August 2021

 I stumbled on more charismatic megafauna last week. They were in Bicentennial Park by the Talbert Bridge.

I passed through the Fairgrounds on Saturday a bit before noon and it looked dead. I was impressed with how many people camp out in the fairgrounds during Fair week.

I continued on to the airport to see the biplanes that were giving rides. 

I was surprised to see other biplanes that were not giving rides but were crop dusters. There were two different operators doing crop dusting.

The airport manager will be leaving at the end of August or perhaps in September and moving back to Kansas where he will manage an airport that is a bit bigger in terms of planes based there and air traffic than Jasper County Airport.

The August public meetings began on Monday with the Commissioners' meeting. They heard a presentation from Appleseed Childhood Education that was similar to the presentation Appleseed made to the Rensselaer City Council, but this presentation included an ask for a specific amount of funding, $150,000 for next year. Looking at the numbers, Appleseed has concluded that tuition and the various vouchers that are available will not be enough to fund the operation so they will need grants and gifts. The reason for giving the Commissioners a specific amount is that the Council will begin budget hearings in two weeks and Appleseed wants funding to be included in the Commissioners' budget in a similar way as funding for Community Services, the County Fair, CDC Resources, and EMT services are included.

The Commissioners noted that they had subsidized previous attempts to get licensed child care established and they had failed. They wanted to know why this attempt would succeed when past efforts had failed. The response was that Appleseed is partnering with Right Steps, a 52-year-old non-profit from Lafayette that manages five child care centers in Lafayette as well as the Growing Patch in Remington and a center in Goodland. They have the staff and expertise to find funding sources that a parent-led organization cannot find or successfully tap. One member of the audience was part of a non-profit called Seeds of Promise that raises funds for child care and he said that the Growing Patch in Remington would have failed if they had not allied with Right Steps. The Commissioners agreed to include the request in their budget but cautioned that there were many demands for County funds and it would be up to the Council to decide how much will be approved.

The Commissioners approved replacing a dispatcher in the Sheriff's Department. Thet Department had received a grant of $5000 from Franciscan to help fund counseling for inmates and the Commissioners voted to accept it. (The vote is needed to keep State auditors happy.) Tri-County School Corporation is taking possession of a squad car sold to them by the Sheriff's Department.

The Commissioners approved a rezone from A1 to A3 that was recommended by the Plan Commission. It will be for the interconnect station that connects the methane pipeline from two dairies to the natural-gas line.

The County Clerk is preparing a report for the State and wanted to know where absentee voting will be held. After some discussion, it was decided the best solution would be to install additional electrical circuits so the voting can be in the hallway outside of her office. There is no need at this time to change voting precincts but Council and Commissioners districts will be altered based on 2020 census figures.

There was discussion of the events planned to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Court House. During the Little Cousin Jasper Festival on September 11th there will be a rededication of the gazebo that is getting a new roof and cupola and a dedication of the digital sign. The Court House will be the Grand Marshall of the parade and past and present county officials will be in the parade. On October 15th there will be a ceremony and a Lura Halleck re-enactment. On November 12 there will be tours of various offices, mostly for students. There will also be photo and art contests as part of the commemoration.

A long discussion of repairs to the Animal Control building followed. There was vehicle damage that has insurance coverage, but there were also needed repairs before that accident, and there are some expansion plans. There was confusion about what the bids covered so the matter will be considered at the next meeting.

The Commissioners appointed Jason Armold to fill a vacancy on the Airport Authority Board. The Commissioners continued the meeting until August 16th if necessary before they went into executive session.

The planning committee for the Weston Cemetery Walk met on Monday. The Walk is scheduled for September 18 with two performances, one at 11:00 in the Hall Shelter at Brookside Park for those who cannot or do not want to walk and the other at 2:00. Tickets will also be available at Jordans and Browns and can also be purchased on-line through Eventbrite.

Finally, progress is rapid on the storage building for the electric department. The first picture is from the weekend and the second from Tuesday.

More later.