Mayor to decide between police, fire study

Mayor Ron Oler will decide whether the city’s police or fire department undergoes an efficiency study this year. 

After debating which department should be scrutinized first, Richmond Common Council had delayed action on an ordinance appropriating $62,000 from the local income tax fund to pay consultant Baker Tilly for the efficiency study. The other department’s study will be budgeted for 2027.

Council approved 6-3 the ordinance during its Aug. 3 meeting after deciding Oler and his administration should decide the study order. Doug Goss, Bill Engle, Larry Parker, Anne Taylor, Gary Turner and Jane Bumbalough voted in favor, while Lucinda Wright, Jerry Purcell and Justin Burkhardt opposed. The same 6-3 split July 20 appropriated $45,000 from food and beverage tax revenue for a parks department study.

Council member Jane Bumbalough said the study would benefit the city because of the Indiana legislature’s changes to property tax and local income tax structures that continue taking effect through 2031.

During the finance committee meeting that preceded council’s regular meeting, Beth Fields, the city’s director of strategic initiatives, said the study provides critical data about operation costs to consider when the city enacts a local income tax rate in 2028, part of the state’s new taxing structure. Baker Tilly software analyzes data in a way the city could not, Fields said.

Turner was first to say the mayor and administration should choose between the police and fire departments, and the committee forwarded a recommendation to approve the ordinance with that stipulation. Oler and Fields agreed the administration would make the decision.

Police vehicle bids

The city plans to purchase three Ford Explorer police vehicles from Wetzel Ford and three from Bob Maxey Ford in Detroit, Michigan.

The WWN reported in its July 23 issue that the Richmond Board of Public Works opened and announced bids of $295,854 by Wetzel and $275,670 by Maxey for six cars during a July 16 meeting. Bid details were not publicized during that meeting, but when the bids were further evaluated by the city, Wetzel’s bid included the specified EconoBoost engines and spotlights, raising the bid $22,380, and the local dealer could meet a 10-day delivery requirement. Maxey’s vehicles did not include the EconoBoost engine or spotlights and could not be delivered within 10 days.

City Attorney A.J. Sickmann said that after the bidding Wetzel had only three vehicles available, so the city will purchase those three and three from the next most responsive bidder, Maxey. The sales contracts have not yet appeared before the board of works as of press time.

The purchases would complete a saga that began last fall when RPD provided Wetzel a letter that it intended to purchase eight vehicles this year. Wetzel was then not informed that the 2026 budget did not provide vehicle funding, and the dealership received January delivery of eight vehicles in anticipation of the purchase. 

With council members citing the need to resolve the dealer’s vehicles left in limbo, the city used money it received from the state’s settlement with opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers to purchase two of the vehicles, which did not require a bidding process. Council approved spending $360,000 from cash reserves for the other six vehicles and after-market equipment, such as lights and sirens, for all eight vehicles.

Airport successes

Bumbalough, council’s liaison to the city’s aviation board, said Richmond Municipal Airport is positioned for future success.

The airport plans to build a new terminal and repair runways. She said airport traffic is steady, fuel sales are good and the flight school has enrolled new students.

Council then unanimously approved an ordinance permitting the airport to receive donations. Airport Manager Rodney Mayse said the terminal project has received one large donation and smaller donations, and donations to fund a candy drop event being planned for the fall. The candy drop involves pilots passing out candy while posted by their planes and children collecting candy that’s dropped from a helicopter.

Council referred another ordinance that would appropriate $630,000 for the terminal project to its finance committee.

Other actions

• Three tax abatement requests for J.M. Hutton were referred to council’s tax abatement committee. Doug Goss, the committee’s chair, said Hutton plans to invest $4.1 million and add 37 jobs. The abatements would be for personal property, research and development equipment and IT equipment.
• Council approved an annual resolution that allows bidding on certificates of deposit by banks outside the city. Controller Tracy McGinnis told council’s finance committee that the city now has a balance of $17.6 million on investments of $15 million. She said 4.137% was the best interest rate during the most recent bidding process.
• An ordinance that would raise Richmond Power & Light rates was referred to council’s finance committee.
• An ordinance transferring $22,000 from the unemployment compensation line item of the human resources budget was also referred to the finance committee. The ordinance would move $12,000 to a contract negotiations line item and $10,000 to a background checks line item.