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HomeMy Public PortalAbout08-16-1999 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND,INDIANA,MONDAY,AUGUST 16,1999 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 2, 1999, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Bing Welch presided with the following Councilmembers present: Etta Lundy, Sarah "Sally" Hutton, Geneva "Gene" Allen, Dennis R. Rice Sr., Bruce Wissel and Larry Parker. Absent were Howard "Jack" Elstro and Bob Dickman. The following business was conducted: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PRAYER BY PRESIDENT WELCH ROLL CALL Seven present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilmember Allen moved to approve the minutes of the August 2, 1999 meeting, second by Councilmember Hutton and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. PRESENTATION OF REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS, MEMORIALS, INTRODUCTIONS, MOTIONS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS COMMUNICATION FROM THE MAYOR There was none. REPORTS FROM CITY DEPARTMENTS Director of Planning Bob Goodwin gave Council an update on the activities within his department.He said the Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council has undergone some changes and now that those are complete the Plan has gone to the printer.He said a 2 1-page index had been added to the Plan as well as individual tabs for the different policy areas for the Plan so the subject matter can be found quickly. He said the Plan called for, in several areas, a historic district ordinance, and the committee headed up by Robin Henry, director of Community Partnerships, has been through three drafts and is possibly down to the final draft and it should be coming back to Council in a very short time. He said the Plan and also a department goal for this year calls for new plan unit development ordinance to be a part of the zoning ordinance and also a new section dealing with special development districts to be included. He said that is done, as far as the draft, at the staff level. Within the next few weeks a committee will be established that will do the same thing with that ordinance that the committee has been doing with the historic district ordinance.He said that process has probably taken about five months. Goodwin said the Plan also calls for a Linkages Section which is brand new to the Plan but certainly a vital part of it.He said tremendous strides are being made on various projects throughout the community to link them together in a natural way. He said the Gorge Park and the trails that are associated with that — Cardinal Greenway and the trails that go to Marion; the uptown renovation over the past several years; the North 12th Street Corridor project for the linking to that end of the uptown area; the Depot project from North E Street over to 12th Street. He said the City wants to link all of these particular projects with what the State is doing with the East Main Street Bridge, also with what they plan to do on U.S. 27 and the expansion there.He said all those would be tied together through the efforts of the administrative team. He said Henry is heading up the effort there, working closely with Michael Schuster&Associates who are the consultants conducting the public hearings on Linkages. Also, working with the consultants who are working through the Parks Department to make sure that the developments in the park are tied into those going on elsewhere within the community.He stated that City Controller Shelley Miller always seems to be able to provide the money to do the local share of the projects, and City Engineer Bob Wiwi works closely with all the committees and groups to make sure that the engineering is the way it ought to be and to follow up on the projects as they are developed. Goodwin said over the past two years Charles, Starr, Vaile and Westview Elementary Schools have all been completely renovated by the Richmond Community Schools system and the City does not charge them a fee for the permits. However, the City does include the cost of the new construction in the new construction figures over the course of the year. He said there have been a substantial number of inspections that are required of all that construction. He said new Meijer store is at two-a-day inspections and that is anticipated to increase as they start enclosing walls.He said they are on a fast track as far as the construction goes which means more work for his department,which he said they are glad to have.He also said Milso is constructing a 45,000-square-foot warehouse addition. Common Council Minutes Cont'd August 16, 1999 Page 2 He said Hoosier Container is also constructing a 40,000-foot warehouse addition as well as Lee's Inn which is in the process of closing a swimming pool addition. Elevator Equipment, he said, has just finished grading for its expansion and they should be getting permits from the Planning Department to actually begin construction on that project.He said RP&L also has an aggressive meter base replacement program and Westwood Apartments which has been renamed the Jerry Geier Apartments has a complete renovation going on through the Housing Authority.Also,he said,over the past two years there has been a tremendous amount of work going on at the Wayne County Courthouse and the Courthouse Annex. Goodwin said the monthly reports through May shows a figure of$10,187,738 as cost of construction. He said the Meijer store is not included in that, but he said he did some quick calculations earlier to see what that would do to the cost of construction within the City.He said the structural portion of the store,itself,is about$4 million, the electrical permit for the work they are doing is $785,000, plumbing at$506,000 and they just took out their permits today for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning at$280,000 and that tops out at$5,571,000 so that is half again the amount for the first five months just with one project. Also, he said, at this time of the year, his department gets weed complaints and that is an ongoing thing. The final goal for his department this year, he said, is to improve communications with the Neighborhood Clearinghouse.He said he thinks they have done a good job at that,but they are still working at it, working with Charlie Brown who is the executive for the Clearinghouse and with Board members themselves. One of the things his department did, in response to one of the things they had to say to him in the initial discussion,he said, was to put up a housing complaint board.He said that is on the wall next to the desk of Larry Cash, assistant Planning Director,because one of the complaints was that when people would call in with complaints there was no follow up to them. That meant that even though the complaint was followed up on, the complainants were not aware that the complaint was being processed. Now, he said, anytime somebody has a question they can contact his office and he or anyone in his office can go to that board and tell exactly when that complaint came in, when the letters went out, what action had been taken and • whether or not it had been resolved.That way answers can be found on a day-to-day basis. He said so far they have resolved 112 complaints received this year,he said, adding that they still have 51 that are pending. In the near future, he said, thanks to this Council, they are installing in the near future, a computer system that will generate not only a violation letter but at the same time,a letter to the individual who registered the complaint. That way, he said, every time a letter goes to the person who is violating, another letter will automatically go to the person making the complaint initially. Inspector Wayne Jackson, he said, meets monthly with the Code Enforcement Committee at the Clearinghouse which brings to him complaints from neighborhoods throughout the community. He brings ' them up to date on the complaints he received in the previous month and receives the new complaints. He said he meets quarterly with the entire Clearinghouse Board just to determine how things are going and to receive their suggestions and they analysis on how the Planning Department is handling things and if there is anything that needs changed. Councilmember Rice commended Goodwin for initiating a new way to handle the complaints by sending a letter back to the person lodging the complaint, because many of the complaints he heard while on the Police Department was about that lack of communication. REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY President Welch said the minutes of the meetings of July 22 and July 29, 1999 were included in their packets. REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING Councilmember Allen moved to suspend the rules and read Ordinances No. 67, 68 and 69— 1999 on first reading and read by title only,second by Councilmember Rice and the motion was carried on a unanimous yoice vote. ORDINANCE NO.67—1999 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 67 — 1999—AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF RICHMOND TO RECEIVE A DONATION Common Council Minutes Cont'd August 16, 1999 Page 3 City Attorney Bob Bever explained that after his office received the request to prepare this ordinance it was learned that the content of this ordinance was already in another one that was part of a grant. Therefore,he said,he asked that the Council would strike this ordinance. Councilmember Hutton moved to strike Ordinance No. 67— 1999,second by Councilmember Allen and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. ORDINANCE NO.68—1999 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 68 — 1999 — AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 1999 BUDGET Explaining this was City Controller Shelley Miller who said the ordinance deals with moving money within the Board of Works from Contract Services to Overtime to allow the maintenance people to be available to keep the meetings rooms open when they are needed. Councilmember Lundy moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 68 — 1999 to second reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No. 68—1999 on second reading. President Welch declared Ordinance No. 68— 1999 on public hearing. There being no comments either for or against the ordinance, Councilmember Wissel moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Hutton and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Rice moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 68 — 1999 to third reading and read by title only,second by Councilmember Lundy and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No. 68— 1999 on third reading. Ordinance No. 68—1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll. Ayes:Lundy,Hutton,Allen,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(7) Nays:None ORDINANCE NO.69—1999 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 69— 1999 —AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE SUBMITTAL,ACCEPTANCE,AND APPROPRIATION OF A GRANT FROM REID HOSPITAL Stanton Lambert, superintendent of Parks and Recreation, explained this ordinance deals with the acceptance the donation of a roll of geotextile fabric which is used to help control erosion.He said this was used by the contractor putting in the wingwalls for the new bridges at Glen Miller Park, adding that he had this fabric that he had used in previous projects.This,he said, was what he used to hold back the backfill in back of the walls and donated the remaining portion to the Parks department to use in other projects to control erosion. Councilmember Parker suggested that the contractor be mentioned by name. Lambert said it was Brad Smarelli of Smarelli General Contractors Inc. Councilmember Wissel moved to suspend the rules and advance amended Ordinance No. 69 — 1999 to second reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No. 69—1999 on second reading. President Welch declared Ordinance No. 69— 1999 on public hearing. There being no comments either for • or against the ordinance, Councilmember Wissel moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Allen and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Lundy moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 69— 1999 to third reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No. 69—1999 on third reading. Ordinance No.69— 1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll. Ayes:Lundy,Hutton,Allen,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(7) Nays:None Common Council Minutes Cont'd August 16, 1999 Page 4 ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING AND ENGROSSMENT ORDINANCE NO. 60-1999 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 60 — 1999 — A GENERAL ORDINANCE AMENDING AND RE- STATING CHAPTER 41 (CENTRAL PURCHASING) OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND CODE Explaining this ordinance was City Attorney Bob Bever who proceeded to summarize it in about 10 different points.He said this ordinance came about as a result of a change in state law, which mandated the City to address five different issues in its local purchasing code. He said the first is that the City is to clearly establish who is the City's purchasing agency and purchasing agent. He said that was done in Section 41.11 a and b showing the Board of Works being the purchasing agency except for those things with the Sanitary District and showing the Controller or director of purchasing or another designee of the controller to be the purchasing agent. Secondly,he said,the City was to specifically set forth how it deals with purchases under$25,000.He said state code only gives requirements for purchases $25,000 and over. If it is $75,000 or over, there are competitive bids where people submit the sealed bids and you go with the most reasonable bid.For$25,000 to $75,000,he said, a purchasing agent may go out and solicit quotes rather than sealed bid process where you can go to separate stores, get the competitive quotes, and then go to the lowest and most responsive quote.With the new state law,he said,the City could do anything it wanted for$25,000 and under.He said the City is choosing to use the same procedure that is required for the $25,000 to $75,000 which is the solicitation of the three quotes, with any slight changes that might come about as a result of administrative policy that the controller or director of purchasing would put out,for instance,for$500 or less.He said that might change from year to year with the purchasing policy submitted by the purchasing department. He said that has been done in Section 41.12 for those purchases under$25,000. The third item the State asked the City to do, Bever said, was to set out procedures for the purchasing of services, adding that the City can do it any way it wants but it had to be addressed in the local purchasing code. He said that was addressed in Section 41.15. Fourth, he said, the State mandated that the City is required to include a paragraph that said it is required to buy supplies that are manufactured in the United States unless there are special circumstances. He said that has been taken, almost verbatim, from the State law and is in Section 41.25.And,finally,he said,the fifth thing from the State is that the City is allowed to add a procedure for a request for proposals and that has been done in Section 41.14. Explaining that, Bever said, a request for a proposal is that generally you know what specifications you want to use and all the specific items for the project so you can send that out in soliciting for bids or asking for quotes.However,he said,there are times that there is not enough information to know what it is that is needed. In that instance, he said,the City would go to the vendors or others who would be in that category and ask them to submit proposals of what they think would be best for the City's certain utilization. However,he said,that still has to be made public,to make sure the numbers are above board.He said all of that has been set up in Section 41.14 and that is the same procedure,but for the legal publication of it,that would be used in the case of the professional services addressed in the third point. While looking at the purchasing code,Bever said, they went ahead and did five other things. That included clarifying that the City does have a separate director of purchasing that, through the Finance Department, that person is on board overseeing that and it is in Section 41.03 b; there is also some general cleanup language that he thought was confusing and not grammatically correct that he has added in Section 41.04 and some other places to make that read better; have incorporated the State Public Works statute purchasing under Section 41.05 and,again,he said,the City is mandated to use that but it has been clarified that that is what is used for Public Works projects; distinguished and clarified the wording throughout the entire code to distinguish between a "bid," which is the competitive bid for those purchases over $75,000 and "quotes," which is when the purchasing agent can go out and get something within that $25,000 to $75,000 area or now, also under $25,000. He said that is in Section 41.12. Finally, he said, they have clarified the procedure if a mistake is found in a quote that if it is miniscule and does not affect the bidding process how that can be rectified and that is shown in Section 41.11 m. He thanked Vicki Stevens, the current Director of Purchasing, who put this ordinance together, adding that he just tried to explain what those 10 points are,dealing with the changes. Councilmember Wissel asked if this applies to RP & L and Bever responded that it does, except for anything from which the state statutes would exempt them.He said what he has tried to do is to encourage all City-owned entities, which would include RP & L, to follow this, but there are some instances from which they are exempt and since they are by separate statute the City can't mandate it but still set forth the goal for the same types of purchasing to be utilized. Councilmember Rice had a question about Section 41.09 — Gifts and Rebates — which apparently allows officers,employees or agents of the City to accept gifts or rebates or entertainment not in excess of$10 per day. He asked why that would even be put in there. Miller said she thinks that has remained in there, but the personnel policy for the City does prohibit any amount so that could be omitted in compliance with that policy. Common Council Minutes Cont'd August 16, 1999 Page 5 Bever said that it has always been in there and it is not something that has been changed or addressed on this,but he was in agreement with Miller. Councilmember Parker said several years ago, a similar instance came up on something like this and,if it is totally eliminated,he thinks that it means that a person could not legally accept a pen or pencil.He added that he felt that would be ridiculous.Bever said that perhaps it was saying that those things of miniscule value would be acceptable. Miller said she feels the most current version of the Personnel Policy has eliminated even the$10 amount. Bever said the Personnel Policy can be from administration to administration but when you start changing this, it is City code, and actually makes you in violation of City code. Therefore, he said, his preference would be to keep it as Personnel Policy and not put that flat out prohibition in this code for those kind of instances. Councilmember Rice then asked if he was reading it correctly where it does require anyone who gets anything to report it in writing to the Law Department within 7 days of receipt. Bever said that is correct. Then Councilmember Rice asked if that would include even a pen? Bever said he hadn't received any reports like that. President Welch then said, if the worth of that pen exceeded $10, that might apply. Bever then said perhaps he was reading this incorrectly, saying that it states that anything over$10 today is when it is solely for the use and benefit for the City,then that is reported in writing and that is when the ordinance donations would be written. At least, he said, that is the way he is going to read it. Councilmember Rice asked about Section 41.25—Purchase of supplies manufactured in the United States— and read from that section asking Bever what it meant. Bever said it means who makes that determination is on a case by case basis.Miller said they have adapted the City's purchase orders to reflect this Section of the code as well. Councilmember Parker asked if the purchasing department is required to go out and get three quotes when it needs a four-foot light bulb.Miller answered that anything with a value of$100 or less or anticipated value of$100 they don't have to get three quotes. Anything over that, she said, they feel there could be a variation in the prices and they feel it prudent to go ahead and get three prices. Miller said that a lot of items that he is referring to are ones that at the beginning of each year quotes are obtained for blankets for the year and they are covered in those. President Welch declared Ordinance No. 60— 1999 on public hearing. There being no comments either for or against the ordinance, Councilmember Wissel moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Allen and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Rice moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 60 — 1999 to third reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No.60—1999 on third reading. Ordinance No.60— 1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll. Ayes:Lundy,Hutton,Allen,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(7) Nays:None ORDINANCE NO. 63—1999 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 63—1999—A GENERAL ORDINANCE ADDING CHAPTER 59 TO THE CITY CODE REGARDING STORM WATER President Welch declared Ordinance No. 63 — 1999 on public hearing, stating that each Councilmember had a letter submitted by Bever at the last Council meeting, which explained why the ordinance is before Council. There being no comments either for or against the ordinance, Councilmember Rice moved for engrossment,second by Councilmember Lundy and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Rice moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 63 — 1999 to third reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Allen and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No.63—1999 on third reading. Ordinance No. 63—1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll. Ayes:Lundy,Hutton,Allen,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(7) Nays:None ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING There were none. Common Council Minutes Cont'd August 16, 1999 Page 6 UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilmember Rice said this may not fall under this part of the agenda,but he wanted to wish his mother, Mamie Rice,a happy birthday,adding that he loved her dearly. President Welch reminded Councilmembers of the Committee of the Whole meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, August 23, 1999 to hear the presentations by the Mayor, Clerk and Department heads of their budgets for the year 2000.Miller said those budgets would be delivered to Councilmembers Friday. CALL FOR ADJOURNMENT There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed,the meeting was adjourned. Bing Welch,President ATTEST: Norma Schroeder,Clerk