Mostly Zoom meetings

 A week ago we got real winter snow. Now we are experiencing real winter weather and it is forecast to last into next week. During weather like this I am happy that I can attend public meetings via Zoom.

Last week the City was moving snow from the downtown streets.

I attended the Tourism Commission on Friday via Zoom. It was an unusually long meeting, lasting nearly two hours. They had only one funding request, for $360 to update Court House planters. The Commission agreed to do this a few years ago so fulfilled their obligation. They then heard an update on tourism. The most interesting item there was an update on work on a master plan for the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area. There are three Purdue graduate students working on this plan to find ways to make the Area more attractive to visitors. There is no desire to curtail any current uses, which includes hunting. Jasper County Tourism is interested in this as it has the potential to increase the number of people visiting the County. 

The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a presentation by HVS, a firm that offers consulting services for convention, sports, and entertainment facilities, among other things it does. The two presenters  began pointing out some national trends. The number of people participating in team sports has dropped slightly over the past decade, but the intensity of those participating has increased. At one time young people switched sports as the seasons changed. Now many focus on one sport year around. 

They noted that Jasper County has a vacant sports complex, that of Saint Joseph's College. It would seem to be in the College's interest to have their facilities used and maintained rather than allow them to gradually deteriorate. However, the meeting was very pessimistic about the possibility of having those facilities opened to the public. Saint Joseph's still has a lot of bank debt that will not be paid off until at least 2027. They are unsure of their future and may still believe that they can restart as a college. As a result, they want to keep options open. They will not and perhaps cannot fund the costs that would be needed to bring these facilities back into use for the public. But because they want to keep control of the facilities, no outsider would be willing to spend the money needed to re-open the facilities.

The consultants then looked at possibilities of building either a dome or a field house. They would serve very different needs. A dome would be useful primarily in the winter when it could be used for baseball, soccer, and track. A field house would be more an all-season facility serving basketball, volleyball, and perhaps tennis or pickle ball. Either would be quite expensive to build, in the $5 to $10 million range, though a dome might be cheaper than a field house. I got the impression that if any building results from this study, it probably will begin in the northern part of the county. The north has the most population and would be able to draw from Lake and Porter Counties. Those counties have sport complexes, but they are often at capacity so something in northern Jasper County could draw people from further north.

The benefits to the County from a complex would be more people visiting and spending in Jasper County. It would also reduce the number of locals who now travel out of county for sports opportunities, keeping some of those dollars local. The Commission agreed to have HVC continue with their study, giving a better picture of whether any project would be financially feasible.

On Monday afternoon the Rensselaer Board of Public Works had a very short meeting to approve a payment to Commonwealth Engineering for their continuing work preparing for the upcoming sewer extension. The City will need to buy some property north of town for part of that project.

In the City Council meeting that followed, the Council passed an ordinance establishing new electric solar rates and charges. The explanation of that ordinance had been sent out to the members of the Council before the meeting so there was no explanation of what the ordinance will do at the meeting.

The gas tracker for February will be a one cent increase per hundred cubic feet. The Council then passed an extension to their contract with IMPA. The extension adds eight years, from 2042 to 2050 to the contract and changes the termination notice from ten years to 30 years. IMPA argues the longer termination notice is needed to lock in customers so they get more favorable rates and terms when they borrow money. So far 33 (now 34 with Rensselaer) of the 61 communities served by IMPA have agreed to the extension.

The project manager is hoping the third time is the charm. He asked approval to purchase a new service truck for about $1900 more than had been approved at two previous meetings. The truck is in stock at Gutweins in Monon.

The Council agreed to make the position of fire chief a full-time position. It will need to amend its salary ordinance before this happens. Once Mr Haun becomes the full-time fire chief, there will be a new person heading the Building Department.

In the Administrative Comments section of the meeting, it was noted that some people along Mt. Calvary Road would like City water because of the high iron content of their well water. There are two avenues they can pursue. One is to petition for annexation, which would require almost unanimous approval of those living there. The other is to pay a surcharge to pay for the extension of the water line so that it is not funded by City residents.

During Superintendents comments, the question of cleanup week was raised. No decision has yet been made. A notice for bids for the City's aerial truck have been placed and the bid opening is planned for February 22.

I am disappointed that I have not been able to find things to write about other than public meetings.