Odds and ends and a long meeting

On Tuesday I noticed that work was being done inside the former Farm Credit office that was in the same building as 5/3 Bank so I stopped by the bank to see what was happening. As I left, I noticed that the mural on the north side of the eMbers building now was visible from the entrance of the bank.

 If I had waited a day, I would have learned what was happening without asking. The new tenant will be ASG Staffing, an employment agency. Their Facebook page is here.

 I keep reading that 20 or 23 or 24 businesses were affected by the fire. I can not account for that many. I found eight that have links to Facebook pages: Cutting Room, Sune Salon, Nail Bumpers, Serenity Health & Wellness, Work One, Express Employment, Jasper County Economic Development, (also Jasper County Tourism), and B & D Pools and Spa. Some of these have found temporary quarters. The ladies of the Cutting Room are at the Renew Salon. Sune Salon is at A New Beginning. Nail Bumpers is at 219 W Harrison Street #2. Work One refers people to their Morocco office. Express Employment is temporarily at eMbers Venue. Other businesses that were affected are Hearing Care Professionals, Honey Comb, Filson Rentals, Dr Kim Moyer, Attorney Clifford Robinson, Amerimac Corporation, & Rich's Barbershop. I have not found an Internet site for any of them. My total is 16. Who am I missing?

Update: The November 23, 2019 issue of the Rensselaer Republican listed several additional businesses that were found by the Fire Chief from utility office records. Included were Filson Rentals (twice), MS Maxwell LLC, Corn Genetics, Miracle Ears (which is the same as Hearing Care Professionals), and LASUMIKI Enterprises LLC. Filson Rentals owned the former Sears building so would be paying utilities for any vacant space and MS Maxwell LLC owned the other building and would be responsible for any utilities there.

Sheets Family Practice, in a building east of the fire, has moved to its old location at 123 S McKinley because of smoke damage.

The follow-up post on the fire went viral and is currently the second most popular post that this blog has had. It is closing in on the most popular post ever and knocked the post about Jay Dwiggins out of the top five.

On Tuesday evening there was a joint Commissioners/Council meeting. The purpose of joint meetings is to share information about issues that concern both bodies. The meeting began with a short discussion of the pension for the Sheriff's Department. The Council would like to move away from a defined-benefit system to a defined-contribution system, but there are questions of how that can be done. The Sheriff noted that the current fund was in much better shape than when the issue was originally brought up because of the rising stock market.

The discussion of the County's participation in Rensselaer's downtown revitalization project was also short. It included a discussion of what the County should do with the Johnny Rusk property. The idea of giving it to the City was unpopular and I suspect that the lot will soon be sold.

In response to the NIPSCO task force, the Planning and Development Office has begun a review of the County's comprehensive plan. An ordinance on tax abatement is being prepared and may be taken up by the Council in December or January.

The new and unnamed county building (formerly the PNC Bank) is nearing completion. Hooking up telephones and internet is not yet scheduled. Century Link has been slow to respond and the elevator in the building will not operate without a phone connection. The annex from which offices will be moving has about 10,700 feet of space and the County will sell it as is.

A discussion of EMS services largely repeated what was said in the last Commissioners meeting. Expenses are rising and health care billing is getting more difficult. The service that serves Remington finds that one third of their calls are to the Interstate, a third to the truck stop, and a third to everything else. Jasper County has 38 miles of Interstate, which brings commerce but also requires services that sometimes are not reimbursed.

Mr Culp reported that he signed a document on Monday that will allow financing for the solar farm at the jail. There was a discussion of something about fire protection and the Commissioners approved the contract.

There was a surprisingly large crowd at the meeting and most were there for the last item on the agenda, a presentation from Spillman software. This is a software system that the Sheriff wants. It will tie together fire, police, and ambulance. It is used in 30 Indiana counties. In contrast, the software the Jasper County Sheriff is currently using is used in one, Jasper County.

 The Spillman representative explained the benefits and then went on to cost. The cost of purchasing it is expensive. After some discounts, he came to a total of almost $534,000.  Maintenance, which includes quarterly updates, will be about $77,000 per year. Payment can be made over two years with no interest charged during that period or else the software can be leased. The Sheriff has been trying to find other County users who can contribute the the cost. The Rensselaer Police Department is all in because the software they are using is nearing end of life and will not have continued support. Several townships were willing to participate while others were undecided. The town of DeMotte thought the funding expected from them was too high.

The implementation of the new software will take 12 to 15 months. There is a learning curve and training is necessary. The Spillman representative offered a discount if the County would adopt before the end of the year. Mr Culp did not like that move because he does not want to make a hasty decision.

The joint meeting lasted an hour and fifty minutes. The County Council meeting began an hour later than scheduled. It approved several additional appropriations and several transfers of funds. The Sheriff reported that serious incidents at the jail had declined and attributed some of the decline to work of Dr. Chad Pulver. The Council reappointed Jacob Ahler as its attorney. Mr Ahler asked if the Council wanted him to work on an ordinance establishing economic recovery areas (ERAs) that are a first step in setting up TIF districts. The Council approved. The last item discussed was a possible upgrading of the meeting room. The Council agreed that Mr Andree should continue looking into options. With that the meeting adjourned.

I missed the Jasper County Historical Society meeting that took place at same time as the meetings above but watched the video of the meeting on Facebook. The video is really well done—notice how it switches between different cameras. Before the program on Native American foods, Linda B mentioned that the former Longs building was originally a Nash dealership that her family owned. Across the street where R&M is now was the Ford dealership.

The concession building for the Blacker Fields is getting a second floor that will be the announcer's booth/press box.

The effort by the Parks for People Campaign to raise $50,000 by the December 29 has ten donors and $23,938 raised as of Thursday morning. There are no small donations listed on the projects page.