More from Monday's City Council meeting

The big items, in my opinion, from Monday's City Council meeting were the Zing and Grandma's items. There was much more of lesser importance.

The Mayor acknowledged the Citizen of the Year award that the Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce presented to Kevin Cochran, superintendent of Weston Cemetery. There was a transfer of over $150k for the police department. The transfer was not explained but seems to be for covering expenses in moving offices. The gas tracker for December was a decrease of 8¢ per hundred cubic feet. Cemetery employee Ronald Cox received a ten-year service award; the picture of the presentation was in Tuesday's Rensselaer Republican. The power plant received approval to purchase a new overhead crane for the power plant. The cost will be slightly more than $25,000. The old crane was built in 1939, is no longer safe to operate, and spare parts for it are no longer available.

The Mayor and the Council seemed to be deciding that they do not want the INDOT property on the NE side of Rensselaer unless the State agrees to share liability if the hazardous chemicals beneath the lot migrate. One of the environmental statements said that digging deeper than four feet should not be allowed. Sale of water bonds for connecting the new well to the water treatment plant will take place December 14 and the Council approved something that allows payment to take place in this fiscal year to three entities that have worked on the financing.

There was an obscure discussion of the need of an ordinance to deal with hoarders whose activities affect neighbors. The City will see how other communities deal with the problem. It was noted that this was Police Chief Jeff Phillips last Council meeting and many people wished him well on his upcoming retirement. There are still a few minor things left to do on the Watt substation on Bunkum Road. The substation should be energized next week. The group doing planning for the revitalizing downtown has been meeting and the next meeting, tentatively scheduled for 4:30 on Jan 16 at Embers, will be open to the public for their comments. The Council approved $250 from the public relations fund for refreshments for the meeting.  The meeting adjourned at about 6:45.

For several weeks there has been a dumpster in front of the old bottling plant/dry cleaner building at the corner of Clark and Cullen Streets. Signs offering it for lease have been on the building for months, and the owner says that if it is remodeled, the entrance will go in the back of the building where there is room for a parking lot.

There is a lot of work to be done and it appears that in the past there has been a fair amount of patching.

Big changes are coming to the Rensselaer Republican. They will be more on-line and less on paper, if I read their announcement correctly.

The Jasper County Airport has begun a newsletter. You can view the first issue here.