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HomeMy Public PortalAbout03-20-2000 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 T MONDAY,MARCH 20,2000 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,March 20,2000 in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building in said City.Chairperson Bing Welch presided with the following Councilmembers in attendance:Howard"Jack"Elstro,Etta J.Lundy,Bruce Wissel,Karl Sharp,Larry Parker,Paul Combs,Phil Dickman and Sarah"Sally"Hutton.The following business was conducted: ROLL CALL Nine present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the February 22 and March 6,2000 meetings were approved on a motion by Councilmember Hutton, second by Councilmember Parker and 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 Wissel and the motion was carried by voice vote. Bills Already Paid: Payroll and Deductions $238,978.90 Investments Purchased From: Cash Operating Fund Bond Sinking Fund Utility Bond Reserve Fund Depreciation Reserve Fund Insurance Reserve Fund Consumer Deposit Fund Cash Reserve Fund Group Insurance Fund Total Investments 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 $94,774.15 Total Prepaid Invoices 333,753.05 Total EFT/Direct Deposit of Payroll: (73,838.72) Total Prepaid Invoices: 259,914.33 Total EFT Transfers: 71,199.60 Total Prepaids plus EFT Transfers: 331,113.93 Total Bills Not Paid: 749,915.12 Grand Total of Bills to be approved: $1,081,029.05 RP&L Minutes Cont'd March 20,2000 Page 2 REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON Chairperson Welch requested that Board members mark their calendars for a meeting at 7 p.m.Monday,March 27,to review the feasibility study of the landfill gas project and for 6 p.m.Thursday,March 30 for a closed executive session. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was none. STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT Councilmember Elstro reported that everything is fine as far as the streetlights are concerned. Councilmember Hutton thanked RP&L and the City for the streetlights on South West 1st Street. REPORT BY GENERAL MANAGER General Manager David Osburn said both bids received for the 2000 Digger Derrick met specifications and the Altech bid of$138,238 was the lowest and he recommended the Board approve that bid,adding that there are two modifications they would like to add at a cost of$1,650.He explained that those modifications include moving the exhaust from the sidewalk side to the street side and move the shift off the floor to the dash allowing room to seat an additional person.These modifications,he said,would bring the total to$139,888,which would still be well below the other bid.Councilmember Elstro moved to accept the bid of Altech of Indianapolis,second by Councilmember Lundy and the motion was carried. Osbum said this Board needed to approve the process of selling RP&L property adjacent to Williamsburg Pike and Progress Drive.City Attorney Bob Bever explained that any property owned by a City,if it is over$25,000 appraised value,has to have a pre-approval hearing,public notice so that if anybody wants to speak in favor or against selling it, they may do so.Therefore,he said,this Board could move to authorize tonight the sale of the property.Then,he said,if the Board wanted to go a step further as far as the procedure to utilize,there are actually three types which include: public auction which would have to bring at least 90 percent of the appraised price,opening a bid period and taking bids which would then require 90 percent of the appraised price or sell it privately,but it would have to bring at least 100 percent of the appraised price,plus,that procedure could only be used if the sale is for an economic development project and/or compatible land use procedures. Bever said tie second part of the motion,if they choose to do so,would be to also approve a method of sale of going forward.He said the Board would still have to approve any specific sale of the parcel or parcels if it chose to do it in more than one and that would come back to the Board at a later date for that specific approval.He concluded by saying that this Board tonight is having input by the public as to whether they sell it or not,if they want to vote on it,then plus the procedure. Chairperson Welch invited questions or motions pertaining to the advisability of selling the property.Councilmember Elstro said he had a call asking if that is all in one or could someone put up an office building there?Bever said it is zoned manufacturing so that would be permissible.Councilmember Parker moved to approve the sale of the RP&L property as long as it meets appraised value or more,second by Councilmember Lundy.With that motion on the table, Chairperson Welch asked for public input.There were no comments from the audience.The motion was carried on a unanimous roll call vote.Chairperson Welch said the Board would accept the bids anytime between now and the April 3 meeting. Osburn introduced the first reading of Resolution No. 1—2000,authorizing the filing of a petition with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for authority to provide telecommunications services.Reading the resolution was Deputy Clerk Myra Miller.(The resolution in its entirety is on file in the Clerk's office.) Osburn commented on the resolution,saying that this is a response to changing business environment in both the electric utilities and the community in general.He said already having extensive fiber optic facilities in place it almost makes sense for RP&L to find a way to provide additional services to the Richmond area and this avenue is what needs to be taken in order to have authority to provide some of those services to get the certificate of territorial authority from the IURC before the utility can proceed.He said this is something that has actually become quite common throughout the country,adding that many municipal electric utilities are doing this.He said it helps support the electric utility in providing these additional services to its customers with the advent of de-regulation spreading throughout the country.He said it also,in most cases,has enhanced the local communities' telecommunications services and has really improved the communities from an economic development standpoint to have such services available. Osburn said he wanted to make it perfectly clear that this is not cable tv and not telephone.The route RP&L is requesting to take with this resolution,he said,is to go ahead and file with the commission and see if that group would give the local utility the authority to provide these services.He added that RP&L would be the first municipal electric utility in the state to do this so it would be something new for the commission to address.He said RP&L would not be the first electric utility to do this,adding that he knows of three either already have approval or currently have a filing in the process.So,he said,electric utilities doing this is not new,but here in the state of Indiana,a municipal electric utility would be.Through the filing with the commission,assuming that authority is granted,he said,RP&L would come back Uo this Board with a much more clearly outlines business plan and outline of the services and what they would be recommended to be offered for. Explaining the language in the resolution pertaining to hiring a consultant,Osbum said it makes sense to hire someone on a contract basis to work full-time to deal with the commission,to deal with the regulatory and legal issues to make sure this is done right. RP&L Minutes Cont'd March 20,2000 Page 3 Councilmember Combs asked Osbum if he had any way of knowing how supportive the Richmond Community Schools and the institutions dealing in higher education are to this move.Osburn answered that they had been in touch with these and other organizations which have a need for a local network to do some distance learning,some video work and to hook up their computer networks together.He said part of this would provide that service to them and RP &L has been working with them for some time but now they need more if they really want to accomplish their goals, and that is somebody to actually help them provide the service.However,he said,once you do that you cross over a boundary and that means becoming a telecommunications provider.He said they have gone as far as they can go on working with those groups until they receive the authority they need. Osbum said what this would do would give RP&L the authority to provide additional services which would allow it to increase a product offering to the schools and the educational community which would significantly improve some of the services and capabilities of the schools.He said he has found them extremely supportive,adding that he would invite them to attend the next meeting to speak to the Board.Councilmember Dickman said the Main Street technology initiative would fit in quite nicely with this.He said he has heard comments from local economic development officials who have said almost every business that now is looking to relocate within the community or expand they want to know more about what the local fiberoptics facilities can do and what is available right now is not very extensive.He said he feels this is a positive step for the community and RP&L. Osburn said RP&L does get a lot of requests for access to its fiber facilities and they just have to put them off because they don't have the authority to offer some of those services. Councilmember Sharp asked how far out into the county is he talking about.Osbum said initially,the utility is talking within its service area,but since they are going to go to the trouble to file with the state,the thought was to go ahead and request approval for the entire county.Down the road,he said they might go back and request additional territory. He urged the Board to keep in mind that the electric and the telecommunications would be separate functions within the company.Osbum said he feels it would be best to hold the resolution over for action until the next meeting and Bever commented that he felt they would be better off with the IURC to put it off until another time for any public input. Osburn reported briefly on streetlights,saying they had completed the last section of Meadow Park,and on the new bridge,after working with the Mayor,the City agreed to put up a more decorative streetlights on the bridge,adding that he expected that work to begin soon.He also reported briefly on the outages experienced last week and apologized to RP&L customers for those unpreventative failures.Chairperson Welch pointed out an error in the resolution,in the next to last paragraph on the first page,noting that the word used is"forn,"which should be amended to"from."Bever said he had already made that notation to correct that. NEW BUSINESS There was none. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed,the meeting was adjourned. Bing Welch,Chairperson ATTEST: Norma Schroeder,Clerk