Murals and meetings

Murals

Mural week officially started on Monday.  Work continues on the large mural on the front of Ayda's.

The picture below shows the mural on Wednesday morning.

One of the murals will be on the alley next to Frida's. The artist is Nick Abstract. On Monday he was prepping the alley.

Progress as of early Wednesday.

The back of Ayda's will get a mural. On Monday the wall was being repaired.

Then it was painted.

The artist sketched his subject late on Monday and this is how it appeared Tuesday morning. 

Later in the day some of the detail had been added. Because this wall is in the sun in the afternoon, the artist here gets started early and quits early. The other wall is in the sun in the morning, so the artist there starts late and quits late.

For more pictures of these murals and also for a couple of the Remington murals, see the Facebook pages of the Prairie Arts Council and RenArtWlk.

On Saturday Markit Arts will have an event (Open House?) that will have available work by the muralists working this week on RenArtWlk. It will be open from 6:00 to 9:00 (I think). (Markit Arts is the tiny space on Washington that formerly was occupied by Clean As A Whistle. It is owned by Cameron Moberg.)

Plan Commission and BZA meetings

The Jasper County Plan Commission met on Monday evening to consider a rezone from A1 to A2 for a property in Kankakee Township. The owners want to sell and the A2 zoning would give more flexibility to buyers. The Commission approved the rezone which now goes to the County Commissioners for their approval.

The Jasper County BZA had three items on its agenda. The first was a variance for frontage. The owners have 200 acres and would like to split off part of the property with a house. To get the required frontage would cut into farmland that they want to keep. The variance was passed. The second item was a renewal of a special exception. Two years ago the BZA gave an exception that allowed a mechanics business on a residential property but limited the exception to two years because they were concerned the business might become an eyesore. There have been now complaints about the business and BZA approved extending the exemption for an additional three years.

The last item was a special exception for Premier Biosource, the hog farm that raises pigs for medical research. It wants to build within the current footprint but the addition was not on the plans that were originally approved. Hence, they need a special exception. The new space will be for people, not for more hogs. The person who was supposed to present the case could not attend because he has Covid so a last-minute replacement subbed for him. The proposed special exception was passed unanimously.

Joint Commissioners/Council session

The Joint Commissioners/Council was scheduled at 5:00 pm on Tuesday to allow a long discussion between Council and Commissioners. (The Council meeting was to begin two hours later.) Not all the Councilmen were there and only one Commissioner showed, so the meeting lasted only fifty five minutes, leaving a long wait for the next meeting.

There were two items on the agenda, insurance and EMS. The head of Horizons Research Insurance of DeMotte, which specializes in customized self-funded health insurance, talked about the benefits of using its approach. He said that a problem common to all health insurance was that a lot of people do not understand their insurance and employers need to do a better job communicating how to best use the plans they have. Health insurance is a Commissioner issue, so most of his intended audience did not hear his presentation.

The EMS discussion was quite short. The Marion Township trustee could not make the meeting because he had tested positive for Covid. The Central EMS service is still waiting for state licensing. The immediate goal is to get the Remington EMS service up and running. Looking ahead, the Council realizes that EMS will require substantially more County funding and members of the Council seem fine with the prospect of raising taxes to fund it.

County Council meeting

An hour and a few minutes after the joint session finished, the July County Council meeting was called to order. The common theme of this meeting seemed to be missed deadlines. Many of the things that the Council votes on have to be advertised. Some of what was on the agenda were items left from the previous meeting that could not be resolved in June because they had not been advertised (one of the things that fill up the legal section of the local newspapers) and much of the rest were items that were discussed at this meeting but could not be approved because they had not been advertised.

 
First on the agenda was a discussion of Circuit Court repairs. Both county courts are getting an electronics upgrade that will make it easier to have remote hearings. To get that installed will require that carpet be removed, and the Council must appropriate the money for the new carpet. Because that additional appropriation has not been advertised, the item will be back on the agenda in August. The Council then passed the six additional appropriations that were on its agenda.

The Council heard a report on a proposed methane pipeline that will run from the Oak Basin Dairy to the Hidden View Dairy. The reason for the report is that the project would like a tax abatement but the paperwork got held up at some point (not the company's fault, but the County's) so could not be approved at this meeting. (This project has been reported previously, such as here.)
The estimated cost of the project is $15 million. This project is among several in which Jasper County Economic Development has been trying to find ways to build on Jasper County's strong ag sector, finding ways to use it to develop new sources of revenue. Apparently there is money in manure.

Installation of solar panels in the Dunns Bridge project has been hampered by national trade policy. Almost all solar panels are produced in China.
Sheriff Williamson will be back next month seeking an additional appropriation for repairs. He noted that the solar panels produce more electricity than the jail needs, but the jail still has a substantial electrical bill. The excess electricity produced during the day is sold to the grid at a wholesale price that is less than one third the retail price the jail pays at night. He also said that the installation of license plate readers is waiting for INDOT to approve permits.
 
Other things

The Jasper County Fair Queen and her Court were at the Farmers Market on Tuesday evening.

The Rensselaer Republican covered the queen contest in detail.

There was a huge crowd of kids and parents at the event. One of the things being given out were bike helmets. 

I stopped by the Baked Bean this week. The bean in the name is a reference to the coffee bean. They also offer a variety of baked products, so that is the baked in the name. Not what I would have guessed. The space has been completely remodeled from what it was when it was a bakery. Stop by and see if what they offer is what you need.

The Main Street Bakery announced on Facebook that they will be closing for a while. They cited health and problems getting employees. I hope they are back soon.

I hear jack hammering from the construction site of the new lift station, which means they have hit bedrock. The project has made impressive piles of dirt.

On Wednesday morning some large cylinders were being delivered. Because the site has no-trespassing signs, I cannot get good pictures.

I heard crop dusters flying on Tuesday. It is that time of the year.

I saw a bus at the bus stop on Wednesday morning and expected to find a Greyhound. The bus there said BoltBus. I had never heard of it. Here is the wikipedia entry.

Finally, I took a picture of a deer in Weston Cemetery that seemed unconcerned with my presence.