Another on-line meeting

The Airport Authority Board met on Thursday afternoon in a meeting that members and the public could attend via a phone call or the Internet. The meeting got a late start because it did not have a quorum at the scheduled start time and then was delayed a bit as audio problems were resolved. There was no video feed and I think that was because the airport's Internet connection does not have enough bandwidth.

I have not been to an Airport Authority Board meeting since last summer so I am not up-to-speed with what they have been doing. There were two items that were discussed that I though very interesting. The first was at the beginning of the agenda, a discussion of a new hangar building to replace the WWII-era hangar along the taxi-way. It currently houses 13 planes and the plan is to build a new, simple, no-frills hangar with that capacity. The dimensions would be about 280 feet by 55 feet. The plans are almost complete and the Board voted to have their professional engineer advertise the project and submit the building for bids when the plans are completed. The bids will be for several options including types of doors and interior partitions. If at least one of the hangar bids is acceptable, there will be another set of bidding for site preparation.

The other item that caught my attention was the effort to purchase additional property to the west of the lot that was purchased last year. The process of acquiring this property has been interrupted by complications of ownership. There will be a need to run paperwork through several offices in the Court House and that is complicated because the Court House is closed. Additional approval must come from the County Council and DLGF at the State level. This may be an item on the April meeting agenda of the Jasper County Council.

There were a variety of other issues discussed and resolved. Bids for mowing were opened and the low bid, from the company that held the contract last year, was accepted. There was a discussion of the pros and cons of leasing land for a privately-built hangar. Fuel sales were decent for March despite the pandemic shutdown. There was mention of a new fuel terminal, I think for jet fuel. The Board approved purchasing dirt  to fill a low spot on the land that they are leasing to a tenant. The recently passed CARE Act may provide some assistance to small airports and the estimated amount that may come to JCA is $20,000 to $30,000. The Board approved having better Internet connectivity installed at the Airport. Covid-19 problems have adversely affected rental of the airplane the Airport recently acquired. Finally, the Airport is getting ready to seek bids for engineering services.

Past minutes of meetings are available here.

The next on-line meetings will be the BPW and City Council meetings Monday evening. See the sidebar for agendas and how to attend.

Earlier this week light fixtures were being attached to the light poles at what will become Blacker Fields.

 DeMotte Little League has completed installing lights for two of its fields. It got some financial support for that from the Jasper County Tourism Commission.

Playground equipment in the park has been taped off with yellow caution tape.

 A few days ago I noticed a railroad car positioned to be loaded with grain from one of the elevators. I cannot remember the last time I saw that. The second rail car is loaded with wood for Stark Truss. I often see lumber being delivered.

 Lots of flowers are blooming but the forecast says we will be getting frost next week. Below is a new picture of flowers, located behind Embers. I hope that Phase 2 of the RenArtWlk will not be canceled.

 Two festivals that have been canceled are DeMotte's Touch of Dutch and the Rock the Arts/Rock the RENARTWLK event. The uncertainty of how long the shutdown will go on has created too much uncertainty to be able to plan the events.

Finally, two buildings in the downtown were looking different this morning. The Roth Building is being renovated by JCEDO and has lost its front windows. The Horton Building has gained new front windows.

I looked up these buildings on a little pamphlet I have titled "Walking Tour."

104 W Washington Dreamers Solution
Samuel and Milton Roth constructed this Functional Neoclassical commercial building for use as a meat market in 1909. There are decorative brick rectangles above its three windows. Double courses of bricks top the curve of the window frame.  It has housed Pecks' Shoes, Tudor's Shoes, Graf's Shoes, a video business, a hair salon, and recently other assorted businesses.

The Horton Building originally had McFarland's Grocery on its ground floor. It became Webber's, Yates' and Rowens' Groceries, then Dr. Gribble's and another optometry business. Then Rensselaer Antiques and More and a tattoo parlor.

Have a nice Easter.