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HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-07-2001 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 7,2001 The Common Council of the City of Richmond,Indiana,serving as a Board in chargeof the operations of the Richmond Power&Light Plant met in regular session at 7 p.m.Monday,May 7,2001 in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building in said City.Chairperson Phil Dickman presided with the following Councilmembers in attendance:Howard"Jack"Elstro,Etta Lundy,Bruce Wissel,Karl Sharp,Bing Welch,Larry Parker,Paul Combs and Sarah"Sally"Hutton.The following business was conducted: ROLL CALL Nine present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the meeting of April 16,2001 were approved on a motion by Councilmember Welch,second by Councilmember Parker 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 Combs and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Bills Already Paid: Payroll and Deductions $507,307.89 Investments Purchased From: Cash Operating Fund 600,000.00 Bond Sinking Fund Utility Bond Reserve Fund Depreciation Reserve Fund 91,000.00 Insurance Reserve Fund Consumer Deposit Fund Cash Reserve Fund 181,875.00 Group Insurance Fund Total $ 872,875.00 Telecommunications Division Investments Purchased From: Cash Operating Fund 1,000,000.00 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 $310,676.01 Miscellaneous Prepaid Inv.Telecom: 452,290.01 Total Prepaid Invoices: 3,143,148.91 Total EFT/Direct Deposit of Payroll: (160,650.22) Total Prepaid Invoices: 2,982,498.69 Total EFT Transfers: 1,823,240.00 Total Prepaids plus EFT Transfers: 4,805,738.69 Total Bills Not Paid: 1,470,546.47 Grand Total of Bills to be approved: $6,276,285.16 RP&L Minutes Cont'd • May 7,2001 Page 2 REMARKS BY GENERAL MANAGER General Manager David Osburn made some comments on the amount of the bills which was much larger than usual. He explained that the IMPA purchase power bills are included in this one and also,for accounting reasons which they call purchasing investment,the money that was allocated for telecom which obviously cannot be spent a lot right now so while it is sitting there they are going to invest it and that is$1,000,000.He added that because of transition through the final system some bills were held up so they are being paid. REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON Chairperson Dickman said that earlier this week they had a closing conference with State Board of Accounts and they found no irregularities or problems of any significance.Osbum commented that it is always good to get that confirmation,adding that a lot of the credit for that goes to Tracey Garrett and her staff in the Finance Office. UNFINISHED BUSINESS STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT Councilmember Elstro had no report. REPORT BY GENERAL MANAGER General Manager David Osburn said the low bidder was Balmont Industries and one of the poles didn't meet bid specifications so they were asked to resubmit the correction on that which made the total amount of $240,345.Even after the correction it was well below the next lowest bidder.Councilmember Welch moved to award the bid to Balmont Industries,second by Councilmember Hutton and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Osburn presented the lease agreement between RP&L and the Wayne County Viet Nam Memorial Veteran's Committee for the Board's approval.Bever explained that the term of the lease if for 5 years,however,if RP&L ever needs this property for some other project associated with its business the utility has the right to terminate it with a 180 -day prior of written notice.He said the lease is for$1 per year so it is not a moneymaking venture but is for a liability purpose.He said there is also a 5-year option to renew on the 200 by 360-foot square area running from the railroad bank to the west toward the river.That lease is on file in its entirety at RP&L. During discussion that ensued,Councilmember Parker asked if this lease would also enable some of the other groups to utilize this land.Bever said this lease is with only the Viet Nam Memorial Committee.He said a paragraph could be added that this Board would be willing to look at other groups but it would mean nothing more than what would be said in the minutes that you would look at other areas if other committees representing other wars came in.Osburn said nobody else had approached RP&L with such a request.Chairperson Dickman asked if there is any provision,should RP&L need the land so many years down the road,the removal or moving of any monuments or any type of structure that would be built there. Bever answered that there isn't anything like that in the agreement,however,there is,by inference,since they would be maintaining it and paying for the erection of the monument,the utility would be hard pressed to say that it would become RP&L's.The only thing it would be short on,Bever said,is that if the utility wanted them to take it and they didn't then it could mandate the removal.He said the way the agreement stands now is that the group would have the right to remove any monument or structure that they might place there,then,if they didn't,the utility would have the right to remove it but the utility would be responsible for that cost.He added that if this Board wanted to make sure that the group did remove it at their cost then the language should be added. Councilmember Welch said he didn't see any reason to hold this since the utility has been tossing this move around for a long time and moved to approve the lease agreement as presented with the condition that the amendment be added that should the lease be canceled by either party that the removal of any permanent monuments be at the expense of the lease,second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Osburn requested the Board's approval to amend the 2001 Capital Budget to include the pre-engineering costs of the SCR unit to be installed at the Whitewater Valley Generating Station.He explained that the Board had earlier in the year authorized RP&L to proceed with Black&Veach to proceed with some of the engineering work but never came back and amended the budget.He said what this amounts to is a little housekeeping to allocate some money in the utility's capital budget to start paying for engineering costs.What he's asked for,Osburn said,is to add$800,000 for this item,adding that he doesn't know if all of that would be needed but that would cover the initial phase of the engineering and allow for additional funds if the utility wanted to continue with more work in that area. Councilmember Wissel moved to approve the amendment to add$800,000 to the Capital Budget,second by • Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Osburn asked the Board to authorize the receipt of bids for one 2001 2-door extended cab 4 WD full size pickup to replace a 1985 GMC pickup truck with 58,969 miles as approved in the 2001 budget.Councilmember Hutton so moved,second by Councilmember Combs and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Another request by Osburn was to ask the Board for authorization to receive bids for one 2001 complete bucket truck to replace a 1992 Bucket Truck with 134,430 miles as approved in the 2001 budget.Councilmember Elstro so moved, second by Councilmember Welch and the motion was carried on a voice vote. Bob Crye,RP&L's Power Production Manager,touched on the major aspects of the outages for Unit No. 1 and Unit No.2.He said they restarted No. 1 on March 30 and it's ready for the summer run.He said they took Unit No.2 off line on April 14 through April 27,replacing rolls and liners which is common work that has to be done every six months or so. RP&L Minutes Cont'd May 7,2001 Page 3 In response to a question by Councilmember Welch,Crye acknowledged that all of this is just normal springtime/fall outages.He said a lot of the work was done by RP&L employees and he expressed his appreciation for their hard work.Osbum also added his words of appreciation to the employees. Osburn added that he had given Board members copies of the E.P.R.I.annual report just received and passed along A.P.P.A.'s educational partnership survey which showed what different communities around the country are doing in their schools and educational institutions.He said RP&L is in that survey and he feels the utility compared very well with what others around the country are doing.He said a lot of RP&L employees donate their time in the schools serving as mentors and study buddies. NEW BUSINESS There was none. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed,the meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Phil Dickman,Chairperson ATTEST: _ Norma Schroeder,Clerk