§ 5. Application Filing.

(a)

Persons and copies. The applicant shall file the original and seven (7) copies of the application with the county administrator of the county or with his designee.

(b)

Filing fee. Contemporaneously with the filing of the application, the applicant shall remit to the county a nonrefundable application fee in the amount of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00). Said fee may be waived by the county, in its sole discretion, if the application is for expansion of an existing franchise area into any contiguous area of the county not actually served by any other grantee, comprising no more than twenty (20) percent of the initial franchise service area.

(c)

Other franchises. Within five (5) working days after the filing of the application, the applicant shall furnish a complete copy of the application to all other cable operators, if any, who hold franchises within the unincorporated portions of the county. The copy shall be delivered personally or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the principal business office of the other cable operators, if any.

(d)

Special consultants or expertise. The county may retain and employ consultants who are knowledgeable in the cable television industry to assist the county in analyzing the application, in making recommendations to the board of county commissioners regarding the relief requested in the application and testifying, if necessary, at the administrative hearing prescribed in Section 6 of this ordinance. Upon request of the county, the applicant shall promptly pay the reasonable cost for such consulting services. The county administrator, in his sole discretion, may at any time during the receipt or evaluation of an application require an applicant to deposit with the county security, in the form of case or surety bond (in the form approved by county attorney), in the amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), to secure the payment of the reasonable costs for such consulting services.