Not much about Rensselaer

 On Tuesday morning there were a series of three meetings that were zoomed. The first was a continuation of the Commissioners' meeting. It began with a series of the nitty-gritty things that Commissioners do. They approved a cyber security agreement for voting that is State mandated. The bonds for the jail are being audited and they approved a contract for bond counsels. They approved an extension of vacation time for an employee and noted that Titan has begun work on renovating space for the Health Department in the former Youth Center. They approved the purchase of a mower for mowing the Court House lawn and, after reviewing the plans for expanding the office used by court reporters, approved a contract for the work by Titan for $19,740. They approved several purchases that should be reimbursable as COVID related, including a truck for the Health Department, a truck trailer, and a number of laptops. They ended the meeting with a brief discussion of a proposal by DeMotte to expand sewer and water services to the I-65/SR 10 interchange. 

The Commissioners then ended their meeting and reconvened as the Jasper County Water and Sewer District Board. I had no idea this group existed and it seems to be comprised of the Commissioners. They met for about an hour and the purpose of the meeting was to discuss DeMotte's plans to extend sewer and water to the Interstate 65 interchange. Technically the County has jurisdiction over sewer and water except where in towns and cities and where it has ceded that jurisdiction to operating utilities. The purpose of the meeting was to have the County cede jurisdiction to DeMotte for part of Keener Township outside of the DeMotte city limits.

The Jasper County Economic Development Organization believes that the interstate interchanges offer excellent locations for economic development and the development at the I 65/US 24 interchange east of Remington illustrates what is possible. However, except for that interchange, none of the others have a complete set of utilities. (The Rensselaer interchange has Rensselaer water, but the water main is too small to serve a new business that uses a lot of water.) Hence, the proposal by DeMotte would make the DeMotte interchange much more attractive to prospective businesses. As part of the plan proposed by DeMotte, a TIF district would be established with tax revenues that flow to the district being used to service the bonds that would be issued to finance the expansion of sewer and water. DeMotte would manage the financing.

There is some urgency in the matter because the new travel center being constructed west of the interchange would like to have DeMotte water and sewer. However, the Commissioners had a number of concerns. They wanted to make sure that there would be no unpleasant surprises for the County as a result of the project. There were a number of details that they wanted resolved before they voted on the matter, and the next meeting was set for October 5 at 10:00 (which means it should follow the scheduled Commissioners' meeting).

The third scheduled meeting was of the Jasper County Redevelopment Commission. It never got a quorum so there was no meeting, just discussion that mostly repeated what had been said at the Water and Sewer meeting for the people who had not been at that meeting. It will attempt to meet again on October 5. 

At least four County bodies will have to sign off on the project: The Commissioners, the County Council, the Water and Sewer District Board, and the Redevelopment Commission.

Other things

Saint Joseph's College has published its September newsletter. The most interesting bit for me was this:

"In recent months, individuals, businesses, elected officials and various members of the Saint Joseph's College Board of Trustees, have been approached by an outside group regarding the College’s future. This group, which is not associated with the College, communicated interest in working with us to rebuild the entire physical structure of the campus, bring back academic and certificate programming, and develop the athletic center into a community recreation center."

The six students who completed the Medical Assistant program took the test for certification and all passed.  The next group will begin in October.

The Core Building has had a new HVAC system installed and is the first building on campus removed from the boiler system.

The town of Remington is ready to begin a streetscape project partially funded by a $600,000 OCRA grant. 

In a meeting preparing for the Cemetery Walk, one of the guides pointed out a grave of her aunt who died of polio in 1946. She was a senior at Rensselaer High School, became ill, and was sent to St. Elizabeth's in Lafayette where she was put in an iron lung. There is still no cure for the disease once it is contracted. But what made this death really weird was on the same day in the same hospital a boy from Wolcott also died of polio and he is also buried in Weston Cemetery. What are the odds of something like that happening? For more information on the two, see here and here.

I do not think younger people realize how scary polio was before vaccines were developed in the 1950s. It not only killed, but it maimed and crippled some of those who suffered the disease. The March of Dimes was established to work for a cure. Once the vaccines were developed, its changed goal away from polio to improving health of mothers and babies.

The Cemetery Walk seems to be the only theatrical performance that was not canceled this year. Carnegie Players canceled, Fendig Summer Theater canceled. Did the high school have a play before everything shut down?

Some cornfields look ready for harvest.