April is here

We had snow on the last day of March. It would be nice if that is the last snow of the season.

I noticed a couple of amusing April Fools Day posts. Embers announced that there was not enough for kids to do so they were opening a Chuck E. Cheese in their carriage house and Fair Oaks Farms announced their upcoming Llama Adventure at Fair Oaks Farms.

The County Commissioners met for their April meeting on the Monday, the 1st. After approving a buried cable permit on the Jasper-White County line, they opened bids for remodeling the former PNC building. Changes need to be made to make it ADA compliant. There were two bids, one from Titan and the other from Hamstra. The bids were given to Councilman Andrew Andree, who has been overseeing remodeling efforts in County buildings, for review. Later in the meeting he returned and recommended that the Hamstra bid be accepted. With the first alternative included, it was $6700 lower than the Titan bid and it included a larger elevator. Work will probably not start until late summer.

Mr Andree also gave an update on Court House improvements. The window work is finished and the new air handlers and boilers have been installed. He has used inmates from the County jail to insulate about half of the Court House attic, which had never had any insulation. He has also used inmate help in removing old law books, which have been digitized and therefore are no longer used, from the basement, filling two dumpsters. There is still some work on doors that needs to be done. He had praise for Honeywell, the overall contractor for the work on the Court House.

The scheduled time for a second bid opening had not arrived so the Commissioners heard the request from the Little Cousin Jasper Festival to use the Court House lawn for their Festival on September 6-8. The request was granted.

The second bid opening was for the Wheatfield Township fire station. They received three proposals and each about ten options of additions or subtractions. They were turned over to the Township trustee for her review. Hopefully the fourth time will be the charm; the previous bid rounds either received no bids or the bids were too large for their budget.

Sheriff Williamson needed signatures for a grant application to Walmart to support their drone program. He also mentioned two fees that he would like the County to approve. Other counties use them and he will have ordinances prepared for a future meeting. He did mention in this discussion that 80 to 90% of inmates coming in are addicted to either alcohol or drugs. The roof of the jail had a leak that was fixed by Trane; it might have been caused by their installation of insulation. He thinks that the cost of repairs by the Havel company are excessive and would like to consider a different maintenance company.

Sharon Colee of Community Services said that the Rensselaer Center has been having problems with their heating and cooling systems. They are original with the building that was built in 1992 and are probably at end of life. When the temperatures are not within limits set by regulations, the programs for Head Start or senior citizens must be shut down, which affects utilization, which affects funding. She had two quotes for replacement but the Commissioners had some questions. She said that she would get them answered but had not by the time I left. (There was an executive session at 10:30 and the Commissioners may have reconvened after that.)

The listed items being covered, the Commissioner turned to other matters. They noted that interviews are needed for a new Veteran's Service officer. They received notification  from Dan Perkins that he was leaving the Soil and Water Conservation office. (I talked to him about a month ago and asked what his plans were. He will devote full time to his specialty farming. For more, see his website at www.perkinsgoodearthfarm.com.) The County Highway engineer reported that the County had been awarded $978,076.91 for five projects by the Community Crossing Matching Grant program. (See here for awardees.) The Commissioners had to sign forms in blue ink. Apparently if everything is not done exactly right on the acceptance form, the whole grant can be rescinded. Rensselaer also did very well in this program, with a grant of $933,677.96, as did DeMotte with a grant of  $908,574.75.

After some routine business items, the Commissions recessed until their executive session.

In the afternoon I went to the drainage board meeting because I saw that there was an item about Talbert. I got there after the meeting had started and in the midst of a public hearing on an assessment for a watershed in the eastern part of the county involving the Upper Ryan, Lower Ryan, and Oliver ditches. There were some strong opinions expressed. What seemed notable about the end result is that the Board decided to assess the drainage at $2 per acre or $25 per lot, whichever is more. This is a change from past practice, raising the cost of small lot owners. It will be interesting to see if it carries forward in the future. The argument made by one of those attending was that people with houses on small lots put water into their neighbor's fields and they get a disproportionate amount of benefit from the drainage.

The Talbert item was for a 5600 square foot addition to their factory east of town. Presently they have no drainage plan but one was approved, with some modifications, at the meeting.

In the evening the Park Board met for a short meeting. William Wornhoff, who has been on the Board for many years and was a past president of the Board, sent a letter or resignation for health reasons. He had been the main advocate for a dog park and a new dog park is almost ready to open. The City Council will appoint a replacement.

Other things. Busy Bee has opened, another sign of Spring. The former Nesbitt law office that until recently housed Birthright has changed ownership. The new owner is Unwind Massage, LLC, which currently operates from the back of the building. I look forward to seeing what changes will be coming.

There are other changes downtown. The interior of the old Horton Building is being remodeled and as a dumpster testifies.

Serenity Health and Wellness, which was in the building, has moved to the space that was most recently County Bumpkin, across from R&M on Kellner.

Cliff Robinson has opened a office down the street in the old Sears Building across the hall from Dr Moyer.

Work is being done on the Rensselaer Family Dentistry building, which has a new owner and dentist, replacing Dr Sy. The workers are raising the entire building several inches.

Thee Dragonfly/Country Bumpkin store has reopened on Washington Street next to the Bakery.

 It is full of treasures.

Much of the material is from people who have rented space. I talked to one person who had previously had a booth at the Antique Mall which closed last year.

WLQI reports that the Hoosier State Amtrak route is unlikely to continue past the end of June. It stops in Rensselaer four days a week.