Snow, snow, and more snow (updated)

I have not been able to get out enough to find really good winter pictures. Below is what my sidewalk to the street looks like. Many in the city have much higher snow canyons.

The river alongside Weston Cemetery had nearly frozen over a couple days ago. There is a swift current in this stretch that has kept parts of the river open.

It is not a good time to check out old gravestones.

At least we are ready for cold and snow. The people of Texas were not. 

Are you curious about the generating from the two Rensselaer solar parks? You can see what they are doing here.

The County Council met Tuesday in a rather routine meeting. The meeting was supposed to be in-person at the Sparling Annex with a Zoom option, but it appeared that everyone chose the Zoom option because of the weather and the uncertain status of the roads. First up was a report from Valley Oaks. They receive over $300,000 in property tax dollars and that amount of support seems to be mandated by State law. Valley Oaks provides services in nine counties, the largest of which is Tippecanoe. It started in 1938 and until a couple years ago it had a different name, Wabash Valley. It provides services for mental health and addiction. It employs 28 people from the Rensselaer office, with two more ready to start and three open positions. The bulk of their payments come from Medicare or Medicaid. Last year they served about 400 Jasper County adults and about 250 youths. They closely cooperate with area schools.

Next up was Judge Potter, who mentioned that relations between Jasper County government and Valley Oaks had improved over the past couple years. He also mentioned that Tippecanoe County has been hiring away our public defenders because they pay considerably more, but that was not his concern at the moment. Rather it was the pay discrepancy between what the local CASA director is paid and what CASA directors in comparable counties are paid. (Judge Potter oversees the CASA program.) His suggestion was to use grant funding to supplement the pay in the same way outside funding supplements the salary of the director of Community Corrections. The Council accepted his suggestion and he will draw up an agreement for the next Council meeting.

Sheriff Williamson returned this month with two options to allow the northern School Resource Officers to use overtime to patrol roads before and after school hours. The Council approved the five-day option.

The Council approved some additional appropriations that had been tabled from the last meeting. Most had been in the budget book when the Council set the County budget but for some reason had not been approved in August during the budget meetings. 

Members of the Council expressed appreciation for the State, County, and local plow crews for clearing the roads.

Covid vaccinations took a break on Monday and Tuesday because of the weather but are otherwise proceeding smoothly. The Coroner reported he has had 35 cases so far this year and has spent a third of his budget. He expects to be before the Council to request an additional appropriation in the future.

My other Zoom meeting this week was with the White County United Way where I serve on a review panel for grant requests. The White County United Way received a substantial grant from Lilly to help not-for-profit organizations in Jasper, White, and Pulaski counties that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. The grants are supposed to be awarded and spent by the end of July. If you are part of a not-for-profit organization that can make a case that your organization has been harmed by the pandemic, contact the White County United Way to see if you might qualify. They are prioritizing funding for programs and agencies that:

•  Ensure sustainability of our regional social service network
•  Reduce gaps in services, particularly for healthcare and mental health access
•  Increase services offered via alternative or virtual delivery
•  Increase the # of individuals who access services for basic needs
•  Increase the # of individuals participating in healthy food access/nutrition programs
•  Increase the # of children enrolled in childcare or education/engagement programs
•  Increase the # of volunteers engaged in addressing community needs
•  Increase the # of social sector jobs retained through organizational financial supports 

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A couple of quick additions.

Main Street Bakery of Francesville Medaryville is planning to expand to Morocco. It will remodel a building in the downtown and hopes to be open by August. Main Street Bakery bought the equipment and recipes of the bakery that formerly was in downtown Rensselaer.

A recovery house for women called the House of Grace will open their second location on the campus of Saint Josephs’s College. Apparently this has been in the works since October. Here is an announcement by SJC.