A final post for August

 On Friday S-Blended Nutrition had a ribbon cutting. The business is not new. It opened several years ago as Healthy Haven. The original owner sold it and then recently repurchased it. She decided it needed a rebranding and hence a new name, which is not supposed to be pronounced as "ess blended nutrition" but as "sblended nutrition" with "sblended" sounding almost like "splendid".

The owner also owns two other juice bars, one in Monticello and the other in Brookston. Below is the menu.

Ayda's is erecting a roof over its outdoor seating area. It should be ready for Spring 2023 seating.

The new tennis courts at Brookside Park are painted and ready for use. They also have the markings for pickleball.

Work on the restrooms at Foundation Park has made some progress. This work is being done with money raised by Rensselaer Baseball (RBI).

There is nothing currently in the new addition.

On Saturday mornings the Foundation Park is very busy with youth soccer. 

The pool at Brookside Park was drained last week. It had a good season in 2022.

Most of the metal from the demolition of the cooling tower at the power plant has been removed.

On Monday the dumpster of trash was picked up and hauled away.

I took a peek at the construction site for the new lift station over the weekend. The building is finally starting to emerge.

Last week I traveled on SR 10 near Wheatfield. I saw a number of fields that are part of the Dunns Bridge solar park and almost all had the posts up but no panels. 

In mid August I traveled south on I-65 and in checking gasbuddy.com I was surprised to see that the gas prices in Rensselaer were among the lowest along the route. At least until Kentucky, where Elizabethtown had prices about 50¢ a gallon lower. For years Lebanon has had low gas prices but not this time.

The Saturday Farmers Market had entertainment this past weekend. 

I noticed a poster on the door of City Hall announcing that SJC was establishing a Coworking Center and renting office space. When I first looked at their website for more information, there was nothing there. But now there is. I hope this endeavor works out well. It provides a resource that the community currently lacks.

On Wednesday evening at 7:00 the Ritz Theater will show a video of last year's cemetery walk. The admission is $5.00. Among the people featured last year were Samuel Sparling (1809-1894) for whom Sparling Avenue is named (he lived near where the Sparling Annex is now), Moses Marion (1791-1869) who fought in the war of 1812, Harry Kurrie (1875-1938) who was president of the Monon Railroad, and author Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson (1863-1942). Planning for this year's Walk is almost complete and tickets are on sale at Browns Garden Shop and the Willow Switch.

Demolition

 City Council meeting

The August 22 city Council meeting was brief. It began with the transfer of funds for tree removal in Weston Cemetery and for Community Crossings grant funding. Two street closings were approved. The first was for the St. Augustine's Fall Frolic on Saturday, August 27 that will close a block of Susan Street. The second was for the Eagles Lodge fish fry on September 10 that will close part of Harrison Street.

The most interesting item on the agenda was asbestos removal at the power plant. The city received quotes from two companies, one for $248,000, the other $443,500 to remove the asbestos on two old engines that remain in the building. The companies wanted a down payment, which is not allowed by the Indiana Board of Accounts. So there was a discussion of how to structure the payments to make both the company and the Board of Accounts happy. The Council then approved the lower quote. The reason for moving ahead on with this quickly is that the company that is demolishing what' is left of electrical generating equipment wants to move forward and it cannot until the asbestos on the engines is removed.

The Council approved the Police Chief placing and order to replace a 2013 squad car. The expectation is that it will take months for the car to be delivered. The Council also approved purchase of ultraviolet lights that are used at the waste treatment plant. Again, the expectation is that delivery will be delayed.

On September 13 there will be an open house for discussion of the City's Comprehensive Plan. It will be in the Council Chambers at City Hall from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. On September 11 the Fire Department is hosting a pancake breakfast.

Other things.

Last week demolition of the cooling structure at the City plant began.

There was a lot of strange piping.

I was able to get a closer look and found it had cooling fins on it.

Also last week the Electrical Department removed the transformers that were in the School House substation, which is north of the Library.

Last Thursday the Airport Authority had a brief special meeting to approve its budget for 2023. The budget will be on the agenda of the County Council in September.

Busy Bee is for sale.

There has been some activity at the long empty Forsythe mansion on the corner of Washington and McKinnley that spurred a lot of speculation on Facebook. Someone commented that the property had recently been sold but, if so, the sale has not yet been registered on the County's GIS site. The owner of the property has been paying about $1000 in real-estate taxes each year, which is a lot for a property that is earning nothing.

The last day of swimming at the City pool was Sunday.

Days are getting shorter. We are less than a month away from the equinox.

A video of last year's Weston Cemetery Walk will be shown at the Ritz Theater on August 31 at 7:00. Admission is $5.

Mid August

 County Council meeting

The County Council began its budget hearing on Tuesday evening. Before they began that task, they approved a seven-year tax abatement for a 15 million dollar methane pipeline that will link another dairy to the two that already are linked to a natural gas trunk line. To do this they first had to designate the areas as an economic revitalization area. The tax abatement itself, which reduces the personal property tax for seven years, had opposition from Councilman Moore, who thought it cost the County tax dollars because he believed that the pipeline would be built with or without the tax abatement. The response to him was that the County was trying to build a reputation for being business friendly to attract future investment, and that denying tax abatements on new investment was a way to tell future investors to look elsewhere. The tax abatement passed with Moore dissenting.

The Sheriff asked the Council and was granted approval of changes to the Departments benefit package. Currently only spouses can be beneficiaries for retirement benefits. The change allows unmarried persons to list a beneficiary. The Council also approved an increase in life insurance.

The Council passed an amendment to an inter-local agreement, changing the name of the Central EMS to Jasper County EMS. The Commissioners had already approved this change.The Council then passed a series of additional appropriations.  At about 45 minutes into the meeting the Zoom feed started working. 

The Council then began the budget hearings. The Coroner would like a full-time deputy because sometimes none of his 12 part-time assistants are available for calls. The Sheriff had the most complicated and largest budget to review. He wants to increase the contribution to the police pension to help it become fully funded. He wants to eliminate the matron position and add a secretary position because the duties and need for work have changed. He pointed out that Rensselaer recently significantly raised salaries in the Police Department and now his Department has the lowest police salaries in the County. The jail population has returned to the pre-Covid levels, with a census of 85 on Tuesday. He was concerned about what inflation would do to Department expenses in 2023.

Before the meeting was continued until 8:15 on Tuesday morning to continue the budget hearing, the floor was open to public comments. One young man from Wheatfield who has spoken at meetings before, thinks there is corruption within the County government and would like to have the auditor removed. He was told that the Council was not the appropriate body for his complaint, but was allowed to speak his piece.

I will not attend the Tuesday budget hearings. I have a high tolerance for boring meetings, but not that high.

JC BZA meeting

The Jasper County BZA met on Monday evening in the Court House with one cause on the agenda. A person with property near Fair Oaks Farms wanted a variance to build a residence in a Highway Commercial (HC) zone. The owners want to sell the property and a prospective buyer will not purchase unless he can build a home on the lot. The Board was unsure why the property was zoned HC and after a short discussion, approved the variance.

Urban Forestry meeting

The Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council met last Thursday but did not have a quorum. The Council hired an arborist who examined the 18 trees on the east side of US 231 south of SJC that the City planned to remove and as a result the City will remove only seven of the trees. A couple of new trees are planned for the Courthouse square. The Council is working on a tree guide for Rensselaer. And Rensselaer is now listed on the Wikipedia page for Tree Cities.

The next meeting will be September 8. The Council meets at 5:00 in the basement of the First Christian Church and the public is welcome to attend.

Odds and ends

The biggest news recently is that Franciscan Rensselaer is planning a $28 million modernization and upgrade of the hospital. The planning must be quite advanced because a contractor is already listed. See here for more.

The cooling structure at the power plant is being demolished.

As I was there, a dumpster was delivered.

Speaking of electricity, my son sent me a link to how electricity is generated in the MISO area, which includes NIPSCO and probably IMPA. The table seems to be updated every hour. I was surprised that nuclear is as big as it is. Even during the day solar is very small. It is also interesting that they forecast wind and solar energy two days out.

The last weekend for the LaRue Pool will be the 20-21 weekend. 

The July storm knocked down or damaged over 50 grave markers in Weston Cemetery.

September will have a lot of events. Little Cousin Jasper kicks off the month, with the Weston Cemetery Walk and the SJC Homecoming the following Saturday, and Oktoberfest the next Saturday.

City meetings August 2022

 BPW meeting

The Board of Public Works began its August 8 meeting by ratifying a telephone poll of July 14 that approved a permit for the Fairgrounds fireworks. It then approved a firefighter application for a returning fireman who has come back in a support role. Commonwealth Engineering had two invoices that were approved, one for work on planning the elevated storage and water main replacement project and the other work, the lift station and sewer project. The final invoice approved was for pay request #3 from Thieneman Construction for work on the main lift station. 

It is very hard to see what Thieneman is doing without violating their no-trespassing sign. I have heard them jackhammering bedrock for the past few weeks and large trucks carrying equipment sometimes arrive. At the meeting the City's project manager said that they had poured the base for the diversion structure, whatever that is.

City Council meeting

The City Council began its meeting by passing an ordinance authorizing electronic transfers and I do not know what that changes. The gas tracker for August was a 34¢ decrease per hundred cubic feet. The Council ratified a poll to pay for drinks and food for those working the storm damage cleanup immediately after the storm. Work went through the night that evening and the amount reimbursed was $144.23.

The Council authorized the Major to sign two contracts. One was with First Group Engineering to help plan for a Community Crossings Grant (road funding), and the other was a professional services contract with KIRPC to help administer the EDA grant for the Brick Street Project.

The Council approved a certificate of burial rights, the new name for what in the past was a cemetery deed request. Some State advisory or regulation caused the name change.

The Fire Department had 36 calls in July, 14 related to the July storm. The Electric Department has begun work on lines on Elza and if I heard correctly, that will allow it to not use the Schoolhouse substation. A contractor has been working in the Cemetery to remove more than 30 trees destroyed or damaged in the storm. The Council approved paying them $28,000.

Rensselaer Redevelopment

On Tuesday afternoon the Rensselaer Redevelopment Board met to consider using TIF money for the Brick Street Project. The meeting was hard to follow because it was not clear until after a lot of discussion what it was that they had to approve. The City recently received a grant for $1,855,700 from the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA). Originally the grant was supposed to be an 80-20 match, with the City providing 20% and the grant providing 80% of the funding, but that apparently was revised to a 70-30 match. The City will get its match with $530,00 from the American Rescue Plan Act and $265,000 from TIF funding for construction, but more was needed to pay engineering costs. After all of the numbers were sorted out, the Board approved using $581,300 of TIF funds for construction and engineering costs.

The planning and design will be done by the firm of Kimley-Horn. They will also help get the various documents needed to satisfy the EDA. Their goal is to get everything ready so the project can be bid by July, 2023. Construction should start in August or September of 2023.  As part of the project, some of the utility lines that are under the brick streets will be redone. The water service lines that come off the water main are made of lead and they will be replaced. At least 50% of the existing bricks need to be reused to satisfy the State's historical preservation people.

Other things

There is a new bench near the Talbert Bridge in Weston Cemetery. It is dedicated to the memory of Jocelyn Brooke McDaniel.

There has been some progress on the renovation and expansion of the restrooms near Staddon Field.

INDOT has a document with plans that include an electric charging station at the I-65/SR-114 exit.

Brookside Park was the site of a Back-to-School fair on Friday, with various businesses and organizations handing out school supplies. When I stopped by a couple of hours after it started, there were no parents or students there and some of the booths had been deserted. I was told almost all the people who attended came at 4:00 (the start) or shortly after.

I stopped in the restroom on the way there and was saddened to see that it had been trashed. The entire floor was wet and all the toilet paper had been removed and some of it wadded up and stuck on the walls. Vandalism in the parks continues to be a big problem.

August is here

High school parking lot art

The class of 2023 has been decorating parking lot spaces in preparation for the new school year. (Classes start August 11.) One that surprised me was the one below with a Latin inscription, "Palms no sine pulvere." I took four years of Latin about 60 years ago when I was in high school, but had to look that up on the Internet. It very roughly translates as "No victory without effort." And it should be palma, not palms.

I am not sure if this one was finished.

Some have messages without pictures.

When I stopped by on Sunday morning, there were a couple of students still working on their spaces. The whole thing is very colorful.

Miscellany

The County Fair ended with fireworks on Saturday evening. In the past there have been quite a few people watching from Brookside Park. This year I was alone.

Digitizing equipment has been in the Jasper County Historical Society for a couple of weeks. I think Family Search is digitizing some of the records that the Society has for their geneological site.

Sweet corn was available at the Farmers Market on Tuesday evening.

With the start of the school year on the 11th, the LaRue Pool will no longer be open during weekdays. It will be open for the 13-14 weekend and on evenings on Tuesdays and Thursday until the 18th. 

Have you seen that the parking lot of what was Jordan's Floral has been repainted. Someone has a vision of a future use of the building. Keep your eyes open to see what comes next.

Below is the bio that I omitted from the pervious post.

The Park Board meeting scheduled for Monday evening at the Iroquois Park Shelter did not have a quorum. Those attending discussed possibilities for fencing around the classroom building used for activities for kids. The most interesting bit of the evening came as the meeting ended and a woman came out of the restroom and asked what the meeting was for. She then went into a rant about how she was homeless and Rensselaer needed to do more for the homeless and addicted. She said there are six to ten homeless people currently in Rensselaer, sleeping under bridges and in park shelters. Most or all of them have addiction problems. 

August Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met for their August meeting on Monday morning. In the first part of the meeting they heard from Steele Benefits Services and Apex Benefits. Steele provides a platform that helps employees understand their benefits. Apex is in the health insurance business. I do not know enough about County benefits and insurance to fully understand what they are offering.

The Commissioners passed an ordinance that updates the fees that the Health Department charges. Included are fees for body-art even though the body-art ordinance is still being prepared. The Commissioners granted Main Street Rensselaer permission to use the Courthouse lawn for Oktoberfest (Sept 24). The Marion Township Trustee gave a brief update on EMS services. The Remington ambulance is up and running. The State still has not certified the central ambulance service. (Later in the meeting someone noted that the State is having problems hiring and that delays of various sorts are common.) The County DA received permission to replace an employee, the victim outreach coordinator. He also discussed some proposed security measures (bollards and heavy planters).

Carol Lockridge had two applications for buried cable permits. The City wants to run 1200 feet of gas line to Flatland Pigs south of town. It will not cross any regulated ditches or drains, so does not need Drainage Board approval, just Commissioner approval for crossing County roads. The other extension is east of Rensselaer for a grain handling system and will need Drainage Board approval in addition to approval that the Commissioners gave for crossing County roads.

The Sheriff, who is losing a couple of dispatchers and possibly a third, was given permission to fill the positions. The Coroner said that they had had five cases in 72 hours and he would like to add a full-time employee to his department. The public meeting was continued until August 16 at 8:30 if needed and the Commissioners then went into executive session.