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Home My Public Portal About06-20-1994 479 PROCEEDINGS-OF THE-C-.OMMON=COUNCIh OF-TLIE C-ITWOF=RIC1iMONI NDIAWA;iUfO NE-20,t9• 1 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana met in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Monday,June 20, 2 1994, in the Council Chambers in said City. President Larry .Parker presided with the following 3 Councilmembers present: Howard "Jack" Elstro, Etta Lundy, Jane Brookbank, Mary Ellen Donat, Don 4 McBride,Gene Allen, Bob Dickman and Sally Hutton.The following business was had to-wit: 5 6 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 7 8 PRAYER BY COUNCILMEMBER HUTTON 9 10 ROLL CALL, 11 12 Nine present. 13 14 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OFJUNE 6.1994 15 16 Councilmember Donat commented that one cannot say that something did not happen that did happen 17 during a public meeting. She moved to amend the minutes to return to the June 6 minutes the motion she 18 made to appoint Cliff Wagner to the Board of the Economic Development Commission. She said that was a 19 mistake and was not Council's appointment, adding that the minutes should reflect that. She moved to return 20 all procedures from the last Council meeting to the minutes, second by Councilmember McBride and the 21 motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 22 23 COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR 24 25 PRESENTATIONS OF REMONSTRANCES, PETITIONS. MEMORIALS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS 26 27 President Parker noted that "Public Comments" had been added to this portion of the agenda allowing 28 anyone to come forward to voice their concerns for Council to hear. 29 30 REPORT FROM CITY DEPARTMENTS 31 32 REPORT FROM OTHER OFFICES 33 34 REPORT FROM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY 35 36 Minutes of the May 26 and June 2, 1994 meetings were in the Council packets. 37 38 Councilmember Elstro requested a breakdown of City Attorney Thomas Milligan's charges for RP & L noting 39 he wanted to know what he talked about and how long. 40 41 Councilmember Brookbank commented that the new four-way stop at South 16th and E Streets seems to be 42 working well.She expressed her thanks to the Board of Works. 43 44 REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES 45 46 REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES OR OTHER COUNCIL COMMITTEES 47 48 Councilmember Donat commented that Mayor Roger Cornett had appointed Peter Bartel to the 49 Redevelopment Commission and they had met in a special meeting and voted unanimously to award the 50 contract for the feasibility study for the Convention Center to Hammer, Siler, George &Associates of Atlanta, 51 Ga.She said that will be getting underway as soon as contract is signed. 52 53 ORDINANCES 54 55 ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING 56 57 Councilmember Brookbank moved to suspend the rules and read on first reading by title only Ordinance No. 58 48-1994, second by Councilmember McBride and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 59 60 ORDINANCE NO.48-1994 61 62 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 48 - 1994-A SPECIAL ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE TRANSFER OF 63 CASH FROM THE ELECTRIC UTILITY TO THE GENERAL FUND IN 1995 64 65 480 Common Council Minutes Cont'd June 20, 1994 Pane 1 2 Councilmember Elstro moved to remove the words "surplus earnings" and replace them with "payment i+n 3 lieu of taxes and special dividends"with a second made by Councilmember Donat. Councilmember Dickman 4 said it could correctly be called surplus earnings with Councilmember Allen in agreement. She noted that ih 5 financial terms that is what it is because any time there is a profit that goes into the retained earnings that i 6 called a surplus. Councilmember Elstro said he would stop the ordinance from going any further if th 7 wording is not changed. 8 9 Councilmember McBride questioned as to whether or not Councilmember Elstro had a conflict of intere t 10 since his son is employed by RP& L. President Parker intervened, advancing the action on the ordinance. 11 12 Councilmember Donat said her second still stood, commenting that she feels the insertion is correct leavin 13 no doubt as to why Council is transferring the money. After some comments as to whether or not changin 14 the wording would make the ordinance illegal, President Parker said if that is the case, the City Attorney wi I 15 advise the Council. 16 17 The amendment which would remove the words "surplus earnings" and replace them with "payment in lie 18 of taxes and special dividends"was adopted on the following call of the roll: 19 20 Ayes:Elstro, Lundy, Donat, Allen, Hutton and Parker(6) 21 Nays:Brookbank, McBride and Dickman (3) 22 23 Councilmember Hutton moved to suspend the rules and advance the amended Ordinance No. 48 - 1994 to 24 second reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Allen and the motion was carried on - 25 unanimous voice vote. 26 27 The Clerk read Ordinance No.48 - 1994 on second reading. 28 29 President Parker declared Ordinance No. 48 - 1994 on public hearing. There being no comments either fo 30 or against the ordinance, Councilmember McBride moved for engrossment, second by Councilmembe 31 Elstro and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 32 33 Councilmember Brookbank moved to suspend the rules and advance Ordinance No. 48 - 1994 to third any 34 final reading and read by title only, second by Councilmember Lundy and the motion was carried on - 35 unanimous voice vote. 36 37 The Clerk read Ordinance No.48 - 1994 on third reading. 38 39 Ordinance No. 48- 1994 was adopted on the following call of the roll: 40 41 Ayes:Lundy, Brookbank, Donat, McBride, Allen, Dickman, Hutton and Parker(8) 42 Nays:Elstro 43 44 ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING 45 46 There were none. 47 48 ORDINANCES ON THIRD READING 49 50 President Parker announced that Ordinance No. 44 - 1994 is on the revised agenda, noting that it concern 51 the Medical Arts Building. Councilmember Hutton moved to open the agenda and add Ordinance No. 44 52 1994 on third reading, second by Councilmember Brookbank and the motion was carried on a unanimou 53 voice vote. 54 55 The Clerk read Ordinance No. 44- 1994- A SPECIAL ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE MEDICAL ART 56 BUILDING 57 58 Councilmember Donat commented that she knew President Parker had checked with the City Attorney an 59 found that it was legal to place Ordinance No.44-1994 on the agenda without proper notification. 60 61 Councilmember Elstro commented that the County, during the fall,took back around 30 to 40 properties tha 62 people did not pay their taxes on, except this one because it had a liability against it. He said about half o 63 those properties were sold at auction, realizing maybe around $50,000 to $60,000, which meant that th- 64 County is doing its job well. He said the County is giving this property to the City and it is going to cost th- 65 City some money, adding that he feels if Council passes this ordinance he thinks it is not doing its job. 481 Common Council Minutes Cont'd June-20-1-99A Page 3 1 2 Councilmember Dickman disagreed, stating that he feels if Council doesn't pass this ordinance it isn't doing 3 its job. In answer to a question by Councilmember Lundy, President Parker said the figure on the ordinance 4 is $88,677 which is the cost of the remediation of the environmental problem. Councilmember Allen said the 5 County is not collecting $100,000 in taxes and is giving the City $25,000. Councilmember Dickman said that 6 means that about$75,000 in taxes is being forgiven. 7 8 Councilmember Donat said she would hope that if this ordinance passes it might set a precendent that the 9 Wayne County Commissioners would deed over other properties taken over in tax foreclosures to the City so 10 the properties could be torn down. She said if the City had the deeds to those properties it might be able to 11 do something with them. She added that if the ordinance should pass tonight she would hope the 12 Commissioners would take it as a signal that this is a partnership in which the Commissioners, Council and 13 the City Administration could work. Councilmember Dickman reminded Council that there is a good possibility 14 that a grant will help pay for this. 15 16 Ordinance No.44-1994 was adopted on the following call of the roll: 17 18 Ayes: Lundy, Brookbank, Donat, McBride, Allen, Dickman and Hutton (7) 19 Nays: Elstro and Parker(2) 20 21 OLD BUSINESS 22 23 MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS 24 25 President Parker announced that Council has an appointment to make to the Police Merit Commission, 26 noting that the names of Frank Schroeder and Cliff Wagner had been submitted. Councilmember Elstro 27 moved to appoint Frank Schroeder, second by Councilmember Hutton and the appointment was approved on 28 a roll call vote. 29 30 Ayes: Elstro, Lundy, McBride,Allen, Dickman and Hutton (6) 31 Nays: Donat and Parker(2) 32 Abstaining: Brookbank 33 34 Wagner was defeated in a roll call vote with Brookbank, Donat and Parker voting in favor of his appointment. 35 Councilmember Elstro commented that the vote was no reflection against Wagner and noted that he should 36 be kept in mind should another appointment be made. 37 38 Councilmember Donat commented that she felt Councilmember McBride had maligned both Huffman and 39 Councilmember Elstro with his earlier comments about the two, adding that she felt he owed them both an 40 apology. Councilmember McBride responded that he was not apologizing to anyone. 41 42 ADJOURNMENT 43 44 There being no further business,on a motion duly made, seconded and passed,the meeting was adjourned. 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Larry Parker, President 53 54 55 56 57 58 ATTEST: 59 Norma Carnes, City Clerk 60 61 62 63 64 65 482 1 1