End-of-the-year review 2019

Last year's end-of-the-year summary emphasized closings and to some extent that theme carried over into 2019. At the end of June Amtrak shut down its Hoosier State service that stopped in Rensselaer four times a week. Now only the Cardinal serves Rensselaer three times a week. Arby's in town shut down in late September. Late in the year Genova announced indefinite layoff; it is unclear if or when they will resume production. And it is likely that some of the approximately 20 businesses destroyed in the Town Mall fire will never reopen.

There was a rebirth of the bakery in June followed a few months later by its closure.

 There were also a number of openings. The biggest of them was the opening of Autumn Trace, the new independent living/assisted living apartments for seniors. It is a beautiful facility that fills a need for the community. The Fair Oaks hotel opened in January and a major new hotel opened in Remington at the end of September. Healthy Haven, which sells beverages, opened and had a ribbon cutting. In the summer a new Mexican restaurant opened in what had been Martin's. Ayda's and Unwind Massage both expanded. The old Horton building is being completely remodeled, and Shelter Insurance now occupies the back part of the building (moving just weeks before the Town Mall fire destroyed their former offices). A new employment agency seems to have opened just before the end of the year in the former Farm Credit office next to 5/3 Bank.

 Construction financed by the Parks for People Campaign is changing our parks. The site of the former Monnett School had soccer fields constructed that will be useable in 2020 as well as a walking trail with exercise equipment, a new shelter house, and two new basketball courts. A new dog park opened on Bunkum Road. Construction started on three new ballfields at Brookside Park. Park programming continued to expand. An example was the celebration of the 70th birthday of the LaRue Pool.

 Perhaps no story this year was more fun to cover than the painting of murals in downtown Rensselaer during July. Several top-notch muralists came to Rensselaer and created the Rensselaer Art Walk. Unfortunately, the Town Mall fire destroyed one of the major murals of the RENARTWLK.

Mural fever spread, and Remington also had a couple of significant murals added to its downtown.

 Many blog posts reported City and County meetings. In May the final draft of a wind ordinance was passed, ending months of contentious meetings. The ordinance prohibits wind farms in about 90% of the County. The County was more friendly to the possibility of solar power and the groundwork was set for a potentially large solar park in the northeast part of the County. Remodeling of the former PNC Bank building was mostly completed during the year and 2020 should see the prosecutor and probation offices settled in the building. A lot of planning for a jail energy project took place and in 2020 a small solar park should be added to the jail.

The State closed parts of SR 114 twice during the year, in the spring to replace a bridge near the Interstate and in the fall to resurface a bridge just east of Rensselaer.

Rensselaer had municipal elections in November and in January the City Council will have two new members.

 We had a very wet spring that delayed planting and probably reduced farm yields.

During County Fair week, a couple of pilots offered bi-pane rides and they were a special highlight for this blogger.

The Rensselaer Republican published its top ten stories of the year on Saturday but I cannot find it on the paper's website.

Only a week until Christmas

The County Council met Tuesday evening with what appeared to be a short agenda. The meeting lasted almost two hours.

The first hour was taken up by three concerns of the Sheriff. First, one of his deputies would like to become an canine officer. The Department currently has two canine units in service, one a young dog and an older dog that can serve for two or three more years. The initial cost of adding a dog is about $20,000 and the annual maintenance cost is about $8,000. The deputy who presented the case has a dog that he thinks will make a good police dog, but if it does not work out, he would use another. Most police canines are trained to deal with narcotics and a dog that does drug work is not useful for finding explosives. There was a brief discussion of whether a new dog should be imprinted on marijuana given the uncertainties of whether it will remain illegal. The Council took no action but will think about whether it wants to fund the $8000 a year cost of maintaining another dog.

The second issue involved a discussion of a retirement plan for the chief deputy. He had previously been a merit deputy but had quit and had begun to take his retirement benefits. Then he rejoined as a Court security officer before becoming Chief Deputy. There was a long discussion of what the rules allowed and the Council voted to have its attorney draft a resolution for the next meeting (or perhaps the next session).

The final discussion was of Spillman software that the Sheriff would like to purchase. There are lots of parts that have to come together for the purchase to happen and nothing official was done at the meeting.

The next item, which took almost as long as the Sheriff's business, was a discussion of the Kankakee River Project. The County has received a $3.8 million dollar grant from FEMA to address issues with River flooding and must match 25% of it. The grant works by reimbursing expenses, so the County does not get grant money until after it spends money on the project and submits records of its payments. The Drainage Board had been managing this project and had voted an assessment to more than cover the County's share of the project. That assessment applies to all property in Jasper County within the Kankakee River watershed. However, State law has changed and now assessments of this kind must be passed by county councils, not drainage boards. (It is amazing how many hoops county and local governments must jump through to meet all the state regulations that they are subject to.) Eight counties are involved in the Kankakee River project but only Jasper has secured FEMA funding. The Council approved the assessment of the Drainage Board, though it will not take the final vote until December 27. (The Council meeting was not adjourned but continued so that it could act on the 27th.) The Council also approved a line of credit to finance operations. The line of credit is needed because FEMA does not reimburse until after the bills are paid.

The Council approved a salary ordinance for 2020 with no discussion. I believe this just ratifies what Council had previously approved in the budget.

The final item for the night was approval of the meeting schedule for 2020. Council meetings will continue to be on the third Tuesdays of the month with the exceptions of February and April. The February meeting will be on the 25th and the April meeting on the 14th. Joint Commissioner-Council meetings will be held in July and November.

The Prosecutor's office will be moving into the former PNC Bank building on December 27 and the Probation Office in mid January (after the elevator is working).

There was no BZA or Plan Commission meeting in December.

Construction continues on the concession stand building for the Blacker Fields. The picture below is from Tuesday.

Two buildings are under construction in the Sunset Ridge subdivision. One may be a duplex. There is now a dumpster in front of the former bakery. The storage units on Melville just south of the substation appear to be finished.

Only a week until Christmas and two until 2020.

Released from Facebook jail

I have been released from Facebook jail! (You might not realize that I was in Facebook jail if you rely on links to the Rensselaer Adventure Facebook page for notices of new posts.) I added a location to my personal page and my few Facebook friends were informed that I suddenly moved to Rensselaer, Indiana. That seems to have solved the location problem without sending a photo ID. However, I deleted the mobile phone number and that undid the two-factor authorization. So I redid the phone thing and now I will leave the number there.

The City Council met on Monday evening. They approved a reduction in appropriations that the State said that they had to make and transferred some funds to clean up bookkeeping. They approved a gas tracker than I think was a 4¢ increase per hundred cubic feet.

The main event of the meeting was a presentation on fire-department billing from two ladies from Emergency Services Billing Corporation (here on the web). The Company said that State law allows fire departments to bill for their services but collecting requires persistence and knowledge of both state law and the insurance industry. ESBC adds a fee to the amount that they want to collect, so they are paid on commission; if they cannot collect, they get nothing. They are located in Indiana and presently have Crown Point, Merrillville, and Lowell as clients. At present the Fire Department does not do any billing for fire runs. The authorization from the Council would only apply to runs in the City but the Marion Township Trustee is likely to agree to use the company for runs outside city limits. The representatives left information with Council members and the matter will be discussed again at the next Council meeting. My guess is that they will agree to use the service because there seems to be nothing to lose and something to gain.

The Council approved some funds from the public relations account for a retirement party for a worker in the electric department. At the next meeting the new Council will be sworn in although it will not take effect until January. The Police Department has taken delivery of new cars. The Council approved using City streets for a 5K on March 7 that will run from the Fairgrounds to Brookside Park and back. The parts that were recently delivered for the aerial truck did not work and the truck will be out of service for at least another three to four weeks. Frosty Fest was well attended. And Census is hiring for next year's Census. (I worked the Census in 1990 and kept notes that I used to write about the experience twenty years later. See here.)

The Rensselaer Republican and the radio station have reported that Genova has laid off workers because of supply-side problems. The Republican has also reported that Commissioner Kendall Culp will be the president of Indiana Association of County Commissioners for 2020. The association presents the view of the counties to the State legislature. The Airport Association Authority is moving their monthly meeting from the evening on the first Wednesdays of the month to 4:00 on the second Thursdays. (I may be able to attend a few more next year.)

Finally, here are pictures of a few trees and decorations at Potawatomi Park.

The tree for the Animal Shelter

 The Rensselaer Care Center

 A tree I could not identify. Delos Thompson house in the background.

 Rensselaer Parks put up this tree. The Christmas mural is in the background.

The giving tree and the IBEC tree

 Another unidentified tree, but something school related

Will next year be the year of good eyesight? You know, 2020.

In Facebook jail

When I went to Facebook to post a link to my post earlier this week, I got an unpleasant surprise. I had been locked out of the Rensselaer Adventures page. I could see the page, but I could not post anything. I had no idea that I managed a page with high potential reach.

Facebook wanted me to do a couple of things. One was to either use an authenticator (something I had never heard of) or get a text message with a code. I checked two authenticators they had listed and both required mobile devices. I have a couple of obsolete mobile devices that no longer can be updated. One of the two would not run on my old devices and the other was a google authenticator. I was worried that if I used it, I would have to take additional steps to log into my google account. (This blog is run by google.) I am one of the few people in Rensselaer who does not have a working cell phone but we have a cheap tracfone that we use when traveling and it will receive text messages. (I do not text--I am a real dinosaur when it comes to the latest tech stuff.) Anyway, I entered the phone number, got my code, and entered the code. I thought I was finished, but no. They also wanted me to submit a photo ID. Google and Facebook know way more about me than I want them to know, so I do not think I want to share a photo ID with either. If you rely on Facebook posts to the Rensselaer Adventures page to learn when this blog has new content, you may not be able to do that in the future.

I suggest you bookmark the Rensselaer Adventures blog and I would appreciate anyone who links to my posts on Facebook. I will see how traffic flows in the next month or two. If readership drops too low, it may be time to stop the blog and move on to other things. Like alphabets in which all the glyphs have either reflective or rotational symmetry.

(Has anyone else run into this situation with Facebook? I wonder if the sharing of my post on the fire might have tripped some bit of software that Facebook uses. I do not know how else they could have concluded that my page has high potential reach.)

Autumn Trace had its ribbon cutting on Wednesday. They are currently about 70% full.

More Christmas trees have been placed in Potawatomi Park.  Chief Industries has an usual and large display.

 The City of Rensselaer planted a live tree. Hopefully it will grow next year.

 Hope Community has an untraditional tree that points to Good Friday.

 Can you tell from the hat that this is from the Little Cousin Jasper Festival?

 The tree below was jointly sponsored by First Presbyterian Church and the RCMS Choir Department.

The tree and the bicycle are from the Ride to End Alzheimers.

 I do not know who sponsored this tree. It had no identification.

 On Friday morning the Tourism Commission met in the Commissioners room at the Court House. They spent much of the meeting brainstorming on how to develop tourism themes such as sports tourism and agricultural tourism.

This week the concession stand for the Blacker Fields has a roof.

 A couple offices in the Court House had decorated. Below is the entrance to the Clerk's office.

 The second floor hallway has a large Christmas tree. The boxes are collecting food for the food pantry. Even Jasper the Bison has gotten into the holiday spirit.

 The other doorway that is elaborately decorated is the Veterans Service office.

Did I mention that I really do not like Facebook? Unfortunately so many people use it that I have use it too in order to learn what is happening.

December already

Facebook has added a series of requirements for me to publish links to these posts on the Rensselaer Adventures account of Facebook. I do not want to do the things that they require, so I may no longer be publishing links to these posts on Facebook.

I was surprised to see on Facebook that Jenkins Realty had listed the Robert's car dealership property for sale. I stopped in to see what the story was. The business will stay open at least until the property sells.

The Commissioners met Monday for the first of their two December meetings. (They will also meet on the 27th to finish up anything that needs to be done before the 2019 ends.) They signed a contractual services agreement with Purdue Extension that helps pay for three Extension employees, up from two and three quarters currently. One position is vacant but will be filled. They then heard a request from Sheriff Williamson to allow him to use some 911 funds to pay for Spillman software. The Sheriff is convinced that this software will greatly help his department but the Commissioners have questions, largely, I think, because they have seen too many cases in the past where new purchases have not worked as promised. The Commissioners have a meeting with other county commissioners coming up and they want to discuss this matter with other commissioners to see what they are doing.

The Commissioners had rebid the contract for EMS services but when it was time to open the bids, they found that there was again only one, Phoenix Paramedic Services, and the price was identical to the original price. There was one difference in this bid request. Originally it was for a two-year contract, but on the rebid it was for one year with options to renew for two additional years. The bid was for $288,000 for the year but the Council had only budgeted $189,000. The Commissioners approved the contract for one year pending an appropriation from the Council. They still have to decide how much to subsidize the other three ambulance services in the County and will decide that at their December 27th meeting.

The County Highway Department wanted the Commissioners to prioritize projects for the next round of Community Crossings grants. There was a long discussion on this topic. Each Commissioner had a certain mileage to split up on different roads.

A representative from ARCEM, the company that provides IT services to the County, was up next. He said that Microsoft will soon stop supporting Windows 7 so ARCEM is updating computers to Windows 10. There is some legacy software that the County uses that will not run on Windows 10 so there are some computers that will not be updated. A DSL line will be installed to the former PNC Bank building to give it access to the internet until fiberoptic can be installed. This will allow Internet access and telephone service. The elevator will not work unless it has Internet access and the building cannot open without the elevator. Most of the cabling was installed before the drywall was installed but there is still a bit more cable that has to be installed. The goal is to have construction done by the 20th so offices can move over the Christmas holiday. The County has been happy with the service from ARCEM and the Commissioners will renew the contract at the Dec 27 meeting. They asked him about selling old cell phones—someone has been asking if the County will sell them. He said he will investigate if there was a cheap but effective way to wipe them. If there was not, it would be better to recycle them. Finally, the Commissioners asked him to talk to Spillman to see if there were any problems with compatibility of their software and the other software the County is using.

There was a short discussion of a bridge contract. The County had selected a bid for the reconstruction of a bridge in the north of the County and the repair of another bridge. They wanted the work done between harvest and planting but a start date for construction was not in the contract. However, the contract specified that the project was to be completed in 105 days. The contractor decided that if he started now or in January, the weather might cause delays and he might not be able to complete in 105 days. So he wants to start in March. The Commissioners signed the contract. They also approved an agreement for road ratings, something necessary for CMG grants from the state.

Financing for the Jail energy project has been finalized. The loan will be tax free for the bank and the bank will own the panels and will get the tax credit from them (which the County could not have gotten). The tax credit is a reason that the interest rate was as low as it was. The Commissioners approved a credit card ordinance that has rules for how County credit cards can be used. The Commissioners approved the meeting and holiday schedules for 2020. The February Commissioners meeting will be held on the second Monday rather than the first.

One of the offices that had been burned out in the Town Mall had approached a Commissioner about renting space in the former Youth Center on Sparling Avenue. The Commissioners were uncertain of what regulations they needed to follow to rent the space. The meeting ended a bit over three hours after it started.

In the afternoon the Drainage Board met. The most interesting case was of a woman who wanted an exception granted because her house had inadvertently encroached on the County's right-away for a small ditch. The encroachment caused problems in getting a mortgage. She had measured the distance, but not in the correct way. After a lot of discussion, they approved the encroachment with the provision that it be recorded on the property deed so that any future owners would know not to build on the easement, that she sign a hold-harmless agreement so that the County would not be liable for any damages it caused if it cleaned the ditch, and that she pay any legal fees for the recording of the encroachment.

There was a discussion of a Kankakee River project that I have not been paying attention to but which may be important to those living near the River.

The George Ade Golf Course is for sale and the current owners will not reopen it. Newton County may buy it. I saw a report on Facebook that the Trail Tree restaurant has closed.

The alley behind what was the Town Mall seems to be open now. Below you can see what is left of the Halloween mural.

 Cobre's Indiana mural is still there, but for how long? The wall is damaged.

 Below is a picture of the wreckage from the alley with a hint of R&M in the background.

 The Carnegie Center is having its windows redone.

 Some are out and being restored and others are waiting their turn. The building looks different now that all the trees have been cut down.

 The Christmas mural, which was planned to replace the Halloween mural, is not on a building wall but on a board next to the Station at Embers.

 If you want more color for posed pictures, you can use the back.

 As of Tuesday morning, there were only three trees on the Christmas Tree Walk in Potawatomie Park. Frosty Fest is scheduled for Saturday so there is still plenty of time for more trees to populate the park. The tree below is from Browns' Garden and Floral Shoppe.

 The Bethany Youth Group has a pretty tree.

 Franciscan Health has a Candy Cane Tree.

Santa's House will be at the Park this December instead of the Court House Square.

 As I left the Drainage Board meeting on Monday, I noticed that the old windows and front wall of the Horton Building had been removed. New windows and a new entrance are planned. A lot of work is being done to remodel this building.

 The concession stand for the new ball fields will have a large overhang, providing an area for people to sit and eat.

A post before Thanksgiving

The City Council met Monday evening with a short agenda. At the last meeting the Council expressed interest in examining the rates for trash pickup. At this meeting they gave the Mayor approval to sign a contract with Bakertilly, which recently merged with Umbaugh, the company that has advised the City in the past. The Council also approved accepting the supply bids for gas and diesel that were opened at the last meeting. (There was only one bidder, Ceres Solutions.)

The Mayor and other City officials had met with residents of Owen Street earlier in the day to discuss options for the sewer project the City is planning for the area. There were three options. The low priced option was for low pressure with grinder pumps. I believe the pumps would be the responsibility of homeowners, so this was not popular. A second option was the most expensive, one that used only gravity. This option would require lines to be up to 20 or 24 feet deep. The third relied somewhat on gravity but also used a lift station. This was the option that the Council approved.

The Council approved establishment of a fire department donation fund that would be used for expenses and purchase of equipment. The City received notification from the State that it needs to cut its budget for next year and the Council gave the Clerk-Treasurer authority to make the cuts. Parts are in for repair of the fire department's aerial truck and the repairs should be made in about a week and then there will be testing to see if the problem is solved. It was a short meeting.

Work continues on the concession stand/restrooms for the new ball fields in Brookside Park. Below is a photo of what the structure looked like on Tuesday.

The City has put up Christmas lights.

I stopped by the alley behind eMbers late last week and noticed that the wall that had the last bit of the angry birds mural was no longer.

 Below is another picture taken from the same place but with the camera held above the fence.

I rode over to Monticello on Tuesday afternoon and only saw one unharvested field along the road. I might have missed some. The bridge on 114 opened about a week ago.

My post on the aftermath of the fire now has the most page views according the the statistics that blogger provides. I think the fact that I updated it and then gave it a second push on Facebook helped. (Most posts have between 200 and 300 page views but there is a lot of variation from post to post. It is very rare for a post to exceed 1000 page views.)

Have a nice Thanksgiving and drive safely if you are on the road.

Northern Region Artists Exhibit

The Prairie Arts Council has a new show at the Fendig Gallery, the Northern Region Artists Exhibit.

The show runs through January 2, 2020 and features work from 27 artists who live in northern Indiana. Entry into the show was by invitation.

Some of the paintings are behind glass and getting a good photo of them presents the challenge of trying to minimize reflections. 

The photo below was taken from the side to reduce reflections.

The same is true of the next two photos.

 This painting may have been done by the same artist as the picture above. There was one artist in the show who did a lot of horse pictures.

There were several pieces of fabric art in the show by at least two different artists.

The pictures here are only samples of the many interesting and attractive pieces in the show. Exhibit hours are from noon until 4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from noon until 2:00 on Saturdays, and by appointment.