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Home My Public Portal About05-06-2002 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND,INDIANA,SERVING AS A BOARD IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION OF THE RICHMOND POWER&LIGHT PLANT MONDAY,MAY 6,2002 The Common Council of the City of Richmond,Indiana,serving as a Board in charge of the operations of the Richmond Power&Light Plant met in regular session at 7 p.m.Monday,May 6,2002 in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building in said City.Chairperson Larry Parker presided with the following Councilmembers in attendance: Howard"Jack"Elstro,Etta J.Lundy,Karl Sharp,Bing Welch,Bruce Wissel,Paul Combs,Phil Dickman and Sarah "Sally"Hutton. The following business was conducted: ROLL CALL Nine present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the April 15,2002 regular meeting were approved on a motion by Councilmember Hutton,a second by Councilmember Welch and carried on a voice vote. APPROVAL OF BILLS,INVESTMENTS AND TRANSFERS Upon recommendation of the Finance Committee,Councilmember Hutton moved to approve the following bills for payment,seconded by Councilmember Dickman and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Bills Already Paid: Payroll and Deductions $ 273,653.09 273,653.09 Investments Purchased From: Cash Operating Fund Bond Sinking Fund Utility Bond Reserve Fund Depreciation Reserve Fund 182,000.00 Insurance Reserve Fund Consumer Deposit Fund Cash Reserve Fund 356,618.00 Group Insurance Fund Total $ 538,618.00 Telecommunications Division Investments Purchased From: Cash Operating Fund Transfer from Cash Operating Fund to: Cash Reserve Fund for Payment To City in lieu of taxes Transfer from Cash Operating Fund to: Depreciation Reserve Fund For Property&Plant Transfers from Depreciation Reserve to: Cash Operating Fund Transfers from Consumer Deposit to: Cash Operating Fund Transfers from Utility Bond Reserve Fund to: Bond Sinking Fund Transfers from Cash Operating to: Interest and Bond Principal Bond Sinking Fund Cash Reserve Fund Utility Bond Sinking Fund Depreciation Reserve Fund Insurance Reserve Fund Consumer Deposit Fund Interest and Bond Principal End of Month Petty Cash Revenue Bonds Interest Coupons Redeemed Interest Coupons Redeemed Bond Coupons Miscellaneous Prepaid Invoices $ 241,692.16 Miscellaneous Prepaid Inv.Telecom: 30,208.34 Total Prepaid Invoices: 1,084,171.59 Total EFT/Direct Deposit of Payroll: (96,128.08) Total Prepaid Invoices: 988,943.51 Total EFT Transfers: 1,850,310.65 Total Prepaids plus EFT Transfers: 2,838,354.16 Total Bills Not Paid: 1,053,679.16 Grand Total of Bills to be approved: $ 3,892,033.32 RP&L Minutes Cont'd May 6,2002 Page 2 REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON Chairperson Parker had no remarks. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was none. STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT Councilmember Elstro said he had petitions for street lights in the 3400 and 3500 block of Wynfield and 5 for Rosewood in the 800 and 900 block and 4 in Breckenridge in the 3400 block.He said the petitions were signed 11/6/01 and Councilmember Sharp received them April 16,2002,and he got them April 22,2002.He said he would give them to David Osburn to take to RP&L for further action. REPORT BY GENERAL MANAGER General Manager David Osbum requested authorization from the Board to receive quotations on one 2002 4-wheel drive SUV to replace a 1991 Chevy Blazer with more than 100,000 miles. Councilmember Wissel moved to authorize the General Manager to receive the quotations mentioned above,second by Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Osburn explained that when RP&L took over the First Bank Connect internet operation there were some of its customers provided connection called an ISDN circuit,which is a circuit leased from Verizon and re-sold.Given the fact that RP&L received authorization from IURC as a competitive local exchange carrier it puts them in a completely different category than what First Bank Connect was.He said that since that is the case RP&L is actually required to file rates for those ISDNs so this is somewhat of a formality as far as RP&L is concerned. Rich Cody,director of telecommunications at RP&L,continued to explain that there are only three rates that are actually filed with the Commission. In answer to a question by Councilmember Wissel,Osburn said these are wires that RP&L doesn't own so they are phone wires that are leased from Verizon and re-sold.Councilmember Parker asked if this indicates any rate increase or decrease or are these present rates that are being charged.Cody answered that the rate that RP&L inherited from the ISDN customers from First Bank were all over the board so they are trying to create a rate that is fair and equitable for all parties. Councilmember Dickman moved to authorize the RP&L management to file the ISDN re-sell rates with IURC, second by Councilmember Wissel and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Cody said they have found that other companies have offered these ISDN customers discounted rates and RP&L is proposing offering a 10 percent discount across the board for bankwidth so they would actually ask to file would be at 10 percent based upon whatever bandwidth rate is currently posted with the Commission.In answer to a question by Councilmember Welch,Cody said regular subscribers would not be offered the 10 percent discount.Osburn added that this is solely for competitive reasons. Councilmember Welch moved to authorize the RP&L management to submit to the IURC a rate filing for 10 percent discount rate for governmental,educational and not for profit subscribers,second by Councilmember Sharp and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Osburn said the usual spring outage at Whitewater for maintenance is going fairly well,and last week both units were off so a stack inspection could be done and the results of that were extremely good.He said they did find one item on Unit No. 1 that is going to require some immediate attention because they found significant corrosion and damage in the one of the feed water heaters.He said that since that finding that problem,plans are to replace it this fall. He added that they had budgeted the replacement of the feed water heater on the other unit thinking that it was starting to show some wear and this would be a good year to do it.However,this could be held off another year,and with the Board's approval the thought is to use those funds to replace the one that has the problem.He said if the Board agrees with that,a notation change could be made in budget saying that instead of replacing the feed water heaters on Unit 2, they would do that on Unit 1 this year.He said he would report back to the Board at its next meeting on the status of that recommendation. Osburn said he had reported at a previous meeting that IURC had issued an order rescinding and voiding the limitations and liabilities for utilities for outages but they have since rescinded that order.He also said coal prices have come down and the utility is finalizing their contracts with the new suppliers,noting that there is good news on their bids for the second half of the year because they had about 23 different companies bid which is fantastic to get that kind of selection.He said they even had a bid by a company in South America.He said the estimate is that coal will probably be around$3.50 a ton which is a dramatic drop from the first half of the year.Whether that holds or not will depend on how hot the summer is.He said that drop in the cost of coal would save RP&L around$500,000 to$600,000. Councilmember Welch mentioned that in the May/June issue of Public Power magazine there is an article on Page 66 relating to RP&L and the community involvement of the utility and its employees.Osburn said it was good to see that kind of recognition for the employees who go into schools for the mentor program and study buddies.He said that Mike Elstro was at the Governor's mansion this past weekend picking up RP&L's Tree Line USA award,adding that this is the third consecutive year for that award. • RP&L Minutes Cont'd May 6,2002 Page 3 NEW BUSINESS There was none. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed,the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Larry Parker,Chairperson ATTEST: Norma Schroeder,Clerk