Summer Solstice 2018

The Jasper County Council met on Tuesday evening for their June meeting. The main item on the agenda was an additional appropriation for Jasper County Economic Development and the Tourism Council for a donation to the Rensselaer Parks For People Campaign. The Tourism Council had over the past few months been reviewing a request from the Parks For People Campaign and had decided to donate $175,000. However, that item was not in the budget that the Council had approved for them so they needed Council approval to make the donation.

There was concern on the Council about the size of the proposed donation. The money would come from the innkeeper tax and any expenditures of this money must be justified from a tourism perspective. Since the innkeeper tax was approved, the amount spent has always been less than the amount collected, so there is currently a balance of $342,000 available. The argument that the Parks For People proponents made is that the addition of three excellent ballfields at Brookside Park and the renovation of the existing ball field would make the complex attractive for tournaments and tournaments draw in people from outside the county. There are estimates of how much the average person drawn in spends based on what happens at some other tournament sites and those numbers seemed to justify the project.

There also was concern on the Council about the large amount going to one of the four communities of the County, although it seems to me that this grant would set a precedent that those other communities could use in the future. Mr Norwine made a motion to grant $50,000 but the motion died for lack of a second. Mr DeVries suggested that even $50,000 was too much. When the the discussion was opened to the audience, someone suggested that enough be given to make sure the state matching grant of $50,000 was obtained. However, the state matching grant only matches any single gift up to $10,000. The proponents of the grant argued that this was a special opportunity to do something that would have a long-run impact and should not be compared to the much smaller annual grants that the Tourism Commission gives to festivals. Finally Mr Risner made a motion to approve a grant of $10,000 with the understanding that the issue would be reviewed at the next meeting. Before the vote Mr Andree said he thought that was too small and that a grant of about $100,000 would be the right amount. The motion for $10,000 passed with two nays.

During the remainder of the meeting, the Council heard from the County Highway Department, which had intended to ask for an additional appropriation but changes in what the State wants for their matching grants changed the request. It will come up again in the July meeting. The Council reviewed tax abatements but the vote on them will be in July. They noted that several were in their final years and that no new abatements have been authorized for several years. They heard a brief review of the energy saving/capital expenditure project with Honeywell. The next meeting will be on July 24 at 7:00 but there will be a joint meeting with the Commissioners before that meeting, at 6:00.

On Thursday we got much needed rain. There were a lot of dark clouds and thunder on Tuesday but only an insignificant amount of rain. Thankfully the brutal heat and humidity of last weekend are gone.

LGS Plumbing continues landscaping the sidewalk along Sparling. The sidewalk has some curves in it.

It seems to be a sidewalk to nowhere. SJC is closed as is the Youth Center.

Also closing is Greene's Furniture, with less than two weeks remaining before shutdown. The Antique Mall will be open until the end of July.

Another sidewalk under construction is the short segment that connects the sidewalk in Potawatomie Park to College Avenue.

It appears that all the solar panels have been installed in the new solar farm.

Enjoy a cool Summer Solstice.