Almost July

City Council meeting

The City Council met on Monday evening and passed three ordinances related to payments that the City gets from renting space on a water tower to a cell-phone provider. One of them, I believe Sprint, recently decided it no longer needed the Rachel Street tower, but the other tower continues to be used by Verizon and the fees from that will now be split between the public relations, the sidewalk, and the future development funds. The electric tracker for the next quarter will be a 53¢ increase per 1000 kilowatt hours.

A company called MakeMyMove gave a lengthy presentation to the Council. The company, based in Indianapolis, is a marketplace that connects communities with workers who work remotely. So far this year they have helped 14 Indiana communities with 52 relocations with 59 others being processed. The idea is that a community pays MakeMyMove about $35,000 to prepare a marketing package and a listing on their site. The community also prepares an incentive package that usually includes funds for relocation. The State of Indiana has funds that might be used to help a community with these costs. Some members of the Council were intrigued with the idea but others had reservations about the cost and whether Rensselaer would compare well with the other communities using the service, all of which were bigger than Rensselaer. The community that was given as a comparison was Greensburg, which is about twice our size. The proposal was taken under advisement, and what happens next is unclear.
The Police Department has had difficulty in attracting applicants for an open dispatcher position and is worried about retaining officers because other communities, including the Jasper County Sheriff's Department and DeMotte, offer better pay. A committee was formed that will see what can be done.

The Street Department had sought bids to renovate a building that is north of the recycling building. The Council approved a bit short of $80K to reskin the building and put a new roof on it.

 
A discussion followed about the problem the Fire Department was having getting volunteer firemen. Fire calls during the day often have only a few firefighters responding because some of the volunteers work outside of Rensselaer and others cannot leave their jobs. Another committee was formed to consider what can be done.

BZA and Plan Commission meetings

The BZA and Plan Commission also had meetings on Monday night. I arrived late to the BZA meeting because the City Council meeting lasted about an hour and a half. I missed the discussion of the first item on the agenda, a variance for Northwind Pork, LLC in Union Township. The other three items on the agenda all included a variance for lot width and all were passed. The Plan Commission had three items on its agenda, all of which involved approval of two or four lot subdivisions and one of which also included a rezone from A1 to A2. All were approved, with the rezone going on to the Commissioners.

Odds and ends

Weston Pond dried up last week and left thousands of tiny fish to rot. (I think they were fish and not tadpoles.)

A while back the 1950 Census was released and now the genealogy sites are finishing up digitizing it. I have not looked for the Rensselaer results, but I did find myself in the Minnesota results.

Friday, July 1, will be the first dollar day at the LaRue Pool.

CDC Resources will be changing its name to lirio Resources. Lirio is Spanish for iris. Maybe more about this later.

The George Ade Memorial Health Care Center had a dedication of a sign and statue of George Ade a couple days ago.

Workers keep digging at the construction site of the new lift station. I think they are putting pipes in the ground. On Monday Town and Country was grading the base of what will be new tennis courts in Brookside Park.

Embers Station will not be getting a zip line. They have new signage at their entrance.