Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Brick streets and more

 Brick Streets

Work continued on the Brick Street Project this week. Even the half bricks were being saved.

The bricks on the streets were made in Brazil, Indiana. Here is an article I found about the company. The bricks are in remarkable shape given that they are over a century old.
On the Johnny Rusk lot a variety of materials are being assembled, such as these fire hydrants.
With most of the bricks gone from Van Renssealer Street, Grimmer Construction has begun working on replacing the water line. The red spot in the trench is the helmet of a worker.
On Tuesday an evacuator was filling a dump truck. Notice that the sidewalk has been removed.
On Tuesday the workers had begun removing the bricks on Harrison Street.

Candidate Forum

The Jasper County Republican Women sponsored a candidate forum for the upcoming Republican primary election on Saturday morning. There are five races that are contested: Circuit Court Judge, Auditor, County Council at large, Commissioners district 1 and Commissioners district 2. There was a decent sized crowd despite limited publicity. The event was live-streamed on Facebook and you can find the recordings here and here. (There were technical issues which resulted in the posting of the event in two parts.) The rules for candidates were they were given three minutes to introduce themselves and then were asked three questions that they could respond to.

The first candidates to speak were those for Circuit Court Judge. Judge John Potter is the current judge. He stressed that the judge must be everyone's judge and has to treat each case seriously because each case is important to those involved. Emily Waddle is from DeMotte where she has been an attorney for 20 years. She has been head public defender and is the attorney for DeMotte. She said she wants to repair communication.

There are three candidates for Auditor. Diana Boersma spent many years as a teacher. Her husband is the County Coroner and she says they get calls for bills that have not been paid and suspects other County departments have had the same experience. She has done the accounting for the funeral home she and her husband operate. 

Treasure Gilbert is currently a deputy auditor in the Auditor's Office and she stressed her experience in that office. She is the secretary for the Commissioners meeting. She believes the office could work better with more reliance on electronic record keeping.

Christina Tryon is a deputy clerk in the Clerk's Office. She has been active in 4-H and with the Fair Board. She has had a variety of jobs and has a real-estate license. She thinks more automation would improve the office.

There are five candidates running for three at-large Council seats. Jacob Misch was appointed in December 2023 to replace Brett Risner, who resigned. He farms near Wheatfield and like many of the candidates, he stressed his roots in Jasper County. He said that preserving the County's agricultural heritage was important.

Brian Moore, who spoke next, is another farmer and in addition to farming he runs a trucking company. He was elected as a Councilman in the 2020 election and has been a member of the EMS Board, which has established the County-run ambulance service.

The last Council candidate to speak was Barbara Neihouser. She lives in Gillam Township where she and her husband farm. She also works as a labor and delivery nurse in Lafayette. She does not want any tax abatements for renewable energy and is opposed to the C02 pipeline.

Scott Walstra  and Eric Kidwell, who joined the Council when Jeff DeYoung replaced Kendell Culp when Culp was elected as a State Representative in 2022, did not speak.

Two of the candidates for Commissioner from district 1 gave presentations. James Walstra is the current District 1 Commissioner but is not seeking re-election. Ryan Hilton did not attend but his wife read a prepared statement. He works for Belstra and has been active promoting FFA, 4-H, and agriculture. He is against wind, solar, and the CO2 pipeline.

Mike Johnson moved to DeMotte in 1996. He is on the DeMotte Christian School Board. He has a business background with experience in drainage and road construction, two topics that occupy a lot of attention from Commissioners. He was encouraged to run by former Commissioners.

Only one candidate for the District 2 Commissioner slot spoke: Craig Standish. He is a fifth generation Jasper County resident. He heads the division of a small business. He wants to see Jasper County develop by expanding in agricultural areas and businesses.

There was a lot of emphasis on farms and farming. That perhaps should be expected. For those who live in Rensselaer and towns of Jasper County, county government is not as immediate as it is to those living in the rural areas. The County spends a lot of its resources on drainage and roads, which are of little importance to those living in towns.

The question that seemed to give the candidates the most trouble was the one asking what their vision of Jasper County was. Even the later candidates seemed unprepared for it even though they should have known it was coming. One reason for the difficulty in answering it was that  some of the offices have very limited range in what they can do, so it is difficult to connect that to a broad vision of the future of Jasper County.

Most of the candidates thought that Jasper County was a good place to live but thought it could be a bit better. No one mentioned the County's problem with drug addiction, which is the source of many of the County's woes.

I looked for Facebook pages of the candidates and found these: Emily Waddle, Judge John Potter, Jennifer Grynovich, Ryan Hilton. and Jeff Spurgeon II.

The primary election may be more important than the general election for County races. The winners of the contested primary races will probably win in November because Republican voters outnumber Democratic voters.

BPW and City Council meetings

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works and City Council met Monday evening. The BPW meeting was short but approved six items. Four were for the Lift Station & Unsewered Areas Project. Two of these were pay requests from Thieneman, one was a change order that reduced the cost of the project, and one was an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering. The Water Utilities Improvement project had an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering and a pay request from Maguire Iron. The Lift Station project is almost entirely complete. For the Water Utilities project tower erection has been completed and the contractors are waiting for good weather to sandblast and paint the tower. Bills for the Brick Street Project have not started arriving.

The City Council heard a presentation from Sarah DeYoung explaining what the Jasper County Economic Development organization does and how it helps Rensselaer. She had been at the last meeting but the Council wanted more information before it approved her request for a contribution. At this meeting they approved a contribution of $10,000. (I did not attend the previous meeting because I chose to attend a Jasper County Plan Commission meeting that was held at the same time. Minutes of the Council meeting are here.)

There was a short discussion of utility budgets. This year will be a practice year to discover and iron out problems. The Council approved a motion to move forward with them

The gas tracker for April will reflect a decrease of 10¢ per hundred cubic feet of usage. The Council approved a second reading of a flood damage prevention ordinance. It also approved a zoning change recommended by the Rensselaer Plan Commission for a lot at 405 N McKinley from R2 to B1. Rensselaer purchases gas through a natural gas manager that is increasing fees from 6¢ to 8¢ per dekatherm. (I had never heard that term.) The Council approved signing the agreement.  (The last month's fee was $3669.66.)

The rest of the meeting contained administrative comments and superintendents' reports.  Planning to convert the light plant for use by the Park Department continues. Baker Tilly is working on a TIF report. There is concern about properties with too much trash and letters are being sent out telling people to use Clean-up Week. One Council member received a complaint from a citizen about the work stringing fiber optic. There will be some boring after the overhead lines are finished. The Police Department has made a new hire and he may be sworn in at the next Council meeting. Electric meter switch-outs are coming. The meetings of the Rensselaer Plan Commission and the BZA have been moved from March 21 to March 19. Because of Spring Break in the local schools, a quorum would not have been available on the 21. On the agenda for the BZA are three variances. The food pantry is relocating behind Pizza King in a residential zone, so it needs a variance. The owner of the Forsythe House on the corner of Washington and McKinley has not been able to find a business to rent space, so would like to rent the space as housing. The Fire Department needs a variance for its proposed fire-tower because it exceeds height limits. (The new date and time makes it conflict with the County Council meeting.)

The company Decorative Bricks is completing removal of bricks from Van Rensselaer Street and will begin removing them from Harrison. Grimmer Construction has begun water-line replacement on Van Rensselaer. The Street Department received a $10,000 grant to work on planning more lead service lines. The Gas, Street, and Cemetery Departments received approval to hire summer help. The Park Department hopes to have water turned on in the Parks before the Easter Egg Hunt on the 23rd. Mr Haun was not at the meeting so there was no update on the fire tower.

Jasper County Tourism Commission meeting

Reviewing the Innkeepers tax report, Mr Patel said that the Remington motels were doing a brisk business because of construction (I heard solar but it may be wind) near Wolcott. In April the Commission will hear a presentation from a company called Placer AI. It uses tracking software to see how many people visit various locations and where they come from. (You trade privacy for convenience when you use a smartphone.) Consultants from Ball State have completed a draft of a strategic plan and it will be fine tuned in the upcoming weeks.

There were two funding requests. The first on the agenda was from the Rec at the Connection Center. This group had presented in February but no action was taken because the Commission wanted more information. A very long discussion followed. The concern of most of the members of the Commission was to what extent it would promote tourism. Some saw it as a great community center, but did not think that is something the Tourism Commission should be funding. The Connection Center people predict it will bring in tournaments, but the Center will not be open on Sundays. The ask was for $187,000. The capital assets funding for the Commission is only $100,000 and it has committed $20,000 for Remington murals. It can go to the County Council for an additional appropriation if needed, but the members seemed reluctant to do so. Eventually they approved $25,000 for fitness equipment, with two supporting and one not voting.

The other request was also a return visit, this by Greg Whaley who has a vision of one of the miniature trains that was manufactured in Rensselaer from 1946 to 1956 being installed in a park. The train would be a non-working train because it would be too expensive to buy and maintain a working train. The problem is that these come up for sale at unpredictable times and they are now being snapped up by collectors. Hence, it is not clear what the cost would be. He argued that once a train was obtained, the money for restoring it and mounting it would be easy to raise. The Commission suggested that he raise the money to purchase a train and then come to the Commission to fund the restoration and mounting of it. No action was taken.

Notes

There is a new swing next to the Zorich Shelter in Brookside Park.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Early March 2024 meetings

Notes

Crews from Brightspeed have been stringing cable from the utility poles. Brightspeed has replaced CenturyLink as an Internet provider.


Last week people, presumably belonging to the Church that purchased the former R&M building, were busy filling a couple of dumpsters.


Peeking through the window, I could see that the shelving from the grocery store was still there. I assume it will be sold, either as shelving or as scrap metal. There is a lot of work to be done.

The Fire Department has started getting ready to pour a foundation for its training tower, but as of Tuesday there were only some sticks in the ground.

Work continues on the removal of bricks from Van Rensselaer Street. The removal has reached the alley, so about one fourth of the bricks are gone. Below you can see wrapped palattes of bricks that have not yet been moved to the lot that once held the Johnny Rusk building.  (If I called it the R.P. Carton building, would anyone know what I was talking about?)

There are piles of bricks along the edge of the street. I am not sure if these are just not processed or if they are rejects.


Along the sidewalk, which remains open so people can get to the businesses that remain open, there is something new, a sign in the windows of what was Walter's shop.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners meeting on Monday morning had a full house, but it lacked the large crowd of people standing or listening through the windows that the February Plan Commission had. There were two routine buried cable permits, both fiber optics, that were approved.

Mr. Bontreger recognized that most of the people in attendance were interested in the wind-farm item at the end of the agenda so he moved up the Planning and Development items. Two rezones from A1 to A2 that had been recommended by the Plan Commission were quickly approved. The Plan Commission had voted an unfavorable recommendation for the wind-farm overlay in Carpenter Township with some recommendations. Mr Bontreger announced that the Commissioners were taking the matter under advisement and would, at the recommendation of the Plan Commission, begin the process of finding a construction compliance monitor. He asked the Highway Department and the Surveyor's Office to prepare their concerns with the existing road-use and decommissioning agreements. Surprisingly, few people left; they seemed to want to hear the public comments that are given at the end of the meeting.

At the February meeting Animal Control had requested a light bar for a vehicle and at this meeting they reported that the Highway Department had provided one. Animal Control continues to have a problem with mice in their storage shed that they have not been able to contain. The Commissioners will investigate possible solutions including a professional exterminator or a new shed. Community Services had new quotes for seal coating and striping its Rensselaer and DeMotte parking lots and they were approved.

At the previous meeting the Commissioners had discussed donations to theThe Jasper County Recovery House and the House of Grace, which help men and women overcome addictions. They had not acted because they were unsure if funding was available. It is and at this meeting the Commissioners approved $30,000 for each organization.

Sara DeYoung from JCEDO introduced the Yodel website. The Newton Township Trustee reported on the Sayler-Makeever Cemetery west of Rensselaer. It has had some vandalism and she had discovered that the Cemetery is not owned by the Township but by the County. The entrance road was once a County Road that continued to SR 114. There was a discussion of what can be done to improve the Cemetery, and the County will help because it owns the land.

There is an ambulance housed in Remington in a building that the Town of Remington owns. The City of Remington would like to donate the building to the County with the provision that if the ambulance is ever removed, the building will revert back to Remington. The advantage for Remington is that it would no longer be responsible for the upkeep of the building.

The Commissioners decided not to pursue purchase of some grant software that was primarily a database. Rather they would prefer to hire someone to write grants. The Auditor said that White County gets twice as many grants as Jasper. The Commissioners approved mowing contracts for the Surveyor's office, the Fairgrounds, the jail, and the health department. They made appointments to PTABOA and NWICA and approved two conference requests.  The director of Animal Control requested a change in a job description that would eliminate a requirement that the position be a probation officer in order to make the position easier to fill. The Commissioners approved.

The Commissioners approved a software purchase by the auditor and a request for funds from the Veteran's Office for a quarterly training session. Craig Standish asked for their support for a 4-H shooting range at the Fairgrounds. Shooting events will return to the Fair this year with 42 participants. (In the past it once had 132.) The next step will be before the Rensselaer BZA or Plan Commission.

The Commissioners approved ambulance contracts to the Wheatfield, Keener, and Central services. These included the County subsidy to each service. They approved a contract with a construction manager for the planned renovation of the Health Department building. The County would like a new website and a possible website creator was mentioned. The County has received the seismic testing data that BP collected and wants to collaborate with Benton County in analyzing it. The Sheriff received permission to replace a part-time person who is planning on quitting.

The floor was then open to public comments. Most were about the proposed wind farm and some of the speakers had previously spoken at the February Plan Commission. Some were just asking for clarification of an issue. The meeting was continued to March 18 at 8:30 if necessary.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting was short and had an audience of one. Three bids were opened for the annual ditch spraying contract and the low bid of $154,761.82 from Ditchside Management LLC was accepted. There was discussion of a request for a variance allowing a garage to be built into a ditch right-of-way. The construction had approval from DeMotte pending Drainage Board approval. The Commissioners wondered if the location could be shifted to reduce the encroachment and tabled the request to get more information. In a recent meeting the Board had decided to remove a section of tile along a road and replace it with a ditch on the other side. One of the persons who would be affected had a very different cost estimate for replacing the tile and what followed was a discussion of ribbed vs spiral piping.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Monday evening. They released funds that had previously been approved to the Rensselaer Central School Corporation for a Pre-K program ($25K) and for classroom supplies ($25K). They then heard the request for funds from Appleseed Childcare Education. Adam Alson gave a presentation explaining that childcare is one of the things that people look for when deciding where to live. However, in rural communities licensed childcare centers cannot make a profit. Expenses will be higher than the amount of tuition that parents can pay. Therefore, it must be subsidized. Lack of childcare leads to increased absenteeism, so it impacts business and becomes an economic development issue. Appleseed brought together various groups to make licensed childcare happen. The expertise to run a center did not exist locally, so they brought in Right Steps from Lafayette. Franciscan provided a building that otherwise would have been very expensive. About 20 local employers have supported the endeavor financially. The members of the Commission applauded these efforts and agreed that Appleseed was providing a valuable service.

However, the Board wanted to see a budget before it approved funding and Appleseed did not want to provide one. Apparently Appleseed does not want it on the public record. So the matter was tabled.

I was mystified by this because all nonprofits are required to file a form 990 with the IRS and those forms must be available to the public. For example, here are several years of 990 forms for Saint Joseph's College.  The 990 does not contain as much information as a complete budget, but it includes the most important numbers.

Rensselaer Park Board

The Rensselaer Park Board also met on Monday evening. It heard from Pat Fox about plans for the 2024 Little Cousin Jasper Festival. This year will be the 50th anniversary because the festival started in 1974, though there were some years since then that did not have a festival. Because of the uncertainty caused by the Brick Streets Project, the site for the festival will again be Potawatomie Park. Ms Fox said that the lighting in Potawatomie is poor and that there was vandalism despite having a security guard for the night hours. There was a discussion of various options, including using Filson Park and/or Iroquois Park. If Iroquois Park is used, College Avenue will probably be closed during festival hours.

A contract for a program director for summer programs was signed. It will be a template for future independent contractors. There was a discussion of how to get the summer programs off to a fast start and the Board approved $1500 for that on a 4-2 vote. A soccer contract had been prepared but no one from the soccer program was available to sign it. The Board approved the purchase of two lifeguard chairs for the pool. Someone suggested that the horseshoe pits should be moved to the front of Iroquois Park to increase their visibility and thus their use. The Board approved an improvement on the donor posts in Foundation Park and a proposal to hire someone to fertilize the Blacker and the soccer fields.

Friday, March 1, 2024

March has arrived

 Art Show

The 31st Annual Regional High School Art Show is on exhibit at the Fendig Gallery.  Hours are Tuesdays noon till 4:00, Thursdays 2:00 to 6:00, and Saturdays noon till 2:00.


This picture of a face is made with lines that expand and contract.




The show runs until March 10, when there will be an awards ceremony starting at 1:30.

Candidates

The May primary ballot is set and there are some interesting races. The incumbent U.S. Senator, Mike Braun, is not running for re-election but instead is running for governor. There is only one person running on the Republican side to replace him,  Jim Banks, who is currently the Congressman from the third congressional district. There was a second, but he will not be on the ballot because he did not meet eligibility requirements. There are two candidates for Senate on the Democratic side, Marc Carmichael and Valerie McCray.

The Indiana governor is term-limited, so Eric Holcomb will not be running for re-election. There are six candidates running to replace him on the Republican side but only one on the Democratic side. The Republicans are Senator Mike Braun, Brad Chambers, Suzanne Crouch, Eric Doden, Curtis Hill, and Jamie Reitenour. Suzanne Crouch is currently the Lieutenant Governor and Curtis Hill is a former Indiana Attorney General. I have seen many ads for Eric Doden.

Our Congressman, Jim Baird, has two people seeking to replace him on the November ballot: Charles Bookwalter, and John Piper. There are two candidates on the Democratic ballot: Rimpi Girn and Derrick Holder. 

There are a number of contested local races. all on the Republican side. Emily Waddle is running against incumbent John Potter for Circuit Court Judge. The current auditor, Donya Jordan, is not running for reelection and there are three candidates seeking to replace her: Diana Boersma, Treasure Gilbert, and Christina Tryon. Commissioner James Walstra is retiring and there are four candidates vying for the nomination: Jennifer Grynovich, Ryan Hilton, Mike Johnson, and Jeff Spurgeon II. Jeffrey DeYoung is running for reelection as the Commissioner from District 2, but will have to overcome opposition from three other candidates, Jamie Patrick, Tina Porter, and Craig Standish. There are five candidates running for the Jasper County Council, at large: Eric Kidwell, Jacob Misch, Brian Moore, Barbara Neihouser, and Scott Walstra. I believe the top three will be on the November ballot. Kidwell, Misch, and Moore are currently on the Council.

Also on the ballot are candidates for the Republican and Democratic Conventions. I am not sure how many are elected. You can see the candidates from here.

There will be a meet-the-candidates event on March 9 at the American Legion at 10:00 am.

Notes

Almost half the bricks from Van Rensselaer Street have been removed.

After they are cleaned, they are put on pallets and are stored on the empty lot next to the Post Office. When they are finished, I suspect this lot will be full.
There are a few stray bricks in the street that for some reason they did not pick up.

It is remarkable how durable these bricks are. 

Just when we were starting to enjoy warm spring weather, a cold front moved in and returned winter. At least we did not get the storms that Illinois got. 

I have been working on my taxes. Jasper County remains as the county with the fourth highest county income tax. 


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Spring, turbines, & bricks

 Signs of spring

Crocuses are blooming!

On Sunday I saw a turkey vulture soaring overhead. Walmart is preparing their garden section in their parking lot. My rhubarb thinks it is time to start poking above ground.

For our area this has been a very mild winter and you can see that in the plot of ice cover of the Great Lakes. (From the website at https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/ice/glicd/timeseries/2024.png )

JC BZA and Plan Commission meetings

I had to make a choice on Monday evening, should I go to the Rensselaer City Council meeting or the Jasper County Board of Public Works and Plan Commission meetings. They both were meeting at 6:00. I decided to skip the City Council meeting because the agenda looked routine but the Plan Commission had an item about a proposed wind farm in Carpenter Township that had attracted a lot of attention.

The BZA and Plan Commission had been holding their meetings in the Court House but moved these meetings to the Sparling Annex because they expected a large crowd. They were not disappointed. It was standing room only, and the number of people standing seemed to me to exceed those seated. This was the first meeting of the year for the BZA and it began with the Board re-electing its officers: Scott Walstra as president and Kent Korniak as vice president. It then approved the November minutes for its last meeting. The only cause before it was a request for a special exception to use an existing house in Jordan Township for short-term rentals as an Airbnb. The owners thought that there was an opportunity to serve work crews and agri-tourism. The house is very isolated. The request was approved with the condition that the special exception not transfer if the property is sold.

The Plan Commission met next and those attending for the wind-farm conversation had to wait until other business was conducted. The Commission had a new member, Summer Brown from the Extension Office, replacing Brian Overstreet. It reelected its officers, Kent Korniak as President, Vince Urbano as VP, and Justin Rodibaugh as Secretary. It approved minutes from its last meeting, from September 23, 2023.

The first cause was a rezone from A1 to A2 in Union Township so a person could purchase the land to build a house. This had been on the January agenda, but that meeting was canceled because of weather. The second and third causes were for the same property, a change in zoning from A1 to A2 and approval of a two-lot subdivision. The property is near the southern limit of Marion Township and if I heard right, the purpose of the rezoning was to avoid the road-frontage requirements of A1 zoning. Both requests were approved. The final preliminary cause was another two-lot subdivision, this one in Wheatfield Township along SR 10. The property is one acre and is zoned general business, so it will not be used for housing. It was also approved.

Finally the meeting was ready for its long consideration of a request for a wind-farm overlay district in Carpenter Township. The Commissioners in 2019 approved an ordinance that prohibits wind farms from most of Jasper County with the exception of Carpenter Township and a sliver of Jordan Township. A designation of an overlay district is a step toward establishing a wind farm; actual placement of wind turbines would still need approval from the BZA.

The proposed wind farm is a project of EDP Renewables. It would have 45 turbines and produce at capacity 200 megawatts of electricity, which NIPSCO has agreed to purchase. The company has signed up 80 landowners with 20,000 acres. (They have also signed up 60 people with neighbor agreements. They will not have anything built on their land but are paid for being near a windmill.) Remington has passed an ordinance modeled on the County ordinance that has areas in which wind turbines are not allowed and areas in which they are. The pitch from EDP Renewables stressed the economic benefits of the proposed farm. Over the course of the lifetime of the project, it would pay $70 million to landowners and $35 million in taxes, with half of that going to schools. The road-use agreement it has would have the company spend $25 million in improving roads. The company says it plans to build a maintenance building in Carpenter Township. 

Whatever the Plan Commission decides will only be a recommendation to the Commissioners, who have final say. Only the parcels that have an agreement with EDP Renewables were included in the proposed overlay district.

Then it was time for public comment. Most of the speakers were opposed to the wind farm. Several wanted to slow the process down. Some were concerned about the agreements already in place, the road-use and decommissioning agreements. There were concerns about what would happen to the blades of the windmills; they do not seem to be recyclable. There were concerns about noise and a feeling that they were not right for our County. One lady seemed to mostly concerned about the CO2 pipeline. One speaker pointed out that the only reason that wind and solar projects were happening was because of federal tax incentives, and he thought that implied that they should be opposed locally. A couple people thought that the windmills would prevent medical evacuation helicopters from landing so there was a safety issue. One person expressed concern that if they were allowed in Carpenter Township, they would inevitably spread north all the way to the Kankakee. 

There were several speakers in favor of the project. A person from White County representing relatives who had signed agreements with EDP Renewables said that hundreds of wind turbines co-exist nicely with farming in White and Benton Counties and provide substantial economic benefits. 

The discussion then returned to the Board. There were questions about the airport and wildlife. Turbine placement must be approved by the FAA and wind farms need to get approval from State and Federal wildlife agencies. Finally Vince Urbano made a motion to table the matter until an independent consultant had reviewed all the agreements, noting that this was a big project and the County had made mistakes handling the big solar park projects. However, that motion did not fit the recommendation categories that were allowed. So he changed his motion to an unfavorable recommendation with the suggestion that the whole matter be reviewed before it was again considered.  (The actual motion was quite long.) That passed on a six to one vote.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30. The next meeting will be on March 18 if there is an agenda. 

Busy crews

On Monday a large crew began removing bricks from the intersection of Van Rensselaer and Harrison.The bricks are being cleaned and then will be stored until they are replaced on the streets.

The bricks are lifted from the street with this machine that scoops them up.

Driving in downtown Rensselaer on Monday was a challenge. In addition to parts of Harrison and VanRensselaer Streets being closed for the Brick Streets Project, There were holes being dug in Front Street and another part of VanRensselaer. I think they were attaching shut-off valves on water mains. 


Another crew was busy removing the hackberry tree next to the LaRue Pool. 

They did not finish by Monday evening and were back on the site Tuesday morning.

Finally, work has begun developing Filson Park, though I did not see any activity on Monday.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Brick Streets Project starts

Ceremonial Groundbreaking

The Brick Streets Project had its ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday morning. People involved in the project posed with a shovelful of dirt from plastic buckets.

Before the posed picture, there were short addresses by Mayor Phillips, Emily Albaugh the Community Development Planner for KIRPC, Brandon Schreeg from Kimley Horn, remarks read from State Representative Kendell Culp who is attending the legislative session in Indianapolis, and Stace Pickering from Rensselaer Main Street. KIRPC writes grant applications and administers grants for Rensselaer and Kimley Horn designed the project. Below you can see Ms Albaugh addressing the crowd with Jeff Phillips behind her and former Mayor Wood, former Councilman George Cover, and Stace Pickering in front of the shovels.

There was a decent sized crowd attending.

Here are two sketches of what the completed project will look like.


As part of the project, utilities will be replaced beneath the streets. Also sidewalks will be widened. Here is a sketch showing wider sidewalks and changed parking.

The grant that is funding the project is from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. A requirement is that a percentage of old bricks (I think it is at least 50%) be reused. 

Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Advisory Planning Commission met Thursday afternoon with two items of new business. The first was several zoning changes in the Sunnyside Addition (which is on the northeast side of Rensselaer). They are shown on the map below. Part of one block was changed from I-1 (light industrial) to R1 (residential) because that part of the block consists of residences. The block on which The State Highway Department formerly had buildings and part of another block were changed from R1 to I-1. The reason for the change was again to make the zoning consistent with the way the land is being used. The former State Highway lot has chemical pollution and can not be used for residences. There is currently a warehouse on the lot and another is planned.

The second item was a change of zoning for what used to be a gas station on the Corner of McKinley and Cherry (a bit north of St. Augustine School). The reason the owner wanted the change was that he wants to sell the property and it will be easier to sell with Business zoning. The lot is small and nothing bigger than the existing building can be placed on the lot. Both of the rezones were approved and now need City Council approval to be final.


The next meeting will be on March 21 at 5:30. On the agenda will be a proposal to rezone the Pizza King lot. The business has a variance to have a business in an area zoned residential, but changing the zoning to match what is actually there eliminates the need for the variance.


Rensselaer BZA

The Rensselaer Board of Zoning Appeals meeting was scheduled for an hour after the Plan Commission meeting, and because the Plan Commission meeting lasted half an hour, there was some waiting for it to start. It had only one item on the agenda, a variance for height for a proposed outbuilding and house that will be built on Bunkum Road immediately to the east of the Iroquois Valley Church. (This lot is outside the City limits but in its exclusion zone, so it needs to meet City regulations, not County regulations.) The lot is a wooded lot and the buildings will be set back from the road so will be screened by trees. The current limit on height is 18 feet for outbuildings and 25 for houses. The petitioners want a garage 23 feet tall so it will be able to hold an RV. They were unsure if the house they will build will exceed 25 feet but it may; the plans are not finalized. The variance was granted with the condition that the garage not exceed 25 feet and the house not exceed 30 feet.


Someone asked about the status of the old R&M property. Plans for remodeling or rebuilding are being developed by Hamstra and will need State approval before work begins.

There was discussion of whether the current height limits are realistic, especially for houses in the exclusion zone on lots zoned suburban residential (which must be at least an acre in size.) The Board passed a recommendation to the Plan Commission to review the current height limits.

The next meeting will be on March 21 at 5:30. On the agenda will be a proposal for a conditional use variance for the Good Samaritan Food Pantry, which is moving from its current location on Van Rensselaer and Harrison to the building behind Pizza King.


County Council

The Jasper County Council met on Tuesday evening and because the agenda did not look very interesting, I decided to attend via Zoom. Unfortunately, the audio quality was poor because some of the mics either were not turned on or the speakers were not speaking into them. If the person writing the minutes uses the recording to determine what was said, she will have a challenge.

The Council approved four sets of additional appropriations: for probation secretary and extradition, for road repair (allowing the highway department to spend up to $1 million on chip and seal and road materials), a donation of $75,000 to the Rensselaer Fire Department fire tower (discussed at the last meeting), and about $30,000 to complete repairs at Community Corrections. They then approved a batch of transfers, an amendment to the salary ordinance that dealt mostly with part-time employees, and finally the salary ordinance itself.

There was a discussion of public defenders that I had a hard time following because of poor audio. The County Courts are having a hard time attracting public defenders and may in the future create a public defender department. Compensation is an issue. The budget has funds for seven defenders but there are only six, so the action the Council took was to split the 7th contract among the six active defenders.

The last action of the Council was to fill their slot on the Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council (JRAC). It is a nine member board with the members determined by various offices. The council appoints one member, and last year it was Eric Kidwell, who said that he had a hard time making the meetings because of work conflicts. Nevertheless, he was reappointed with the hopes that the meetings will be Zoomed so he can attend remotely.

Notes

We have had a mild winter this year except for a week in mid January when the temperatures never got above freezing and we had some extremely cold temperatures. At the end of last week we got a reminder that winter is still with us with a couple of inches of snow on Friday and temperatures mostly in the teens on Saturday. You can see the snow on the ground in the picture below of the new fencing around the natural gas regulator station next to McDonalds. The new gas regulators went on-line at the beginning of October.

I missed the meeting at the Fairgrounds that discussed what should be in a new solar ordinance because I attended the Rensselaer BZA and Plan Commission meetings that were held at the same time as the solar meeting. I have not heard anything about what went on at the solar meeting.

I learned a bit more about the phosphorus building pictured in the last post. It does not take phosphorus out of the sewage. Rather it stores chemicals that are added to the sewage and that bind to the phosphorus in the water, helping neutralize it. The State has mandated that Rensselaer (and other communities) add phosphorus control to their sewage plants.

In the previous post I mentioned that the Tourism Commission gave money to Remington Main Street for a mural to be painted this summer. Below is the wall that it will cover. There is a lot of wall and it will be noticed. (The light was all wrong for this picture, but it was the best I could do.)

The Top Link building has a new tenant, 181 Properties. 

The building that previously had Walter's Electric is being remodeled. Some of it will be the future home of Biscuit and a Bath, a dog grooming business north of the railroad on Cullen Street. There are plans to open an ice cream shop in another part.

Jasper County Economic Development has announced that Zyan Miller will be leaving the organization. 

The latest newsletter from Saint Joseph's College is here.

I have not seen any announcements about Lenten Luncheons this year, but a comment on Facebook gave this lineup:

Feb 28th Nazarene Church
Mar 6th Saint Augustine
Mar 13th Trinity United Methodist Church
Mar20th First Christian Church
Mar 27th Brushwood Global Church

Start time seems to be 11:45 with a charge of $6.00.