Dueling 500s

At the beginning of every Rensselaer City Council meeting, the Mayor asks for public comments. At Monday's meeting, the public comment took up half the meeting.

There are two different visions of how to continue the SJC Little 500 Race. The Alumni Association plans a Little 500 event at the Fairgrounds on May 18. Another group, and no name was give to it but it has at least two people who were active in racing and organizing Little 500 races, would like to do a Little 500 cart race on June 29. The location they want is a loop off Drexel Parkway using St. Gasper Drive. The route would go past the Autumn Trace building, Cooperative School Services, and Fountain Stone Theater. This route would require that Drexel Drive be closed to normal traffic, and it was this request that caused concern from various members of the Council. Eventually the Council tabled this item to the next meeting, requesting that those proposing the event get signed letters from all the businesses that might be affected stating that they were OK with the road closing.

The gas tracker for April will be a small fraction of a cent increase per hundred cubic feet. The Council passed the meter-deposit ordinance that had been discussed at the previous meeting. Four quotes were obtained for tree removal and the low bid of $48,800 for 84 trees from Practical Tree Service was approved. The Council approved hiring Peerless for $23,365 to clean Well #6. It has an expected capacity of 800 cubic feet a minute but is currently producing only 600 gallons per minute. During the cleaning, the well will be shut down and water will come from Wells 7 and 8.

The City was awarded a CCMG grant of over $900,000 for street improvements. Its matching portion of the grant will be $311,226. The Council approved hiring First Group Engineering for an amount not to exceed $93,600 for their services in doing the work funded by the grant.

The Council approved spending $2600 for the Pipeline Awareness Open House on May 3. The City has a State grant that will reimburse the City for this expenditure, but this grant payment is made after the event, not before. The City had received two bids to remodel a part of the old Police Station (that connects to City Hall) for the Clerk-Treasurer office. It accepted the low bit of $3124.01 from Contour Construction and also a bid of $374 from DeMotte Carpet for flooring.

The Council approved an appointment to the Park Board and advertising for an upcoming appointment to the Rensselaer School Board. There was concern about parking on Weston Street by St. Augustine's. When cars park on both sides of the street, it becomes a one-way street. The Police Chief will investigate. The Hoosier State train will cease operations at the end of June because the state subsidy will cease. It operates four days a week. The Cardinal (which comes from the East Coast) three days a week will continue service. (The Republican has more here.)

The Council approved use of streets for the May 18 Chloë K 5K Run for Autism. It starts and ends at the County Fairgrounds and turns around at Brookside Park using Bunkum Road.

The American Flag Raising project has met its fund-raising goal and the Police Department is working on testing applicants for its openings.

Here is a picture of more spring flowers.