A. 
Formal rules of evidence shall not apply to any public hearings before the regulatory commission. The chair may exclude or terminate testimony deemed not to be relevant in the case before the regulatory commission.
B. 
The regulatory commission may limit testimony of persons appearing before the commission and may require testimony under oath. The regulatory commission may extend the time period for any person where it deems the additional testimony to be new and necessary to its decision on the case.
C. 
Cross examination shall be permitted only through the chair. Municipal staff and members of the regulatory commission may, through the chair, question persons who testify. Any interested party may direct questions to the staff or any person testifying by submitting the question to the chair. The chair shall redirect the question to the appropriate person unless the chair determines it to be irrelevant or that presenting the question will unreasonably disrupt or delay the proceeding. The chair may modify or redistrict [restrict] the scope, extent or method of cross examination in order to assure the fundamental fairness of the proceedings before the commission, to prevent undue delay, irrelevant cross examination or harassment of persons offering testimony to the regulatory commission.
(AR No. 89-242(S))
A. 
[The regulatory commission may] conduct an independent review of the record provided by the advisory commission.
B. 
All decisions and recommendations by the regulatory commission shall be supported by the statements and conclusions of the members of the commission, which shall be sufficient to provide a reasonable basis for understanding the reasons for the decision or recommendation. Where a member relies on his or her personal knowledge in making a decision, the particular knowledge relied upon shall be stated on the record.
C. 
Only those members shall participate in the decision who have:
1. 
In the case of adopting the hearing record and recommendations of an advisory commission on municipal utility rates, reviewed the available records and are sufficiently familiar with the transcript of and materials presented at the advisory commission hearing; or
2. 
In the case of a public hearing conducted by the regulatory commission, been present at all public hearings on the matter before the regulatory commission or who state on the record that they have reviewed the available records and are sufficiently familiar with the testimony and materials presented at any missed hearing to make an informed decision.
D. 
No later than 45 days following a regulatory commission public hearing on a permanent rate filing, or 30 days from receipt of an advisory commission recommendation if no public hearing is conducted by the regulatory commission, or 15 days following receipt of an abbreviated filing recommendation from an advisory commission, the regulatory commission shall issue a written recommendation based on its findings of fact and conclusions. Such findings and conclusions must be in writing and must be reasonably specific so as to provide interested persons a clear and precise understanding of the reasons for its recommendation.
1. 
The regulatory commission's recommendation, including findings of fact and conclusions, shall be forwarded to the municipal public utility, advisory commission and mayor.
2. 
If the regulatory commission recommends that a rate should be changed, it shall submit a draft ordinance changing rates along with its recommendation.
3. 
If the mayor fails to present to the assembly a rate ordinance or presents a rate ordinance different than that recommended by the regulatory commission, a copy of the regulatory commission's recommendation and draft ordinance shall be submitted to the assembly.
4. 
A member of the regulatory commission shall be available to discuss the commission's recommendation at public hearings held by the assembly.
E. 
Should the regulatory commission be unable to issue a written recommendation within 30 days, when no public hearing is held on permanent rates, a one-time extension of 15 days shall be available to the commission to issue its recommendation.
(AR No. 89-242(S))
Upon its own motion at any time before a decision on the matter is made or at the request of a regulatory commission member or a person appearing before the commission, the regulatory commission may postpone a public hearing before the commission for cause stated on the record. Re-notice of the new time for hearing is only necessary if the postponement is for more than four weeks or if no date certain is set for the hearing at the time of postponement.
(AR No. 89-242(S))