Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCM-02-17-86 MINUTES OF THE CARMEL CITY COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 17, 1986 The meeting of the Carmel City Council was called to order by Mayor Reiman at 7:00 P.M. on February 17, 1986. Council members present were Badger, Doane, Fleming, Garretson, Johnson, McMullen and Miller. Also present was City Attorney Andrews and Clerk Treasurer Hancock. Invocation was given by Minnie Doane followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Mr. Garretson stated three of the points he made in opposition to the rezone were succinctly stated but that he would like the minutes to show his fourth concern and asked that the minutes be amended to include his concern regarding the domino effect in that if this property were -ezoned other property north of the rezone would be able to plead a hardship thus paving the way for rezoning of property north of the project in debate. Mr. Garretson made a motion to approve the minutes of January 27, 1986 as amended. Motion seconded by Mr. Johnson and passed unanimously. Mayor Reiman called attention to the added agenda items distributed prior to the meeting. Those items being the Park Board and an EDC Ordinance. Miss Doane presented a he City to Lane Sims, owner of the Key to t drugstore in downtown Carmel which has been a Carmel landmark for many years. Mr. Sims recently closed the drugstore. OLD BUSINESS Request for 3-Way Stop at 1st Street SW and 3rd Avenue SW - Mary Davis, resident in the area of 1st Street SW and 3rd Avenue SW stated that she was here with several of her neighbors asking approval of the 3-Way stop. The residents of the area felt that the stop is needed especially since there were no sidewalks and there were children in the area. The Council was in receipt of the reports from the police department and the City Engineer stating that the traffic count did not warrant a stop sign. Mr. Fleming made a motion to have the City Attorney prepare an ordinance to allow a three-way stop at the corner of ]st Street SW and 3rd Avenue SW. Motion seconded by Miss Doane and passed unanimously. Mr. Garretson stated that the city might want to look at the railroad crossing on Carmel Drive, west of Range Lire in the industrial park area, and perhaps change the signalization. Mayor Reiman stated that the signage for the railroad was the responsibility of Seaboard Rai]road. Public Hearing - Ordinance D-473, Additional Appropriation Local Road & Street 96th Street Project - Mr. Garretson made a motion to introduce Ordinance D-473 and dispense with the reading of some. Motion seconded by Mr. Miller. Mayor Reiman stated to the public that the appropriation was for widening 96th Street between Keystone Avenue and Lakeshore Drive in the amount of $245,000, which was the City share of funding for the improvement of the road and the intersection of 96th and Keystone which was being funded by monies from Federal, State, Marion County, Hamilton County and the City of Carmel. The Mayor opened the meeting for public hearing. There being no response from the public, the public hearing was closed. Mr. Garretson made a motion to suspend the rules and act on Ordinance D-473 this evening. Motion seconded by Mr. Badger and passed unanimously. Vote was taken or Ordinance D-473 which passed unanimously. Jaycees Awards - Mr. Mac McLaughlin and Ms. Debbie Meitzler presented Jaycees Distinguished Service Awards as follows: For Governmental Affairs, Miss Jerri Jackson and Mr. Scott Sweet; for Service to Humanity, Miss Maria Baldini and Mr. Greg Shasheen and the Distinguished Service Award to Officer Tim Green of the Carmel Police Department. Council 2/ 17/86 Page Two NEW BUSINESS Amtech - Cable TV Discussion - The Council took a short recess to invite the members of the Cable TV Advisory Commi~tee to join them at the council table to become a committee-of-the-whole. Advis~ry Committee members Jane Merrill and Dave Rutledge joined the Council members. Mr. Peter Klein, owner of Amtech, was present. Mr. Garretson gave an overview of the responsibilities of the Council and Advisory Committee and stated that their authority was only in the award of the franchise and not in the policy, programming, or running of the cable company. Mr. Ron Brake, 440 2nd Avenue NE, asked what additional channels would be added and who makes the determination as to what those channels would be. Mr. Brake asked if Playboy channel would be offered. Mr. Klein responded that the subscribers help decide the programming in a poll taken by the cable company twice a year and that Amtech had no intention of putting Playboy channel on the cable. Mr. Johnson stated that the Council, Advisory Board or Mayor had no authority as to programming but that he felt the consumers had been offered Disney Channel when Mr. Klein purchased the franchise but that channel had not yet been offered but should already be on. Mr. Klein stated he expected to have Disney channel on in late spring_- well before summer. Mr. Badger asked what happened to CNN Mr Klein stated that it was moved to Channel 26 when superband was added. Mr. John Lo~kmandy, 135 Audubon, asked why superband was added and the channels moved. Mr. Klein responded it was done to upgrade the system and pointed out that the chann~l numbers now corresponded to the Indianapolis area cable systems. Mr. Badger ask~d why the pay channels were not put on the higher channels and use the lower chalnels for CNN and some of the basic service channels so people did not have to get onverters. Both Mr. Badger and Mr. Johnson stated the $20 deposit for the converter was not expected and was a disappointment. Becky Newlin, 11418 West Central Drive, Northern Heights area, stated there had always been snow in their pictlre and that since Mr. Klein had purchased the franchise it was no better. Mr. Johnson added that he had a running account of service needed, an appointment made and the service man not keeping the appointment. Annabelle Bachelder, 10434 LaS~lle, stated a problem they had experienced with their VCR after they had to get a converter in order to pick up the channels after the superband was installed, and asked if the cable company had someone that could come to hook up the VCR Mr. Miller gave his experience with problems with converter and VCR. Mr. Klein stated they would do that but it was not their responsibility to hook up VCRs and if it was not cable related there would be a $15 service call fee. Bill Whitley, 10923 Songbird L~ne, stated it was time for a quality picture, forget about adding new channels and get the problems of poor picture quality and sound variation with the changing of channels cleared up. Mr. Dennis Cartes, Assistant Engineer for Amteck, 1543 Cherry Street, Noblesville, stated they were aware of deteriorated cable and that a great deal of overhead cable had been replaced but the weather conditions prohibited replacement of buried cable. Mr. Cartes stated Amtech had just purchased equipment to detect poor under~round cable. Mr. Maurice Bluestein, 10973 LaSalle, related an experience he had with poor service response to his call. He had called for service right after Christmas and it took 12 days for the service man to get there. Mr. Bluestein stated that there were no service hours for evenings and weekends when people did most of their viewing and at one time when he called for service was told they couldn't get to him because they had installations to do. Mr. Bluestine stated the answering service had told him no one had checked in to get the calls for several days. Mr. Klein stated that the answering service dispatched calls to the service man who was on call until 10 P.M. of an evening and that every morning service calls were sent from the answering service to their office via computer hook-up. Mr. Tom Scheller, 435 East 113th, stated that he felt people were not being patient enough. TCI had purchased the franchise and then put very little into it. Mr. Klein had inherited problems that could not be remedied in 2-1/2 months. That what we needed was a little patience. Council 2/]7/86 Page Three Mrs. Josephine McCormick related an incident with the cable TV repairman tracking soil onto her carpet. Mrs. McCormick calling it to her attention and the repairman doing it again. She stated that after calling several times, she contacted Mr. Klein who told her it was between the serviceman and her to work out. Mr. Klein rebutted that he had offered to pay for the cleaning of the strip that was tracked but not the whole room of carpet. Norma Rice, 1349 Jefferson Drive, stated she just wanted a good picture. Mr. Garretson stated he felt that what had happened here was trying to do too much too quickly. His assessment of the problems were poor quality of picture, poor service and public relations, partly inherited but certainly did not seem to be improving, the move of Channel 59 and Channel 20 to higher channels creating the need for converters and suggested those channels might be moved back down. Mr. Garretson also felt that the need for converters and the deposits were a source of irritation to the users. Mrs. McMullen stated she did not have cable TV but there were several people here from her ward who had complaints. Mrs. McMullen also stated that this was the largest crowd to come to a council meeting with the exception of the rezone which told her something was not as it sould be. She stated she felt good public relations and service were something Mr. Klien should be working toward. Miss Doane stated she resented the channel changes to coordinate with Indianapolis and felt Carmel should get more consideration. Miss Doane stated she would like to have a clear picture. Mr. Fleming stated he had no personal problem with the reception but felt customer relations definitely needed to be improved. Mr. Johnson stated he was angry because we didn't get what was promised, i.e. the Disney channel and good service. Mr. Rutledge stated he had received more complaints in the last two months than in the last four years. The complaints had mainly been because of late or unkept service calls, rudeness of personnel, change cf channels and deposits on converters. Mr. Rutledge stated he did feel the quality of the picture had improved. Mr. Badger stated that somewhere in the complaints someone had mentioned that instead of adding new service areas, A~tech should be taking care of what they had but that he felt it important to provide service to new customers. Mr. Badger stated people in Maples of Carmel were waiting and had been for some time. Mr. Badger also asked Mr. Klein what he was going to do about service no-shows. Mayor Reiman read portions of a letter from Tom Allebrandi, member of the Advisory Board who was unable to attend. Mayor Reiman stated that her office received great numbers of calls from cable customers ~ho do not understand she has no control over the cable operations and that she was told the receptionist at the cable company when she does not have an answer says to call the Mayor. Mr. Klein stated he had dismissed one person in the office and that it was obvious that more training on customer relations needed to be done. The Council recessed for five ninutes from 9:40 P.M. to 9:45 P.M. Ord i nance C-100 Annexation of 188 Acres - Meridian Technolo gy Center - The Council was in receipt of a Consent to Annexation from Technology Center Associates, Ltd. consenting to the annexation of ]88 acres on the North East corner of 116th Street and Pennsylvania. Mr. Garretson made a motion tc introduce Ordinance C-100, dispense with the reading of same and suspend the rules and act on Ordinance C-100 this evening. Motion seconded by Mr. Johnson and passed unanimo~sly. Vote was taken on Ordinance C-100 which passed unanimously. Council 2/17/86 Page Four Resolution 2-17-86-1 - Authorilg Execution of the First Supplemental Trust Indenture Between the CitY of Carmel and Merchants National Bank - Summer Trace - Mr. Garretson made a motion to introduce Res~lution 2-17-86-1.. Motion seconded by Miss Doane. Mr. Coots appeared before the ,ouncil to explain the need for the resolution. Vote was taken on Resolution 2-17-8i- ] which passed unanimously. Ordinance D-474 - EDC Bond for Green on Meridian - Anthony Petraca - Mr. Badger distributed a memorandum stating the Economic Development Commission had approved the final resolution for issuance of Economic Development Bonds for Anthony A. Petraca. Mr. Garretson made motion to introduce Ordinance D-474 and dispense with the reading of same. Motion seconded by Miss Doane. Mr. Dave Coots appeared before the Council on behalf of Green on Meridian, Anthony Petrarca. Mr. Garretson expressed his concern for the use of the EDC monies Eor office buildings. Following discussion, Mr. Badger made a motion to suspend the rlles and act on Ordinance D-474 this evening. Motion seconded by Mr. Johnson and pa;sed unanimously. Vote was taken on Ordinance D-474 which passed 6-1, Mr. Garretsol voting nay. Request for Additional Appro p riation - Clerk-Treasure rs Office - Clerk Treasurer Hancock stated the computer system in the Clerk Treasurer's OLiice needed Lo be upgraded and requested an additional appropriation of $19,000. Following discussion Mr. Garretson made a motion to allow the Clerk-Treasurer to advertise for an additional appropriation in the amount of $19,000 for upgrading the computer system in the Clerk-treasurers office. Motion seconded by Mr. Badger and passed unanimously. Resolution 2-17-86-2 - Carmel ,ivic Square Project - Approval of Building Corporation - Mr. Johnson made a motion to introduce Resolution 2-17-86-2. Motion seconded by Mr. Garretson. Mr. Roger Umba~gh appeared before the Council and explained the proposed financilg for the Carmel Civic Square project and explained where we were in the process. Vote was taken on Resolution 2-17-86-2 which passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Mayor Reiman announced the Hamilton County Park Board would be attending our March 3 meeting and would be first on the agenda. The Mayor also stated there would be an executive meeting following the March 3 meeting. There being no other business to come before the Council meeting, the same was duly adjourned at 10:40 P.M. APPROVED ATTEST: