Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout10-21-1996 259 • • • • PROG-EEDIINGS-oFTHE-COMMON-C-OUNeu 6F mE 1 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Monday,October 21, 1996, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Geneva "Gene"Allen presided with the following Councilmembers present: Howard "Jack" Elstro, Etta Lundy, Bruce Wissel, Sarah "Sally" Hutton, Robert Dickman,Alan Stamper, Bing Welch and Larry Parker. The following business was had to-wit: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PRAYER BY COUNCILMEMBER WELCH • le ROLL CALL 11 1- Nine present. 1 1, APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 23, SEPTEMBER 26. AND OCTOBER 7.1996 1- 1: Councilmember Hutton moved to approve the minutes of all three meetings, second by Councilmember 1 Wissel and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 1: 1• COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR, 2. 21 Mayor Dennis Andrews commented that it will take multiple grants for the downtown redevelopment project 2 and all are pending except the Community Focus Fund grant in the amount of $500,000 which has been 2 awarded to the City and will be a part of the ceremony that Governor Evan Bayh will have this Wednesday. 2, 2- The Mayor also commented that the City is hosting four Russians from Richmond's Sister City of Serpukov 2r who will be here until November 2. He said their interest and focus is on business and their trip is self 2 funded. He said it is interesting spending time with them and touring various places. He also noted that the 28i City administration is working on a variety of projects and is continuing to make progress on such things as 29 health insurance review and concentrating on financial constraints and challenges for 1997. He added that 3 the petition with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in relation to the ordinance that was adopted 31 concernng water lines and fire hydrants is pending. 3 3 He expressed his appreciation to Council for its support on the Carpenter contract. He also mentioned the 3 time line in dealng with the request for transfer from RP & L which will enable the purchase of police cars 3 and emergency service equipment is about two more RP&L meetings. He said the City meets the first week 36 of December with the State Board of Tax Commissioners on the budget and if no action has been taken by 371 that time,or if there is action taken and the transfer is not approved,the practical effect of that would be that 38, the CCDF fund would include the $400,000. He added that hopefully some closure to that question will be 39 scheduled. 40 41 In answer to a question posed by Councilmember Stamper as to whether or not the approval of the current 4 downtown project will come before Council, Mayor Andrews said that representatives from a lot of different 43 bodies and organizations will be in on the final draft of the project and possibly Council will see that as a 4• point of information. However, he added, Council has already voted on the project and that was presented to 45 Council previous to pursuing the grant that he had just mentioned the City had been successful in receiving. 46 4 PRESENTATIONS OF REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS. MEMORIALS OR PUBLIC COMMENTS 48 49 REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY 50 51 Councilmember Elstro said he had received a call from a businessman about all the political signs being in 52 violation of the sign ordinance. He said his feelings are, if the ordinance is going to be enforced with 53 businesses, it should be the same with political signs. City Attorney Bob Bever agreed and commented that 54 in anticipation of such claims he did some checking and found one candidate the most blatant offender. He 55 said he spoke with that gentleman and followed that up by a letter, with copies to both political party 56 chairmen reminding them that according to the sign ordinance in the Richmond City Code political signs can 57 go up in any zoning area with the requirement that they have to be taken out 30 days after the election but 58 their not being in the right of ways and easements is still being enforced. He said he personally took out a 111 59, couple of political signs this weekend, adding that both parties are on notice that the ordinance will be 60 enforced.Councilmember Elsto responded that he thinks that is fair enough. 61 62 REPORTS FROM CITY DEPARTMENTS 63 64 City Controller Shelley Miller said she had distributed the financial statements for the third quarter of the year 65 to Councilmembers. She also noted that in September it was required that the City go to the Sanitary Board to request approval for an interfund loan which was approved in the amount of $1.1 million. She said her department is working toward the operating balance and she thinks the cash flow position is slowly improving,adding that the loan will be required to be paid back by the end of the year. 6 Common Council Minutes Cont'd October 21, 1996 Page 2 . 1 REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES 2 3 REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES 4 5 REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS 6 7 Councilmember Wissel reported on the October 7 meeting of the Economic Development Corporation of 8 Wayne County, commenting that the group approved an EDIT application for Indiana University East o 9 grant the university$10,000 toward its hospitality and tourism program. He said new businesses discuss d 10 included a telemarketing firm, a consulting firm, a steel company, three manufacturing companies, n 11 automotive company and a fabricated metals company. He also stated that the search committee h 12 decided to employ a professional"head hunter"to attempt to fill the petition vacated by Ben Ross. 13 14 MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS 15 16 President Allen announced that Council needs to appoint someone to fill a position on the Street Tr e 17 Commission since that position expired September 16. Councilmember Welch said Debbie Weber is 18 currently a member appointed by this Council and her term expires September 30 of this year. He said e 19 spoke with her and she would like to continue to serve on the Commission. He moved to renominate Web r 20 for a two-year term, second by Councilmember Dickman and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice 21 vote. President Allen asked the Clerk to send a letter to Weber telling her of the appointment. 22 23 President Allen commented that she had been given a list of streets that had already been adopted and it is 24 up to Councilmembers to agree to adopt a street that does not appear on the list. She added that perha s 25 they could take a look at the list and decide on a street before the end of the year. She said Council al 26 needs to appoint someone to the Police Merit Commission because that appointment expires November 1 , 27 1996 and the appointee must be a Republican and come from the labor category. She said Marilyn Ada s 28 currently serves in that position. Councilmember Lundy said she works with Adams and will ask her abouw it 29 Tuesday. President Allen agreed. 30 31 ORDINANCES 32 33 ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING 34 35 Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and read Ordinances 105, 106, 107 and 108 - 1996 •n 36 first reading by title only, second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a unanimous 37 voice vote. 38 39 ORDINANCE NO. 105-1996 40 41 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 105 - 1996 - AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 19.6 42 BUDGET 43 44 Shelley Miller explained the ordinance, commenting that the snow removal equipment in the Motor Vehic,e 45 Highway Fund of the Street Department is in need of repair. She said $20,000 was taken from vario s 46 accounts to transfer into a Capital Equipment Account. Councilmember Stamper asked if that money is o t 47 of the 1996 budget because he remembers how much money was spend removing snow and going over 48 budget and wonders how there can be any salt and sand left now. Miller said the amount anticipated th.t 49 would be used in that time period exceeded their estimation and a grant was received from the Feder:l 50 Emergency Management Agency for $25,000 to put back into some of these accounts. In answer to a 51 question posed by Councilmember Hutton, Miller said Bill Smith,the manager of the Street Department,w-s 52 aware that these expenses were coming up and he was very conservative with his budget and h s 53 purchases to make sure he could get the repair for this equipment because he knew it was critical. 54 55 Councilmember Hutton moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 105 - 1996 to seco d 56 reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Dickman and the motion was carried on a 57 unanimous voice vote. 58 - 59 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 105-1996 on second reading. 60 61 President Allen declared Ordinance No. 105 - 1996 on public hearing. There being no comments either for 62 or against the ordinance, Councilmember Elstro moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Hutton 63 and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 64 65 Councilmember Lundy moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 105- 1996 to third and final reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Elstro and the motion was carried on a unanimo s voice vote. The Clerk read Ordinance No. 105-1996 on third reading. 2-61 Common Council Minutes Cont'd ®ctober;214996 Page 3 1 Ordinance No. 105-1996 was adopted on the following call of the role: 2 3 Ayes: Elstro, Lundy,Wissel, Hutton, Dickman,Stamper,Welch, Parker and Allen (9) 4 Nays:None 5 6 ORDINANCE NO.106-1996 7 8 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 106- 1996-A SPECIAL ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF 9 A STATEMENT OF BENEFIT FOR A PROPERTY OWNER APPLYING FOR DEDUCTIONS UNDER I.C. 10 6-1.1-12.1 11 12 Councilmember Stamper said he had no report, adding that he would be meeting Tuesday morning with John 13 Wayne, a representative of the company applying for the tax abatement. He suggested the ordinance stay on 14 first reading to give the public an opportunity to appear at Council during the public hearing on second 15 reading at the next meeting. 16 1 ORDINANCE NO.107-1996 18 19 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 107- 1996 -A SPECIAL ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF 20 A STATEMENT OF BENEFIT FOR A PROPERTY OWNER APPLYING FOR DEDUCTIONS UNDER I.C. 21 6-1.1-12.1 22 23 Councilmember Stamper explained that Cinram is adding 10 jobs along with retaining 620 jobs it currently 24 has. He added that the company is investng $630,000 more for a printing press and that this is a part of its 25 new automation of their line. He said this ordinance also needs to stay on first reading. 26 27 ORDINANCE NO.108-1996 28 29 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 108- 1996-A GENERAL ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 155.04(B) -A 30 GENERAL ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 155.04(B)OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND CODE 31 32 Assistant City Attorney Steve Rabe explained that this is a part of an ongoing effort to update the City code 33 for clarity and consistency throughout. He said this amendment adds one word which is "entire" and it 34 clarifies that in order to override the Plan Commission recommendation a two thirds vote of the entire council 35 is required as opposed to a two thirds vote of the number present. 36 37 Councilmember Dickman moved to suspend the rules and move Ordinance No. 108 - 1996 to second 38 reading and read by title only,second by Councilmember Wissel and the motion was carried on a unanimous 39 voice vote. 40 41 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 108-1996 on second reading. 42 43 President Allen declared Ordinance No. 108- 1996 on public hearing. There being no comments either for or 44 against the ordinance, Councilmember Dickman moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Wissel 45 and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 46 47 Councilmember Dickman moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 108 - 1996 to third and 48 final reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Stamper and the motion was carried on a 49 unanimous voice vote. 50 51 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 108- 1996 on third reading. 52 53 Ordinance No. 108-1996 was adopted on the following call of the roll: 54 55 Ayes:Elstro, Lundy,Wissel, Hutton, Dickman,Stamper,Welch, Parker and Allen (9) 56 Nays:None 57 58 ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING 59 60 ORDINANCE NO. 88-1996 61 62 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 88 - 1996 - AN APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE FIXING THE ANNUAL 63 COMPENSATION OF ALL ELECTED CITY OFFICERS FOR 1997 64 65 Councilmember Hutton moved to approve the proof of publication, second by Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. _ 262 • Common Council Minutes Cont'd October 21, 1996 Paged • • 1 President Allen declared Ordinance No. 88- 1996 on public hearing. There being no comments either for r 2 against the ordinance, Councilmember Elstro moved for engrossment, second by Councilmember Wel 4.1 3 and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 4 5 Councilmember Elstro moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 88 - 1996 to third and fi al 6 reading and read by title only,second by Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a unanimo s 7 voice vote. 8 9 The Clerk read Ordinance No.88-1996 on third reading. 10 11 Ordinance No.88- 1996 was adopted on the following call of the roll: 12 13 Ayes:Elstro, Lundy,Wissel, Hutton, Dickman, Welch, Parker and Allen (8) 14 Nays:Stamper(1) 15 16 Clerk Norma Schroeder explained that her salary is•staying the same, adding that when she took office n 17 1992 the salary of Richmond's City Clerk was the second highest in the state, second only to that of t e 18 Indianapolis Clerk. She said she feels the salary should be brought in line and she is refusing any rai e 19 during her term of office. 20 21 ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING 22 23 There were none. 24 25 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 26 27 Councilmember Stamper asked for review of ordinances to come before council at its next meeting a d 28 added a word of caution to all motorists to watch out for the children as they celebrate Halloween on Octob:r 29 31. 30 31 The Clerk said there are two ordinances which will be on second reading at Council's next meeti g 32 November 4. They are Ordinance No. 106 - 1996 which is a statement of benefits for Fickenscher Americ:, 33 L.L.C.and Ordinance No. 107- 1996 which is a statement of benefits for Cinram, Inc. 34 35 In answer to Councilmember Hutton's question about the actual date and time of Trick or Treat as set by t e 36 Board of Works, Clerk Schroeder said it is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.Thursday, October 31. 37 38 ADJOURNMENT 39 40 There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed,the meeting was adjournet. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Geneva"Gene"Allen, President 49 50 51 52 53 ATTEST: 54 Norma Schroeder, City Clerk 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 . 64 65