HomeMy Public PortalAbout09-02-1997 4-11
1 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,
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September 2, 1997, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Bob Dickman presided with the
following Councilmembers present: Howard "Jack" Elstro, Etta Lundy, Bruce Wissel, Sarah "Sally" Hutton,
4 Geneva"Gene"Allen, Alan Stamper, Bing Welch and Larry Parker. The following business was had to-wit:
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6 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
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8 PRAYER BY COUNCILMEMBER STAMPER
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0 ROLL CALL
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2 Nine present.
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4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 18,1997
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6 The minutes of the August 18, 1997 meeting were approved on a motion by Councilmember Allen, second
17 by Councilmember Parker and was carried on a unanimous voice vote.
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9 PRESENTATIONS OF REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS, MEMORIALS OR PUBLIC COMMENTS
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.1 COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR
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.3 City Controller Shelley Miller gave updates on the negotiations now going on between the City and Roseview
.4 Transit, the Police Department and Fire Department. She said negotiations had been completed with
.5 Roseview and the Police Department and the membership has voted. The next step, she said, will be to take
-6 those two contracts to the Board of Works to be acted upon. She said the contract with Roseview contains a
.7 3.5 percent wage increase for 1998 and again in 1999, and that union has also agreed to adopt the City's
.8 personnel policy.
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0 Miller said the contract with the Police Department contains a rate increase of 5.5 percent for 1998 and a 3.5
1 percent in 1999 with a rank differential reviewed and increased to reflect what is currently being done in
2 other second class cities in the state. She said that decision was based on a review done by the Indiana
3 Association of Cities and Towns which revealed that the pay of the police officers in Richmond is the second
174 lowest of all 16 of the responding second class cities. She said the fire negotiations are ongoing. In answer
5 to a question by Councilmember Allen as to how the increases will affect the budget, Miller said there are
6 sufficient appropriations to cover the two contracts.
8 REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY
l0 Councilmember Elstro said he and Councilmember Hutton attended a neighborhood meeting recently and
1 brought back a petition for stop signs at South 5th and Q Streets and Oakland Avenue and Q Streets. He
passed along the petition to the Clerk to be given to the Board of Works.
44 Also, Councilmember Elstro said he had heard some complaints about the curbs where handicapped
45 parking spaces are marked not being painted. He said he had talked with Captain John Farmer about this
4. and he responded that there is no money to paint the curb. Councilmember Elstro suggested that possibly
the price of the permit be raised to cover that cost. He asked the Clerk to also pass that information along to
the Board of Works.
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5. The minutes of the meeting of August 7, 1997 were in the Council packets.
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5 REPORTS FROM CITY DEPARTMENTS
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5, REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES
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5. Councilmember Stamper said he, as a member of the Tax Abatement Evaluation Committee, recommends
5► that Council form a Tax Abatement Guideline Committee to help Council form guidelines in evaluating as to
5= whether or not a company would get a three, six or 10-year abatement for property or real estate
5 improvement and whether or not they would get a five or ten year abatement for manufacturing equipment.
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6 He said he felt it is time Council has some guidelines to go by and he invited Council's input as to how that
6' committee would be structured so that it represents the majority of the citizens. President Dickman said the
6: committee of three, comprised of Councilmembers Allen, Stamper and Elstro, would do it from an ongoing
6 basis and the other committee would establish the number of years but it will still be brought before the
6. entire Council.
Common Council Minutes Cont'd
September 2, 1997
Page 2
1 Councilmember Stamper suggested a possible makeup of this committee be two representatives f m
2 business, two from the general public and one from County finance. Councilmember Lundy sugges ed
3 someone from labor also sit on that committee. Councilmember Stamper issued the invitation to anyon in
4 the community who would be willing to be a member of that committee to let him know or call the Cle k's
5 office.
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7 Councilmember Welch said the entire Council needs to give some consideration as to what is to be done by
8 this committee, adding that curretnly there are three members who oversee the abatement process and they
9 act on behalf of the Council. The other committee, he said, is going to be acting on behalf of ma ing
10 recommendations. He stated that Council needs to authorize the establishment of the committee by the ax
11 Abatement Committee and report back to Council so it does not linger on for a long time. He also Cou cil
12 needs to either rescind or amend Resolution No. 2 - 1987 which established a given 10-year abatem nt
13 blanket. Bever said he sees this new committee as allowing the current committee to sub delegate som of
14 this inquiry and make recommendations coming back through the three member committee in the for of
15 either an ordinance or resolution.
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17 Councilmember Hutton asked if there is anything in the abatement process that pertains to people bu ng
18 older buildings and rehabbing them. Bever said he did not know, but added that there is some langu ge
19 about a distressed area. Councilmember Welch said he recalled that she gave Councilmembers a copy st
20 year of a legislative action which stated there are abatements for owners rehabilitating older buildings nd
21 improving them, making them eligible for abatements. He said that process takes place in the Towns ip
22 Assessor's office.
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24 REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES
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26 Councilmember Lundy said on September 28 the Housing Authority is going to be dedicating the Norwood
27 Apartments to Robert Smith who was very instrumental in making low cost housing accessible in the Sty.
28 She said she will bring further information to the next Council meeting.
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30 REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS
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32 MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS
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34 Councilmember Parker said he had some problems in his district with commercial buildings and graffiti. e
35 said he had turned this over to planning and inspections department and they had done their jobs of
36 inspecting. But, he said, he finds the law is vague as to who is responsible for cleaning up the buildi g,
37 adding that it is a definite hardship on the owner if it is repeated and it is not fair to the neighbors to hay: to
38 look at it every day.
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40 He said this is a problem Council may have to face if this problem cannot be resolved under the pres-nt
41 planning and inspections department. He said Council could look at an ordinance through which it can be
42 enforced by having the owner clean up the building, but, if the people responsible for placing the graffiti on
43 the building are caught, a substantial fine should be levied to go into a fund to help repaint the buildings. e
44 said he would report back to Council in 30 days if the graffiti in question is not taken care of.
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46 ORDINANCES
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48 ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING
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50 Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and read Ordinance No. 98- 1997 on first reading by t tle
51 only, second by Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote.
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53 ORDINANCE NO.98-1997
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55 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 98 - 1997 - AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE TO BE KNOWN AS T E
56 1998 BUDGET
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58 Councilmember Welch commented on an editorial which appeared in the Palladium-Item in which t ey
59 commended the Mayor and the administration for their effort on bringing in a balanced budget and on
60 keeping the promises to remove the fire hydrant fees from the budget. Councilmember Welch stated that
61 City Controller Shelley Miller had done a lot of work preparing this budget, adding that it is put together as
62 well as any budget he has looked at in the past.
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64 Miller stated that this ordinance cannot be acted upon tonight because it has to be advertised twice prio to
65 any action taken. Those advertisements, she said, will run in the September 4 and September 11 issues of
the Palladium-Item.
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Common Council Minutes Cont'd
September2- 97
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1 Miller said the public hearing will be held at the regular meeting of Council on Monday, September 15, and
2 Thursday, September 25, has been set for the adoption of the budget. She added that it is by state code the
3 City has to follow these guidelines. She reminded Council that by recommendations from the State Board of
4 Tax Commissioners they say to advertise 25 percent higher than the budget you are going to be acting upon
5 so the numbers will be substantially higher than the budget Council has that has been proposed.
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7 Councilmember Allen stated that she is having some difficulty in trying to correlate the salaries to the
8 departments and Miller said she will make available to Council a spread sheet that identifies each position
9 with each department.
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1 President Dickman announced that Ordinance No. 98 - 1997 will be coming back on second reading. In
2 answer to Councilmember Hutton's question as to when that will be, Miller stated that the public hearing will
13 be held at the regular Council meeting and the special meeting to act on the budget will be at 7 p.m. on
14 Thursday,September 25, in the Council chambers.
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6 ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING AND ENGROSSMENT
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8 ORDINANCE NO.90-1997
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'0 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 90 - 1997 - AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE TO BE KNOWN AS THE
'1 1998 SALARY ORDINANCE
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'3 Councilmember Parker asked about making an amendment to this ordinance and what would be the vote
4 procedure tonight. Bever said a motion to amend could be made tonight or at the next meeting.
5 Councilmember Parker opted to postpone his action until the next meeting.
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7 President Dickman announced that this ordinance will come back on second reading at the next meeting.
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9 ORDINANCE NO.94-1997
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.1 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 94 - 1997 - AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE FIXING THE ANNUAL
.2 COMPENSATION OF ALL ELECTED CITY OFFICERS FOR 1998
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.4 No action was taken on this ordinance and President Dickman announced it will come back on second
:5 reading at the next meeting.
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.7 ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING
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9 There were none.
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1 UNFINISHED BUSINESS
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3 Councilmember Stamper asked Miller about starting to develop an investment policy statement and starting
4 to receive information from banks and investment firms, adding that he felt that should be started but he
5 knows she has been busy getting the budget ready. He also asked about the date for the installation of the
6 new computer system. Miller said she is looking at the proposals that have been submitted and after
7 reviewing some and having some demonstrations as to their capabilities, she is hoping that the system will
be converted and operating by January 1, 1998. She added that she realized that is a pretty aggressive
9 timetable.
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1 Councilmember Allen directed a question to Bever about the finance committee, asking if it was true that the
•2 state had ruled that meeting is no longer needed. Bever said that is true and no formal action is needed
•3 because by statute it is gone.
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',5 ADJOURNMENT
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•,7 There being no further business,on a motion duly made, seconded and passed the meeting was adjourned.
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1,5 Robert Dickman, President
ATTEST:
Norma Schroeder,Clerk
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