Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies And Procedures

Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures
We have adopted pre-approval policies and procedures under which all non-audit services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm must be preapproved by our Audit Committee, as set forth in the Audit Committee’s Charter. Pursuant to the charter, permissible non-audit services may be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm provided that: (a) our Board of Directors delivers to the Audit Committee (through the Board of Commissioners) a detailed description of the non-audit service that is to be performed by the independent public accounting firm and (b) the Audit Committee determines whether the proposed non-audit service would affect the independence of our independent public accounting firm or give rise to any conflict of interest.

Pursuant to Section 10(i)(1)(B) of the Exchange Act and Rule 2-01-(c)(7)(i)(C) under Regulation S-X, Audit Committee Charter may waive the pre-approval requirement for permissible non-audit services where (i) the aggregate amount of the fees for such non-audit services constitutes no more than five percent of the total amount of fees paid by us to our independent registered public accounting firm during the year in which the services are provided, (ii) the proposed services are not regarded as non-audit services at  the time the contract to perform the engagement is signed, and (iii) the performance of non-audit services are promptly bought to the attention of and approved prior to the completion of the audit by a member of the Audit Committee who has been delegated pre-approval authority by the full Audit Committee or by the full Audit Committee itself.