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HomeMy Public PortalAbout11-14-1984 • BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, NOVEMBER 14 , 1984 1 The- Board of Public Works and Safety of the City of- Richmond, Indiana, met in 2 regular session November 14, 1984 at the hour of 9:00 A.M. in the Municipal 3 Building in said City. Ms. Maness presided with Mr. Brown and Ms. Silberstein 4 in attendance. The following business- was had to—wit: 5 6 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 8, 1984 7 8 Ms. Silberstein moved to approve the minutes of the previous with the 9 following correction: Page 2 Lines 54 and 55 — The Police Department items 10 should be declared saleable not obsolete, seconded by Mr. Brown and on 11 unanimous voice vote the motion was carried. 12 13 CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT 14 15 Ms. Maness stated there are no claims for payment due to an early meeting. 16 17 INTRODUCTION OF STUDENTS ACTING AS DEPARTMENT HEADS 18 19 Department Heads introduced their acting Department Heads for the day. 20 This is through the Optimist Youth Week Activites . 21 22 DEPARTMENT REQUESTS AND COMMENTS 23 24 .FINANCE 25 26 Awarding of bid to NCR for computer upgrade system 27 28 Ms. Maness recommended to the Board that the Bid of NCR be accepted as follows: 29 30 Optional Part A for a cost of 92,832.07, buy out of existing equipment 31 'at 25,796.75 , Part B 'at 7;066.79.:and-,the City will purchase one (1) 32 additional CRT. - 33 34 Ms. Silberstein moved that the Board o.-f .Public. Works- and Safety of the City 35 of Richmond acting for the Richmond Sanitary District and the Civil' City 36 accept the bid as recommended from NCR, seconded by Mr. Brown and on unanimous • 37 voice vote the motion was carried. 38 39 Declaration of obsolete items 40 41 Ms. Maness presented the list of obsolete items from the City Building, Street 42 Depantinent: and the Police Department for action. Ms. Silberstein moved to 43 declare these items obsolete, seconded by Mr: Brown and. on unanimous voice vote 44 the motion was carried. 45 46 Ms. Maness presented a list of three (3) vehicles from the Police Department 47 that should be declared of no value and obsolete in order to be junked. 48 Ms. Silberstein moved to declared these items of no value and obsolete, 49 seconded by Mr. Brown and on unanimous voice vote the motion was carried. 50 51 PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • 52 53 Approval of Change Order No. 4 for the Northwest T Street Project 54 55 Ms. Maness explained that this is the final change order on this project and is 56 a decrease of 1,057.11 for a total project cost of 155,071.91. This change 57 order deals with decrease of funds spent in street -materials . 58 59 Ms. Silberstein moved to approve and' execute Change Order No. 4, seconded by 60 Mr. Brown and on unanimous voice vote the motion was carried. 61 • 62 REPORT FROM CABLE TV 63 64 Mr. Rich Cody, Manager of the local cable company introduced Mr. Chuck McMann, 65 Marilyn Young and Mr. Don Morris, the area'manager for .'- Board of Works Minutes Cont 'd. November 14, 1984 Page 2 1 Mr. Don Morris stated that he was prepared to address the Board regarding their - 2 questions on the local cable station. Ms. Maness reminded Mr. Morris that the 3 Board had requested a written report from the Cable Company and further stated 4 that the Board expects the written report to be filed and made a part of their 5 minutes. 6 • 7 Mr. Morris indicated that he would address the questions in person today and 8 would follow with a written report. 9 10 Six questions had been forwarded to Mr. Morris for reply and each were addressed Tl as follows: 12 13 1. How long will the retrofit rebuild take? Mr. Morris stated that they are 14 working with 400 miles of cable plant and weather permitting that would be 15 completed June 1, 1985. 16 17 2. Extension of cable service to the Reeveston Area. Mr. Morris stated that 18 easement problems were being worked out -and that this project had been included 19 in the 1985 capital budget and approved. Work will start with the spring thaw. 20 21 3. Correcting the problem with Charm _ 13 without shifting the chapel. Mr. 22 Morris stated they would be requesting the FCC to allow them to offset this 23 frequency to avoid the interference, but that this was rarely allowed. The only 24 other alternative would be to relocate Channel 13. This request will be submitted 25 to the FCC within two (2) weeks. 26 27 4. Plans for expansion. Mr. Morris stated that in 1985 he wanted to work with 28 the Board of Works regarding expansion plans. After expansion plans are completed 29 the cable should be capable of handling thirty (30) channels and that six (6) 30 to eight (8) channels would be added for local viewers. Mr. Morris also stated 31 that with plans to upgrade and move ahead they would also be discussing their 32 return on their investment and possible rate increases. 33 34 Mr. Morris told the Board that he has heard talk in the past about the City 35 purchasing the local Cable Company and wanted to make it very clear that the 36 company is not for sale. Mr. Morris reminded the Board of the passage of Senate 37 Bill 66 which was passed this fall and stipulates that Cities cannot regulate. 38 rates charged by the cable industry. This portion: of the Bill will become effective 39 at the end of two (2) years. 40 41 5. Continual management turnover within local cable company. Mr. Morris stated 42 that this was an internal business matter and would not comment any further. 43 44 6. Meeting the requirements in the franchise agreement for local government 45 and public access channels. Mr. Morris told the Board that sometime in the past 46 the City had opted for the weather radar station instead of an access channel 47 and that currently no channels were available to provide an educational access 48 channel. The weather channel is a subscription channel and Mr. Barden stated 49 that he feels this will not meet the requirements for a government or educational 50 access channel. Mr. Morris told the Board that possibly they may want to look 51 into better utilizing this channel. ' - 52 53 Ms. Silberstein asked Mr. Morris if subscribers can expect clear uninterrupted 54 service with the completion of the retrofit rebuild. Mr. Morris indicated that 55 there will always be interference. He cautioned the Board about interference 56 between the cable company and the subscribers with their policy regarding cable 57 complaints. He stated that the subscriber should go directly to the cable with 58 complaints and not a city official since complaints are the main way they realize 59 trouble exists. 60 61 Ms. Maness stated the policy of this Board was not interference, but to allow 62 persons with. repefitive problems a change to document those problems with the 63 City. All callers are encouraged to call the cable before any complaints are 64 taken. Ms. Maness also asked Mr. Morris why the educational and government access 65 channel cannot be met if the local cable is capable of twenty—one (21) channels . Board of Works Minutes Cont 'd November 14, 1984 Page 3 1 Mr. Barden stated that the cable company should have come back to the city 2 and updated. the contract if they were only capable of nineteen (19) channels. 3 The contract specifically calls for twenty (20) channels. Mr. Barden stated . 4 that if there is a possibility of twenty-one (21) channels and even though III5 one (1) was declared unusable by the FCC there still remains a channel to be 6 used for public access since the weather, channel is part of the nineteen (19) . 7 8 Mr. Morris stated that he feels the Cable Company is in compliance with the 9 contract since they are capable of broadcasting on twenty (20) channels. 10 • 11 Mr. Barden stated that he feels they are in non-compliance with th'e contract 12 since they are only broadcasting on nineteen (19) channels and that it was 13 the responsibility of the Cable Company to come to the city and renegotiate 14 the contract if they could not meet the terms. • 15 16 ' Ms. Silberstein stated that the Board was interested in the Cable 17 Company providing good cable service to all areas of the city on the existing 18 channels, expansion of existing channels, overall quality service and public 19 access: 20 21 Mr-. Bodiker told Mr. Morris that he had quoted the portions of Senate Bill 22 66 that were of interest to the cable industry and that cities can purchase 23 cable ,companies at fair market value. Mr. Bodiker also stated that this was 24 the fourth (4) time this year that he has heard committments to do better. 25 26 Ms. Morris stated that she felt like Mr. Cody and Ms. Young had dealt with 27 the community in good faith and that Mr. Morris was being insulting to the 28 Board of Works by threatening them with Senate Bill 66 and yet requesting 29 the cooperation of the-Board. Ms. Morris told Mr. Morris that the 'current III30 administration had made no attempt to purchase the Cable Company. 31 32 Ms. Silberstein told Mr. Morris that since he considered each channel vital 33 that the community considers the twentieth channel vital also. 34 35 Ms. Maness reminded Mr. Morris that a written report had been requested and 36 that the Cable Company was not acting in good faith. 37 3 8- Ms. Brookbank stated that the people living in the Reeveston area want committments 39 for good service since they are' having to cooperate in the giving of easements. 40 She also told Mr. Morris that she has received many unsolicited complaints 41 ' regarding the local staff being rude to subscribers. 42 43 Mr. Homer-Maddock, TV Coordinator for the Richmond Community Schools, told 44 the Board that the schools have not had their access channel since the construction 45 for the new Tiernan Center began. At that time an underground cable was cut 46 and the local Cable Company was unable to repair the cable. Mr. Maddock stated 47 that the schools had requested quotes on the repair several times and had always 48 received excuses. It was not until June of 1984 that Mr. Maddock was told 49 that the weather channel had replaced the access channel and they would not 50 promise another access channel for the schools: He was told they would only 51 get the access channel with the addition of channels after the upgrade. 52 53 Ms. Silberstein thanked Mr. Morris for his cooperation with the Board. 54 . ill5.5 Ms. Silberstein then moved to request the Cable Company to provide the Board 56 of Works with a written report within two (2) weeks from this date,- seconded . 57 by Mr. Brown and on unanimous voice vote the motion was carried. • 58 59 Mr. Morris stated he would prepare a written response 'and was willing to work 60 with the City. . 61 • 62 Ms. Maness told Mr. Cody that the Board would be glad to accept -his invitation 63 to tour the local facility and wanted to be involved in channel selection with 64 the upgrading of the facility. 65 • Board of Works Minutes Cont'd November 14, 1984 Page 4. 1 MEETING DATE CHANGED TO NOVEMBER 21, 1984 2 3 Ms. Maness reminded the public that the next meeting of the Board would be 4 Wednesday, November 21, 1984 due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. 5 6 ADJOURNMENT 7 Ill 8 There being no further business on a motion duly made, seconded and passed the 9 meeting was adjourned. 10 11 12 Cathy A. Maness 13 President 14 15 ATTEST: Mary Merchanthouse 16 City Clerk 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 97 28 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