HomeMy Public PortalAbout03-12-1923 Offi ce of Board. of Public .Forks
City of Richmond , Indiana ,
ripnday March 12th, 1923.
The Board of Public Works of the City of llic#mond , Indiana,met
in regular sessi on at the office of said Board Monday March 12th,
1923, at 9 o' clock A. M; All the members of said Board , Messrs ,
Land , 'McFail and Henley being present . The following proceedings
were 'had , to--wit :
•
The Board unanimously adcoted Improvement Resolution No. 671-1923
For the improvement of both sides of South 11th Street , by con-
structing cement curb & gutter standard width on both sides of
street , from South "E" to • "G" Street.
The Board. unanimously adopted Improvement Resolution No. 674-1923
to improve the aley between North 19th & 20th Street , by construct-
ing a cemene, roadway the full width thereof, from North "E" Street
to Gleh Avenue . • - - •
The Board unanimously adopted Improvement Resolution No.675-1923
To improve the property lying . on the west side of North 15th St ,
by constructing a sanitary sewer in the alley between North 14th
& 15th Street ; Beginning in said alley at North "B" Street , run-
ning thence' s outh in said all ey -to North "A" Street ; thence west
in sidewalk lawn on North "A" Street to North 14th Street sewer.
•
N. H. .Johnson Manager of Richmond Light ; Heat e, Power Co. ap-
peared before the Board relative to installing a swithh track
at their plant , Mr. Johnson was instructed to have his plans
prepared together with necessary agreement and submit the same
to the Board , and they would if satisfactory set a date of hear-
ing of remonstrances , etc . , on said track, and construction of
same . .
The City Civil Engineer was directed to prepare plans etc. for
the construction of' cement sidewalk on north side of North "E"
Street, from North 10th to 12th Street .
•
The Board sign agreement with consumers of electric' current to
be furnished by the City, wi th the property ow: rs residing
on the main road between Chester & Fountain City, Indiana .
Mr. Hess Sup' t. of Light Plant , was directed to notify. various
dealers 3n mazda lamps , to submit bids .for furnishing the City
with lamps necessary for the next year.
The following communication from the School City of Richmond ,
was received,, and order ed spread . on the minutes as fo 11 ows,viz :
,March nth , 1923.
Board. of Publio Works , City of Richmond
Richmond , Indiana •
c/o Walker La'iel , Pre sid ent
•
Gentlemen: •
• At the last meeting of the Board of School Trustees
it was reported that an electric company was asking to run a hith
voltage line through Richmond , that line to extend for some dis-
tance along South 23rd Street.
( cont' d , next page
3q0
Monday March 12th , 1 J2 3. �J
( cunt d,from rage 392 )
It is the opinion of the members of our Board that •a high voltage
line of that Sort wou id be dangerous on a street upon which school
Property abuts . The Board has instructed me to wri to to you expre ss-
ing their opinion in this matter and their hope that permisssion
will not be granted to any company to place a high voltage on 23rd
• street .
Respectfully- yours ,
VVGB/HB • W. G. Bate , Superintendent .
•
The following communication from E. -E. L. & P.P. Sup' t , D. C .Hess ,
was received and ordered spread on the minutes of this meeti rig as
_follows , to-wit :
March 10, 1923
Board of Public Works , •
Gentlemen : -
• Wi th further reference to the proposed franchise to the
• - T.H. I.& . Company for building pole line through City from their
- barns in West iiichmond , along the north side of South "E" Street to
15th Street then along the south side of E Street to 23 d Street ,then
along the wewest sidd e of •!7 d Street to Mar n and along the south side
- of Main to the State line . •
Mr. Davis , the city engi neer , and the wri ter covered this terri tory
ri th Mr. - Jeffery and Mr. Schlesinger of the T.H. I.& E.Company and
we found that 2. Street already had two pole lines almost the entire
length , also that a pole line on the rest side of 23d uoyld go right
by the new school bui lding and that a role line on the south side of
Main would interfere rd th the plans that we already had for our own
line . In addition to th is , the territory near 23d and South E is rap-
idly developing into what will be an exclusive residence district,
therefore, it was the opinion of the city engineer and the writer
that the re should be some other. route selected. We sugge steel to the
traction offi cials that they use South G Street to 14th Street , then
private right of way to the road which would 'be 23d Street, then
north to the intersection- of E and 23d, then east along th-e extension
of E to the Henley hoad, then north to the first read goi ng east, thei
east to the Gaar iio€3ri , then north to the National itioad and east to
the State Line . The traction offi cials were inclined to take the at-
titude that we were unreasonable and abusive when we asked them to
ch ange the it plans .
•
Mr. Harris of the Palladium has employed Mr. Johnson, an attorney
in Indianapolis , to look into the matter of the T.H. I.& E.Fr uachise
and' at Mr Harris ' sugge stio n, Mayor Handley and the wri ter went to
Indianapolis to interview Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson. had already made
it known to .lr. Todd , Fresident of the T.H. I.& B. that he . had been
_ employed in the case and that there was going to be opposition to
their proposed bui ldinge of trans missi on line through our territory
on the grounds that it was feared that the T.H. I.& E. might interfere
with our Muni cipal Light flan.t ' s busi n_ess. Mr. Todd. had gi ven Mr.
Johnson a copy of a franchise vihidh they expected to present to your
body for consid eratio n. It was regular in form for th is sort of a re-
que st , r7 th the exception of one pa rag raph which read substanti ally
as follows :
(cont ' d. next page .
394 Monday March 12th , 1925.
( coat d from page 39F) ) .
"The tarty of the first part herein agrees not to interfere
wi th the 'Municipal Electric Light and Power Comp nyf s Thu sine sa
- vcl thin the ci ty of i'ichmond. "
After carefully studying this proposition and talking with Lir.johns on,
I have arrived at the foil owi rig cone lusions :
•In the first place I am convi need that it would be impossible for
us'. to keep, the T.H. I.E. .Company from bu-i lcli ng the it - line through
the City. Of course , I feel that your body would. be in a position
to nracti ca ily die tate the route they would take . I als o feel that
we need have no fear of their inte rfe r fi ng wi th our busi ne ss with-
in the City but feel that there is nothing that we can do that will
keep them eventually from being in a posi do n to interfere with rnmm
us out side of the City limits . It is reasonable to suppose that it
is the desire of the Tracti on Company to transfer their major vol-
ume of business from the traction business to the lighting and pow-
• er business inasmuch as the traction business is a ,losing proposit-
ion, therefore , from this conclusion it is easy to see that after
. they once get a line through our to r.ri to ry they will apply a con-
stant pressure toward the end' of secuting all of our suburban busi-
ness and that they will be constantly alert for oppertuniti es to
make overtures to the City for taking over our Muni el pal Plants busi-
ness as administrations change from ti me to ti me , until in the end .
it is reasonable to suppose, judging from the history of such pro-
positio ns , there will ' cone a ti me when we will have trouble gt our
Pl .nt and the personnel of the administration wi 11 act along the
lines of the least resistance and make. a connection with the T.H.
I . & E. for temporary or standby servi ce , or it is entirely .prob
--
able that they might go farther and make it possi ble for the T.H.
I. & E. to take over the bu sine ss
It has been suggested that there might be a ti me when a connection
•of this kind would be desirable but I feel when that ti me comes we
would be able to make a connection with • othe r companies to a bets
ter advantage than with the T.H. i.& E.-that is to say, the T.H. I.
& E.would not be able to gi ve us the rates and service that we could
- get with other companies , due to the fact they will always have their
raj lroad ElprtErz investment hanging as a millstone aro and their neck
and they Till not have the advantage of the cheap transportatio n of
coal that other companies , who are now location the it plants on the
Ohio River, wi have.
•
I feel that we should requi re the T.H. I.& E.Company to include in
their contract , that th ey , as well as anyone wi th om they might •
connect will not interfere with our business wi thin the County
granting them the privilege to continue to sell current to Center-
ville as well as other connections they might have in the County at
• this time . It has been suggested thatl.this would not be legal in that
the City does not have the power to regulate outside of the city
limits and that i t would not be le gal due to the fa c t that it was
a restriction of trade or competi ti on. However , granti ng that it is
not legal , I am sure that such a clause would be considered by the •
Commission as well as any court from a standpoint of the intent and
• moral affect. Their attorney indicated that they would be wi fling-
to flak_ e su ch an agreement but I have been advised
( corn'd, )
39
Monday March 12th, 1923. _ 5
by isir. I�a-rris that Pfr. Todd said that they con ld not enter into
such an agreement .
In case that they refuse to en to r into the agreement mentioned
above , I would sugge st that we refuse to grant them a franchise. .
They wi11 then present the nEtter to the Public Service Commissien
nn
and undoubtedly the Public Service Commission will rule that our
findings
are unreasonable and grant th en the privilege to build
through the City. We can then get out a restraining order and the
matte r would come before the Wayne County . C it cult Court . If we
- should lose in court , .we could appeal same to the Superi or Court
of Indiana. In this way it is possible for us to delay their con-
nection two or three years , which would be very disastrous to them
and I feel that th ey would be glad to compromise wi th us before
that ti me .
I also feel that we should offer , in writing' , to furnish the T.H.
I. & E. the pax! er that they claim it is necessary for them to get
from the Dayt on Company, ±.s you know , we have already done this
verbally on several occassi ons.
I also feel that we should. ask the Commission for the privilege to
make the investment of 88 ,000 which we are preparing to make .
This is not ab so lute ly necessary by law inasmuch as we do not have
to issue bonds , but in may be that in the course of two or three -
. years we 71 11' have to make en investment at our -Plant and issue
• bonds and we might be glad to be able to get credit on this inve st-
ment for a bend issue . In this requ est to the Commission, I feel •
that we should set out the fact that i.t being made to enable us to
take care of our present and future busi ne ss within the City and
vi ci nity. In addition, we should show that a part of this invest-
ment is entirely made for the purpose of taking care of suburban
business . In view of the above reasoning , I have prepared a letter
to the Commission and I am presenting it for your approval.
Respectfully submitted,
By
D. C . Hess. -
Together wi. th the above was pr esented the following , to _y,,•;;- :
March 10th , 1923
Public Servi ce Commis sio n of Ihdi aria
State House
Irbdi anapo lis , Indi Ana . - _
- Gentlemen: -
<<�e fi nd it ne ce ssary to make a capital expendi ture of
w88 *COO.00 for the fo 11 owi ng betterments and -imps,ave ment s_ _to our
power station. Located in _i.-ichmoud, Iridi-a (la .
• One--m444i".swI_'t.ohbo'ar=d. ; nst 1:11-dT- crimple to
;;e.mote contro l o:i.l circuit breakers installed complete .
3. Building complete ,approxi tely 37 X. 65 to house oil circuit b 01:
bre akers.
4. une g:enere.,tor vole.,- Fr- reg_latoL installed c°L__elete .
(,Cant' d. next Y_a1de)
•
396 Mar
Mond ay ch 12th , 192 ,
(Pet . to Public Service Commission, cont `d. ) •
5. tine , 75 light arc lamp rectifier set and panel ri-;•nstE.1l?ed.
6. Convert ng fi e7_d rheos fats from hand operated to electrically
ore rated.
7 . Moving of step -up transformers from bui icl.ing to outdoor sub-
station and installing p-rorer , out door type lightning arresters ,
_ J
choke coils , and a iscor.nects. together v,i-th necessary framewor.U_.
8. Installing one 'auto . trans former, 230OP-410C V. 2000 K. V.A. capaci ty.
9. Changing present 13,000. V. transformers to outdoor type
10 . All necessary cables , conduits and concrete work to place out •
-
going lines underground from the plant to a point near •the inter-
section of North 2nd £ "A" Street, also from the Plant to a point
• west on river bank.
In general this is cle eme d necessary by our engi nee rs due to the in-
creasing demand as well as to the increased capacity of our gener-
ati ng equi pment that has already •been installed, thereby making our
circuit breakers inadequate in interrupting capacity . The outdoor
substation with Step-up transformers , etc . , being necessary to prop-
erly take care of our present , as well as increasing, demand from
the Liberty Light &. Power Company to whom we sell current as wen
as other customers ,outside of the corporate limits. .
It IA ill not be necessary to issue bonds to rake this improvement as,
we have a suffi cient• reserve in the general fund . However, we wish •
to place th is matter be fore you in such a way so that in case it is
ne ce ssary for us to issue bonds next year , on contemplated improve -
men ts , we may have the advantage of this capital expenditure and
that it may- be considered by your body in grant ing us privile ges
_for a bond issue at that time . We have prepared detailed estimate
of cost which go to make up the ti88 ,000 improvement . Same has been
approve d by council and the ne ce s sary appropri at is ns made . 4 e will
be glad to present these to you if you deem it nece ssary be fore ap-
proving this investment , or you may check the improvement after
same has been made , which will probably be the first of September
of th i s year.
Kindly advi se us in' the above rr .tter at an early date as it is our
desire to go ahead with the installation at once .
Yours ve ry truly, •
Municipal Electric Lighting and Power Plant .
DOH a DG. ]). C . Hess, Manage r
The Board approved the above reti tion and ordered the same forward-
ed to the Public Servives Commi ssion of Indiana .
The Hoard then adjourned
Attest : = �
Pr t . of �oa rd
Clerk of Board •