Chipping

The City Council meeting on Monday evening began with a public hearing on the budget. There were no public comments. The Council then moved to place the insurance proceeds from a wrecked police car in the police department account and approved a series of fund transfers. The transfers were to pay for the chipping of the brush pile, some chip and seal work, a new plow blade, and road salt.

The chipping of brush pile happened a few days ago. While I watched, the machine was chipping tree trunks.

The gas tracker for September will be a 4¢ decrease per hundred cubic feet.

The Council voted to vacate an easement in the Drexel Park area that seems to lie on the lots on which Autumn Trace built. The City had agreed to vacate this easement earlier but had neglected to formally do so. The Autumn Trace lenders wanted assurance that it had indeed been vacated. (I heard later that Autumn Trace has only ten vacant units left. It will not be long and the will have a waiting list. No Autumn Trace facility has filled as fast as their Rensselaer unit.)

The Council approved selling easements to two small parcels (40 square feet and 25 square feet) to the Indiana Department of Transportation. Next year INDOT will be resurfacing parts of US 231 and SR 114 and they will soon start constructing pedestrian ramps along those highways. The City will be paid $2000 for these easements at Angelica and McKinley and Front and Washington. (Maybe too many "ands"?)

The Utility Office was granted $500 from the public relations fund for their Customer Service Week. They will provide a lunch for the public on October 11 in the lobby of City Hall. (That week is also Public Power Week.)

The Council approved the low bid of $23,025 to seal coat City parking lots. Colonial Life  Insurance gave a presentation of what the company could offer and a Committee of Cover, Barton, and Bretzinger was appointed to consider their proposal.  One Councilman noted he had gotten questions of what the City was doing along Owen Street. The answer was that the area is being surveyed as a first step in putting in a sewer line. Fifteen people have applied for the opening in the Police Department. The Council approved waiving the building permit fees for a proposed shelter in the Staddon/Monnett park.

On Tuesday evening the Rensselaer Advisory Plan Commission met to consider merging the Drexel Park and Fairgrounds TIF districts. This recommendation had previously been passed by the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission.

The reason for combining them is that combined they would allow a larger bond issue. The Drexel Park TIF was established in 1993 and expanded in 2008 to reach the downtown. The Fairgrounds TIF was established in 2010 and now reaches from Rick's Pizza to the Interstate. The tax revenues from business improvements flow to the TIF district and can be used to fund utility and other improvements. Currently the Rensselaer TIF districts generate a bit over a million dollars a year but about half of that is used for bond payments for the new fire station and the Melville Street project. The Commission unanimously passed the merger, which now goes to the City Council.

Below are pictures of the new adult playground equipment along the walking paths in the Monnett/Staddon park. In the background of the first picture you can see that the two basketball courts have been lined.

 Notice how well the grass is growing on what will be soccer fields next year.