Mid January

I have not gotten out much lately—days are still short and the weather is cold.  I have seen a lot of sold signs on houses that have been on the market so I get the impression that the real estate market is tight. I see from a post on the Internet that the Brook Locker Plant will be closing in April. Years ago we picked up meat there, sold to us by a local farmer. Also on the Internet I saw a Strack ad for "paczki", which annoyed me. The "a" should have an ogonek: pączki. (It is a Polish pastry served before Lent starts, which will be in less than four weeks. Those of us who speak English are lucky that we do not have to worry about the ogoneks, cedillas, acutes, graves, dieresises or umlauts, circumflexes, carons, rings, tildas, breves, bars, macrons, dot accents, hungarian umlauts, and comma accents that are used in various European languages.)

The Jasper County County Council met on Tuesday evening in a Zoom-only meeting. Since it was the first meeting of the new year, they elected a president and vice president. Rein Bontreger was retained as president and Gary Fritts was selected as VP. Next they passed a CARES Act funding resolution. Spending for things allowed by the CARES Act is done from the various budget lines and this resolution allows the reimbursements to be transferred to the budgets that did the spending. 

The head of Soil and Water is paid partly by the County and partly by either the State or the Federal Government. The Council passed a memorandum of understanding that determines the amount paid by the County for the next two years. They also approved the Sheriff's salary. Because the other County employees did not get a raise for 2021, Sheriff Williamson did not request an increase in pay though he is entitled to one by the formula that sets the amount that a sheriff should be paid. 

Several meetings ago the Sheriff floated the idea of paying the KV School Resource Officers overtime to patrol the roads around the KV schools before and after school hours in order to discourage speeding and reckless driving. He was invited to make a formal request at the next meeting.

The Council then considered 23 additional appropriations. Most of them were for something in the LIT Certified Shares budget lines. There were questions of whether or not these items had been approved in the August budget meetings, so with the exception of one item that was approved, the other 13 items were tabled until the February meeting.

A transfer of funds was approved and appointments made to the ERA Board (I do not know what that is). Mr Bontreger will be leaving the Valley Oaks board and next month and Valley Oaks has been invited to give a presentation to the Council.

With the published agenda finished, comments were invited. Kendall Culp reported for the Health Department, which had given 260 vaccinations in four days. Next week the Department will be moving the vaccine clinic to the Fairgrounds.

Steven Eastridge reported on several developments in economic development. His office and the similar offices in some surrounding counties had a grant funded for about $35,000. The purpose is to plan for economic development based on the strong agricultural foundation of Jasper and the other counties. A second phase of the Dunn's Bridge Solar Farm was accepted by NIPSCO. This is potentially a billion dollar project, almost all in Jasper County. Construction of Phase One is expected to start in August and both phases are supposed to be finished by the end of 2022.

The County has been negotiating tax issues with NIPSCO and an agreement may be finalized soon. Construction on the DeMotte water and sewer-line extensions may start this spring.

Earlier in the day there was a meeting of the County Board of Finance but I never found a Zoom link. I think the Commissioners met in a continued meeting after the Finance meeting.

I did attend part of an on-line Airport Authority meeting last Thursday. The main item was approval of contract for preparing a master plan. I only vaguely understand what this is about, but it is supposed to be a guide for the next twenty years and if it is accepted by the FAA, it will make the airport eligible for many funding opportunities. The Board hopes that most of the cost of preparing the plan (done by an engineering firm) will be covered by federal and state grants.

I missed the last part of the meeting because my Internet connection stopped working for the next half hour. Earlier in the day I listened in on a meeting of a group concerned about invasive species. They were considering a logo and had lots of comments and suggestions about several possible designs. They would like to organize a local event, but were not sure where the best location would be. 

The Airport has been trying for more than a year to get an aviation class started in the local high schools and has succeeded in getting one organized for this fall:

High school aviation courses taught at Jasper County Airport are enrolling now for Fall of 2021. These courses are available to students at KVHS, RCHS, and surrounding counties as long as they are willing and able to make the daily drive to Jasper County Airport. Home schoolers are also able to enroll, but would have to register through RCSC for the courses. These courses qualify for high school credit. Dual credit approval with Ivy Tech is in the works.