Meetings 09-08-2015

Tuesday was a busy day for meetings, with some meetings moved from Monday because of Labor Day. The County Commissioners had their monthly meeting and it had some interesting items. The Pulaski County EMS requested that the be given a call for emergencies in eastern Jasper County. They have two centers, Winamac and Francesville, and parts of Jasper County are much closer to their Francesville station than to Rensselaer. They pointed out that in cases of medical emergency, response time can be critical. The Commissioners said that they needed to talk to whoever would be providing EMS services for Jasper County to see how a dual call would affect them. However, when it was time to open bids for ambulance services, there were no bids received. The lack of bids may have been due to the Labor Day Holiday—there may be bids in the mail.

At this point I left briefly to take some pictures of Ayda’s before it opened. When I got back, the meeting was reconvening after a break. Next on the agenda was a proposal for a contract to update the county’s Unified Development Ordinance. County officials want to make a number of changes and need to have someone who can put those changes into the appropriate legalize that the document requires.

The GIS team had a number of items, the most interesting concerning land splits that result in landlocked properties. These splits are caused by financial institutions, but if the landlocked property is then sold and someone wants to build, they will need a variance from the BZA. The thought was to prevent the problem by stopping people from making the splits. Various ways of doing that were discussed.

The Airport Manager relayed a request from the Chamber of Commerce for a closing of US 231 on Dec 5 for the annual Christmas parade. He then gave a report on what had been happening at the airport. He mentioned that sometimes businesses looking for new locations inquired about what the airport had to offer—Rensselaer is blessed with excellent transportation networks. He also discussed how important the airport was to making crop spraying economical for local farmers. 

Sheriff Risner had a contingent of people in attendance to discuss the proposal to use a radio tower in the Aix area, a topic that has been slowly developed over many months of Commissioners and Council meetings. All the pieces now seem to be in place with the needed agreements reached. Some contract language needs to be ironed out and perhaps at the October meeting some of the contracts can be signed by the county.

The Sheriff also mentioned that the state legislature passed a law requiring the county seek Medicaid enrollment for jail prisoners but no one knew exactly what the legislation would require or how it would be implemented. The purpose is to treat mental health and addition problems with county jail prisoners, and he said that the vast majority of the prisoners had these problems.

The final item that seems worth highlighting is that the county needs to have its county code republished. It was last published twenty years ago and the company that did it then is no longer in business. The county approved seeking proposals for the project.

In the afternoon the Drainage Board approved drainage plans for Belstra Milling, Rose Acres, Remington Pallet, and Creekside Villa. There was a lengthy discussion of above-grade ponds. The pond at the center of the discussion seems to have been created by damming a county-regulated tile without getting the appropriate permission, so a letter will be sent to the landowner.

In the evening the Park Board met. They had nothing special on the agenda but discussed many threads that have come up in the past. A couple members left early for an executive session of the School Board, and the agenda of that meeting may have impact on the Park Board.

Speaking of meetings, I need to get ready for one.