October's first post

 The September meeting of the Jasper County Commissioners started a few minutes late as adjustments were made to get the audio on Zoom working correctly. There were four buried cable requests, one that came later in the meeting. The City of Rensselaer is planning to bore 1000 feet of gas line in Newton Township to connect customers. REMC will bore under a County road to give more power to Mobility Ministries (who apparently have a 3-phase welder.) CenturyLink has a simple bore under Bunkum Road, and another bore under a County road was approved for Bos Dairy's Calf Land.

NIPSCO is planning a new substation for the proposed Dunn's Bridge solar project. They need to place two poles for the substation but the owner of the adjacent land will not give them an easement. Instead they want to place the poles in the County's road right-of-way that is also the bank of a private ditch. The Commissioners approved the request.

The Commissioners approved the two rezone requests that were recommended by the Plan Commission. Both were for A1 to A2 to allow a house on less than ten acres. They also approved a revised bid from the contractor for repairs to the animal shelter. Since his original bid in June, steel prices have risen substantially. There was some discussion of a water-leak in the Court House basement that may still be there and has caused a mold problem.

The Coroner wants to sit down with the Commissioners to plan for the future. His case load keeps increasing and he would like a full-time deputy coroner to replace some of the part-time help. Some of the deaths require a lot of paperwork. The Commissioners renewed an IT contract that came with a price increase. They will need to adopt an ordinance for ADA compliance because INDOT now is requiring it for CCMG road grants.

The Sheriff received permission to replace a corrections officer. The Commissioners approved a contract with Canteen Services that will outsource meal preparation for the jail. The jail has issues with its air handlers and may need to replace its chiller soon. The Marion Township Trustee was interested in obtaining a Tahoe that the Department is replacing. It is a 2014 model with 175,000 miles and later in the meeting the Commissioners and Trustee agreed to a price of $2500. The Sheriff discussed a proposal to reduce water usage in the jail, which uses about four million gallons of water each year. (The water usage also determines the sewer fee.) No action was taken. There was also the question of why the solar panels seem not to have reduced the electric bills of the jail. The Sheriff has reached out to the company that built it but so far has not received an answer. The Sheriff will talk to the state about how traffic might be better routed when I-65 is shut down, which has happened frequently lately.

In what might be the most consequential action of the meeting, the Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement for central Jasper County ambulance services. A lot of the agreement was taken from a similar agreement the County has for the Wheatfield ambulance service. They also created a board for the service that consists of the Marion Township trustee, a Commissioner, and a Council member. The agreement may also need Council approval. 

At 10:00 the meeting was suspended and the Commissioners reconvened as the Drainage Board to open bids for Kankakee River maintenance. There were two bids and they accepted the lower of the two. 

The meeting then went into executive session to discuss insurance. I missed a bit of the meeting when they returned to the public meeting. They approved an ordinance that corrected something in the windmill ordinance and appointed Kendall Culp to serve on the newly created board for the central ambulance service. The board will not become official until everything is approved by the State Board of Accounts.

The meeting was continued to October 18 at 8:30 am if needed.

On Friday, October 15 at 10:00 there will be a rededication ceremony at the Court House marking the 125th anniversary of the Court House. The public is invited to attend.

The next exhibit at the Fendig Gallery will be an exhibit honoring the Prairie Art Council's retired art educators who actively create. It will run from October 8 until November 6 with the meet-the-artists reception October 15 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

The Historical Society museum is preparing an exhibit of advertising posters for its next exhibit.

Also on Monday evening the Park Board met. Jordan Township made a donation that will be used for a new scoreboard for the Columbia Park ball field. There is a donation for new tennis courts but construction is not ready to start. The reason that the exterior of the south bathrooms at Brookside Park have not been finished is that the windows are on backorder.  The Fall Fest will be October 21 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm and will include the Riley Read. The Frosty Fest will be the first Saturday in December. Seventeen scarecrows are expected for the Scarecrow Trail.

Tri Kappa's scarecrow is behind that of Franciscan Health.

The Library's scarecrow is in front of Chief Industry's headless horseman.

On Tuesday night there was a dedication ceremony for the training center behind the fire station. (A video of the ceremony is here.) The speeches emphasized that many people and organizations had been involved in the creation of this facility. The State organization donated $8500 and Newton County $7500. The volunteer firemen did much of the construction.

The State training people gave Rensselaer a new door (the yellow one). The facility has several doors that are used to practice forced entry. Each door has different challenges.

The next building on the site will simulate a restaurant and these containers contain things that McDonald's donated from their remodel. I recall a supervisor or overseer telling me that all the windows that were removed were donated to the Fire Department.

After the speeches and watching a fireman break through the new door, people were allowed to tour the existing building.

Below is the living room with the kitchen behind. The building has many walls that are moveable, so the layout can be changed. In addition to the Fire Department, the Police Department has been doing training here. It is open not just to local personnel but also to departments from neighboring counties.

Here is the kitchen. 

Upstairs are bedrooms. The whole facility is uncluttered. Where is the dirtly laundry on the floor, the unwashed dishes in the sink, and the broken toys on the floor? 

There is an attic to the building with a pull-down stairs.

For more, check the video linked above.

The Fire Department is hosting a Fire Prevention Open House on Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. 

Last week the roads in the northwest addition to Weston Cemetery were getting a new top coat of asphalt.

On Monday a crane was lifting an air conditioning unit to the roof of McDonalds.