We had a busy weekend. On Friday SR 114 was reopened to traffic, about a month late. The delay was due to the wet weather. On Sunday the last train of the Hoosier State Amtrak line stopped in Rensselaer. Rensselaer will now only have the three trains of the Cardinal line each week. The warm weather has brought large crowds to the swimming pool.
The Carnegie Players presented the Drowsy Chaperone late last week. The play is a musical comedy. The main character is called the Man in the Chair, and he is commenting about a record of a fictional musical from the 1920s that is re-enacted in his imagination and on the stage. The musical is only slightly exaggerated from the standard musical storyline. Many musicals have a wedding or two at the end, but this one has four. It was very funny.
The production was held in the lecture hall at the high school. It was well attended on Saturday and one of the actors told me the audience was bigger on Thursday and Friday.
On Monday the Commissioners met for their July meeting. They approved four buried cable requests, two for gas line extensions for the City of Rensselaer on Amsler Road and Grace Street. They passed an ordinance raising the fee for property transfer from $5 to $10; this change had been mandated by a change in state law. They approved filling a vacancy in the Health Department for a part-time food inspector.
They heard a detailed report on the County's property insurance and approved the new policy, which will be 4% more expensive this year, mostly because the County has more property this year. A representative from Trane made a brief appearance to tell them that he will be back in August with a proposal for the jail. They next approved a copier and printer lease for the next 60 months.
A rather strange item on the agenda was the landowners wishing to speak in favor of the Dunns Bridge Solar project. Six of them spoke. They mentioned that it would provide a steady source of revenue for them, would be of great economic benefit to the county, and would be cleaner than NIPSCO's coal plant. A couple said that they were putting their least productive land into the program. However, the Commissioners at this point are not part of the decision making process. The issue is before the BZA, which had its public hearing in May and will vote on the project in its July 15th meeting. At the May meeting only three of the members of the BZA attended and only those three can vote in the July meeting. A majority of the Board must grant a special exception, so all three will have to vote in favor for the exception to pass. If it does not pass, the process can begin again.
Andrew Andree spoke to the Commissioners representing the DeMotte sewer and water district. He wanted to know what steps needed to be taken for the district to expand its services. There is a County soil and water commission but it has not met for several years and no one there quite remembered how it worked.
Stephen Eastridge of JCEDO reported that the task force formed to plan for the closure of the NIPSCO plant had met in private session during the past two months and would have something to present to the Commissioners and Council at the joint meeting of those bodies on July 16. (That joint meeting will begin at 5:30 and go until 7:30 with the regular Council meeting following.) He also read a letter from the directors of JCEDO that pointed to the BZA and Plan Commission as being obstacles to growth in Jasper County. The letter was also sent to the Rensselaer Republican and can be viewed here on their website.
The meeting then went into recess until 10:00, which was the scheduled time for bid openings. When it reconvened, three bids were opened for paving in five subdivisions: Georgetown, Oak Heritage, Candlewood, Sherwood Forest, and Kelley Green. The bid ranged from $1,566,158.20 to $2,378,151.55 and after being reviewed by the consultants for the Highway Department, the Commissioners awarded the contract to the low bidder, Town and Country Paving. While they were waiting for the review, they heard an update on planning for bridge replacement and repair on two bridges in the northern part of the County. They approved the Sheriff's request to replace a full-time dispatcher; the department is currently down two in that position. They ended the meeting with a long discussion about rugs or mats and approved a contract for mat rental and cleaning.
After the meeting I stopped by the newly-reopened bakery. They had had a very busy morning and had sold out of some of their items, such as donuts.
In the afternoon the dog park had its grand opening and ribbon cutting.
Many people still do not know where the dog park is located. It is at 815 Bunkum Road. Going west on Bunkum, it is on the south side of the road once you pass the new addition to Weston Cemetery.
There were a couple more meetings on Monday but this post is already very long, so they will wait until the next post.
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