More May meetings

Here is the mandatory picture for this post, a crane lifting something at the elevator.

The start of each month brings several meetings. The Rensselaer Park Board had its monthly meeting on Monday evening. The Park Director reported that 183 kids were signed up for baseball, which was slightly down from last year. There will be seven adult softball teams. The Board reviewed their accountant's financial statement. It showed that the Rensselaer Community Recreational Development Corporation (the not-for profit corporation that allows spending that does not go through the City accounts) and it showed that the ending balance sheet was slightly improved from last year.

There was discussion both of park improvements and park programming for the coming year. The dog park needs a bit more concrete work, then the remaining fencing, and some landscaping. (The concrete work was finished on Wednesday.) The new soccer fields have been regraded but not seeded. Two basketball courts will be coming to Staddon/Monnet. There are still meetings going on with the engineers for the new ball fields for Brookside Park. The hope is that in early June the bid packets will be sent out.

There will be many programs in the parks this summer. Nature programs will focus on birds, butterflies, and an family camp out. Youth programs will include the STEAM Thursdays, Kids Camp, a Back-to-School Bash, Little Hands Workshops, and art workshops. Wellness programs include Fit Fridays, Yoga, National Trails Park Hop, CPR/First Aid training, and a suicide prevention workshop. Community events include the Scarecrow Trail, Holiday Tree Trail Display, a Fall Fest, a Night in Santa's Village, and visits with Santa. There will be a celebration of the 70th birthday of LaRue Pool on June 12.

Someone at the meeting mentioned that this year there will be no December Christmas parade.

Several actions were taken at the meeting. A motion to take $1000 from the fund that is restricted for dog park use and spend it for landscaping the new dog park passed. A motion to spend funds to fence in the controls for the sprinkler system at the new soccer fields passed. (There was concern that kids were playing with the controls.) And up to $5500 was approved to purchase a storage shed for Brookside Park. The existing storage shed near Roth field is scheduled to be removed.

Related to park news, the Walk with a Doc series presented by Franciscan Health has resumed. It meets at the Hall Shelter in Brookside Park on Tuesdays at 5:00 pm and after a short presentation by a medical practitioner, the participants walk through Weston Cemetery, about a one mile hike. The series continues until June 18.

On Tuesday morning there was a Tax Abatement Compliance meeting held at City Hall. It approved the continuance of several tax abatements: four for ConAgra, one for Genova Products, two for IMPA, and two for National Gypsum. Most or all of these tax abatements have a ten year life but must be reviewed each year. There are separate abatements for real property (buildings) and personal property (equipment). Representatives from ConAgra said that they are currently hiring 235 people and a representative from National Gypsum said that they currently have 52 employees.

Last Friday the Jasper County Tourism Board met. The current Director of Tourism has resigned and will leave on May 29. Her replacement has been hired and will start on May 20th.

The last of the Community Engagement Workshops sponsored by the Jasper County Economic Development Organization will be held on May 21 at the Carnegie Center at 6:00 pm. Everyone is invited.

The Board heard four requests for funding. Fountain Park Chautauqua began in 1895 and has met continuously since then. Originally the Chautauqua movement had a heavy religious training emphasis but now is largely a celebration of the arts. The Remington Chautauqua has a hotel with 30 rooms and four bathrooms and 70 privately owned cabins. It is open to all, with a $5.00 daily admission fee. Its dates are July 13 to July 28.

Stout the Cat came to present for the the second annual Whiskey and Whiskers event on July 6. He let his human do the speaking while he explored the JECDO offices. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Animals Shelter and the money raised from it will go to help build a new building at the Animal Shelter. Last year the event attracted about 350 people and this year the hope is that it will draw 450 to 500. It is scheduled for the same day as Cruise Night.

Main Street Rensselaer requested help for its Oktober Fest in September. Main Street spends about $20,000 each year making improvements in Rensselaer. The Welcome-to-Rensselaer signs east and south of town are their doing, as is the fencing of the City parking lots in the downtown. Recent projects include the path through Milroy Park and the trail head at Potawatomie Park.

The final request was for a capital improvement in the form of a mural on the retaining wall by the bowstring arch  bridge. The Tourism Board wants to move to doing more funding of capital improvements but currently its budget has more money in the events category and less in the capital improvements category than it would like. They agreed to provide funding but less than they would have liked. There will be artists in town from July 2 to the 6th working on murals. The main artist is the one who did the bird mural on the wall of eMbers.

Autumn Trace posted more pictures of inside of the building. Unwind Massage has expanded into most of the building next to the bowstring bridge.

Finally, congratulations to the winners of the contested Rensselaer Council races in the primary election, Noelle Weishaar and Russ Overton. If they are elected in November, they will be the first father-daughter pair to serve at the same time. Complete results are here.