Lots of meetings

Rensselaer Board of Public Works

The September meeting of the Rensselaer Board of Public Works approved payment of three invoices. The largest was to Thieneman Construction for work on the new lift station. The payment was for $500,036.85 and with the three previous payments, the City has paid 22% of the roughly $7 million that the project will cost. The construction of the buildings continues as does digging to place sewer lines.

The two other invoices were for Commonwealth Engineering, a payment of $26374.28 for their work on the Lift-station project, and $43,688.75 for their work on the elevated water storage and water-main replacement project.

The Board also approved an applicant for an internship at the Fire Department for an individual who will soon be leaving for a military assignment overseas. He will be able to do some of the training while he is out of the country. It also approved use of the Fire Station for a meeting of the Indiana Volunteer Firefighters Association on October 1.

Between meetings I asked Mr. Lockridge how much brush, tree branches, and other debris the City had hauled after the July storm. He said that the City had hauled about 370 truckloads weighing 780 tons. That is much more than the City hauls during the annual clean up week in May.

City Council meeting

At the beginning of Monday's City Council meeting, the Council held a public hearing on its budget. Since there were no members of the public attending (other than me), there were no comments. Nevertheless, the Clerk-Treasurer read the budget. You can find it and the budgets of other Jasper County entities here. (Take a guess: what Jasper County public agency has the largest budget? My guess would have been wrong.) The Council will vote to adopt the budget at its next meeting.

The gas tracker for September will be a 5¢ increase per hundred cubic feet. The Council voted to renew the various health and other insurance policies affecting employees with one change. It switched options for the dental plan.

The City will hold a public auction in the near future. It needs to first determine a date.

Councilman Noelle Weishaar noted that a constituent who was over 65 who is on auto pay did not realize that a smaller can and trash fee was available and he wanted to be reimbursed for the higher fees that he had paid. His argument was that he had not been notified that the lower fee was available to those over 65 who generate only small amounts of trash. After some discussion, the Council decided to refuse his request because the option had been well publicized and members thought it would open a can of worms.

The City is behind on collecting yard waste because three employees have recently moved on to other jobs.

Airport Authority meeting

I attended the start of the Airport Authority meeting on Tuesday evening via Zoom. The members conditionally approved, pending attorney review, a contract with a consultant to work on a five-year capital improvement plan. The plan, when finished, will need INDOT approval. The contract was submitted earlier in the day, which is why the attorney could not review it before the meeting. 

A new hangar rental was approved. Fuel sales for the year to date are almost $180,000. After the members approved a contractor to seal-coat the aprons of the old hangar building, I left the meeting because I wanted to go to another event.

Open-house discussion of Rensselaer's Comprehensive Plan.

Rensselaer is in the process of developing a new comprehensive development plan. The current plan was adopted in 2007, so is probably out of date. (You can find it here.) It has had a survey that citizens can use to provide input. (It is here.) The City has hired a company that specializes in developing these plans and on Tuesday two representatives of the company were at the open house to listen and answer questions. 

There was no presentation, which some attendees expected. There was conversation and while I was there I heard mention of the importance of health care and the hospital, the desire to have a sidewalk/walkway along SR 114 extending at least to the Fairgrounds, possibilities of other sidewalks or trails, the desirability of a truck route to take garbage truck traffic out of town, housing, and some discussion of addiction, mental health, and homelessness. The Coworking Center that SJC is starting was mentioned and it has apparently drawn a lot of interest. Other people attending would have heard a different list of topics.

I took a couple of pictures. The first shows the City's boundaries and also its exclusion zone, where it controls land use (zoning and building permits). The other shows themes, some of which seem to be outdated.

Other things

The first Walk with A Doc session of the Fall was held on Tuesday and attendance was light. It is held each Tuesday at noon beginning at the Hall Shelter in Brookside Park.

The RENARTWK has a new sign near the City parking lot south of Front Street.

Work continues on the removal of engines from the power plant. There is now a very large machine inside the building.

A new opening has been created a bit to the north.

The City of Monticello is considering replacing its swimming pool with a new one. The current one is considered too old—it was constructed way back in 1969 and is 53 years old. (What does that make the LaRue Pool?)