Paving

 Corn is sprouting in some fields. Maybe we have had our last frost of the Spring.

I have heard frogs chirping in Weston Lake. I wonder if the water will last long enough for their tadpoles to mature. (Update: I noticed on Saturday that it had already dried up.)

The geese at Donaldsons have goslings.

Donaldsons also has "hiring" signs. There are a lot of "hiring" signs at local businesses.

The basketball court at Brookside Park now has a new asphalt surface. The hoops are not yet installed.

Paving City streets kicked off in earnest this week. Parts or all of John, Charles, Emmett, Kannal, Fleming, and McKinley Streets were milled. The picture below shows milling on McKinley.

Paving started with Charles Street being the first with new blacktop.

I stopped in Walmart and saw that their photo department was no more. That space will become their pick-up desk for things ordered on-line.

There were a couple of meetings on Friday. In the morning the Jasper County Commission of Public Records met. It took 15 minutes to assemble a quorum and while people waited, I learned that the Animal Shelter is closed because a vehicle ran into the building. On November 12 there will be some kind of ceremony to mark the 125th anniversary of the Court House. The Court House has new gutters to fix a leak, but there was skepticism that it would solve all the problems. There seems to be leaks that are higher in the building than where leaks caused by gutters are supposed to be.

The purpose of this commission is to give permission to government units to destroy old paperwork. There are regulations about what paperwork must be kept and for how long. Eventually an office will run out of room if it cannot throw away or shred unneeded files. The Commission heard requests from the County Prosecutor, City of Rensselaer Utility Office, City of Rensselaer Clerk-Treasurer, the Jasper County Library, Probation Department, Clerk's Office, Recorder's Office, Veteran Service Office, Treasurer, Health Department, The Sheriff, Animal Control, Marion and Carpenter Townships, Rensselaer Central School Corporation, and the Town of Remington. A visit from a shredding company will be arranged for July and boxes and boxes of paper will be waiting to be shredded.

The other meeting was a continued meeting of the County Council. At their April meeting they began a process to grant an abatement to a project that will convert cow manure into natural gas. They needed to have a public hearing as part of that, and they scheduled it for Friday. The meeting was short and there was no one from the public who commented. 

I missed the Airport Authority meeting on Thursday evening. I chose to attend another event.

We have celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Fire Department and will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Court House. There is another 125th anniversary that we could celebrate this year. In 1896 Rensselaer became a city. It has previously been classified as a town.

Rensselaer no longer has an aerial fire truck. It is now the property of the Brook-Iroquois Township Fire Department.

Jenna Morello has begun her Francesville mural.