Early June meetings 2022

Signs

You probably knew it would happen. Last week gasoline prices rose above $5.00 a gallon in Rensselaer. When do you expect them to hit $6.00?

In 2020 I posted that gas prices were almost down to $2.00 a gallon, so gas prices have risen a lot in two years. However, in 2012 I posted about gas prices hitting the $4.00 mark, so they have not risen a whole lot in ten years. (Several years ago I took credit for raising gas prices. See here.) 

The Walgreens sign has been removed from what was the Walgreens store.

The old INDOT lot in the northeast part of town is again up for auction. The City had a chance to get this lot very cheaply but declined because of fears of contamination and the possibility of large cleanup costs. We will see if this sale does better than the last one.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met Monday morning for their June meeting. They approved three buried cable requests, one from NIPSCO, which is installing a gas line that has three bores under County roads, and the other two for utilities that have to be moved for bridge reconstruction or replacement. The bridge work is being done by the County.

A citizen wanted a culvert replaced on Bunkum and was told that the property owner needs to pay for the culvert and a road-cut fee. The County will cut the road. Another citizen had called the County Highway Department asking about Department vehicles parked at a neighbor's house. A few days later a driver of a County truck stopped by his residence and shouted an obscenity at him. He called again and asked why his name had been given out and was told to go to the Commissioners meeting. 

There was a brief discussion about painting handicapped parking spaces around the Courthouse and the Commissioners approved having the Highway Department take care of it. They also approved carpet quotes for Head Start and use of some Highway Department equipment for set up and tear down for the County Fair. The Health Department said it needed new cabinets that will be paid with grant money and that request was approved. 

At its May meeting the Plan Commission recommended not approving a zoning change and approved a change to the UDO. Both recommendations were accepted by the Commissioners.  KV High School wanted access to County GIS data both for instructional purposes and to manage their property. The Commissioners wanted more information about how they would use the data and what kind of access they needed.

Two bids were opened for 17 projects that were part of the Community Crossings grant. One bid was for $2,585,792 and the other for $1,923,988. They were taken under advisement because some step involving the State still needs to be taken before a bid can be accepted. The prices were higher than originally estimated because cost of materials has risen substantially. Bids had been sought for work on Courthouse drainage but none were submitted. Contractors are very busy. The Commissioners agreed to re-advertise with a new timeline. 

The new director of the new Jasper County EMS was introduced. JCEMS will partner with Franciscan Rensselaer for medical supervision. That is not a role that the local hospital has previously played and it will need to obtain State approval. The first priority of the new EMS service is to get the Remington EMS service operating. That service has a new ambulance but has had staffing problems. There are still a lot of questions that need answers.

The County Clerk wanted to move an office in the Courthouse and also to upgrade some office equipment. The second request will go to the Council. Office equipment is backlogged.

The Commissioners approved insurance quotes that the Sheriff had obtained for catastrophic medical insurance for inmates and also approved new fees for Sheriff sales that reflect new State law. The Commissioners approved filling two vacancies, one for a deputy leaving to become a U.S. Marshall and the other a corrections position. If the County gets money from a heroin  settlement, the Sheriff would like to use some of it to purchase an x-ray machine to process new inmates. Sometimes people arrested for drugs (which is most of those arrested) swallow their drugs and other counties are using x-rays to learn which have done so.

The Commissioners approved quotes for carpets in the Court rooms but this item will also have to go to the Council. There was a brief discussion of what should be done with an ATV ordinance. The meeting was continued to the 21st at 8:15 am if necessary. 

Drainage Board

The Drainage Board meeting on Monday afternoon was unusually long, lasting about two hours. There were a lot of items on the agenda but most of them were handled quickly. The methane pipeline connecting two dairies was back with a new plan that had revisions the Board had requested and was approved. A drainage plan for something called the Grand Prairie Subdivision in Keener Township was approved. The land is zoned A2 so the lots will have to be at least five acres. FBI Builders wants to develop 3.5 acres as part of a yard expansion plan. They eventually think they will expand that to 5 acres so their drainage plan was developed to include that potential expansion. It was approved.

A couple years ago one of the churches in DeMotte had a drainage plan approved. (I did not catch the name.) The Board approved an amended plan altered because of changes in planned construction. INDOT for some reason needed approval to replace an old culvert with a new one. The old one is a 36 inch corrugated pipe that is failing. The new one will be a 72 inch concrete pipe. Someone who recently bought a property wanted an increased encroachment on a drainage easement. The previous owner had obtained a 10 foot encroachment and the new owner was told by the Surveyor's office that approval of a larger encroachment was unlikely. The Board denied the request.

The last two items were about the Dunn's Bridge project and they took at least half of the time of the meeting. First, one of the farmers who had signed his land for use in the project reported that he was very disappointed in the lack of communication and consultation that he had gotten from NextEra and its contractors. Lack of communication and understanding was also an issue when the companies working on the project updated the Commissioners. The Surveyor complained that the project had never given a complete drainage plan. I did not understand a lot of the discussion but it seems that the people discussing also did not understand some of what was being said. 

Park Board

The Rensselaer Park Board met on Monday evening at the Iroquois Park Shelter. The Board approved a 3-on-3 basketball tournament sponsored by Rensselaer Youth Basketball. It will be held on July 16. This will be the second year the event will be held.

A couple of people had concerns about baseball in the parks. They worried that the local kids were not being treated as well as the out-of-towners. A discussion lasting about an hour followed. 

There are nine camps this year at Brookside Park and they are designed for pre-school through high school youth. 256 kids are signed up. A dedication for the Jeff Goad Healthy Youth Parks Education Recreation (HYPER) Center for Education is planned for mid July. 

The tournament scheduled for the Blacker Fields for this coming weekend had been canceled because not enough teams signed up. Teams usually sign up for tournaments in February so it is clear early which tournaments are in danger of being canceled. This past weekend there were 28 teams that participated. The entry fee for a team is $375.

Parks for People is releasing funds for new dugouts for Roth Field. They will be like those at the Blacker Fields. The new tennis courts may be ready by late summer. The high school is renovating its tennis courts and they will be concrete, which is more expensive than asphalt but lasts longer.

During parts of the meeting, heavy rain fell and it was hard to hear the conversation. I left before the meeting adjourned because it was starting to get dark.

Odds and Ends

The LaRue Pool was filled last week but I have not heard when it will open. 

Workers are moving dirt near the high-rate treatment plant as part of the sewer project.

There is now a second construction trailer at the site.

Sections of the sidewalk in front of Embers Station was torn up last week. It either will be the foundation for the world's shortest zip line or for a sign over the entrance. 

There is an excavator near the old Fletcher Monnett home north of Owens Street. Perhaps construction will begin soon for an expansion of REMC. 

The Rensselaer Republican had an interesting article last week about NIPSCO's plans for its Wheatfield plant.

The Iroquois River rose about five feet on Tuesday from the night rains and there were many places in the fields with standing water.

Finally, a door was installed at the power plant a week or two ago. It replaces a window that was removed to allow three generators to be removed and it marks the end of that project.