First February meetings 2022

My weather-related picture for this post is a picture of icicles backlit by the sun. There is a lot of snow, but none of it seems interesting enough to photograph.

 The February meetings have started. The County Commissioners met Monday with more people attending via Zoom than in person. (Cold temperatures and bad roads encouraged that.) They reorganized the Board (which they apparently forgot to do in January), electing Kendell Culp as president and James Walstra as vice president. They finalized the holiday schedule for County employees, adding Juneteenth and for years in which there are County elections, the primary and final election days. In even years there will be 16 holidays and in odd years 14.

Judge Bailey requested $190,460 to upgrade both Courtrooms. The upgrade will be for recording and audio-visual equipment that will enhance the ability to have remote hearings. The request was approved with the decision of what fund will be used for payments to be decided later.

There was a public hearing on an issue raised by a citizen at the previous meeting concerning traffic on the County Road leaving Remington to the south. No citizens spoke and the Commissioners decided to lower the speed limit to 45 mph from CR 1800S to CR 1900S. 

The Sheriff had an officer resign but has a replacement ready, a County resident who is working as a police officer outside the County. The Commissioners approved the hire. The City of Rensselaer told the Sheriff that the Jail was using excessive water and an inspection found a valve that was stuck partially open that should have been closed. The problem will be fixed when the proper part arrives. The solar field generates a lot of electricity, more than can be used during the day and nothing at night. The excess during the day is sold to IMPA at 2¢ per kilowatt hour and during the night electricity is purchased at 14¢ per kilowatt hour. The Sheriff thought the response to the storm last week went well. The County Highway Department reported at least 65 stalled cars.

The County Coroner gave the Commissions the same report he gave the County Council in January. He wants a full-time deputy and needs a building next to the morgue to house things that he uses and to provide a place to disassemble crashed vehicles outside public view when bodies are trapped inside. He said his office handled 128 cases in 2021, up from 70 in 2020. 

The Commissioners opened bids to do paving for the Community Crossings grant. There were two bids and after consultants reviewed the bids, the Commissioners accepted the low bid of $459,89.40 from Town and Country Paving.

The Commissioners approved a buried cable permit, this one a 4500 foot natural gas pipe that will serve residents in the north part of the County. NITCO expressed interest in providing broadband service to more of the County and wanted to know if the fees would be waived for them as they were for REMC. They were told that the ordinance that waived fees applied to all providers. 

The Prosecutor provided quotes for upgrading security to his building. The Commissioners approved spending on four items: bollards, card access, video surveillance, and panic alarms on computers. The last item may not need funding because some computers already have it and the software license may allow other computers to be added.

The meeting finished with the usual minutia of conference requests, a board appointment, lawn-care quotes, etc. 

The Drainage Board met in the afternoon. It reorganized, appointing its attorney, secretary, and members to the various joint Drainage Boards the County has with surrounding counties. There was a long discussion with NextEra about its drainage plan for Phase II of the Dunns Bridge project. The Board wants a detailed plan of what work will be done and NextEra cannot provide that yet. The Board approved removing trees along ditches (which must be done before the end of March to avoid conflict with brown bat migrations) and preliminary planning for a detention pond. NextEra will be back for the March 7 meeting. 

Jeff DeYoung was concerned about new floodplain maps for the DeMotte area. It turns out there are two different maps, one from FEMA that is used for insurance and one from the Indiana DNR that is used for building permits. The DNR maps are more aggressive in deciding what is floodplain.

The Rensselaer Park Board met on Monday evening but did not have members for a quorum so no votes could be taken. One of the baseball tournaments for the Blacker Fields has been canceled because not enough teams signed up. It was scheduled for early April. So the schedule now has 7 baseball and 4 softball tournaments.

RBI, which uses the Staddon Field, received a grant from Jasper-Newton Foundation to make improvements to Staddon Field. RBI is pursuing a Patronicity grant that will have to be matched. If the grant is accepted, the bathrooms at the park will be upgraded. 

When weather improves, a concrete chess table and concrete corn-hole goals will be installed at Iroquois and Potawotomie Parks. 

The Tourism Commission had a brief meeting Friday. At the last meeting they heard from a representative of the Travel Indiana magazine about advertising in that magazine. At Friday's meeting they decided to seek other advertising options.

The Weston Cemetery Walk committee met Monday to begin planning for next September's Memories Alive Walk.

The Airport Authority Board met Tuesday evening.  The members approved advertising a request for proposals for a hay contract. It will be one year with possible extensions and will be for grasses along the runway. They also approved a draft of a report that will be submitted to the FAA. The manager reported that the only vacancies are in the old hangar. She has a person job shadowing her for the next six weeks. She wondered if the summer internship program, which has been filled with high school students, might be more useful for a college student. She will get a quote on seal coating areas of asphalt that need it.

The Carnegie Players canceled their February 3 performance of Improv at the Ritz because of weather and the condition of the County roads. There are performances scheduled for February 10 and 17.

The future Walgreens had three of the walls up when I stopped by last weekend.

I began working on my taxes last week and found this interesting pie chart on page 109 of the instruction booklet (which can be obtained at the Rensselaer Library). Would you have guessed that 48% federal spending was financed by debt in 2020?

Because I may not have another post before the 14th, I will end with this.