October's County Council meeting and more

The County Council met for its October meeting on Tuesday evening. It approved the budgets of several governmental bodies that need to have the Council's approval. All of them had presented their cases at last month's meeting.

The Sheriff gave an update on his request to replace the current 20 year plan with a 26 year plan. He noted that the plan was switching the firm that manages the investment and that change will drop the management fee from 1.35% to 1% with the possibility of lower rates in the future. He also noted that after the crash in 2008, the plan had become risk adverse in its portfolio and that was a reason for the low rate of return it has experienced. At last month's meeting concern had been raised about the effect on unfunded liabilities that a switch would cause. There has been discussion with interested parties in the past few weeks and the advisor to the Sheriff's Department is now suggesting to phase in the 26-year plan over six years as a way to minimize the effect on unfunded liabilities. More details will be provided at next month's meeting.

The Council approved a number of additional appropriations and transfers of funds.

The Council invited Stephen Eastridge to tell them about a meeting that he and the Commissioners had had with NIPSCO concerning their plans and its effects on Jasper County. NIPSCO accounts for 18% of the assessed valuation in Jasper County and pays $6 million a year in local taxes. They intend to shut down all of their coal generating plants by 2028, with the Michigan City plant the last to be in operation. They think that they can replace this power with renewables. Georgia Pacific, which has a plant nearby and uses the gypsum that is the byproduct of burning coal, has been preparing for this and plans on staying. The Wheatfield plant employs about 300 people and NIPSCO will not be able to absorb them in other operations. There are two gas powered generators at the plant, each capable of 50 megawatts, that are used for peaking purposes and there is no plan to shut them down.

Kendall Culp added that he has heard people say that NIPSCO is bluffing but he says they are not. NIPSCO says it can purchase power at 1/3 the cost of generating it with coal. Wind power no longer needs government tax breaks to be competitive and solar is headed in that direction.

A question arose about a potential business at the Remington exit on US 24. Mr Eastridge noted that of the five county interchanges, it was the only one that has utilities ready for industrial expansion. The Rensselaer exit on SR 114 has limitations on how much load some of its utilities can handle. Someone asked about the proposed travel center at the DeMotte exit. They are having some problem with water that is holding up that development.

Work on the Court House windows continues. The exterior work is finished and as of Thursday workers were installing interior storm windows. This is part of a project to improve the energy efficiency of the building.

Elsewhere in Rensselaer work continues on the Autumn Trace units. Concrete is being poured.

 After getting the surface perfectly flat, the workers have dug it up and made hills of dirt everywhere

 Hills of dirt were being formed at the old Monnett School property. A few inches a old soil are being removed and will be replaced with new, rock-free soil. This is a project for the Parks for People Campaign.

 There is some progress at the site of the new dog park. Some poles have been installed. I think they are for fencing but I am not sure. While I was looking at them, a dump truck pulled up and filled a hole.

Three City linemen have been in Florida helping restore power in Tallahassee.

Post season for football is here. Some of the shops downtown have painted their windows. Can you tell which store this is below?

 The City has been replacing some of the fire hydrants recently.

Below is a picture of the one that was taken out.

There was big fire at Rose Acres near the US 231/SR 16 intersection on Tuesday evening.

On Friday the Prairie Arts Council held the reception and awards ceremony for their exhibit "State of the Art: Art of the State." It was a juried exhibit that received 270 entries. The entries were submitted by pictures via the Internet. Two judges, neither local, selected about 70 pictures from the submissions. They then came to Rensselaer to judge the show for awards. They awarded six honorable mentions and eight awards that had money attached to them, form $50 to the top prize of $1000. You can see which pictures received awards by visiting the Fendig Gallery.