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HomeMy Public PortalAbout02-24-1994 • BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, FEBRUARY 24, 1994 1 The Board of Public Works and Safety of the City of Richmond, Indiana, met at 9 a.m. Thursday, February 24, 2 1994, in the Municipal Building in said City. Chairperson Earnest Jarvis presided with Dennis Grimes and Janet 3 Hibner in attendance. The following business was had to-wit: 4 5 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 17.1994 6 7 The minutes of the February 17, 1994 meeting were approved on a motion by Hibner, second by Grimes and 8 carried on a unanimous voice vote. 9 10 CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT 11 12 Claims submitted by the City Controller's office were for $351,153.90 most of which was for payroll and payroll 13 taxes. An additional claim of $32,419.08 was for supplies and contractual services. Grimes moved to approve 14 the claims for payment,second by Hibner and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 15 16 REQUESTS 17 18 A.There were none. 19 20 CONTRACTS 21 22 A.There were none. 23 24 OTHER MATTERS 25 26 A. A request from the "Walk America" Committee of the March of Dimes was read by Grimes, noting 27 the route they wished approved for the fund-raising event which will take place at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, 28 April 23. The walk will begin at Glen Miller Park, going west to South West 18th Street, winding back 29 National Road West to Hub Etchison Parkway, then back east along South E Street going north on 30 South 18th Street and ending at Glen Miller Park. Grimes noted that the request had been given to the 31 Trafffic Safety Division for review and it was recommended that participants should cross at National 32 Road West and South West 5th during their walk in that area. Captain Danny McClure of the Traffic 33 Safety Division said the reasoning behind the recommendation was that in the past there were people 34 who wanted to cross to the south side of National Road West where they could patronize those 35 businesses located there providing refreshments. Grimes moved to approve the request with the 36 recommendations,second by Hibner and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 37 38 B. A motion for the reinstatement of the alarm permit for Kmart West was made by Hibner, second by 39 Grimes and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. Prior to making the motion Hibner 40 noted that the Kmart West alarm permit had been revoked because of repeated violations with no 41 response and that a fine of$100 had been levied against the company for a false alarm during the time 42 it had no alarm permit. She said the $100 had been received and made her motion for reinstatement 43 based upon that and information received from Manager Tom Cole at the recent hearing. 44 45 C. City Engineer Bob Wiwi presented Board members with copies of the agreement developed by the 46 Indiana Department of Transportation at the request of the City. Wiwi said the City is asking for the 47 modernization of the traffic signal at U.S. 40 and Elks Country Club Road because of the proposed 48 extension of South 37th Street to Hodgin Road and the signal needs realigned to line up with the new 49 street. He said the state has come up with the proposed agreement to modernize the signal, adding 50 that the City will be putting up a new, modern signal at that location at the same time the road project 51 begins. In answer to a question by Hibner, Wiwi said the cost will be approximately$60,000, noting that 52 the City is responsible for the signal as a part of the South 37th Street project which has been approved 53 for federal money and the City's portion of that construction cost is 20 percent. Wiwi added that the 54 state agrees to pay the ongoing cost once the signal is up because it is responsible for the 55 maintenance in that it is located on a state highway. Chairperson Jarvis moved to approve the 56 agreement, second by Grimes and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. 57 58 D. Chairperson Jarvis called Kathryn Crawley to the lecturn, explaining that she had phoned him last 59 week with several concerns about TCI and he had asked her to appear before the Board. He added 60 that he had received several other calls on the same subject and announced that any citizen who has 61 the same type of problems should put them in writing, send them to the office of the City Clerk and they 62 will be forwarded to the Telecommunications Council. Crawley gave each of the Board members a 63 letter which she said was compiled only after talking with a numerous amount of people who had 64 similar problems with TCI. 65 If LH Board of Works Minutes Cont'd February 24, 1994 - Page 2 1 Items about which she expressed concern were (a) TCI failed to include in its pre-advertisement about 2 Starz and Encore that subscribers would need converter boxes at a cost of $1.21 per month for each 3 TV set; (b)All customers with pay channels must also have the converter boxes even though they may 4 have cable-ready television sets; (c) With the new boxes a pay channel cannot be recorded unless the 5 subscribers watch it which means if they want to watch Encore and record Showtime it can't be done; 6 (d) With the new boxes subscribers who want to watch Channel 7 and record Channel 2 will have to 7 purchase an A-B switch at a cost of$10 per switch per each TV set and there is an $11 installation fee. 8 Crawley said she felt that the subscribers should have been informed thoroughly about these changes. 9 10 Crawley said she is appealing to the Board to get with the Telecommunications Council to remedy this 11 situation, adding that TCI should fix the boxes and if they require extra equipment it should be provided 12 at no added expense. She said she called TCI and was told by an employee that the system is more 13 efficient for TCI because it will enable the company to correct a problem through its computer. Crawley 14 said she was tired of TCI having such a strong hold on its subscribers, adding that she felt the company 15 should be more concerned about how the consumer feels. She said after writing the letter she did some 16 more research, calling Richard Kalb at the FCC and talking to him at great length. She said Kalb told 17 her that if TCI has adopted the enforcement customer service regulations it has to give notice of any 18 rate changes, any channel deletions or additions or any program change and she considered this a 19 change in program services which is a violation. Kalb said that by the end of March or early April new 20 rules will be coming out on equipment capability and he will make those accessible to her at that time. 21 22 After the boxes had been distributed, Crawley said a very small article appeared in the Palladium-Item 23 about the $1.21 charge. She said she had gone to Radio Shack and spent $40 on equipment to try to 24 get her stations back but it didn't work. She added that the Radio Shack sells the switch for$4.95 that is 25 offered by TCI for$10. She did note that Kalb had told her he was having the same problem she was 26 having and he had been forced to buy two converters. Hibner told Crawley that she should contact her 27 Congressional representative "who made the mess in the first place."Crawley responded that she had 28 called the Attorney General's office and was told there was nothing they could do about it. Hibner 29 reminded her that it is the Congressional body that created the first problem that is bringing on this 30 situation. Chairperson Jarvis commended Crawley for putting her concerns in writing and told her he 31 would send a copy of what she had submitted to this Board to the Telecommunications Council. He 32 reminded the public to put their concerns in writing and send them to the City Clerk, who, in turn, would 33 see that they were forwarded to the Telecommunications Council which would take action and try to 34 work with TCI to resolve the problem. City Clerk Norma Carnes said the next meeting of the 35 Telecommunications Council is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in the Board of Works room and 36 Chairperson Jarvis added that Rich Cody, Manager of TCI, attends those meetings and it would be an 37 opportunity to meet him face to face and ask questions. The City Clerk assured Crawley that an 38 announcement of that meeting will appear in the Palladium-Item. 39 40 E. An unsafe building hearing for the structure at 226 North 4th Street was conducted by Hibner who 41 announced that pursuant to I.C. 36-7-9 the City is required to hold an unsafe building hearing for any 42 home which is found unsafe for living purposes and is not salvageable as far as repair. She said all 43 parties who have a financial interest in the house have been notified by certified mail and in this case 44 that is only one person who is Delbert Thompson. She said the notification was sent to him on January 45 20 in care of the Golden Rule Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and she had a return receipt noting 46 that it had been received January 22. She said several other parties had been sent a courtesy 47 notification and these included the Area 9 on Aging and Aged as well as a niece. Hibner said at this 48 time this is considered a hearing on the matter and she asked those in favor of having this order 49 accomplished,which is that within 60 days the structure be demolished,to step forward. 50 51 Chris Barker, a building inspector for the City of Richmond, said he is in favor of ordering the structure 52 demolished. He said Indiana Code establishes 15 definitions for an unsafe building and if any one of 53 those is met the building could be demolished. He added that the structure at 226 North 4th Street 54 conforms to 12 out of 15 of the definitions and is far beyond reasonable salvageability. He said the roof 55 structure is basically nonexistent,there is extreme rot and the structural condition is to the point where 56 not much can be done with the house. He said he has received bids for demolition and they are over 57 $5,000 because the house has asbestos siding. He said the work will have to be put out for public bids 58 and he would like to see that happen after the time period has expired. Chairperson Jarvis noted that 59 the photographs that he had been given were dated 1991 and 1992 and it was evident the home was in 60 terrible condition then. Barker explained that in 1992 two inspectors had visited the premises which 61 was occupied at the time by Thompson who was living in one room under a piece of plastic and they 62 postponed taking any action until Thompson could be relocated and that has happened. Hearing no 63 comments in opposition, Hibner said the Board could take three positions--to affirm the order, rescind 64 it or modify it. Based upon the information she had received today she moved to affirm the order, 65 second by Grimes and the motion was carried on a unanimous voice vote. :-. ( ( r( Board of Works Minutes Cont'd February 24, 1994 Page 3 1 Chairperson Jarvis noted that the order had been issued by the Department of Law, Permits and 2 3 Inspections. He invited anyone who felt they might have any influence to step forward, noting that Nixon Tool had sold the house for$1 back in 1985 to Thompson, an employee and friend of Nixon. He added 4 that Nixon Tool has offered to buy the property back for$1 and would pay for the demolition, however, 5 Thompson has refused the offer. Chairperson Jarvis said it would be a savings to the City if the 6 property would revert to Nixon Tool because the company would pay for demolishing the structure and 7 the taxpayers would not have to foot the bill. He added that he had talked with Nixon Tool on 8 Wednesday, noting that the property is of no value and no one wants to buy it and he would like to see 9 it deeded back to Nixon Tool. 10 11 ADJOURNMENT 12 13 There being no further business, on a motion duly made seconded and passed and carried on a unanimous 14 voice vote,the meeting was adjourned. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Earnest Jarvis, Chairperson 22 23 24 25 26 27 ATTEST: 28 Norma Carnes, Clerk 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65