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.