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HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-17-1999 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND,INDIANA,MONDAY,MAY 17,1999 The Common Council of the City of Richmond,Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Monday,May 3, 1999, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Bing Welch presided with the following Councilmembers present: Howard "Jack" Elstro, Etta Lundy, Robert Dickman, Sarah "Sally" Hutton, Dennis R. Rice Sr., Bruce Wissel and Larry Parker. Geneva "Gene" Allen was absent. The following business was conducted: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PRAYER BY COUNCILMEMBER DICKMAN ROLL CALL Eight present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilmember Wissel moved to approve the minutes of the May 3, 1999 meeting on a motion, second by Councilmember Rice and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. PRESENTATION OF REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS, MEMORIALS, INTRODUCTIONS, MOTIONS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS President Welch announced that in this time frame, he had scheduled Debra Garcia, representative of AFSCME union.He asked her if she was designating herself as the primary speaker. She answered that she and the staff attorney for AFSCME would be speaking on behalf of the Sanitation and City employees. She said there are other labor people who would also be speaking. President Welch then said, in keeping with his promise made at the last meeting, he would grant her the time to make her entire presentation and that would also hold true with the attorney. He said he would allow any additional speakers only 5 minutes and he would not allow any redundant statements. Garcia said the Sanitation and City employees had contacted AFSCME earlier this year and they had talked with them several times and found there was some real interest. Within a week, she said, over 90 percent signed in the sanitation, up to 99 signed in the street division. She said the employees had come to AFSCME in a big urgency, worried about their job security, health and safety issues and working conditions.She said the process was explained to them in that Indiana does not have a collective bargaining law that allows public employees to organize, but also those public sector employees are not allowed to strike or work a slow down,etc. She said she did do some research before petitioning the Mayor March 1 and found Ordinance No. 2557— 1971 and according to that ordinance it is their interpretation that parts of that allow the employees to organize as stated in Sections 2 and 4.However,she said,since then she has received a copy of a letter City Attorney Bob Bever wrote to the Mayor, in which he stated that the ordinance had been repealed and replaced with Richmond Code 33.04.In reviewing that,she said,it is their interpretation Section A,Section 33.04 c and d as giving the right to organizations. Not only that, she added, here in the City there are firefighters,police offices and transit workers that are organized. She said on behalf of AFSCME, Council 62,she is asking for recognition for the street and sanitation workers. Susan Jennifer Neeley,AFSCME staff attorney,said she had been with AFSCME for 5 years and conceded there is no statewide bargaining law. However, she said, the City has an ordinance that states the union chosen by the majority of members in a department shall be the exclusive bargaining representative and that is what she feels they have here. Giving Gary as an example, she said that City had an ordinance much like Richmond's and AFSCME has been bargaining with them for some time with much success. She also stated that Indianapolis has no ordinance but AFSCME has established what is known nationwide as one of the most successful labor/management union cooperative management and won awards for that. She said AFSCME does not want to fight but wants to work with the City. Others speaking on behalf of the City employees included Tom Bucella,4154 Highland Drive,president of the Carpenter's union;Mike Toschlog,5054 Leadline Road, also representing the Carpenter's Union;Fred Davis, 637 Western Avenue in Winchester, representing UAW and the CAP chairperson for Wayne and Randolph Counties;Kenneth Holland,representing UAW;Nancy McCormick,6551 S.Base Road in Lynn, representing Local 1073 UAW as well as a former worker at Manville and former AFL, CIO community services person in Richmond;Jeff Terry, 151 N.Washington Street in Hagerstown, working for the Indiana Coalition on housing and homeless issues whose initial interest was because of the Housing Authority workers who,he said, deserve the right to organize;David Leffel, 319 Mulberry Boulevard in Centerville, president of Local 1474 Amalgamated Transit Union for the City of Richmond Roseview Transit; Linda Ard, executive director of AFSCME, Council 62; Willard Brown, 1177 Kellam Road, president of the union at Silgan Containers now affiliated with Local 5163 Steel Workers. Common Council Minutes Cont'd May 17, 1999 Page 2 In her closing remarks, Garcia asked for cooperation between the City and AFSCME and expressed her appreciation to Council for affording them an opportunity to be heard. She stated that she is not an outsider coming into the City, saying she lives on College Avenue and her father is Bruce Corman who is a local person. In response to a request by Garcia, those in the audience from the street and sanitation department stood in order to be recognized. Commenting briefly, President Welch stated that Council is the Legislative arm of the City and approves the budget and passes the laws, it is not the management agency for the City. Power is separated, he said, into the Legislative branch and the Executive branch. He said Council wants what is best for this City and will strive to see that is done, adding that Council will remain open to hearing from AFSCME and would like to know the true concerns of the employees. He said it was not necessary to come to Council in a public forum,but they could come to individual Councilmembers. COMMUNICATION FROM THE MAYOR Speaking directly to the issue, Mayor Dennis Andrews thanked Garcia for meeting with him in his office today to talk about some of the correspondence they have had over the past two months.He said he felt the meeting was a good start for some of the follow up conversations in the upcoming weeks.He said he would like to draw some distinction between some separate unionization efforts that have taken place in City government in the last few months. He said the first correspondence his office received from Garcia was about the sanitation department and he talked with her on the phone shortly after receiving that and that request went to the Department of Law shortly after receiving it. In regard to sanitation, he said, which is a completely separate taxing unit from the City, it has a separate Board and essentially the Board fixes the salaries and the compensation for the employees.He added that,in part,the information he received from the Department of Law was that it was that Board where the authority was vested to whether or not recognize a union. The next step,he said, was a correspondence that included a reference to streets and since there is no separate Board and it is part of the City taxing unit, it falls into a different category. He said he was also ultimately advised by the Law Department that it is a unit that would be one in relation to where the recognition decision would be made by the City executive,or the Mayor,in this case. The Mayor said there was some reference earlier to the initial correspondence that he gave back after receiving legal advice from the Department of Law which essentially stated that he had no legal standing and no intention of recognizing a union.He said that correspondence at that time pertained, exclusively, to Sanitation. He said it was after that correspondence that he received word back from Garcia that the street employees were also pursuing organization. In stating the above, Mayor Andrews said his remarks will pertain exclusively to the Street Division, but that does not mean that the City won't be interacting and doing additional inquiries and taking additional steps for the other departments,because it will. The Mayor said there are two areas that come to mind. The first is, that his office had not received any issues, concerns, complaints, grievances, etc. from anyone in the Street Division during the entire time he has been in office. He added that he had known many of the folks that work in the Street Division for many,many years, so he was very surprised that there was a unionization effort underway.He said he read in Sunday's Palladium-Item that there were two issues that surfaced,adding that one was job protection and the other was health and safety issues. In the case of job protection, the Mayor said, nobody has been terminated at the Street Division in all the time he has been in office, adding that there actually has been zero turnover. He said the last time that someone left was in the fall of 1997. And, he said, in the case of health and safety, it was just March 10 of this year that the Safety Committee had readopted policies and procedures that were actually included in the proclamation that he did at the UAW recently where the focus was essentially on worker safety.He said it came as a surprise to him to hear that those things had been lifted up as issues and concerns of the workers,adding that certainly if there are issues there the City obviously wants to get at them. The Mayor stated that the administration and members of Council for the past several years have made strides in both the levels of compensation where raises far exceeded the rate of inflation, added wellness benefits to the health insurance, added life insurance and added significant amounts of capital purchases to try to get better and safer equipment as well as making improvements to the building itself. He said he felt it was safe to say that entering into this conversation initially the people on this side of that little wall felt like they were doing very well and things were going very well. Where that leaves him at this point, he said, having been told that if there is to be an organized collective bargaining unit or a union at the Street Division, that it is the Mayor's decision as to whether or not that will occur. He said that he could say, with some certainty, that until such time as he knows what the issues are that presumably a union would be recognized to address, he is not going to feel comfortable making that decision. Common Council Minutes Cont'd May 17, 1999 Page 3. The Mayor said he plans to meet personally in the next several weeks with each of the members of the Street Division. He added that he still expects to rely on the leadership in the administration to oversee streets, which includes Bill Smith as Street Division Manager and Bob Wiwi as Director of Public Works. He said since this is not an emergency, he expects it to take a few weeks to have informative discussions. He added that the fact that there is some significant interest in organizing is not anything he is offended by because that tells him that there are issues and communications that need to be had. He said he wants to know what those are, personally, if he is expected to make a decision on recognition, adding that he will make that decision, but he will be better informed than what he is now. He stated that he would start tomorrow setting time aside to look at the issues. In his response, Bever said it now appears that everyone agrees that Indiana law does not require any guaranteed right for municipal employees to bargain or even require discussion regarding that bargaining. He said only permissive bargaining is allowed in Indiana and who,in the City administration,can choose to have that. He said in his letter he indicated that it is the City executive because, by law, it is the City executive who sets the salaries for the City employees except for those organizations where there are separate bodies such as Sanitation. Bever said there has been some question about the fact that the City has already placed into practice a requirement of collective bargaining, and references were made to the ordinance in 1971. He added that other speakers recognized that that ordinance was repealed when the City codified all its ordinance which means that now the similar provisions are found in Richmond Code 33.04 which, he said, has been taken out of context. He said that ordinance was put in place for a couple of things, adding that when it talks about no right to strike, that was how the first paragraph started and it went on to say that this ordinance does not prohibit permissive bargaining. He added that that is a lot different than saying that it requires permissive bargaining. Bever said the second part is within the fact-finding, adding that for those departments where permissive bargaining is granted, this is how the rules are followed and it only applies once a department is granted permissive bargaining.He said even in the title of the 1971 ordinance,it talks about an ordinance regarding "certain civil city departments."Bever said he had talked with the president of the Council at the time that ordinance was adopted and also talked to the person who served as City Attorney at that time.He said both confirmed that it was their understanding of the interpretation "not to create collective bargaining for all departments."He said it is still the Mayor's prerogative to grant or not to grant permissive bargaining. Bever said codification occurred in the early 80s in conjunction with all the Richmond Code on December 2, 1991 and was later revised by Ordinance No. 54 — 1994 and in the Richmond Code in the general provisions.He said you could read from that where it was repealed and the City is now working out of the revised 1994 Richmond Code. REPORTS FROM CITY DEPARTMENTS Fire Chief Michael Allen reported the progress as of today of the three goals set by the Richmond Fire Department for 1999. Addressing the first goal, Chief Allen said that is to upgrade computer technology, and to achieve that the department has become actively involved with the City's computer technology committee, which also is • working with G.I.S. He said this has great promise of helping the fire service of this community in giving quick access to valuable information for emergency and non-emergency use. Currently, he said, they are pursuing fire reporting programming for paperless reporting for the future and also anticipating the installation of the visions dispatch fire management programming at central dispatch as well as fiber communications being installed at No. 6 Fire Station. He added that No. 1 is currently the only one with that connection. He said once that installation is complete it will enable them to evaluate and trouble shoot any problems prior to linking all the stations. He said it will also allow them to evaluate the value of direct fiber link and central dispatch for use of dispatch printers, dispatching of alarms and other important dispatching information. Another goal, he said, is to evaluate the fire department's service to the community, evaluate the quality and meeting the needs. He said they have been comparing the level of service now, which is considered to be standard across the state, for example: water rescue, hazardous materials, confined space rescue and emergency medical services. He said the local department has a very good quality with its fire prevention and public education programs as well as its fire suppression division. And, he said, in looking at water rescue, that unit is partnered with the Richmond Police Department and is presently doing well. He said there is a need to work toward additional training in handling hazardous materials to develop a more in- depth program for the firefighters and this community. In the area of confined space rescue, he said, the department had just last week been in touch with its training provider and is planning on acquiring the training in October of this year which will put them in compliance with O.S.H.A.'s requirements for confined place rescues. Common Council Minutes Cont'd May 17, 1999 Page 4 He said in emergency medical services it was found that the department's first responder quality needs some work and they are presently nearing completion of getting that in order as far as training, equipment, reporting systems and protocols. The third goal,Chief Allen said,is improved communication.In attempting to reach that goal,he said, they have been conducting monthly shift meetings to help keep the firefighters informed, give them an opportunity to ask questions and to get their input. He said written memos have been distributed regularly to all the stations with special information and they have been recording meetings and distributing minutes, which had not been done previously. President Welch commented about the water safety team that has received contributions from citizen groups, adding that he is not sure those groups are getting the thanks they deserve. He added that he hopes that the equipment purchased with those contributions is being put to good use. Chief Allen responded that if it weren't for those contributions there probably would not be a dive team today, commenting that they certainly are appreciated. REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY The minutes of the meeting of April 15,22 and 29, 1999 were in the Council packets. REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES There were none. REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES There were none. REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and read Ordinances No. 41, 42 and 43 — 1999 on first reading by title only, second by Councilmember Parker, and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. ORDINANCE NO.41-1999 The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No. 41 — 1999 — A SPECIAL ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING MAP FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED EAST OF CHESTER BOULEVARD, APPROXIMATELY 200 FEET NORTH OF INDIANA UNIVSERSITY EAST'S MAIN ENTRY DRIVE, RICHMOND,INDIANA Bob Goodwin,director of planning,gave a brief description of what is occurring here,explaining that it is a trade of property between the new Meijer store and Indiana University East. He said this would give us some of the frontage that Meijer had planned on previously for use as a gasoline station in exchange for which they would receive some land a little bit east of Chester Boulevard. That, he said, would allow for moving the actual structure of the Meijer store itself further toward the south which is a little closer to the campus than what it would otherwise be.He said it deals with a total of 1.29 acres. Goodwin said what Meijer is receiving is zoned residential and, they would need to have a commercial zoning classification in order to landscape and prepare it the way they had agreed to with IU East. He explained that is the purpose for this ordinance, adding that from the standpoint of the administration a lot has been done to make this a much better project than what it was in the past. President Welch commented that he wanted that information imparted because he wanted the Councilmembers to understand that this cooperative effort between Meijer and IU East is going on, along with the City's cooperation, in trying to make that developed property more attractive and compatible with the existing area.He said Ordinance No.41— 1999 would be referred to the Planning Commission. • ORDINANCE NO. 42—1999 The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No.42— 1999—A GENERAL ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 58 OF THE RICHMOND CODE REGARDING LANDFILL FEES Common Council Minutes Cont'd May 17, 1999 Page 5 Bever stated that Councilmembers had received a letter in their packets explaining this. He said it regards the landfill fees that Richmond Code has charged with the Richmond Sanitary District kind of overseeing that. However, he said, state law requires that any change to be made by the fiscal body, which is this Council,in regards to landfill that is controlled by the Sanitary District, there would be a public hearing at the second reading to Council.He added that this is only on first reading tonight. Bever said that over the last few years it has become apparent that some of the local companies were being unduly punished on special waste.He explained that the real intent of this is on special waste and when you looked at what they were paying on rates for special waste in comparison with the rates of other landfills around the state,the current sum is a flat rate of$60 per ton for residents and$65 per ton for non-residents found in the code.Instead of having that highest possible rate,the new structure would add a special waste surcharge of$5 per ton for residents and$10 per ton for non-residents.In looking at the different categories underneath that,he said,materials with average density and materials with high density that are currently $10,$15 and$35,you can see by just adding a surcharge on that does not bring it up to the current$60 and $65 rates which are being required.So,he added,it is how special waste is treated that is the most important aspect of this change. The second change,Bever said,is the new availability of$7.50 per ton for any materials,which are allowed by IDEM for use for the daily cover in the landfill.He said where the landfill is getting the advantage of this kind of coverage,they wanted to put something that is reasonable for assisting the City in getting that kind of material that has allowed the daily cover.The third change,he said,is a slight increase in the per tire fees with an additional charge for tires with rims.He said they have found that people will bring tires in still on the rim and someone has to remove those rims which takes time and effort for the employees which is the reason for a little additional charge.Bever said the final change is a clarification that when special waste is mentioned,it is the special waste as defined by IDEM.He said the ordinance goes on to second reading and there will be specific public notice for that since the fee is being changed. In answer to a question by Councilmember Wissel,Craig Cordi,director of Sanitation,said there is a balance of what the fees should be for out-of-district and in-district and the landfill is basically for the City and the Sanitary District to use.He said they try to discourage out-of-district waste being brought in.The balance of the fee structure,no matter how high or how low it is,the Sanitary,as the authority of the landfill,has the right to deny any of the out-of-state or out-of-district waste from coming to that landfill. Cordi said in looking at the landfills around the state,especially around this area,they have found that some of those have been drastically higher and Sanitary is trying to bring some of the costs back into perspective in order to attract better business to the community.He said they do not advertise or petition for out-of-state waste and do discourage it as much as possible.He said they are comfortable with the$5 fee service.He said they are charging the same fee structure that they charge for everything else,but the only thing additional is there has to be an administrative cost because of the extra paper work that has to be done for IDEM. Cordi said the minimum fee has always been$4.50 and that doesn't add up to tonnage.Councilmember Parker asked about yard waste and grass clippings.Cordi responded that these are considered recyclables now and are part of the recyclable program.He said they try to discourage out-of-district bringing of those materials. Councilmember Parker asked about someone cleaning out their garage or basement,and if they are subject to those fees.Cordi said they are not if they are inside the Richmond Sanitary District,adding that it depends on what they are bringing.Bever said that basically all the fee schedule is for is for those who are in the district and for non-residents.Cordi said the basic fee is$4.50,which is the minimum,even if they have half a ton. Cordi re-stated that the landfill is free to the residents of the City of Richmond.Household trash,he said,is free and if it is anything else that doesn't add up to a ton,it is$4.50.Because the wording in the ordinance was questioned,Bever said it needs to be made clear,adding that some good points are being made.He said the Sanitary District needs to clarify that whatever it is they are not charging for ought to be made into a separate section so it is clear to residents or non-residents if there is something you can take out there that has no fee attached to it. President Welch said that list needs to be brought forth at the public hearing at Council's meeting on June 7 and the ordinance amended.He said the list needs to be included before the ordinance is engrossed. ORDINANCE NO. 43—1999 The Deputy Clerk, with permission of Council,read only the number of Ordinance No. 43 — 1999 because of the length of the entire title. President Welch said the ordinance needs to be amended, with Bever explaining that the final loan approved is $2,700,000 in lieu of$2,750,000 shown on the introduced ordinance. Councilmember Wissel moved to amend the ordinance, second by Councilmember Rice and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Common Council Minutes Cont'd • May 17, 1999 Page 6 Councilmember Hutton asked if this is the same procedure Council went through with Marvel Industries. Bever answered that it is exactly the same,adding that he would also report that the EDC passed Resolution No. 2 — 1999 which was final authorization on the report for it, then turns that over to Council for its prerogative. Councilmember Wissel said he thinks everyone on Council understands this ordinance, but since it involves $2,700,000, he felt someone should give an explanation for those in the television audience or present in Council Chambers. Attorney Bob Delaney briefly summarized the ordinance for the Elevator Equipment Corp. He said this is for a 62,500-square-foot manufacturing addition and 7,000 square foot office addition to a facility presently existing at 2230 North West 12th Street. He said the purpose of this is to increase the manufacturing of elevator components, which this company makes, and to fulfill a need for this company to greatly expand. He said since the ordinance was introduced they have added two more employees and presently are trying to hire 8 more including 2 engineers,2 clerical and four office people. Delaney said their sales are booming and they have orders stacked up for three months and they need this facility in which to expand and to fulfill this additional manufacturing capacity. He said this has been approved by the EDC and since the cap for permission to use this amount of tax exempt bond money does terminate June 3, he is asking to hopefully complete this approval tonight. In answer to a question by Councilmember Wissel,Delaney said the City is at no risk and has no responsibility at all, adding that this is just a vehicle for making this tax exempt. He said no taxpayer money is involved whatsoever and Bank One is the one which guarantees this project. In further explaining about the loaning of the money, Bever said he had further reviewed all the financial documents and it goes on to say this is never to be considered a general obligation of Richmond. The only thing the City would ever have to pay over to the bond holders, which is Bank One, he said, would be proceeds from this loan the City is making with the Elevator Equipment Corp. He said the City is simply a conduit. Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No.43— 1999 to second reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Hutton and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No.43—1999 on second reading. President Welch declared Ordinance No. 43 — 1999 on public hearing. There being no further comments either for or against the ordinance, Councilmember Dickman moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Rice and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Rice moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 43 — 1999 to third and final reading,second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No.43—1999 on third reading. Ordinance No.43— 1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll: Ayes:Elstro,Lundy,Dickman,Hutton,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(8) Nays:None Absent:Allen ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING AND ENGROSSMENT ORDINANCE NO. 39—1999 The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No. 39 — 1999 — A SPECIAL ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF A STATEMENT OF BENEFITS FOR A PROPERTY OWNER APPLYING FOR DEDUCTIONS UNDER I.C. 6-1.1-12.1 Councilmember Parker explained that this ordinance deals with the Richmond Baking Co. and its request for a 10-year abatement for $100,000 for the purpose of increasing automation in some areas of its operation. He said Councilmember Allen had toured the factory with Dean Fleenor and reported that the money would give the company automation equipment in the blending system processes, which would lead to their increased efficiency. He said other areas of automation is planned in the bagging and packaging processes and the$100,000 increase of efficiency in this plant will help them remain competitive as well as to acquire new customers. He said they now have 101 employees, which they plan on retaining as well as providing some additional jobs in the future. The company always provides good salaries and benefits, he said, adding that this company is one of the few locally owned businesses left in the Richmond area. He said the tax abatement committee recommended the approval of the request. Common Council Minutes Cont'd May 17, 1999 Page 7 President Welch declared the ordinance on public hearing. There being no further comments for or against the ordinance, Councilmember Lundy moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Elstro and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Councilmember Rice moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 39 — 1999 to third and final reading,second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No. 39 on third reading. Ordinance No. 39— 1999 was adopted on the following call of the roll: Ayes:Elstro,Lundy,Dickman,Hutton,Rice,Wissel,Parker and Welch(8) Nays:None Absent: Allen ORDINANCE NO.40—1999 The Deputy Clerk read Ordinance No. 40 — 1999 — A SPECIAL ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF A STATEMENT OF BENEFITS FOR A PROPERTY OWNER APPLYING FOR DEDUCTIONS UNDER I.C. 6-1.1-12.1 Councilmember Parker said Councilmember Allen said there is some question about this request. He said he would like to hold this until that contact is made and some information is clarified and asked that it be held on second reading until the next meeting of Council. Councilmember Rice asked Bever to do some legal research on this and Bever responded that he is afraid this does not fall within the statutory guidelines by not showing who the user is or showing any applicable wages or employees. He said he would talk to the applicant to see if this can be held off until more information is available. ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING There were none. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilmember Hutton brought to the attention of President Welch that State Representative Richard Bodiker was in the audience. Bodiker responded that he had been sitting there quietly,just observing"the workings of good government." Councilmember Rice commented that he appreciated the program on the public access channel, which was aired, adding that he feels the information is beneficial to residents helping them to understand what is going on in the legislature in Indianapolis. 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