Mark Sinclair, head of animal control, had a number of changes he wanted in procedures or ordinances. A new state law requires that animals adopted from animal shelters after July 2020 be spayed or neutered and he was trying to get the adoption fees set to deal with that change. After some discussion and suggestions, the Commissioners instructed their lawyer to work on an ordinance. The Commissioners also approved two appointees to the Animal Control Board.
Jacob Taulman, the prosecuting attorney, received permission to fill a full-time case-worker position left vacant by a recent resignation. He also said that there was the possibility of having some State reimbursement for remodeling done to the former PNC bank building if it is for child support work. He will start working on meeting the requirements needed to obtain the funding.
The Sheriff received permission to fill a position at the jail caused when an officer took a job with the Rensselaer Police Department. He said that because of the outcome of a court case elsewhere in the State, his department will be releasing more information to news media than it previously did. There was a discussion of traffic speeding through McCoysburg and it was noted that for some reason McCoysburg has a 20 mph speed limit.
There was mention that this year's County auction may be bigger than usual because of office moves. No date was set for it.
Trane, which is seeking approval to do more work at the jail, gave a long presentation. The jail was poorly insulated and leaks air. They propose sealing the building and installing insulation in some areas. They want to move to LED lighting, which, in addition to using less electricity, will cut the costs of light replacement. (When lights are in inaccessible locations, they require renting lifts to change.) Trane is currently installing an 18-acre solar farm for the Kankakee School Corporation and proposes installing a smaller, 3-acre solar farm for the County Jail. They seemed to suggest that they can get financing so that the cost of paying for the project will be met by the energy saving that results. They will make a presentation at the County Council meeting on August 20. (The August Council meeting begins the budget process and is always a long one.)
The Drainage Board had two interesting items. One was a plan for a 100 acre industrial subdivision in Newton County near Fair Oaks Farms. The reason the Jasper County Drainage Board heard the case is that the water from the site will drain into Jasper County and into Curtis Creek. The Board approved the drainage plan with several modifications. At this point I do not know anything more about this project.
The other case involved NICHES Land Trust. They cut what they thought were private tiles at Fisher Oaks but in fact they were mutual tiles, draining not only NICHES land but other land as well. The neighbors complained. NICHES was told to repair the tiles.
The Rensselaer Park Board and Park Corporation met Monday evening. Bids that came back for the construction of ball fields at Brookside Park were deemed too high by the Parks for People campaign because although the campaign has raised $1.3 million, much of that is still in the form of pledges, not cash that can be spent. So the ball park project has been scaled back and is being rebid.
Though no vote was taken that I remember, the group was favorable to a suggestion to name the shelter nearest the pool as the McFall Shelter. It currently has no name. (The drowning death of young Jimmy McFall in the 1940s convinced the community to build the pool.)
There will be a lot of work done in the Monnett/Staddon Park in the next few weeks. A trailhead should go up this week. There will be three entryways, the most impressive of which will be along College Avenue. Benches, planters, and some exercise equipment have been ordered.
About 30 people have registered their dogs for the dog park. There was discussion of keeping it free beyond this year and using some sort of fundraiser to raise money to cover the park's costs. There are still complaints about the brightness of the lights at the dog park. The obstacles at the dog park are being painted.
A fourth early August meeting was that of the finance committee of the Jasper County Library Board held on Friday morning at the Rensselaer Library. Their budget recommendation will go to the full Library Board meeting on August 19. Because the recommended budget does not exceed the 3.5% growth quotient set by the State, the budget will not need County Council approval, though the Council will review it in a non-binding review.
The Library has installed LED lighting in exterior fixtures and this has cut the cost of replacing bulbs. The Library would like to replace interior lights with LEDs and one reason is that the architects designed the buildings with a multitude of different kinds of lights, which makes ordering new bulbs more work than it should be. The Library pays close attention to their cash and tax payments are not always predictable, so expenditures such as those for lighting only happen when the cash situation is favorable.
People rely heavily on the wifi in the libraries and not so much on the wired computers, so the Library plans to reduce the number of computers available to the public. This will cut the cost of their service contract with the company that maintains and services the computers. I had not realized that the Library added color copiers last year. The Library plans to cuts some magazine subscriptions that have only one person using the magazine.
Anticipated expenses for the future include a new roof for the Wheatfield Library, new carpeting for DeMotte, and a redesign of office space in Rensselaer.
On Tuesday I was in Lafayette and found myself on Wabash Avenue where Lafayette is having murals done. A number are on houses. I did not have time to take more than one picture, but I did recognize the work of some of the people who contributed Rensselaer murals.
There have been some changes in Rensselaer's medical providers. Dr. Garry Brady has joined the Sheets Family Practice.
Dr James Wakefield has been deployed to the Middle East and his patients are being seen by several doctors who are filling in for him as time allows.
Valley Oaks, formerly Wabash Valley, is having an open house on Thursday, August 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.
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