Paint, spikes, and water

On Wednesday morning there was a rough drawing of what will be on the Janet's Kitchen mural. 

The artist is Shawn Bullen. Here is his web page and here is his Instagram page. He was originally from the Chicago area but now resides in New York. He is doing his painting in the cool hours, not in the middle of the day. He has been in Rensselaer for several days and has wandered around taking pictures. He photoshopped the pictures into a design and will be working from it. Some of the elements of the painting are easy to identify while others are more obscure, like things in the window of Janet's Kitchen. People may have fun trying to identify the source of the obscure elements.

 The car was inspired by Cruise Night and the general car culture of Rensselaer. (Four auto supply shops is evidence of a strong car culture.) Maybe he should also have pizza on there—judging by how many pizza places we have, we love pizza.

I found out who GG was. I could not find an obituary but did find a newspaper article about his death.

Other painting was being done in Brookside Park on Wednesday. Kids and adults were painting garbage cans.

They had an impressive amount of paint to work with.

The rail-replacement crew was leaving Rensselaer this morning, heading east. The machine below is a spiker—it puts the spikes in the rail plates that fasten the rails to the ties. I found it on Melville Street. Behind it was a vehicle with a man who was grinding down any rough spots and a few other trucks.

 I asked a CSX employee how far they would be going east of Rensselaer and he said about five miles. I also asked him how CSX was re-routing traffic and he said that they were not. They stopped traffic during the day when the crew was working but allowed it to flow in the night when the crew was off the tracks.

On Wednesday night the LaRue Pool hosted a movie night. The screen was an inflatable screen. I do not recall seeing a screen like this before.

 The event was cohosted by the Little Cousin Jasper Festival and funding was provided by several businesses and organizations: Jasper Newton Foundation, Wagner Lumber and Supply, DeMotte State Bank, Kentland Bank and Rensselaer Rotary. There were over a hundred kids who turned out, probably more for the free swim than for the movie.

 As it got darker, I liked the way the lights reflected off the water.

 I did not stay for the movie. Judging by turnout and the noise of the kids, the event was a huge success.

A paver has been sitting near Staddon Field for several days. The walking trail is ready to pave but the paving company has a lot of jobs this summer.

On Monday night both the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met. The big vote was for a special exception to allow the Dunn's Bridge Solar Park to be built. An answer to a question from one of the members suggested my previous understanding of the size of this project was mistaken. It seems that the project will use about 2500 acres. If all the solar panels were placed next to one another so there were no gaps, they would cover 800 acres. However, they are spaced apart so they will use the 2500 acres.

The chance for audience participation was at the previous meeting and only the three Board members who were at that meeting could vote. They voted to approve the exception.

The other issue before the BZA was a variance for frontage. A person with 15 acres wanted to divide his land so a back lot could have a house for his son and family. It has a 30-foot easement but the code says it should have a 187.5 foot easement. It was approved.

The Plan Commission picked up a case that had been tabled at its last meeting. They had requested the petitioner clean up his property, and after reviewing the evidence presented, decided that he had and granted his request for a rezone so he could build a house. There was a second request for a rezone, this from the person who had sought the variance from the BZA and it was also granted.

The Plan Commission then discussed some areas of its procedures that were unclear or seemed to need changes. They will be written as amendments to its procedures and voted in the next meeting. There was also a discussion of how the Planning Office could make sure that developers and others followed through with what they said that they were going to do when they received exceptions, variances, or rezones.

On Tuesday there was a joint meeting of the Commissioners and Council. No actions are taken at these meetings, but information is shared so each body knows what the other is doing. The discussion focused on four areas: pensions, budget, the bank remodel, and the NIPSCO task force recommendations.

The pension issue is that of the Sheriff's Department. Currently the pension is a defined-benefit pension and the Council would like it to move to more of a defined-contribution pension. The budget discussion is prompted by the announced NIPSCO shutdown. County officials want to be prepared and will be looking over the budget to see what can be cut and if programs can be combined. Several major capital improvements have been made, lots of roads have been improved, and the equipment of the highway department has been upgraded. The County tries to hire part-time workers but the labor market is tight and those part-time workers often leave when a full-time position becomes available.

The space in the former PNC bank building should be available in the late fall. Because of this purchase, the County may sell the old Johnny Rusk lot and it will try to sell the current annex after the probation and prosecutor offices move. The Health Department will move to the Youth Center on Sparling Avenue. It will not use the entire space. SJC placed restrictions on the use of the property when they sold it to the County, but has agreed that County offices are an OK use.

There was a brief discussion of the Kankakee River. The County has a substantial grant but will need matching funds. Those in the Kankakee watershed will pay an assessment to fund County spending on the project.

The Task Force has been meeting in closed session the past two months to come up with recommendations. They suggest updating the Jasper County Comprehensive Plan, review the permitting process, and in cooperation with the towns and cities, update infrastructure. In particular they recommend setting up some Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts. These districts freeze the property revenues going to the local taxing authorities and any increase that would come from assessed valuation goes into a special fund until the TIF district expires. The payments can be used to upgrade the utilities in the district or the future flow of payments can be used to back bonds. To attract more grants, the Task Force suggests hiring a grant writer. Finally, they recommended supporting and investing in projects that improve the quality of life in the County.

After the joint meeting concluded, there was a short break until 7:30 when the County Council meeting began. The first item on the agenda was a report from the architects for the Rensselaer downtown revitalization plan. They propose that the first steps be redoing the brick streets. Currently the streets are very uneven and some of the bricks are damaged. The bricks would be pulled up, the surface leveled, and then the old and some new bricks would be put back down. In addition, any above-ground utility lines would be buried.  The second phases would be to redo Halleck Park, adding a fountain and making the space suitable for small events. The adjacent end of the County parking lot would have a shelter for the farmers market and any other events that might fit there.

The Council also heard from Stephen Eastridge from JCEDO about his letter suggesting changes in areas of planning and development, and approved several additional appropriations. One was for the airport to allow purchase of 70 acres to its west. (See here.) The Clerks office asked for funds to purchase seven voting machines to be used in the northern part of the County. In the 2016 election there were substantial wait times as about 59% of eligible voters turned out.

We are having a heat wave. Take care not to overheat.