Richmond Power & Light board OKs nearly a million bucks for control house, bucket truck
RICHMOND, Ind. — Richmond Power & Light received permission to accept bids totaling nearly a million dollars.
Following Monday night's Richmond Common Council meeting, council members met as the RP&L board for its monthly meeting. They approved awarding bids for construction of a new control house at the Whitewater Valley Generation Station on U.S. 27 and purchase of a bucket truck for the line department.
The bids had been opened during April's board meeting.
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Panelmatic Building Solutions of Fairfield, Ohio, received the control house bid for $817,000. The bid includes $441,200 for installation of the control house itself and $375,800 for 14 switchboard panels and associated equipment. Panelmatic was the only timely bidder.
The bid is less than the project's $1.3 million budget, but General Manager Tony Foster said RP&L will do some in-house work. That work's costs will also come from the budgeted amount.
The bucket truck bid also was less than its $200,000 budget. The board awarded the bid to Altec Industries of St. Joseph, Missouri, for $175,190. Utility Truck Equipment of Circleville, Ohio, bid $196,600.
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Altec and Utility were also the only bidders for a backyard derrick and trailer. Those bids were opened Monday.
Altec bid $198,257, including trade-in, for the derrick with a diesel engine and $192,682 for a derrick with a gasoline engine. Altec also bid $23,750 for the trailer.
Utility bid $191,316, including trade-in, for the derrick and $25,912 for the trailer.
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The bids are being taken under advisement.
RP&L also received board permission to rescind a bid awarded last meeting to Hubler Ford for a pickup truck. After the bid was awarded, Foster said RP&L learned that Ford no longer was accepting orders for the specified vehicle. The pickup will be rebid, with bids to be opened during a special May 16 meeting.
Foster also explained the 1.4% rate decrease that will take effect July 1 when the utility receipts tax is repealed. The Indiana legislature approved the repeal during its 2022 session, and Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill that included the repeal.
The second phase of a three-phase RP&L rate increase initiated last year took effect April 1. Foster said the new residential rate July 1 will drop the facilities charge to $11.34 from $11.50. The residential rate will drop to $0.10010 from $0.10151 for the first 350 kilowatt hours, to $0.09625 from $0.09760 for the next 1,150 kilowatt hours and to $0.09271 from $0.09491 for any kilowatt hours exceeding 1,500.
The board approved recommending the new rates for council's approval during the May 16 meeting.
Common council
Denise Retz, the city's parks superintendent, requested council approve the parks department applying for a $500,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The grant requires a $500,000 city match Retz said would come from the city's American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
The funding would pay for the initial phase of the city's developing Whitewater Gorge Activation Plan. Retz said that would concentrate on providing repairs and improvements to the Test Road trailhead and Whitewater Gorge Trail as well as the Starr-Gennett Walk of Fame. The Walk of Fame work would be in conjunction with the Starr-Gennett Foundation.
Katie Clark, a project manager and senior landscape architect at consultant Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group, said the identified Phase One projects would cost about the $1 million total of the grant and match. She said the 2023 projects fit well with the purposes of the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant.
Richmond could next year apply for another Land and Water Conservation Fund grant, but it would then have to wait eight years before applying again. That requires finding additional funding through other grant opportunities and partnerships as the project progresses over several years.
Clark said Richmond has a unique opportunity not found in other communities because it as 100 acres of land along the Whitewater River under its control. The land stretches from Test Road to Waterfall Road.
The parks department received public input last week on what amenities and facilities residents would like to see developed on that land. Retz said the public outreach was a success and the input will be considered as the grant application and activation plan are finalized.
Council referred the request to apply for the grant and for the matching funds to its finance committee.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: RP&L board OKs nearly a million bucks for control house, bucket truck
