May's Commissioners meeting

The May Commissioners meeting had an unusual twist at its start. For several years the meetings have begun with a veteran leading the Pledge of Allegiance and then the vet gives his military background. On Monday the vet, Tim Flynn, mentioned something about picking up a job application and turning it in. The application was for the job of Veterans Service officer and after he spoke, the Commissioners approved his hiring for that position.

Turning to the agenda, the Commissioners approved buried cable requests. One that had several parts was from CenturyLink and was for broadband as part of the Connecting American Communities program. I did not catch all the details.

A representative from Honeywell presented a close-out report for the energy savings project of the Court House. He said that the project went very smoothly and that a few loose ends were still being handled. The Commissioners voted to accept the report. The Sheriff's Department received approval to replace a correctional officer who is resigning. The Commissioners also approved an ordinance that the Sheriff had requested at a previous meeting. This ordinance authorized the Sheriff to collect some fees from violent and sexual offenders when they register or change address. Other counties are collecting these fees but until now Jasper County has not. The purpose is to offset the costs of administering the registration of these individuals. The Sheriff also reported that the jail inmates were ready to plant the newly established jail garden.

Community Corrections received approval to spend $975 to repair dry wall on the ceiling of the men's dorm. The problem existed before the recent installation of insulation. The State is changing some grant administration from a fiscal year to a calendar year basis and to make the transition, Community Corrections had to file a for a grant extension. The Commissioners approved the filing though it was not clear if their approval was needed.

The Commissioners approved replacing a part-time animal control officer who is leaving. They then heard a presentation from a representative of Assured Partners who offered to evaluate the County health insurance plans.

Next up was a presentation from RPG Energy for a solar project at the County Jail. They propose using fixed-mounted panels (they said that the panels that move to track the sun are only economical in larger installations) that would cover 2.05 acres with a capacity of 570.2 Kilowatts. (That is about half the size and capacity of the Rensselaer One solar park.) The project is sized so that it would meet the base load of the jail and is not meant to produce electricity to feed into the grid. IMPA pays only wholesale for any excess energy and that rate is about half the retail rate. As I understood the project, there will be no out-of-pocket costs to the County and the County's benefit will be reduced rates for electricity. The projected savings for the County will be about $68,000 per year. The Commissioners took no action but noted that there is another company that is interested in the project.

 The Commissioners approved renewing postage meter contracts. I do not know enough of what the services provided in the contracts to make sense of the discussion. The next item on the agenda was the wind turbine ordinance, but it was scheduled for 9:45 and so it had to wait. The Commissioners turned to the odds and ends that they do at each meeting. They approved some training requests. Trane, which had done work at Community Corrections and the County Jail, had filed a project completion form and the Commissioners approved it. There was a brief discussion of the new paper work that the County Highway Department has to file. The County gets money from the recently raised gas tax, but the State requires that 50% of that money be used on road work and the County must document that it is spending it in that way. The Commissioners approved use of Airport Road and Bunkum Road for the Chloe 5K. The County Clerk was given permission to purchase a Surface Pro. The Commissioners signed a letter to St. Joseph's College asking the College to enlarge the permitted uses for the Youth Center. And the Commissioners approved seal coating the parking lot of the annex north of town used by Extension the the Surveyor.

Finally the time arrived for the Wind Ordinance. About twenty people had attended the meeting for this item and had waited patiently as the Commissioners went through the rest of the agenda. As expected, there was virtually no discussion and the Commissioners approved the ordinance as it had been proposed by a special committee and then passed by the Plan Commission in April.

Before the meeting I noticed the spokesman for the wind company that wants to do a project in the Southwest corner of the County. I asked him if the project was still doable with the revised ordinance. He was noncommittal, saying they would reevaluate it. He also suggested that if any project does get built, it will be smaller than it otherwise would have been. I also notice a representative for RES, the company that wanted to build a wind farm in eastern Jasper and western Pulaski Counties, at the meeting. I am not sure why he was there.

As most of the people left, there was a brief discussion about an automated phone system that I could not hear because of the noise. The surveyor discussed drainage issues that NICHES caused when it cut some tiles in Milroy Township. They have been told to hook the tiles up again until they get proper approval to act. There was some discussion about what can be done with a grant to stabilize the banks of the Kankakee River. Finally there was more discussion about County roads and how to deal with state requirements. The plan is to have the bid opening and awarding of contracts at the July meeting. With that the meeting was continued until an executive session that was scheduled for 10:30.

This week is bulk pickup week in Rensselaer. It is fascinating to see the sorts of stuff that people are throwing out.