HomeMy Public PortalAbout08-17-1981 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, AUGUST 17, 1981
1 The Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana, serving as a Board in
2 charge of the operation of the Richmond Power & Light Plant, met in regular
3 session August 17, 1981 at the hour of 7 :00 p.m. in the Municipal Building
4 of said City. Chairman Welch presided with the following members present:
5 Messrs. Elstro, Williams, Ahaus, Hankinson? Mills, Parker, Carter and Paust.
6 Absent: None. The following business was had, to-wit:
78 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 3, 1981
9
10 Councilman Hankinson moved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting as
11 prepared, seconded by Councilman Parker and on unanimous voice vote the
12 motion was carried.
13
14 APPROVAL OF BILLS, TRANSFERS AND INVESTMENTS
15
16 Councilman Hankinson moved to approve the following bills, transfers and invest-
17 ments as published, seconded by Councilman Ahaus and on unanimous voice vote
18 the motion was carried:
19
20 APPROVE THE FOLLOWING: -
21 Bills in the amount of $ 718,674.67
22 Bonds and Interest Coupons 203,020.00
23 1 Payroll 117,574.73
24
25 TRANSFER FROM DEPRECIATION RESERVE FUND TO:
26 Cash Operating Fund 349,994.70
27
28 INVESTMENTS PURCHASED
29 Bond Sinking Fund 47,864.46
30 Cash Operating Fund 150,000.00
31 Cash Reserve Fund 127,169. 13
32 Depreciation Reserve Fund 42,937.04
33
34 REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN
35
36 Chairman Welch requested the Street Light Committee meet with Mr. Jim Mays of
37 RP&L and look into the interstate lighting on the fringes of the City. He
38 asked they examine the contracts that were signed and investigate the basic
39 agreements that were reached at the time of installation concerning payment
40 • of electrical cost and the maintenance agreement. He requested they report
41 back to the Board. Chairman of the Street Light Committee Parker set August
42 26 at 7 :00 p.m. at RP&L for the meeting. Chairman Welch, in response to
43 City Attorney Anderson's question as to why this comes up, stated in the
44 course of studying the budget for 1982 the Committee of the Whole was sur-
45 prised to find included in the Board of Works line items a maintenance agree-
46 went for $25,000 concerning those lights.
47
48 REPORT BY THE GENERAL MANAGER
49
50 General Manager Irving Huffman noted the lights on the interstate are under
51 a normal contract, served under a commercial rate to the City. There are
52 several meters involved and there are a lot of kilowatt hours used to
53 maintain those lights.
54
55 EMPLOYMENT AND ATTORNEY CONTRACTS
56
57 Mr. Huffman presented contracts for employment for himself, one for Haymaker,
58 Hirsch & Fink by Paul Hirsch, one for Spiegel & McDiarmid by George Spiegel
59 and one for Roberts, Ryder, Rogers & Neighbours by Reed Seism. The last
60 three (3) represent Attorneys at Law for legal services provided by these
61 firms.
62
63 Chairman Welch noted the reason the Board is enacting these contracts is to
64 maintain the continuity of those attorneys used in the previous negotiations
RP&L Minutes Cont'd.
August 17, 1981
Page 2
1 and legal matters. For that reason, it was decided to put these firms under
2 contract to RP&L with the basic approval and understanding of Mr. Ed Anderson.
3 Mr. Welch asked Mr. Anderson if he had had an opportunity to examine these
4 contracts and asked if he found them in order.
5
6 Mr. Anderson stated he has examined the contracts and he is sure the reason
7 they are being enacted is that the 1st of September the City Attorney is to
8 give approval of all attorneys that are employed. Since this is August 17,
9 you will beat the deadline. Mr. Anderson stated he finds the contracts ac-
10 ceptable. He noted he is in the process of reviewing the legal needs of all
11 the departments in the City. He intends that any attorney employed by the
12 City for any of its departments, commissions, officers or boards are to be in
13 contract in writing. He noted they have a thirty (30) day escape - clause
14 with the attorneys. He stated he finds the contracts in order.
15
16 Councilman Mills noted he voted against Mr. Huffman's and Mr. Hirsch's con-
17 tracts as he does not feel they are necessary. He stated the only reason these
18 are being presented is because of September 1 things will change under home
19 rule. He does not feel this administration or any new administration would
20 fire Mr. Huffman or his attorneys. He stated he will be voting against the
21 contracts tonight and will not sign any of the contracts.
22
23 Councilman Williams moved to approve the contracts as presented, seconded by
24 Councilman Elstro. It was noted the motion is for all four (4) contracts.
25 On a call of the roll the following was recorded : Ayes: Elstro, Williams,
26 Hankinson, Parker, Paust and Welch. Noes: Ahaus, Mills and Carter. The
27 vote being six (6) to three (3) in favor of passage of the motion.
28
29 RESOLUTION TO EXTEND SERVICE FOR THE HENLEY HILLS ANNEXATION
30
31 Mr. Huffman presented the following resolution:
32
33 CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA
34 RICHMOND POWER & LIGHT
35 RESOLUTION -NNIO. 2, 1981
36 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING RICHMOND POWER & LIGHT TO EXTEND ITS SERVICE
37 AREA AND MATTERS RELATED THERETO
38
39 WHEREAS, the City of Richmond is the owner of and engaged in operating
40 an electric utility system supplying said City and the inhabitants
41 thereof with electricity for public, domestic and industrial uses
42 under the style of Richmond Power & Light and,
43
44 WHEREAS, the Common Council of the City of Richmond, Indiana by
45 Ordinance No. 34-1981 passed by the Common Council on June 1, 1981
46 annexed certain territory, as more fully described in said ordinance,
47 to the City of Richmond, Indiana; and,
48
49 WHEREAS;_, this_ Board has been adyised by the General Manager of Richmond
50 Power & Light that it would be in the best interest of Richmond Power & '
51 Light, members of the public and the City for Richmond Power & Light to
52 extend its service area to include all of the said annexed area, now par-
53 tially served by Wayne County REMC; and
54
55 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
56 RICHMOND ACTING AS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RICHMOND POWER & LIGHT,
57 AS FOLLOWS:
58
59 Section 1. That Richmond Power & Light is hereby authorized to
60 extend its service area to include all of the annexed area as more
61 fully described in Ordinance No. 34-1981 heretofore adopted by the
62 Common Council of the City of Richmond on June 1 , 1981, which said
63 annexed area is commonly known as the Henley Addition.
RP&L Minutes Cont'd.
August 17, 1981
Page 3
1 Section 2. That the General Manager of Richmond Power & Light, its
2 employees and counsel, are hereby authorized to take any and all
3 actions that may be required on their part to accomplish the
4 purposes of this resolution including the filing of any petitions
5 and the securing of any orders that may be required by the Public
6 Service Commission of Indiana and the statute concerning Electricity
7 Suppliers' Service Area Assignments, IC 8-1-2.3.
8
9 Section 3. This resolution shall be in full force and effect from and
III10 after its passage and execution.
11
12 PASSED and adopted by the Common Council of the City of Richmond
13 acting as the Board of Directors of Richmond Power & Light this
14 17th day of August, 1981.
15
16 /s/ Bing Welch, Presiding Officer
17 /s/ Howard J. Elstro
18 /s/ Marion J. Williams
19 /s/ Fredric A. Ahaus
20 /s/ James H. Hankinson
21 /s/ Kenneth Mills
22 /s/ Larry Parker
23 /s/ James E. Carter
24 /s/ Kenneth Paust
25
26 ATTEST: /s/ JoEllen Trimble
27 Secretary
28 City Clerk
29
30 He noted a small portion of this area now comes under the REMC. There was
31 a territorial bill passed by the State legislature which made provisions for
32 a City which has its own municipal electric systems to be able to acquire
33 new territories as they are annexed into the City. At this time there are
34 no customers in the area, but it is a development area which will have homes.
35 He requested Board authorization to take this into RP&L's service territory.
36 Councilman Mills asked how much REMC would be paid and Mr. Huffman stated
37 there would not be any monies paid to them. RP&L will not buy their capital
38 equipment as they are not servicing the area. City Attorney Anderson stated
39 the annexation became effective August 11.
40
41 Councilman Ahaus moved for adoption, seconded by Councilman Mills and on a
42 call of the roll the following was recorded: Ayes: Elstro, Williams, Ahaus,
43 Hankinson, Mills, Parker, Carter, Paust and Welch. Noes: none. The vote being
44 nine (9) to zero (0) in favor of passage of the resolution.
45
46 REPORT ON BROOKVILLE LAKE PROJECT
47
48 Mr. Huffman stated Rep. Jan Hibner arranged to have a meeting with the
49 Franklin Co. Commissioners to go over EP&L's filing of intent with Brookville
50 Reservoir. RP&L explained why they are interested in the project and limita-
51 tions in that permissive legislation must be passed prior to any form of con-
52 struction. RP&L has been granted a feasibility study permit by FERC. Franklin
' 53 Co. is interested in maintaining this for themselves and are concerned whether
54 RP&L should receive it. Mr. Huffman stated he has gone over this project ex-
55 tensively and the projected construction cost is $2,000 for each kilowatt of
56 capacity. For a hydrolectric project this is good; however, for a coal fired
57 plant it is between $1,000 to $1,200 a kilowatt for something on the drawing
58 board. Something coming on line now is going to be $750 a kilowatt. You can
59 afford to spend more for hydro capital costs as your energy costs will be lower.
60 Some consultants estimate this is worth 1/2 million dollars. The Corps of
61 Engineers project there will be 25 million hours of energy that could be sold.
62 Mr. Huffman stated he had done some calculating and it will take 1 1/2 million
62 per year just to retire the debt. This would require 7c per kilowatt hour
63 just to retire the debt. R. W. Beck estimates 9c so it would be 1987 for a
64 break even point. Mr. Huffman stated more research will have to be done to
RP&L Minutes Cont'd.
August 17, 1981
Page 4
1 determine the feasibility of building a plant. In response to Chairman Welch's
2 question, Mr. Huffman stated it would take approximately 3 to 6 months to
3 build the facility after modification and the material fabricated.
4
5 RP&L MEETING
6
7 Chairman Welch announced the RP&L meeting will be held. in Council Chambers
8 next Monday night following the special session of Council at 7 :30 p.m.
9
10 ADJOURNMENT
11
12 There being no further business on motion duly made, seconded and passed the
13 meeting was adjourned.
14
15 Bing Welch
16 Chairman
17
18 ATTEST: JoEllen Trimble
19 City Clerk