Sec. 2500.10. Public hearings

(a) General provisions.

(1) All hearings shall be open to the public.

Any person wishing to be heard may appear at the hearing and make a statement orally or in writing and such statements shall be made part of the record of the hearing. Those wishing to make statements may be represented by an attorney or other qualified person.

(2) Hearings shall be conducted by hearing officers appointed by the chairman. The hearing officer shall have full authority to control the conduct and procedure of the hearing and the record of it, to admit or exclude testimony or other evidence and to rule on all motions and objections.

(3) Records of the conduct of hearings shall be maintained for public inspection at the authority offices.

(4) The authority shall not be bound by common law or statutory rules of evidence or by technical or formal rules or procedures. The authority may receive in evidence such affidavits, data or other materials that are relevant to the proposed action.

(5) The authority, in its discretion, may consolidate two or more hearings.

(6) Hearing records shall remain open for at least 10 calendar days following the close of the public hearing. During that 10 day period written statements shall be accepted and made part of the record.

(7) The authority shall set time, date and location for all public hearings.

(b) Public hearings involving applicants.

(1) The general provisions of subdivision (a) of this section shall apply.

(2) The date and place of all applicant hearings shall be set by the authority after consultation with the applicant. At least 10 days before the date of any hearing, the authority shall notify the applicant in writing of the time and place of the hearing.

(3) The applicant and all others wishing to be heard should be prepared to proceed on the date of the hearing. Application for adjournments will not be granted except for good cause.

(4) The applicant shall be responsible for all costs incurred including, but not limited to, notices of public hearings, preparation of supporting environmental documentation, conduct of public hearings and other reasonable costs associated with the proposed actions.

(5) The authority will provide the applicant with a draft of the notice of public hearing, however it shall be the applicant's responsibility to cause the notice to be published in a newspaper selected by the authority. The notice must be published at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. The authority will require a certified copy of the hearing notice as proof of publication, before the hearing date.

(6) Prior to the notice of public hearing, the authority shall require all applicants to obtain the preliminary review comments of any regulatory agency that might be involved in the proposed applicant action. Copies of the documents shall be considered as part of the applicant's submission and said submission shall be incomplete without them.

(c) Public hearing procedures when an applicant is not involved.

(1) The provisions of subdivision (a) of this section shall apply.

(2) The authority shall inform the public of the hearing by advertisement in a newspaper having general circulation to parties with an interest in the action, at least 10 calendar days before the hearing.

(3) As appropriate all provisions of subdivision (b) of this section shall also apply to non-applicant actions.