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HomeMy Public PortalAbout05-03-1993 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 3.1993 1 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana, serving as a Board in charge of the operations of the 2 Richmond Power& Light Plant met in regular session at 7 p.m. Monday,June 1, 1992 in the Municipal Building in 3 said City. Chairperson Brookbank presided with the following Councilmembers in attendance: Elstro, Lundy, 4 Donat, McBride,Parker, Allen, Dickman and Hutton. The following business was had to-wit: 5 6 ROLL CALL 7 8 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 19.1993 9 10 Councilmember McBride moved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as prepared, seconded by 11 Councilmember Donat and on unanimous voice vote the motion was carried. 12 13 APPROVAL OF BILLS. INVESTMENTS AND TRANSFERS 14 15 Upon recommendation of the Finance Committee, Councilmember Allen moved to approve the following bills for 16 payment after reading the amounts,seconded by Councilmember McBride and on unanimous voice vote the 17 motion carried. 18 19 Bills Already Paid 20 Payroll and Deductions 213,263.54 21 22 23 Investments Purchased From: 24 Cash Operating Fund 2,500,000.00 25 Bond Sinking Fund 26 Utiity Bond Reserve Fund 27 28 Depreciation Reserve Fund 91,718.03 Insurance Reserve Fund 29 Consumer Deposit Fund 30 Cash Reserve Fund 138,584.93 31 Group Insurance Fund 32 33 Total Investments 2,730,302.96 34 35 36 Transfer to City in Lieu of Taxes: 37 38 Transfer from Cash Operating Fund to: 39 Payroll Deduction Fund 40 41 42 Transfers from Depreciation Reserve to: - 43 Cash Operating Fund 44 45 Transfers from Consumer Deposit to: 46 Cash Operating Fund 47 48 Transfers from Utility Bond Reserve Fund to; 49 Bond Sinking Fund 50 51 Transfers from Cash Operating : 52 Interest and Bond Principal 53 Bond Sinking Fund 54 Cash Reserve Fund 55 Utility Bond Sinking Fund 56 Depreciation Reserve Fund 57 Insurance Reserve Fund 58 Consumer Deposit Fund 59 60 Interest and Bond Principal 61 62 End of Month Petty Cash 63 Revenue Bonds 64 Interest Coupons Redeemed 65 Bond Coupons Miscellaneous Bills Already Paid 1,748,563.46 Total prepaid invoices 4,692,129.96 Total Bills Not Paid 626,174.11 Grand Total 5,318,304.07 RP&L Minutes Cont'd May 3, 1993 Page 2 1 REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON 2 3 None were made 4 5 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 6 7 Directing her remarks to General Manager Irving Huffman, Chairperson Brookbank said as she was reading 8 through the agreement with the union there was some confusion on exactly how the terms in the contract were 9 determined. She asked him to walk through the negotiations,tell who the participants were and who signed off on 10 the contract dated Oct. 1, 1992. 11 12 Huffman said the agreement which went through last fall is the same one that has gone through in the years 13 before since there was a union contract in 1935. He said it has represented employees since 1972. Present at the 14 negotiations were those people elected by the employees to represent them, union representatives from 15 Indianapolis and RP & L department heads. Historically, Huffman said, the first drafting of the first contract was 16 done with Reid Sisson and at least 10 negotiations have been held this way. An agreement is arrived at that the 17 membership must approve as well as the Board of Directors. Huffman said he called each of the Board members 18 personally to get his or her vote as to whether or not it was acceptable and received all votes in the affirmative 19 which indicated the proceedings could move forward with RP & L accepting the negotiated offer, the employees 20 voting to accept it and the contracts signed. 21 22 Chairperson Brookbank noted that while going through the minutes of the RP & L Board meetings she found no 23 record of members voting on the contract.That, she said, brought up the question as to whether the contract was 24 null and void if the vote was not taken in a meeting. 25 26 Huffman responded that it was his feeling that the Board would not want to make null and void a contract that had 27 been represented to the employees as being acceptable. When Councilmember Allen said she had not been 28 called for a vote Huffman recalled that she had been out of town. Chairperson Brookbank said when she was 29 called she was told it was only a 3 percent wage increase, then when she read in the book containing the 30 agreement, she found that the 3 percent was for 1993 and an additional 3 percent in 1994. Huffman responded 31 that it was a two-year negotiated contract. Chairperson Brookbank said she didn't understand that. He 32 commented that every contract that has been negotiated has been a two-year contract. 33 34 Chairperson Brookbank said that in former times only five Board members had participated in an"exit conference 35 of a union agreement and she did not recall in the past four or six years that they had had a conference with 36 Sisson. Huffman responded that the primary thing accomplished at this union negotiation was wag and no change 37 had been made in the areas of fringe benefits. Councilmember McBride suggested that the issue be brought on 38 the floor in the future. Huffman said in the past he has tried to keep the Board informed and have a committee to 39 discuss the negotiations then at the end after the proposal is made bring it before the Board for a vote but not a 40 formal floor vote. He said historically, from the beginning, each Board member has been contacted individually 41 because wage negotiation is something that he feels shouldn't go through the newspaper. 42 43 Chairperson Brookbank said her concern is that this will possibly be the third year the city employees will be 44 receiving no pay increases and she had told Huffman that the budget was going to be a tight budget. Huffman 45 said he recalled that Brookbank told him to hold the line but negotiations across the country with utilities have 46 been 3 to 4 percent and when he asked the Board member he contacted if they thought that was fair they agreed 47 that it was. Councilmember Elstro commented that in past years the Board did not want to be in on the 48 negotiations themselves. Chairperson Brookbank said she thought the Board needed to get together and listen to 49 Sisson, the labor attorney. In answer to her question as to whether anything can be done about the issue now, 50 Milligan said it was too late, but suggested that in the future that the Board adopt the contract in a full Board 51 meeting, adding that it is probably the most significant contract the Board will have in a two-year period and the 52 amount of money involved certainly requires a full Board to meet and discuss it and adopt it in a formal manner. 53 54 STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT 55 56 Councilmember McBride reported that he met with Robert Hankosky and the two of them had gone to Dana 57 Parkway and agreed that two lights should come down in the abandoned part of the street. The suggestion was 58 that the two on the south side should stay but the two on the north side should be removed. Huffman said he had 59 to receive an order from the Board of Works to do that. Councilmember McBride asked City Clerk Norma Carnes 60 if she would see that the Board of Works was advised of the situation. 61 62 MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS 63 64 None. 65 RP&L Minutes Cont'd May 3, 1993 Page 3 1 REPORT BY GENERAL MANAGER 2 3 General Manager Iry ing Huffman announced that he had received bids for a cargo van which had been 4 advertised in the Palladium-Item on April 22 and April 29. Councilmember Hutton moved to accept the publisher's 5 affidavit he submitted,second by Councilmember Parker and the motion was carried by a unanimous voice vote. 6 7 Huffman opened the two bids received.The first,from Studebaker-Buick GMC Navistar Inc.was for$17,211 with 8 an estimated delivery date of from 8 to 12 weeks.The second,from Fred First Ford,was for$17,033.60 and an 9 alternate bid was for$16,416 with a delivery date from 30 to 90 days. Bids were referred to Huffman for 10 evaluation and recommendation through a motion by Councilmember Allen,second by Councilmember Dickman 11 and carried by a unanimous voice vote. 12 13 Huffman read a letter he had drafted and sent in response to the Citizens Finance Advisory Committee. (Letter in 14 RP& L file).Copies were sent to the Committee,the RP&L Board of Directors, Mayor Roger Cornett and City 15 Attorney Thomas Milligan. 16 17 At the conclusion of the reading of the letter, Councilmember Dickman said Councilmember Allen and he were 18 involved in the drafting of the findings of that committee and he didn't know the subject was on the agenda tonight 19 and time was running out. He said he felt a lot of things needed to be discussed and in some ways the General 20 Manager had made the same mistake he had accused the committee of making and that was in not checking 21 before he wrote such a report and made it public. He said he feels a discussion is needed at a later date. 22 Councilmember Allen added her comments,that the report was presented to the Mayor and no action was taken 23 and maybe mone would ever be. Included in the report,she said,were only suggestions made by the committee 24 for his consideration. Huffman said he was concerned that the report had been highly publicized and many of the 25 things cast a tremendous amount of discredit to RP& L,the management and the Board. He said he felt those 26 things should be addressed and it was his thought that the only way to do it properly was by reading it to this 27 Board in this meeting because he felt the news media would not carry it to the same extent and with the same 28 vehemency as they did in reporting the findings of the Citizens Advisory Committee. 29 30 Huffman said he had given all the Board members materials concerning the cable television project prepared by 31 the firm of Ice Miller Donadio& Ryan of Indianapolis. Included in the materials, he said, is the petition of taxpayers 32 regarding the project,the articles of incorporation,by laws for the holding corporation and a form of an ordinance. 33 He said the document is very complete,containing many different items that he feels the Board shoudl go over in 34 detail. (See these in the RP& L file).Huffman suggested either Downs or Emison from the law firm could meet 35 with the Board and answer any questions members have about the material. It was Huffman's suggestion that the 36- meeting take place at the meeting held normally on the fourth Monday of the month at RP&L. 37 38 Milligan stated that this Board would not be involved in those steps, adding that the Common Council is the only 39 body that can do those things.The Board members, Milligan said, will be meeting as a Common Council after 40 adopting the ordinance that is on the agenda of the meeting immediateldy following the RP&L Board meeting. 41 42 Councilmember Allen said she needed a clarification of the financial statement and received that from Herschel 43 Philpot, RP &L's treasurer.She also asked about the Black&Veach contract and Milligan said changes he had 44 recommended had been worked out with Black&Veach and had been submitted to him for review. It had been 45 approved and executed pursuant to the Board's authority. 46 47 ADJOURNMENT 48 49 There being no further business,on a motion duly made,seconded and passed the meeting was 50 adjourned. 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 Jane Brookbank,Chairperson 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 ATTEST: Norma Carnes, City Clerk