Arts and Education

 The Fendig Gallery has a new show, Master Teacher Master Artist. It features works from 13 regional retired art educators who are still creating.

Below is a brief explanation of the exhibit with a list of the featured artists.

Over the years I have had pictures of several of David Herriott's pieces, but they were probably all works in glass.

I like the symmetry of this piece by Gail Woolever.

I thought this large pot was impressive.

I think this was titled, "Prancer." It is something a bit different in the show.

This is Doris Myers' logo for the Town of Wheatfield.

This lady made of dried plant stalks was backlit by a window so I could not get a good picture from the front. It was created by local artist Bonnie Zimmer. 

The show runs until November 6. The gallery is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon until 4:00. The artists' reception is Friday, October 15 from 6:30 until 8:00 pm.

On Tuesday there was a meeting of the Rensselaer Redevelopment  Commission. I knew about it because I saw the meeting agenda posted on the door of City Hall when I attended Monday's City Council meeting. The meeting began with an election of officers because this was the first meeting of 2021. The Commission voted to keep the officers from 2020. They then approved the minutes of their last meeting, which was in August of 2020.

The first item on the agenda was an appeal for funding from Appleseed Childhood Education. The presentation given by Adam Alson stressed the importance of licensed childcare for economic development. There is no stay-at-home parent in 75% of the households with pre-school children. When businesses and young people consider locating to Jasper County, the availability of licensed child care is one of the things that they consider. The problem in establishing and maintaining licensed childcare in a rural area is that it almost certainly will not be able to cover costs with tuition and fees. The need to raise funds is only one problem licensed childcare has. There is also a regulatory nightmare to get and maintain licensing and to obtain the State funds that are available.

Appleseed's solution to these two problems is to partner with another organization. Right Steps from Lafayette will run the childcare, taking care of hiring and dealing with the State. Right Steps operates three centers in Lafayette as well as the new childcare centers in Remington and Goodland. Their size gives them the economies of scale to hire people to specialize in dealing with the regulations and finding the available vouchers.  Appleseed will focus on finding the funding to fill the gap between revenues and costs.  As part of that role, Appleseed requested that the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission give them $115,000 from TIF revenues to help fund the first year of the center, which has a planned opening in the Spring of 2022.

Several people spoke in favor of the proposal. The Mayor supported it, saying that the City of Rensselaer could not give it funds because there was no money to do it. Steven Eastridge of the Jasper County Economic Development Organization noted that the Jasper County population dropped from 2010 to 2020 and that decline was due to the drop in the population of Marion Township. (I was given some numbers after the presentation that were shocking. I asked the Mayor if they were right and he said that he has not seen any numbers but Rensselaer's population has declined.) Mr Eastridge also noted that a major concern that businesses have with locating to Jasper County is whether there is a sufficient workforce.

After discussion, the Commission approved a motion to pledge $115,000 for one year. There was one "no" vote.

The other item on the agenda was a proposal to develop Shuster Road, a road that is platted but has not been built. It starts at Drexel Drive and goes south and is located a bit to the west of the water tower south of town. The proposal would create a gravel road 500 feet long and 20 feet wide. Currently it would benefit only NITCO, giving them an alternative access to the 12 acres they own east of Drexel Hall, but the longer range plan is to develop and extend the road to allow the location of new businesses. The cost of the project is $52,250 and it was approved.

On Thursday evening the Airport Authority Board met and I attended via Zoom. The Airport engineer, also on Zoom, suggested that a workshop on the airport masterplan that his company is developing would be useful and it was scheduled for an executive session starting at 4:00 on November 4, which is the date for the next Board meeting. This October Board meeting was the first for the new airport manager, Emily Hackler. She and the attorney for the Board had attended an aviation conference and had done networking. Their attendance was approved and also the Board agreed to pay the conference fees. At the conference the two learned that INDOT was offering grants of $6000 for the installation of a traffic tracking system. This system would produce data that will be essential in future airport planning. There is a system that with a discount is available for $6000 and the Board approved obtaining the system. The Airport will pay for it, then submit a request to the State for reimbursement. 

The rest of the meeting was devoted to routine airport business. There will be a FAA Safety meeting on November 13 open to the public with limited capacity. Its topic will be pilots and mediations.