
18 Commission. We don't have Staff presenting a position.
19 That position has already been established and posted on
20 the web. You can present whatever you wish to present
21 and if you have something you want to submit for the
22 record, documents or anything, we will accept those, so
23 are we ready?
24 Okay, William Jenson. Just stand right up
25 here.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
3 COLLOQUY
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1 WILLIAM JENSON,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
3 was examined and testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. SASSER:
8 Sir, could you state your name and spell
9 your last name for the record, please?
10 A William Jenson, J-e-n-s-o-n.
11 Q And your residence address?
12 A 6 North Currant Lane, Rigby, Idaho,
13 83442.
14 Q And are you a customer of Rocky Mountain
15 Utility?
16 A Yes.
17 Q And are you here representing yourself or
18 an organization?19 A Myself.
20 Q Please proceed with your testimony.
21 A Okay; two things that I wanted to address
22 primarily. First, Staff noted in their comments that a
23 $250 connection fee was requested by Rocky Mountain
24 Utility Company, a $150 fee was granted. To my.25 knowledge, builders that built homes in the Pepperwood
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
4 JENSON
Public
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10
1 Crossing Subdivision were already charged a $1,500
2 connection fee and that fee was assessed and the builders
3 had to pay the $1,500 fee before house plans were
4 approved and building processes could be begun, so I
5 don't know how many of those fees were assessed before,
6 but if, you know, if they were, if everybody was charged
7 a $1,500 fee, there's currently I count 60 residential
8 lots that are there or residential homes that are at or
9 near completion.
There's four commercial lots. There's
11 five commercial lots that are under construction or
12 different, I guess , individual commercial buildings..13 There' s five foundations in place, plus the well lot, so
14 that would make a total of 75 and if this $1,500 fee was
15 assessed to each one of those, that's upwards of $112,500
16 in fees that were already collected by Rocky Mountain
17 Utility Company.
18 After speaking with my builder, Keith
19 Treasure of Stiletto Homes, he stated that he was charged
20 $1,500 per lot that he built and he has, I think, four
21 houses that were builtin the subdivision and he believes
22 that he paid the checks, wrote the checks payable to
23 Landmark Development which is one of the other companies
24 that the owner of the utility company owns, so I wanted.25 to make that known.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
5 JENSON
Public
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1 There was a $150 fee that was granted by
2 the Utility Commission and I just thought that that
3 should be on record that other fees may have already been
4 assessed, so also in relation to the actual number of
5 houses that are reported, I believe Rocky Mountain
6 Utility Company stated, or at least that's what it says
7 in the Staff, the Public Utilities Commission Staff's
8 comments, that there was 46 total lots that are in
9 operation, I guess you could say, but 44 of them are
10 residential and two were commercial. As of today,
11 September 23rd, I read previously the number of lots that
12 I've counted and that was 60 residential lots with two or
13 three that are near completion, the rest being completed;
14 finished commercial property was four, and then five
15 under construction; five foundations are currently in
16 place and the five foundations that are currently in
17 place are foundations of homes that are being constructed
18 under the U.S.D.A. Self-help program, so those houses
19 will be occupied upon completion, and then there's the
20 one well lot, so a total of 75 lots instead of 46 lots as
21 stated by Rocky Mountain Utility Company.
22 Along with this, I want to add that there
23 are no houses or commercial properties that have meters,
24 so it's impossible to determine whether or not these
25 houses are or are not using any of the water. Needless
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
6 JENSON
Public
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1 to say, if they were connected to city water, a city
2 would definitely be charging these homes for any water
3 use whether or not they're being lived in by a permanent
4 resident or not and the utility company nor the Idaho
5 Public Utilities Commission, nobody can determine if
6 water is being used and in fairness to other customers, I
7 suggest that all of these lots be assumed as, you know,
8 that we assume that they are using water because we're
9 left with no other way of determining if they are or not,
10 so I suggest that instead of using 46 total lots or total
11 customers, I suggest that we put the number in as being
12 75 and the number will be growing.
13 In that particular subdivision, in the
14 comments made by the Utilities Commission Staff, there
15 would be 122 total lots as that phase is completed, and
16 currently as I count them, there's 75, and that's -- oh,
17 you know, it would be up to Rocky Mountain Utility
18 Company to choose whether or not they charge houses that
19 they may decide are not using water services yet and we'd
20 leave that up to their discretion, but as far as
21 determining a monthly billing rate, I feel that it's only
22 fair to the customers in the development that we count
23 all of the houses that are currently constructed, so I
24 think that's everything that I have. Any questions?
25 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Commissioner
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
7 JENSONPublic
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1 Redford?
2 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:No, I have no
3 questions. Thank you.
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
8 Q Mr. Jenson, the final number that you
9 identified there, was it 75 or was it in addition to the
10 75?
11 A Well, I had 60 residential customers and
12 two or three of those are near completion. They don't
13 look to be completed. There may be, I don't know,
14 upwards of five at the most that are near completion and
15 then there was four finished commercial , individual
16 commercial it looks like, addresses that would be built
17 separately. There's five separate commercial spots that
18 are under construction. It's all in one building, but
19 there are five separate tenants it looks like, those are
20 under construction, and there are five foundations that
21 have been poured that are ready to be built on and those
22 already have owners, and then there was the one well lot
23 that has a sprinkler system that I guess is the property
24 of the developer, but he's using the water, too, so all.25 of those would add up to 75, and I do have -- I have just
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
8 JENSON (Com)
Public
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20
21
22
1 an Excel spreadsheet that I printed out that has those
2 numbers on them if you want a copy of that.
3 Q Okay.
4 A Plus the connection, the price of the
5 connection fee and I want to state that I don't know that
6 everybody was charged $1,500, but I know our builder was
7 charged $1,500 and other homes in the area were also
8 charged $1,500 for a connection fee, which, you know,
9 their revenue requirement was listed at $26,679 annually
10 and we have well over that just in connection fees if
11 that's what they were charging everyone, so the monthly
12 water bill rate if we counted 75 total customers would
13 then be $29.64 down from the $48.50 that was decided on
14 by the Commission.
15 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, thank you.
16 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: I have one
17 question.
18 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Commissioner
19 Redford.
EXAMINATION
23 BY COMMISSIONER REDFORD:
24.25
Q Were you charged, then, in the purchase of
your lot the $1,500 hookup fee?
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
9 JENSON (Com)
Public
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20
21
22
1 A Well, I don't know. You'd have to ask my
2 builder if he included that in the price of the house or
3 if he just absorbed that cost as part of his costs of
4 construction. I'm assuming that if he was charged that
5 fee that it would be passed on to the home buyer.
6 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:Probably. Thank
7 you.
8 THE WITNESS: You're welcome.
9 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, Mr. Jensen,
10 we will enter the document that you handed us into the
11 record.
12 THE WITNESS: Okay, thank you.
13 (The witness left the stand.)
14 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Let me find the
15 list here that I had just a second ago. Tim Kauer.
16
17 TIM KAUER,
18 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
19 was examined and testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
23 BY MS. SASSER:
24 Sir, if you could state your name and.25 spell your last name for the record.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
10 KAUER
Public
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1 A Tim H. Kauer, K-a-u-e-r.
2 Q And your residence address?
3 A 8 North Currant Lane.
4 Q And are you a current customer of Rocky
5 Mountain Utility?
6 A Yes.
7 Q Are you here representing yourself or an
8 organization?
9 A Myself.
10 Q Please proceed.
11 A Well, I don't know if the Commission was
12 listening to anything on the sewage system, too, but we
13 were -- I was charged starting in February of this year
14 on a sewage, but we did not take residence until April,
15 so I imagine that other homes were that way, but my
16 builder was Stiletto Homes, too, and that $1,500 was part
17 of the price of building my house was the hookup fee on
18 that, and I understood at the time that water and sewage
19 was with the lot and I didn't realize that there was
20 going to be that big of fees. I have a son that was in
21 another subdivision that their total for water, they have
22 their own sewage for each house, and their total for
23 water and everything, their homeowner's fee basically
24 what they said was per year which covered their water is.25 $150 per year, and they had fewer homes in that
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
11 KAUER
Public
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1 subdi vision. It's the Greens out there by the golf
2 course, but that and it seemed like this $40.00 for
3 sewage was a little bit steep and I was a resident here
4 in Rigby for the last 21 years and our fees for water,
5 sewer and garbage was only $80.00 total and I don't
6 know -- and that's including bonds, water bonds and
7 sewage bonds that the city has taken out for
8 construction, and most other residents that I heard,
9 their homeowner fees and that for water and the community
10 well is a lot, is lower than what we've been asked to pay
11 and I feel like that's, well, too much for that combined.
12 What they're proposing is over $80.00 for
13 both sewer and water a month and I don't know whether or
14 not the owner is trying to get back more money out of it,
15 but I mean, our lots when we bought them, they're small
16 lots compared to a lot of lots in the area and you have
17 to a pay a little bit more, but it was supposed to be
18 water and sewage included is what I kind of understood,
19 and that's why it was kind of surprising when we started
20 getting billed for sewage and now water and that's about
21 all I have to comment on.
22 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, Mr. Kauer,
23 let me just clarify one item and that is that this
24 application on the certificate of public convenience and.25 necessity is for domestic water and irrigation for the
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
12 KAUER
Public
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1 lawns and that there's no separation of the two right now
2 between domestic water for culinary purposes, bathing,
3 et cetera and the application of the same water coming
4 through the house without metering but being used on the
5 lawns. That's the way the set-up is now and the
6 application is for that hookup and that water and we
7 don't regulate, the Idaho Public Utili ties Commission
8 does not regulate, sewage, so you have to separate the
9 discussions at least to that extent in our response to
10 your testimony.
11 THE WITNESS: Okay.
12 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Are there any
13 questions, Commissioner Redford?
14 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: No, thank you.
15 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Ms. Sasser?
16 MS. SASSER: No.
17 (The witness left the stand.)
18 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: We only have two
19 people so far that have signed up for testimony. Has
20 anybody else signed up? Is there anybody else that would
21 like to testify? All right, sir, if you would, would you
22 mind going ahead and signing up on a sheet so that we
23 have the spelling of your name there? That way we won't
24 have to ask you specifically to do that, and we'll go off.25 the record for just a minute.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
13 KAUER
Public
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2
3
(Pause in proceedings.)
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: George Parker, Sr.
4 GEORGE PARKER, SR.,
5 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
6 was examined and testified as follows:
7
8
9
10 BY MS. SASSER:
11 Q
EXAMINATION
Could you state your name and spell your
12 last name for the record?.
20
13 A
14 P-a-r-k-e-r.
15 Q
16 A
17 Q
18 Utility?
19 A
Q
21 organization?
22
23
24.25
A
Q
Mr. Parker.
George S. Parker, Sr. My last name is
And your address, sir?
6 North Oak Circle.
And are you a customer of Rocky Mountain
Yes, I am.
Here representing yourself or an
No, just myself.
Please proceed.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Go ahead,
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
14 PARKER
Public
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1 THE WITNESS: I noticed when this thing
2 started we started at $28.50 which sounded reasonable to
3 me. I didn't have an obj ection to that at all. I came
4 out of Arizona just three months ago and I moved up here.
5 I came out of Winslow, Arizona and our water bills were
6 $21.00 a month. You have to drill 900 feet to get water
7 in Winslow,Arizona,but we were on a meter system.
Wintertime,that was the minimum I paid was 21.
Summertime,of course,doing my lawns and my garden,I
would probably sometimes get up to $60.00 a month.
8
9
10
11 Let me tell you, gentlemen, these rates,
12 I'm retired and these rates when you take two utili ties,
13 which I know you don't have anything to do with sewer,
14 but you take two utilities on my budget and make $88.00
15 which is what I'm hearing, 40 for sewer and 48 for the
16 water, that's a big expense out of my income. Now,
17 there's a lot of young people that live around here and
18 with the economy the way it is, I must tell you, things
19 are not as good as they ought to be and may not be good
20 for a long time and I'm afraid once you set this rate of
21 $48.00, it's not coming down.
22 This gentleman that has this started at
23 28. To me, when I was in business, if I gave a price, I
24 kept my price, which means I kept my word and this.25 gentleman has already come off his price which means he's
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
15 PARKER
Public
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1 not keeping his word. I have a hard time with that for
2 the simple fact if he had started out at $40.00, which I
3 think he really wanted in the first place, that would
4 have been a better situation than what we have here.
5 This gentleman is asking almost 50 or 100 percent higher
6 than what he originally asked for, but economically, I
7 think at this time he has no equipment, new lines, it's
8 only two years old, he won't have maj or maintenance in
9 that place, so to me, it seems a little absurd that we'd
10 start off at almost $50 for water and especially when
11 your water is God given.
12 I f I could drill a well, I don't have
13 water rights, but if I could drill a well, I could afford
14 to drill a well, I would stay away from this problem.
15 It's just absurd that you pay $21.00 in Arizona and they
16 just don't have water like you folks have and then to
17 come up here and the first thing I'm doing three months
18 after I've been here is come to testify to you folks
19 about water rates and that's my testimony. I appreciate
20 your time.
21 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Parker, just a
22 moment.
23 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
24 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Commissioner
25 Redford?
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
16 PARKER
Public
.1 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No, I have no
2 questions, sir.
3
4 EXAMINATION
5
6 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
7 Q Mr. Parker, I have just one or two
8 questions. You've got the numbers right. I mean, you've
9 got the end product right. Did you have a chance to look
10 through the Staff's recommendation that supported that
11 number in terms of the different areas where individual
12 recommendations were made?.13 A No, you know something, when this first
14 came out and I got the notice for $28.50, I went on to
15 your site and there's a water company called the
16 Bitterroot, Bitterroot something, but anyways, they asked
17 from $20.00 to $45.00. That was two years ago in '06 and
18 the Commission gave them $1.00. It went to $21.00 and
19 then they set fees on top of that which made it almost
20 $27.00, but they were meter regulated and I think they
21 had about 300 people on their system and they were an
22 older system. They were having trouble with their
23 system. That's the reason the fees were set to help set
24 up this..25 The gentleman when I went to the last
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
17 PARKER (Com)
Public
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1 meeting about a month ago at the Senior Citizens, the
2 gentleman that came, they told me they'd been on the
3 Commission eight years, so they awarded that to the
4 Bi tterroot Water Company, so I find two years later, I'm
5 trying to figure out how we're going from $21.00 up to
6 $48.00 and on a new system and so the logic isn't there
7 as far as I'm concerned, but I can tell you as a senior
8 ci tizen, budget right now is very critical. I don't get
9 much of a raise. Now, these young people, I don't know.
10 They may get a great raise and I hope they do, but you
11 know something, senior citizens don't get much. I get
12 two or three percent a year. You're going to suck up my
13 raise for the next two or three years just trying to pay
14 for one year on this, so it's critical to me that this
15 si tuation be handled in an equitable way.
16 I started businesses before and you go on
17 wi th new equipment and the reason you go on with new
18 equipment is you don't have maintenance, you don't have
19 problems and you have a good chance of getting your
20 business up and going and have a good opportunity to get
21 bank rolling and get cash flow. This brother who sold
22 all these lots, he has great cash flow, he doesn't have a
23 problem with cash flow, but I think, in my opinion, he
24 started 28 knowing that it was going to wind up what it's
25 going to be now. I appreciate your time, gentlemen.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
18 PARKER (Com)
Public
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2
3
4
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Thank you, sir.
(The witness left the stand.)
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Farmer.
5 AUSTIN FARMER,
6 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
7 was examined and testified as follows:
.
20
8
9
10
11 BY MS. SASSER:
12 Q
EXAMINATION
Could you state your name and spell your
13 last name for the record?
A
24 Mr. Farmer.
14 A
15 Q
Austin Farmer, F-a-r-m-e-r.
And your residence address?
3892 East Ash Lane.
Are you a customer of Rocky Mountain
Not by choice, but yes.
And you're representing yourself and not
21 an organization?
22
23
.25
16 A
Yes.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Go ahead,
THE WITNESS: Just on the opposite end of
17 Q
18 Utility?
19 A
Q
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
19 FARMER
Public
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1 the spectrum as Mr. Parker is, I'm a young father. I'm
2 26, my wife is 23, we have two kids, and he says he
3 doesn't get a lot of raise from being retired, that's
4 true, and now they're asking us to double our payments
5 for a young couple and I would li ke Jim Bernard, Silver
6 Creek Construction or Rocky Mountain Utility, to be here
7 because I've had so many questions for him. He says that
8 he needs to meet an annual revenue requirement, but the
9 minute I bought my lot he started billing me for it, but
10 I know he's sitting on lots, is he paying in towards that
11 annual revenue requirement himself?
12 I know that he sold a lot of lots to the
13 government. Are they paying into the Idaho housing or
14 whatever? I wonder what they're paying into this annual
15 revenue requirement that he has set, and just like he
16 said, this is a brand new system, and my Dad and I, we
17 build in Idaho Falls and it's Falls Water and I know for
18 a fact that they allot a certain amount of gallons. They
19 have a lot higher tech system, they're all metered. If
20 you have no sprinkler system, it's $14.00 a month. If
21 you do have a sprinkler system, it's $20.00 a month and
22 they allot, like, 12,000 gallons and so to pay Jim, he
23 puts in a lot less quality equipment, he asked for a lot
24 more money and I don't see the fairness in that and
25 especially now where he's going to raise it. I don't see
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
20 FARMER
Public
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1 the fairness in that at all.
2 I know you guys don't govern the sewer at
3 all, but when we bought the lot, there was no sewer fees,
4 there was no water fees, and then it starts coming right
5 when we bought the lot and they said it's because of a
6 new -- to maintain the system, but there's no maintenance
7 on it. Jim Bernard has gone against his word on other
8 things in the subdivision that we don't agree with, but
9 it's not part of this meeting and I feel that if he's
10 going to raise it and try and take money out of our
11 pockets, out of the economy right now how it's so much
12 slowing down, people are struggling and it's a true,
13 honest struggle, he should be here to be answering
14 questions, also, and, you know, who set this annual
15 requirement for him to make this much money. If he can't
16 make enough money, then do it himself, have Silver Creek
17 Construction do it. Why have the whole Commission do it.
18 They're the ones that developed the subdivision so that
19 they should be doing it.
20 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:Is that it?
Commissioner Redford?
COMMSSIONER REDFORD:I don't have any
questions.Thank you.
21
22
23
24
25
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
21 FARMER
Public
.
.
1 EXAMINATION
2
3 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
4 Q Mr. Farmer, did you happen look at the
5 website, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission's website,
6 as far as looking at the Staff's analysis of the revenue
7 requirements and the structuring?
8 A I have not recently.
Q Okay,have you?
A No.
Q Did you participate --let me frame this
so that it's not a challenge because it's not meant as a
9
10
11
12
13 challenge, but were you aware that there was a workshop
14 in Rigby back in August, August 13, where the PUC invited
15 the public in, as a matter of fact, to discuss these
16 issues in open session with the developer?
17 A I was not at all. The night that it was,
18 Dave Scofeld, he called me about five minutes before and
19 said hey, did you have any idea there was a meeting and
20 he was going door to door to let people know because we
21 did not know about it. I didn't and I know that Jason
22 Condeed did not know about it because I was with him that
23 night.
24.25
Q And were these friends of yours or --
A Yeah, they all live in the Pepperwood.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
22 FARMER (Com)
Public
.
.
1 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, thank you
2 very much.
3 MR. PARKER: What was your name, sir?
4 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Kempton.
5 MR. PARKER: Kempus?
6 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: K-e-m-p-t-o-n.
7 MR. PARKER: Okay.
8 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: I should be sworn
9 in.
10 MR. PARKER: Are we going to have an open
11 floor session tonight or is this just going to be all
12 testimony?
13 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No, this is the
14 stage now after the workshops were set up and then the
15 Staff went back and did their analysis and announced that
16 both in the media and in official papers back to the
17 Company and those participants at the workshop. You're
18 getting now to the point where you're only going out for
19 final testimony on those products and so it's not a give
20 and take type of environment.
21 MR. PARKER: Can I go back and give
22 testimony for just a minute or do I have to --
23 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Just a second. Are
24 you finished, then, Mr. Farmer?.25 THE WITNESS: Yeah.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
23 FARMER (Com)
Public
.
.
1 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay.
2 (The witness left the stand.)
3 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Parker, do you
4 want to amend or add to your testimony?
5 MR. Parker: I'd like to add to my
6 testimony.
7 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay.
8
9 GEORGE PARKER, SR.,
10 appearing as a public witness, having been previously
11 duly sworn, resumed the stand and further testified as
12 follows:
13
14 THE WITNESS: I just want to take a minute
15 and we may pass you along, but my question to you is in
16 August when you said the gentleman that was taking
17 over -- is that Mr. Bernard? What's his name, the guy
18 that's going to have -- what was the gentleman's name
19 that was trying to open this utility? Who is going to be
20 the owner of this utility?
21
22
MR. FARMER: James Bernard.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: He's also the
23 operator, then, as described in the papers.
24.25
THE WITNESS: I've never talked to this
gentleman. I've only been to one meeting which I think
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
24 PARKER
Public
.
.
.
1 was, like, at the end of August over here at the Senior
2 Citizens. That gentleman wasn't there, but the three --
3 two Commissioners and this lady here as the lawyer, she
4 was there that night and I need to tell you as far as
5 getting information to people, it hasn't happened. Homes
6 are still being built. We're having habitat homes built
7 and wi thin the next, probably the next, year-and-a-half
8 they're going to have 36 more homes in that subdivision.
9 In January there will be 10 more homes that come on line
10 and I talked to those people and I think, I hope some of
11 those people are here tonight and, hopefully, they will
12 stand up, but you know something, it seems to me like
13 this man, he started out with, I think, 36 homes and one
14 of the brothers came to me the other day and said hey,
15 we've counted 67 homes already that are going here, so we
16 have a big differential in the figures about how much a
17 month this gentleman is going to take in from the
18 different homeowners and how many homeowners there are,
19 but I can tell you, the young people that are moving into
20 these habitat homes, they're getting an excellent price
21 on their homes, but still, when you take a big percentage
22 of utili ties to support that home, not just the house
23 payment, it seems like to me somewhere we've got to sit
24 and get realistic, because I can tell you right now, over
25 15 percent of four utili ties at my home is going to be 14
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
25 PARKER
Public
.
.
20
21
1 percent of my income. I don't know what the national
2 average is. In Arizona I paid $200 for four utilities,
3 so something just does not work. It doesn't fit
4 together, so if you gentlemen -- are you the Staff
5 people, is that my understanding by your notice?
6 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:No, we're the
7 Commissioners.
8 THE WITNESS: You're the Commissioners?
9 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Yes, sir.
10 THE WITNESS: I apologize to you. I
11 thought it said the Staff people would be here tonight.
12 MR. FARMER: That's what it said.
13 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: We do have one
14 Staff person here, Mr. Hecht, Chris Hecht, and so after
15 the hearing if you'd like to ask him some questions, why,
16 I'm sure he will be able to help you as much as he can.
17 THE WITNESS: Okay. I talked to a
18 gentleman when I was here at the meeting in August when
19 this lady was here and I think it was Joe was his name.
MS. SASSER: Correct.
THE WITNESS: He said he'd been eight
22 years on the -- he was going to say he was pretty much
23 probably close to the final decision what was going to
24 happen, so I asked him give me a ball park figure, I.25 don't know if you remember, about where we're going to be
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
26 PARKER
Public
.
.
1 on this so we would have some idea walking out of that
2 meeting and he said between 25 and $40.00, so anyways,
3 that's still a big range to go through, but now we're up
4 to $48.00.
5 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Parker, a
6 couple of questions.
7 THE WITNESS: Sure.
8
9 EXAMINATION
10
11 BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON:
12 Q Did you take your information, it's not
13 totally relevant to what we're talking about here, but I
14 think it's important in the sense of finding out where
15 you received your information, did you get your
16 information about the hearing tonight out of the
17 newspaper, from a Commission release or where?
18 A No, I got the information about this
19 meeting tonight and the amount of money out of the
20 newspaper in Rexburg, Idaho. I had a granddaughter that
21 was born Friday morning and I sat down and read the paper
22 and boom, right here is a little old article and so I
23 took the article and made copies and took it over to the
24 people over in the habitat section that are just almost.25 to finish their homes because I think they weren't
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
27 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
20
1 getting mail so they would here tonight, but it showed in
2 there where the gentleman was asking $28.00 and it looked
3 like the Commission was looking at 40 and the Staff was
4 looking at 48 is what that article said, but anyways,
5 that's where I got my information.
6 Q Well, let me just say for the record that
7 I'm looking at the release from the Idaho Public
8 Utili ties Commission dated September 16th and there is
9 not a specific reference to the Staff being the sole
10 participants. As a matter of fact, it says the Public
11 Utilities Commission will conduct a hearing and so --
12 A If you have a moment, I'd like to
13 Q I realize that there could be a
14 presumption either way and perhaps we should be more
15 specific in the language that we use there, but there
16 wasn't anything -- Mr. Parker, it doesn't make any
17 difference.
18 A Okay.
19 MR. FARMER: Who is on the Commission?
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Just a minute, we
21 don't do that and I see your hand.
22 Q BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: In responding to
23 your question that -- we can't be responsible for what a
24 newspaper prints, but we can responsible for what we put.25 out.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
28 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
20
1 A Exactly.
2 Q I don't think there was ambiguity in the
3 release that was put out and that it represents the fact
4 that the Idaho Public Utilities Commission will conduct a
5 hearing of customers and then gives the date and also the
6 same release that indicated the $48.00, et cetera. There
7 is wording in here about Staff, but it relates to what
8 Staff would or would not do in terms of going into
9 addi tional discussion. It simply says that the Staff has
10 released their report on the Staff recommendations, so
11 that notwithstanding, you also mentioned the fact, I
12 think, that you attended the workshop.
13 A Yes, sir, I did.
14 Q And --
15 A Now, I can't give you the exact amount how
16 many there was because I didn't connect on this until
17 about the end of August when this came up.
18 Q And you mentioned that Jim Bernard was not
19 there specifically?
A No, I don't even know the gentleman. I've
21 never met him.
22 Q Did you feel that you had adequate
23 representation from who represented Jim Bernard at the
24 workshop in discussions with the Public Utili ties.25 Commission?
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
29 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
1 A There wasn't anybody there for
2 Mr. Bernard. We had no opportunity to talk to these
3 people, I haven't myself personally. This thing has been
4 really a closed door as far as I'm concerned for me.
5 I've just talked to the Commissioners or the Staff, but
6 as you talked about that notice earlier, I have my notice
7 out in my car and I would like to have it put in as part
8 of the record if you would let me do that, what notice
9 was sent from you folks to me.
10 Q Mr. Parker, on the notice, as I mentioned
11 before, we can't take responsibility for what the papers
12 may have written.
13 A No, this is on your letterhead. It came
14 in the mail from you folks to me.
15 MS. SASSER: May I clarify?
16 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Go ahead.
17 MS. SASSER: The notice of public hearing
18 was distributed to every customer that we had, that we
19 were provided. We were provided a list of customers by
20 the Company and we sent the notice of public hearing out
21 to each customer that was on the list that the Company
22 provided to us, but the notice of public hearing, sir, is
23 already a part of the record.
24.25
THE WITNESS: What I received is already
in the record you're telling me?
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
30 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
20
1 MS. SASSER: Correct.
2 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: So what Mr. Parker
3 is talking about now is the official notice in the Order
4 on the hearing?
5 MS. SASSER: Yes.
6 THE WITNESS: Could I read that, sir?
7 MS. SASSER: Maybe we're not talking on
8 the same page. Yes.
9 Q BY COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: As far as what
10 the Commission has released, what I said earlier stands
11 and that is that we were not ambiguous about the fact
12 that it's a hearing being held by the Idaho Public
13 Utili ties Commission and there was specifically nothing
14 in there that would indicate that the Staff was going to
15 be the only thing that you would have an opportunity to
16 present before.
17 A Okay, you know something, I would rather
18 talk to the Commission anyways.
19 Q Well, Mr. Parker, you are.
A I would like to get to the top level for
21 the gentlemen that will make the decision.
22
23
MS. SASSER: You're speaking to them.
THE WITNESS: Yeah, you're the people we
24 want to talk to anyway.
. 25
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
31 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
.
1 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Commissioner
2 Redford.
3
4 EXAMINATION
5
6 BY COMMSSIONER REDFORD:
7 Q You can well rest assured that we hear
8 exactly what you're saying and we hear what everyone is
9 saying, so your comments and your feelings will certainly
10 be taken into consideration when this matter is finally
11 decided. I might add that the comments of the Commission
12 Staff is not the Order. We have received the comments of
13 the Commission Staff and we are now hearing from you
14 folks and all those things when we make our decision will
15 be taken into consideration and I think you've offered us
16 some new information that we had possibly or the Staff
17 hadn't heard from, rest assured that we're hearing you.
18 Now, I can't say that will change anything or what our
19 decision is, but we want all the information that we can
20 get.
21 It's unfortunate that you haven't been
22 able to talk with the owner. I would suggest that
23 inasmuch as he hasn't come to the hearings, either one,
24 that you make an effort to get in touch with him either
25 yourself or as a group of homeowners and if he's not
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
32 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
1 willing to talk to you, we'd like to know that, too.
2 A I will do that. Let me tell me you
3 something, when I had my business, my customers were my
4 most prized possession of my business. I made sure that
5 I was not only in touch with them, but I also knew how
6 they felt about how I ran my business.
7 Q Well, before Mr. Kempton and I were on --
8 by the way, we're probably older than you are.
9 A You look like kids. I'm not sure.
10 Q But we both of us come out of ranching and
11 farming backgrounds and business backgrounds, so we
12 understand what you're talking about. We were appointed
13 for a period of time and we understand about retirement
14 and we understand about fixed incomes, because unless
15 you're weal thy, you're all under that same situation and
16 things are not good today and so we're listening, please
17 understand we are.
18 A Thank you. I appreciate the
19 Commissioners' time. Thank you very much for letting me
20 do this.
21
22
COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Yeah, Mr. Parker,
23 you're from Arizona so you probably don't know our
24 structure in the legislature, but your representative.25 from this district, Joanne Woods, and I were actually in
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
33 PARKER (Com)Public
.
.
.
1 the legislature at the same time. I spent 10 years
2 there. I was chairman of her transportation committee
3 when she left that for awhile. She came back. I know
4 the people in Rigby fairly well. I certainly know the
5 Department of Transportation here very well, so we are
6 not immune to trying to do things as a result of
7 testimony. I mean, we have that experience, so don't
8 think for a minute that what you tell us isn't something
9 that we reflect on during the time that we go through our
10 final decision process and we make judgments, we make
11 decisions on the basis of all of the testimony and all of
12 the information that comes before us as matter of law and
13 as a matter of personal pride, so thank you very much.
14 THE WITNESS: Okay, I have one more
15 question. What did you gentlemen figure for his net
16 profit on this water company? I notice in the Bitterroot
17 case they showed that they authorized 11 percent and I'm
18 just curious what this -- I have not seen the paperwork
19 on this on the internet, sir.
20 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Well, we haven't
21 established that because we haven't made a final Order.
22 I think if you talk to Mr. Hecht, Chris Hecht, on your
23 way out, he probably has that information and if he does,
24 I'm sure he'll share it with you.
25 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
34 PARKER (Com)
Public
.
.
1 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Thank you.
2 THE WITNESS: Thank you for your time,
3 sir.
4 (The witness left the stand.)
5 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: There were a couple
6 of hands in the air a minute ago. Mr. Farmer, did you
7 want to amend your testimony or did you have anything to
8 add?
9 MR. FARMER: If I could just real quick.
10 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: You're on the
11 record again.
12
13 AUSTIN FARMER,
14 appearing as a public witness, having been previously
15 duly sworn, resumed the stand and further testified as
16 follows:
17
18 THE WITNESS: Just in that notice that you
19 guys sent out, it says, like, 37 households, if I'm not
20 mistaken, but there is over 60 in Pepperwood that is on
21 this meeting and we never got one and we have lived there
22 since back in January that we bought our lot and we have
23 never received one, a notice, and it only claims 36 in
24 Pepperwood. I want to know where the difference is from.25 whatever these guys say to the actual truth. Who comes
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
35 FARMER
Public
.
.
20
1 up with this difference, because we've lived in that
2 subdi vision, we can go and count houses if you need to
3 because there is more than 37, so what I want to know is
4 why didn't everybody get a notice to it in the
5 subdi vision?They're all customers of Rocky Mountain
6 Utility.
7 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Well, we get the
8 customer list from the --
9 THE WITNESS: From the Staff, right?
10 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:-- from the
11 developer.
12 THE WITNESS: Exactly, so why isn't --
13 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Well, I can tell you
14 that we're hearing what you say and we don't have that
15 answer for you. We'll check to make sure that it's
16 accurate and for future purposes and I apologize that you
17 didn't get a hearing or a notice, but we can only act on
18 the information we get. In the future, rest assured
19 you'll get everything.
THE WITNESS: Because what we're mostly
21 concerned about is why isn't Jim Bernard coming
22 straightforward with all of us? Why isn't he being
23 honest with all of us?
24.25
COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Well, that's
something as I told --
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
36 FARMER
Public
.
.
21
22
1 THE WITNESS: Or not just --
2 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Farmer, let me
3 explain one thing. This is a formal hearing. The court
4 reporter can't write down two things at once, so if
5 Commissioner Redford is speaking, don't interrupt.
6 THE WITNESS: Okay, I'm sorry.
7 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Okay, all I can say
8 is that you're giving us information tonight that we'll
9 act on. If Mr. Bernard doesn't want to testify, there's
10 nothing we can do to force him to testify and so I
11 suggest, as I did with Mr. Parker, that you as a group go
12 and speak with Mr. Bernard. If he's not willing to meet
13 wi th you and talk to you, then, of course, that doesn't
14 bode very well for him.
15 THE WITNESS: Okay.
16 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: So we can't really
17 answer any of your questions about why and so on and so
forth,but we can certainly check and that's why I
suggest maybe you talk to Mr.Chris Hecht after the
meeting.He might have some of the answers for you.
Mr.Hecht is one of our valued Staff members.We've
worked with him for a long time and so he knows what this
18
19
20
23 is all about. If he's got the information, I'm sure
24 he'll share it with you and if he doesn't, he'll tell you.25 he doesn't.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
37 FARMER
Public
.
.
1 THE WITNESS: Okay.
2 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: Do you have anything
3 else?
4 THE WITNESS: No, I just think --
5 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Thank you, Mr.
6 Farmer.
7 THE WITNESS: What's that?
8 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Thank you.
9 (The witness left the stand.)
10 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: There was one other
11 hand that was up in the back I thought. All right, then,
12 Mr. Jenson.
13
14 WILLIAM JENSON,
15 appearing as a public witness, having been previously
16 duly sworn, resumed the stand and further testified as
17 follows:
18
19 THE WITNESS: In respect to communications
20 wi th Jim Bernard and the utility company, he's been very
21 difficul t to talk to personally. Whenever we've made
22 attempts to talk to him, his calls get stopped at his
23 secretary's desk and I've been able to talk to him once
24 on the phone and that was just when billing just first.25 started and this was actually not with respect to his
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
38 JENSON
Public
.
.
.25
1 water fees but with sewage fees. He was extremely
2 confrontational with me on the phone and was unwilling to
3 disclose any transparency in billing procedures, and
4 after that he started to open things up a little bit, but
5 has still been extremely difficult to contact in regards
6 to any billing that's happening, and we never received
7 any sort of notification of his costs or expenses with
8 regards to the water bills, and the only way I found any
9 of those costs was by looking through the application
10 that he made to the Utilities Commission for his license,
11 I guess. Is it called a license?
12 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: It's a
13 certificate.
14 THE WITNESS: Okay, application for his
15 certificate.
16 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: But I'll repeat, if
17 you individually or you collectively go to Mr. Bernard
18 and he doesn't want to talk to you or if he's
19 confrontational with you, the Staff and I personally
20 would like to know that. Sometimes, you know, phone
21 calls don't work. Maybe you need to go and see him, if
22 you can, but if he doesn't want to meet with you, why,
23 let us know.
24 THE WITNESS: Okay, that's all.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: If I could add just
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
39 JENSON
Public
.
.
.
1 a little bit to what Commissioner Redford said, the
2 Commission does regulate and so we do have communications
3 with utility operators in the way they do business. We
4 don't get in and nitpick around. I f there's something
5 that is a significant issue, then we address it if it
6 requires a regulatory action. It's just like the hearing
7 here right now. There is a process that from the initial
8 filing goes on with certain notices that go out and
9 procedures are established and law as to how we are
10 required to make contacts with as many people as we can
11 reasonably contact based on the information that we
12 recei ve.
13 I mean, we can't be on the ground, the
14 Commission can't, going out and individually trying to
15 find out where every owner is on every plat of land out
16 there. We depend on the information coming from the
17 developer. As a matter of fact, if we ask the developer
18 for that kind of information or can reasonably expect it
19 and it's held from us, then that can affect our decision
20 when we look at authorizing the certificate of public
21 convenience and necessity.
22 That's what you're doing here tonight and
23 I don't know how it's going to play out because we have
24 to go through the formal decision process after
25 everything is submitted and we call that fully submitted.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
40 JENSON
Public
.
.
.
1 At that point in time, then, we go through a decision
2 process and we typically have Staff with us at that time
3 and you have the attention of all three Commissioners at
4 that point in time. Our other Commissioner, you would
5 have three Commissioners here tonight if our other
6 Commissioner was not out of town because she is the
7 Chairman of the National Association in the entire United
8 States of the Public Utility Commissioners, so you will
9 have focused attention by people who know what they're
10 doing. We understand the issues and our responsibility
11 is to make our decisions on the basis of material fact as
12 presented to us in the documents that we have. That's
13 the way it works.
14 (The witness left the stand.)
15 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Is there anybody
16 else that would like to make -- let's see, I'm sorry, we
17 have one other, Lara Edwards.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
41 JENSONPublic
.1
2
LARA EDWARDS,
appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
3 was examined and testified as follows:
4
5
6
7 BY MS. SASSER:
8 Q
EXAMINATION
Could you state your name and spell your
9 last name for the record?
.
20
21
22
.
10 A Lara Edwards, E-d-w-a-r-d-s.
And your address?
3893 East Ash Lane in Rigby, Idaho.
Are you a customer of Rocky Mountain
I am.
And representing yourself or an
Uh-huh.
Yourself?
Yes, I'm sorry.
Yes, yourself?
Myself.
Okay, thank you.
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Go ahead.
THE WITNESS: Well, it kind of seems like
11 Q
12 A
13 Q
14 Utility?
15 A
16 Q
17 organization?
18 A
19 Q
A
Q
A
23 Q
24
25
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
42 EDWARDS
Public
.1 I'm kicking a dead horse now after everybody else has
2 made their testimony, but I just wanted to state for the
3 record that I received no notice of this. I have been in
4 occupation of my house since the end of July and I have
5 received no notification of, I believe you called it, a
6 workshop that was, you know, more of a
7 question/answer-type which I believe most of us here
8 thought that this is what it was going to be.
9 I guess I just want to say that I'm one of
10 those young families, my family is one of those young
11 families that has moved in and obviously, we know the
12 economy is not great and it's difficult to make ends.13 meet. At this point in time I still don't know how much
14 I'm going to be paying for my house. I have a ball park
15 figure, but I can tell you right now that raising the
16 amount of the bill to $48.50 is going to be very
17 difficul t for me and my family to meet all of our
18 obligations, and I'm not saying this to toot my horn or
19 anything, but we do not carry a lot of debt. We do not
20 have costly car payments. We don't have TV. We do not
21 have a whole lot of excesses and so to raise this almost
22 double what was given to us before, it's really going to
23 stretch our budget and our limits. It's going to be
24 difficult..25 It seems to me that -- and I understand
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
43 EDWARDS
Public
.1 you guys have had no hand in the way that Jim, excuse me,
2 I forgot, Bernard has, you know, run the show or
3 whatever, has run his business. I understand that, but
4 it seems to me that there should be some way for the
5 maj ori ty of the people in a subdivision that he is, I
6 don't know if the correct word is, running, but that he
7 has a vested interest in, there should be some way for
8 the people in the subdivision to know what's going on,
9 and it appears that it's been done through back door
10 means.
11 The only reason, the only reason that I
12 know about this tonight is because my neighbors came door.13 to door because of what Mr. Parker did by printing off
14 the newspaper article and then printing off a letter and
15 having it distributed. Now, I understand that you can't
16 have people down on the ground necessarily and that
17 that's not your job to have people down on the ground,
18 but how are we as the residents of this subdivision, how
19 are we supposed to be able to stand up and tell our side
20 of the story and feel like be able to clarify how we
21 feel if we're not made aware of the important and
22 significant meetings? So that's for your consideration,
23 I guess, but that's already been brought up.
24 I just wanted to make it clear I never.25 received any notice of any meetings, except for the
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
44 EDWARDSPublic
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.
.
1 meeting tonight and that was done by one of my neighbors
2 and it just does not seem fair to me, and also to state
3 that the increase in the price is going to be very
4 difficul t for my family to meet and I know that I'm not
5 in any vastly different circumstances than people that I
6 li ve with. I recently occupied one of the self-help
7 housing homes and so I know what a great deal that was
8 and how hard of work it was, but I also know the
9 situation of my neighbors and I know they're very similar
10 to my situation.
11 It just doesn't seem like everything has
12 been put forth, that all of the cards have been put forth
13 on the table, that people have been forthright and it's
14 difficul t for something of this magnitude to be -- excuse
15 me, it's difficult for something that needs so much care
16 as this situation to not know anything about it and to
17 have it just kind of handed to me, well, this is what the
18 Commission after all of the meetings, you know, this is
19 what it said and so I just wanted to stand up and say my
20 peace.
21 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Thank you.
22 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Thank you,
23 Ms. Edwards. Commissioner Redford.
24 COMMSSIONER REDFORD: No, I have nothing
25 further. Thank you.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
45 EDWARDSPublic
.
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20
21
22
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1 (The witness left the stand.)
2 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Is there any other
3 testimony that anyone wants to make? Okay, there being
4 none, a couple of final things just to pull this back
5 together. With this testimony we will consider that the
6 application has been fully submitted. I can't see a
7 circumstance right now where there would be any
8 addi tional information that would come before us, so in
9 approximately two weeks we should have the transcript
10 back, roughly something like that, and at that time the
11 application, all the testimony and all the comments which
12 you made here will be acted on in a meeting with the
13 three Commissioners and with Staff as required to make a
14 final decision on the CPCN, so with that, this meeting is
15 adj ourned.
16 (The Hearing adjourned at 8: 01 p.m.)
17
18
19
23
24
25
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
46 COLLOQUY
.
.
20
21
22
23
24.25
1 AUTHENTICATION
2
3
4 This is to certify that the foregoing
5 proceedings held in the matter of Rocky Mountain Utility
6 Company, Inc. for a certificate of public convenience and
7 necessi ty, commencing at 7: 00 p. m., on Tuesday, September
8 23, 2008, at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 210
9 Courthouse Way, Rigby, Idaho, is a true and correct
10 transcript of said proceedings and the original thereof
11 for the file of the Commission.
12
13
14
15
16
CONSTANCE S. BUCY
Certified Shorthand Report r 187
17
18
19
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CSB REPORTING
[phone]
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