Almost Thanksgiving

 The Rensselaer City Council meeting on Monday (11-22) was short. The first item on the agenda was a public hearing for a gas-rate ordinance that will restructure rates, increasing revenue in the summer and decreasing it in the winter. The purpose is to make sure the gas utility has enough money to make bond payments on the debt used to finance the new gas feed from the trunk line. There were no public comments and the Council approved the second reading of the ordinance, meaning it will take effect at the start of 2022.

The Council approved the annual budget report to Rural Development, authorizing the Clerk/Treasurer to sign it and submit it. Attempts to repair Well #6 have not yielded the desired results, so the Council agreed to continue efforts to make sick Well Six well again. It also hired an outside contractor for sewer cleaning, agreeing to pay $35K for 3.5 miles of work. The Police Department received approval to purchase a new squad car for $33,855 less $4,000 for a trade in. The car will not be delivered until 2022. 

The Council also approved the Cemetery purchasing a hard-top cab for its mule. Supply-bid recommendations were approved. Ceres Solution was the only bidder for gas and diesel and the Council accepted both bids for tire repair. If the low bidder is busy, the City has the option of using the other bidder. The City Attorney is preparing a draft for a green-energy ordinance and I did not catch exactly what it will do but it is something IMPA wants. The Mayor was informed that he will be honored at the upcoming Chamber of Commerce dinner with the designation of Citizen of the Year. A local trucking company, AVC Environmental, will be departing Rensselaer on November 29 to travel to Maryland Maine to bring back wreaths to decorate graves for Wreaths Across America. Community members are encouraged to gather for a send-off at 8:00. AVC is located behind the Moose Lodge at 1395 McKinley Street.

As I left the meeting, I noticed samples of the new trash containers that the garbage utility is planning to provide next year.

The Council members praised the new Christmas decorations that the Electric Department was installing Monday.

On Saturday the Fire Department welcomed its new fire truck with a "push-in" ceremony. 

The new truck has a familiar Rensselaer icon on its side.

The truck has lots of dials and gauges. It takes training to be able to operate and that training has been scheduled.

A video of the ceremony was posted on Facebook. 

Last Friday Santa was coming to town. Or at least his house was.

The new restaurant that will occupy what had been Moonshiners will be Frida's Grill and Breakfast. Before it opens it needs to hire staff and many businesses in Rensselaer are also trying to hire.

I noticed that Main Street Bakery has a new sign. Perhaps it has been there for a while, but I just noticed it.

Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Two ribbon cuttings and two meetings

On Monday morning Rensselaer Pet Care had its ribbon cutting for its new building on St Gaspar Drive.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the building was in April. Rensselaer Pet Care employs 20-25 people and the practice is limited to small animals (pets). Boarding of animals will continue at the former main building located on North Cullen Street. 

The lobby has a warm and welcoming feel and even has a fireplace.

On Tuesday afternoon the new A&B Auto Care had its ribbon cutting. The business has four employees, two for the front desk and two mechanics. It is located in what was once Cooper Tire on the corner of Front and Washington.

On Tuesday evening there were two meetings at the Sparling Annex. The first was a joint Commissioners/Council meeting. This is a meeting that takes no actions but allows County officials to discuss issues that are pertinent to both the Council and Commissioners. They agreed that a HR clerk should be added to the auditor's office. This seems to be filling an empty position that was previously called a payroll clerk. The money for the positions is in the auditor's budget.

Someone noted that the Jasper County Veteran's officer serves many veterans from surrounding counties and that led to a discussion of other departments that serve non-residents and billing between counties. There was agreement that some reciprocal agreements would be desirable. 

The Health Department has found outside money to fund the move of two part-time nurses to full-time status.

The County is getting several million dollars as a result of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act). The Commissioners have decided to use $500,000 to help establish a central Jasper County EMS service. Another thing they want to do with those funds is help Remington explore what it would take to extend water to the 205 interchange. The decision of DeMotte to extend water and sewer to its I65 interchange has resulted in some projects in the works to take advantage of the new utilities. (The Rensselaer interchange does not have enough water to support any large developments, which is why Rensselaer is making plans to build a water tower there, if funding allows.)

The last item on the joint agenda was EMS services. It resulted in a long discussion that is hard to summarize. A Marion township EMS is still in very early planning. Many of the participants of the discussion thought it would be good to have more coordination among the various EMS services and some wanted a dedicated tax source for EMS. It was noted that hiring and keeping people for the EMS is difficult.

The County Council meeting began after a short break. It had a public hearing to establish an Economic Redevelopment Area (ERA), needed to pass a tax abatement for Phase II of the Dunns Bridge Solar Farm. Unlike the previous evening when comments on a NextEra item generated well over an hour of comments, there was nothing on Tuesday. An estimated $13.1 million will be paid to the County in the first ten years of the project. Some of that will be property taxes and some will be special Economic Development payments that NextEra will pay the County. In addition to the taxes on the equipment, the County will benefit from tax payments from the increased value of the land. The owners of the land will pay property taxes at the farm-value rate and the owner of the solar farm will pay the tax on the difference between the ag value and the solar-farm value. There is no abatement on land value.

The Council passed the establishment of the ERA, then passed a motion to allow the President of the Council to sign an agreement between NextEra and the County that the Commissioners had approved at their November meeting. Finally, it passed the actual abatement, though it was not clear if they needed to do this because it was in the previous two votes.

The Council then approved a series of additional appropriations for the Sheriff. The new food service at the jail began on Monday. The Sheriff noted that the State Police are short-staffed and so his department handles some of the accidents on the Interstate.

After passing some transfers of funds, the Council considered the salary for the director of Emergency Management.  She had complained at the previous meeting that she was underpaid compared to what other department heads were paid. The Council decided that they were unable to change pay for 2021 but did increase her salary for 2022 on a 4-2 vote.

For 2022 the Council had granted 5% raises for all County employees except Sheriff deputies and field workers at the Surveyor's Department who got a 6% raise.  At the last meeting the Highway Department had complained that because they did similar work to that of the Surveyors Department, they too should get a 6% raise. At Tuesday's meeting the dissatisfaction with the 6% raise was internal in the Surveyors department. The two office workers, both female, were unhappy that they were neglected. After discussion, the matter was resolved by cancelling the 6% raise and giving a 5% raise instead. The adjustment will be done via the salary ordinance that has not yet been passed. 

The Council appoints a member to the board of Valley Oaks. There was no candidate so the matter will be on the December agenda. The Council also appoints some members to the Jasper County Library Board and the Remington Library Board. There is a vacancy on both boards. Neither pays a stipend. If you would like to serve on the Jasper County Library Board, submit your name to a Council member or head of the Library. The Remington Library has two people interested in filling its vacancy.

First snow and a lot more

 We woke up Sunday morning to our first snow of the season. Fortunately most of it melted fairly quickly.

The cold, rain, and wind brought down a lot of leaves over the weekend. 

The final event celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Court House took place Friday. Hundreds of students from Kankakee Valley, Demotte Christian, Saint Augustine, and the Rensselaer Middle School came to tour the Court House. Their visit began with a guide telling them about the history and architecture of the building. They then entered the Court House and were told about Court-House security.

The students were then divided into ten groups with guides that would escort them to nine different offices in the building. I was asked to help and I became the guide for one of the afternoon tours. My group of RCMS eighth graders began our tour on the third floor in the Circuit Court and then went to the Superior Court. Judge Bailey explained that the Indiana Constitution establishes one court in each county, and that is the circuit court. If the case load is too much for the one court, the State legislature can establish additional courts, and they are the superior courts.

We then headed down to the first floor where we visited the assessors office, IT and Planning and Development, and the Veterans' Affairs office. When we got to the second floor, we were backed up a bit so we took a look at Jasper, the County bison. We talked to the auditor, had a short visit in the Recorder's office where we saw the first record book of the hundreds that the office has. It was damaged in a fire of the previous Court House in 1865. That fire was set to hide malfeasance. 

We had an even shorter visit to the Treasurer's office and we did not visit the last office on our schedule, the County Clerk, because time ran out and the students had to leave. They walked back to the Middle School.

The doors of most of the Court-House offices lists previous officeholders. The Commissioners Room, which used to hold many County meetings until they moved to the Sparling Annex, has a list of previous county commissioners. From the list, it appears that there is a lot of uncertainty about the terms of early commissioners. 

The list becomes certain in the late 19th century.

Christmas shopping has begun. On Saturday the Fairgrounds hosted the annual Mistletoe Magic Show. It was cold and rainy so I opted not to go. I did visit the annual Prairie Arts Council Holiday Art Show and Sale.

On Thursday the Veterans Day ceremonies were moved from Weston Cemetery to the American Legion Hall.

I hate the shortness of daylight in the winter. According to this site, there will be 9 hours, 54 minutes, and 32 seconds of daylight on Tuesday the 16th. We are losing about two minutes of daylight each day and will lose about 40 more minutes until December 21, when we have only nine hours and seventeeen minutes of daylight. However, the earliest sunset will happen on December 8 at 4:21:58 and then the sunset will slowly get later.  It could be worse. When I lived in central Minnesota the shortest day of the year had only eight hours and forty-two minutes of daylight.

On Monday evening both the Jasper County Plan Commission and the BZA met. It was standing-room only with over 40 people in the audience. The Plan Commission met first and was a bit late starting because it took a while to get the Zoom audio working. The Plan Commission approved a rezone from A1 to A2 and approved a 2-lot subdivision that will allow a son to build a house next to his father's house in Barkley Township. Their vote is not final; the Commissioners will have to agree at their December 6 meeting.

The first item on the BZA agenda was for a special exception for a confined feeding operation in Jordan Township. The property had been given a special exception in August of 2019 but it was not until this summer that the property was finally transferred. The 2019 special exception allowed the new owners to build on the old foundations but upon inspection they found that was not possible. So they had a new plan that needed BZA approval. The new plan was for two buildings,  each 101' by 277' and housing 3200 pigs. The total pig count would be less than what IDEM had approved for the site. There were no public comments and the special exception was approved. Construction is planned to begin in early spring.

The second item was a special exception for Phase II of the Dunns Bridge Solar Project in Kankakee Township. (Phase I is currently being constructed.) NextEra had several people attending who addressed the Board. They noted that this was a $335 million investment that complied with the provisions of the County's solar ordinance. The special exception being sought (which is required for any solar project) was for the new properties in the project, which will use about 4400 acres. The project will have a capacity of 291 megawatts. The output is direct current and it will be converted to alternating current by inverters that will be located toward the centers of the solar arrays. There will be a battery component that will allow some of the power generated to be stored and fed to the grid when it is needed. The projected timeline is for construction to begin in April of 2022 with construction finished and testing beginning in August of 2023 and the project to be fully online in December of 2023. NextEra had a property-value specialist who argued that studies showed that solar fields have no measurable impact on property values. NextEra will not operate the project but will sell it to NIPSCO when it is finished. 

My notes count 16 people who commented on the project when the floor was opened to public comments, ten who opposed the project and six who favored it. The main arguments of those who favored it were financial. The project will bring millions of dollars to the County and will help offset the decline in property tax revenue when the Schahfer plant stops generating using coal. It will also provide steady income for the farmers who are leasing their land to the project. One speaker noted that economic development is a challenge in rural areas and rural areas need to take advantage of the opportunities that exist.

Those speaking in opposition made a variety of arguments. Two were farmers who leased the land that they farmed and they said that they would be harmed if land that they currently lease is diverted to solar. A couple speakers suggested that the construction activities are bringing up sand and that the land will not be able to return to agricultural uses when the solar farms are decommissioned. Several speakers did not like the extra traffic on the County roads resulting from Phase I. There was concern about the safety of the batteries and also about the impact on deer and sandhill cranes. There were some who argued against solar power in general. A couple speakers thought that the companies were not paying enough for the leases compared to the revenue that they would collect per acre and one speaker implied that those who signed up with NextEra where too stupid to know what they were doing and that the BZA had the duty to protect them from their poor decisions.

Members of the BZA thought they needed to reflect on the matter so decided not to act at this meeting but postponed the vote to the December 20th meeting. At that meeting there will be no public comment. The Board members will be able to ask questions of NextEra if they need to. Until then the Board members cannot directly contact NextEra or each other. Any questions they have must be funneled through the Planning and Development office.

The meeting ended about 10:10 pm.

(There are two separate questions about solar farms. One is whether the federal government should be promoting them and the other is, given federal policy, should local governments encourage them. A person's position on the first issue does not necessarily determine a person's position on the second issue. And I wonder about how the contracts deal with inflation. I believe most people underestimate the possibility of severe inflation in the future.) 

A ribbon cutting and a long meeting

 Monday was a busy day. In the early afternoon the Sage Bridal Studio had a ribbon cutting.

The studio is open by appointment, which can be made on the shop's website. At the opening the shop had about 80 bridal gowns in stock.

In the late afternoon the Rensselaer Board of Public Works met twice. The first meeting was a closed executive session to interview three candidates for two open police officer positions. The second meeting was the normal monthly meeting. It approved paying two invoices from Commonwealth Engineering, one for bidding assistance for the main lift station and unsewered areas and the second for design work for water main work and a water storage tower. They also received a bid recommendation from Commonwealth for the lift station and providing a sewer connection to several areas of town. The recommendation was to accept the low bid of $7,281,000 contingent on concurrence of the USDA which will fund some of the project and also on the availability of funds. The Board also approved hiring the two candidates recommended as a result of the interviews at the executive session.

The City Council meeting was unusually long, lasting nearly an hour and a half. Council meetings have time for citizen's comments at the beginning of each meeting and first up was a request from St. Augustine Parish for some road closures for their bazaar on Thursday. They will help move traffic of those who want to buy meals via drive through. The second were comments from two people who wanted the City to stop planning development of Filson Park. Their argument is that this land would be better used for commercial uses and once it is developed as a park, it will remain a park forever. The gift of the land from the Filsons has the requirement that the land be used as a park for 15 years. In the discussion that followed it was noted that the City had accepted the land with the stipulation that it be used as a park and it cannot unilaterally change its use. The item will probably be on the agenda at the next meeting.

After discussion, the Council passed a first reading of a new trash ordinance. It will now need a public hearing (probably at the November 22 meeting) and then another vote. The ordinance as it was proposed will charge $18.40 per month for use of a 96 gallon trash container. Those over 65 will have the option of a 36 gallon container and be charged $9.20. (These rates will increase to $19.00 and $9.50 in 2023.) The discussion noted that some younger people generate small amounts of garbage and they would also benefit from the smaller containers. The response to that is that without the age limit, the program would be impossible to administer. The garbage service has been established as a utility and will not be getting City subsidies so the rates have to be high enough to cover costs. Other cities with monthly charges have a standard charge for all residents. An option that is not off the table is to have the City get out of the garbage collection business and leave it to private companies that charge more than the City is planning to charge. I predict that no matter what the City does, there will be people unhappy. There will be a public hearing on the ordinance at the next meeting.

The City also passed a first reading of a gas rate ordinance. This ordinance restructures rates so that most people pay more in the summer and less in the winter. It will also have a public hearing next month. As a separate agenda item, the Council approved  gas-tracker increase of 31¢ per hundred cubic feet. This reflects the increased cost that the City pays for natural gas. 

The Council approved using the County's Hazard Mitigation Plan. This is a 90 page document that allows the City to file for FEMA assistance when needed. The City finds it easier to use the County's plan than to write its own.

The Council approved submitting a CDBG Planning Grant that KIRPSE is writing. I do not know what CDBG is. (Update from a reader: "CDBG is a Community Development Block Grant.  This is likely federal grant money, most probably from the Housing and Urban Development Department, that is being funneled through a state or local government entity.") 

The Council opened supply bids for gasoline, diesel, and tire repair. There was only one bidder for the first two and two bidders for the second. They were taken under advisement and a recommendation will be made at the next meeting. The bidder for gas and diesel noted that the prices of gas and diesel are about twice as high as they were on the bids for 2021. 

The Council was informed that the City had received two quotes for garbage totes or containers. They accepted the low bid from Republic Service of DeMotte for $130,473.40. They will arrive in four to six weeks.

The Mayor then read a proclamation congratulating Steve Touhy and Chrissy Martin for winning for the Best Broadcast Personality or Team for their morning Touhyville show on WLQI.

The Council approved $200 from the public relations fund for a City float in the Christmas parade on December 4. It also approved the Police Department putting their name on a list for a new squad car. The car market is in chaos and right now the Department cannot just go out and order a new car. The company that the Rensselaer Fire Department is using for fire billing is closing and will switch to a different company, the one that the Marion Township Fire Department has been using for some time. The Council approved having the Mayor sign the contract. 

A couple more meetings from last week

 The Rensselaer Park Board met Monday, Nov 1 at the Heritage Barn at Pumpkin Vine Trail. It is a new event venue across CR 1000 W from Wilson Industrial. The owner was recently added to the Park Corporation Board

The Rensselaer Board of Zoning Appeals approved this venue in April. It is not in Rensselaer City limits but it is in the two-mile exclusion zone over which Rensselaer controls zoning. 

The venue has been busy with a variety of events. The main room can be used for basketball. There is a kitchen, bathrooms, and a balcony.

The Board reviewed the season with Blacker Field. The baseball teams were happy with the fields and next year there are eight baseball tournaments scheduled and four softball tournaments. In 2021 there were six baseball tournaments and six softball tournaments. The change in composition was seen as positive. The smallest baseball tournament had 15 teams but two of the softball tournaments had only four teams. Next year South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will handle hotel bookings and the Parks will get a small cut of the revenue. The groups staffing the concession stand earned almost $10,000. The tournaments brought in visitors who spent money at local businesses. After the discussion, the Board approved issuing the tournament contracts for 2022.

Some extensions to the walking trails in Foundation Park are being constructed.

There is a sponsor for moving the tennis courts at Brookside Park, but they will need fencing that is almost as expensive as the courts. If they are moved, the current location of the courts will become home for batting cages. A question was raised about a splash pad. No big sponsor emerged, which is a reason the splash pad has been ignored.  

The Park Board will not have a December meeting and may not have a January meeting. The February meeting will be on the 7th.

The Jasper County Tourism Commission had a short meeting via Zoom on November 5.  Revenues for the innkeepers tax for the first ten months of 2021 exceed those for the full year of 2020 and also for the whole 2019 year. The 2020 revenues were hurt by reduced travel induced by Covid. The new Remington hotel opened late in 2019, which is a reason that the 2019 revenues were lower than those of 2021. Also, the ball tournaments had a positive effect on 2021 revenues from the innkeepers tax.

The Commission heard a report from the Memories Alive cemetery walk. It finished solidly in the black. There were 27 tickets collected for the morning performance and 92 for the afternoon performance. The Commission also heard from a concerned citizen who is concerned that the Blacker Fields will not be maintained properly. This person pays into the innkeepers tax and is worried that if the fields are poorly maintained, they will lose tournaments.

Last week I took a picture of the water in the Babcock quarry that should serve as the start of a series of pictures. The quarry is no longer pumping water to keep the level stabilized, so now the water should rise to the level of the water table. It may take a few months.

The fields have dried and farmers have been back finishing the harvest. I wonder how many of the kids in Chicago know what this crop is. I hope all the kids in Jasper County know.

XI-II-MMXXI (All Souls Day)

As November starts, we have color in some of the maples. 

The hickories are turning yellow and gold.

Rensselaer had a frost on October 27 that killed a few frost-sensitive plants. This week we are getting many more nights that dip below freezing. The City's leaf vacuum has been out sucking up the few leaves that are in the streets. There is again water in Weston Pond.

On Saturday when I was working outside late in the afternoon, I  heard and then saw thousands of birds flying south. They sounded like grackles. They seemed to be taking advantage of the north wind to aid their flight.

Rensselaer Pet Care is opening their new office east of Fountain Stone Theater. They will keep their old location for pet boarding. Sage Bridal Studio is open by appointment. I suspect they will do a lot by appointment; how many people will browse a bridal shop? 

The business moving into the former Cooper Tire building is A&B Auto Care and their sign says that they are now open for business.

The alley behind Fenwick's has been blocked off so work can continue on the old carriage house.

I stopped by the Saint Augustine rummage sale as it ended to make sure they had enough helpers for cleanup. They did. One of the odd items they had was a stack of twenty or thirty slide carousels, all in their original boxes. I was told they attracted interest, including people who wondered what they were. We live in an age where technology changes very quickly.

Jenna Morrello has finished her sunflower mural in Otterbein. I doubt if I will ever post a picture of it. I cannot remember ever visiting Otterbein.

The County Commissioners met Monday and there were as many people attending via Zoom as in person. Few of the people on Zoom said anything; I think they want to listen to those parts that interest them while being able to continue their normal activities. The Commissioners' health insurance agent gave them three options for the employees' share of the cost of health insurance. Last year the employees were given no wage increase but the County picked up the cost of higher insurance. This year employees were given a 5% wage increase. The option the Commissioners approved will have the employees paying a bit more for their insurance than they did last year. The Auditor, speaking on behalf of the employees, noted that the 5% increase in wages will likely be completely eaten up by inflation.

A contractor for the Dunn's Bridge solar farm requested permission to bore under County roads in eight places, with multiple pipes in each bore. All are in Kankakee Township and the request was approved. 

Representatives from Solential were present to answer questions about the solar farm at the County Jail. It seems that the utility bills have not declined. They answered that usage has gone up a bit and so have rates.  The base rate increased just a bit, but something called the demand rate, a charge for very high usage, has hit the jail hard. Only 54% of the electricity that the solar array generated was used by the jail and 46% was sold to IMPA. IMPA pays much less than it charges. So the Solential representatives said that they would work with the jail to try to get more of the electrical usage moved to the times when the solar array is generating. 

There were two bids for ambulance service, both from Phoenix which presented two options. One was to work with Marion Township to help get its ambulance service started. There was a long discussion with representatives of all ambulance services in Jasper County about the difficulties in hiring paramedics and to some extent EMTs. Franciscan is apparently not cooperating with anyone for transfers and these hospital transfers are a problem in rural areas. No bid was accepted and the Commissioners will see how planning for a Marion EMT service is going at the December meeting.

The Commissioners approved the Sheriff moving ahead with a plan to cut water usage at the jail and approved his request to replace three employees, two corrections officers and a dispatcher, all of whom left for other jobs. 

At a past meeting the Commissioners had approved a truck that would be shared with the Health Department and the Highway Department. The Health Department decided that this was not a good arrangement for them and will purchase its own truck with non-County funds. The Health Department has two grant proposals pending that would allow the Department to move two part-time employees to full-time status. The Commissioners approved the plan if the grant is funded. In a COVID update, 46.1% of the population is fully vaccinated. As of the end of the month, there have been 82 Covid-related deaths in the County, up from  65 on October 1.

The Commissioners approved an agreement with NextEra for Phase II of the Dunn's Bridge Solar Project. It covers tax abatement, fees NextEra will pay the County, a road use agreement, and a decommissioning agreement.

The Coroner wants a second full-time person and would like to discuss with the Commissioners how it could be done. There were seven properties that did not sell at a recent tax sale. They might be sold at a Commissioners' sale. Two of the properties may have contamination and the County would not want to take possession of them if that were necessary to put them up for sale. The Commissioners decided they needed more information.

On November 15 hundreds of school children will visit the Court House for tours.

The meeting was continued until November 15 at 8:30, if necessary.

In the afternoon the Drainage Board met. Two of the Commissioners attended via speaker phone. There was a bid opening for cleaning one of the County's ditches. There was only one bid, for $28,679. Next was a drainage plan for a development named Brightstone Lake, a proposal to build some vacation-rental cabins around a 18-acre lake in the center of the County. There were several options presented, and the Board approved the one that they thought would be best for neighbors. There may be no development on the project for a while.

There were two items from Phase II of the Dunn's Bridge project. One was for boring under tiles and drains and the other to replace culverts with bridges for four drain or stream crossings. The culverts had previously been approved. Both requests were approved.