Odds and ends 5-18-20

Business are starting to reopen in Rensselaer, though with restrictions. There is more traffic on the streets and gas prices have risen from the low of $1.699. The last price I saw was $1.899.

We have had quite a bit of rain in the past few days and the river is rising and approaching flood stage, which is 12 feet at the gauging station at Laird's Landing. Unless we get more rain, I think it will crest very close to 12 feet, either a bit above or a bit below.

On Friday JCEDO hosted its fourth Community Roundtable on Zoom. The first featured speaker was Curtis Craig, superintendent of the Rensselaer Central Schools. He began by noting that the schools provide a lot of activities in addition to education. He said that what the fall will bring is still uncertain and they need to be flexible and plan options. The schools are preparing to do more sanitizing. Graduation will be on July 11 in the evening. People can keep up with what is happening at the schools by visiting the school corporation's website.

Carlos Vasquez from Franciscan Health Rensselaer said that the surge in Covid cases never came. Anyone who tested positive was transferred to the Lafayette Covid unit. The hospital resumed elective surgery on May 4 but is not back to a full level. They maintained their therapy treatments because stopping them would have been harmful to some patients. AlternaCare remains on tight lockdown with only employees allowed to enter. The Jasper-Newton Foundation provided four iPads so residents could video chat with family.

Kerry Disinger from Work One said that all their staff is working from home. They are taking steps to resume office work and may start June 11. If they do, office visits will be by appointment. They are doing a lot of things virtually and are trying to help unemployed find temporary positions until their permanent jobs return.

In the comments section of the meeting, we learned that the Caboose Campground at Remington will open Memorial Day, but they expect the weekend after will be bigger. Their seasonals, those who park their RVs at the campground for the summer, are starting to come in. Another participant runs Stone Creek Woods, an event venue that is north of Mount Ayr, and it is open.

At the Airport pilot ground school has started with five students.  There is an internship available in June and July for a high school student interested in airport management. The renovation of the building that JCEDO bought is coming along and JCECO hopes to be in the upstairs offices by the middle or end of July and have the downstairs ready to rent by October. They are investing about $225,000 in the renovation.

The staff at the library is again back in the library working staggered schedules and answering the phones. The books drops are open and items that are returned are quarantined. Curbside service is coming soon. There will be a virtual story time in June and a virtual summer reading program in July. The next meeting of the Jasper County Council (Tuesday evening) will be on Zoom. There will be interesting budget decisions coming up because tax revenues are down significantly. The REMC lobby is opening Monday and people are asked to wear masks. There will be no roundtable next Friday because of Memorial Day weekend.

For more, see the files here. Files from last week's roundtable are here.

I saw corn coming up in a field north of town on Sunday. The Farmers Market is going strong. A new vendor this year is Coffin Coffee.  You can see where they are at the market because their company vehicle an old hearse. It is a part-time business located in Jasper County that sells mostly on-line. It got started almost by accident. The website is here. (I am not a coffee drinker so I cannot give an opinion on their coffee.) The alley behind eMbers has been milled and should be paved in the next week or two.

I tried to join the Airport Authority Board meeting on Thursday but never got in.