Graves, power, and exercise

The weather on Saturday was ideal for two events, the initial Weston Cemetery Walk and the 14th annual Oktober Fest. The Cemetery Walk had about 140-150 people attend, which was pretty much a sell-out. I was a volunteer worker and did not get any pictures (or actually go on the tour). There is a nice collection of pics here.

I did hear a lot of positive comments from those who went on the Walk. A goal of the Historical Society was to have an event that presented history in an entertaining way and that goal was met. It was also the intention to establish an annual event, and the success of this first one gets the series off to a strong start.

Oktober Fest was also well attended. I also did not take any pictures there. (If you search this blog for "OcktoberFest" you will find posts from past years with pictures.)

On Monday CDC Resources held an open house for the Laird Fitness Center, which will be open to the public. The reason that CDC Resources has a fitness center is that the majority of the clients it serves, adults with developmental disabilities, have sedentary lifestyles, getting very little physical exercise, and they suffer health consequences as a result. The Laird Center was a high priority of a previous director, Mike Cruz. It was named for Wally Laird, who years ago served on the Board of Directors and was for several years President of the Board. The Monticello Center has long had an exercise center, the Wilcoxon Fitness Center, that is open to the public, though I think it is limited to the elderly.

For a mere $10 a month you can get a pass to use the equipment at the Laird Fitness Center. One drawback may be that there are no showers available to the public.

If you missed the open house and are interested, contact CDC Resources. Their contact info is on their website.

On Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council met. A number of the items discussed were electric power related. One of Rensselaer's apprentice linemen won Apprentice of the Year from the trade group to which the City belongs. The award is named after a Frankfort apprentice who died a few years ago. The Rensselaer Republican will have the details of the award.

The electric rate tracker for the fourth quarter was a small decrease that was more than offset by an increase in an energy cost adjustment. As a result, the rate will increase by $10.17 per 1000 kilowatt hours.

There are several events that will highlight Public Power Week. There will be a ribbon cutting for the new solar park on October 9 at 1:15. The entry to the ribbon cutting is through the Madison subdivision. (From Wood Road turn south on Franklin Street.) On October 10 the power plant will have an open house from 10:00 to 2:00. It will be a chance to see the equipment that is housed there. Normally the public is not allowed in the building.

In other business, the Council passed its budget for 2019. It made an amendment for the salary ordinance to accommodate some job title changes in the Police Department. It approved the purchase of a skid loader for $64,354.21 that will be paid by the four utilities. The old loader is starting to have issues and will be traded in.

An item that should be of public interest was the establishment of trick or treat hours. They will be Sunday, October 28, from 5:00 till 8:00. These are the same hours that were previously established for the Trunk or Treat event at the Fairgrounds.

The City Attorney announced that negotiations for purchase of land for a future well site will now be conducted with Farm Credit, not Saint Joseph's College.

The Jasper County Planning Commission meeting from Monday night will be the subject of a future post.