Mid-April musings

We are already finishing up the second week in April. Tempus fugit.

The new motel/hotel at the Remington exit has its exterior complete. It will open late summer or early fall.

On Tuesday I attended the Marion Township Board meeting because I saw in the legal notices that there would be a public hearing on establishing a Cumulative Fire Fund. I was not surprised to find that I was the only one attending the public hearing. (See here for an account of the previous Board meeting I attended.) The Marion Township trustee has three main concerns: the fire department, the Township cemetery (Crockett), and poor relief.  Most of the vehicles that the Rensselaer Fire Department operates were purchased by Marion Township and they have Marion Township written on their sides. A new fire truck can cost $600,000. Marion Township does not have the money to pay for new trucks, so it buys used. It recently purchased a truck from western Illinois for less than one third of what a new truck would cost. There are two trucks still in service that have problems with their frames. Mileage is not what kills these trucks. It is age and rust, and the rust is often from road salt.

The current trustee is Dain Hayworth who replaced the late John Amsler. Mr Hayworth had asked the City if he could move his office to the new Fire Station and I was surprised that he was still in the old offices. He can move the office at any time but there are some issues about storing documents that are supposed to be secure according to privacy regulations.

The reason for the public hearing was to create the Cumulative Fire Fund and increase the property tax from $.0114  to $.033 per $100 of assessed valuation. This will not affect those residing within Rensselaer City limits; we get services from the City and pay taxes to it. The increase in taxes will increase the amount that the Township collects for the fire equipment from $14,000 per year to $42,000 a year.

Some magnolia trees are blooming and others will be blooming next week. As reminder that we are still in spring and not summer, there was light frost on the grass early this (Saturday) morning.

 I noticed sections of track are now stored north of the CSX tracks and south of the Prompt Ambulance office. The sections contained switches. I do not know where they will be installed.

 The old bottling plant/laundry at the corner of Clark and Cullen has been boarded up. It was mentioned in a discussion at a March City Council meeting as a building that was in unsatisfactory condition.

The old Martin's Restaurant a block north of this that was remodeled to be a Mexican restaurant still has not opened though the remodeling seems to have been finished nine months ago. Another building that has remained empty is the old Monnett School building that the City sold in 2017. The announced plan was to make it into a child care facility.

Campaign signs in yards mean that primary elections are coming up in May. I cannot find a link to a County or City site that has official information about candidates. I do not know of any contested races on the Democratic ticket. On the Republican side Councilman Scott Barton is not running for re-election (he is running for mayor) and two candidates are vying for his Councilman-at-Large seat: Russ Overton and Jeff Rayburn. The other contested race is for Ward Two where incumbent Rick Odle has two opponents, Noelle Weishaar and Rick Williams. There is an event on April 23 where you will be able to hear these candidates. (See sidebar.)