New at the Airport

Tourism Commission meeting

The Tourism Commission meeting on Tuesday morning introduced a new member, a lady who lives in DeMotte and has a design studio and an event center in Hebron. Her design studio has done work around the country but most of it is ag related. She has done a lot of work for Fair Oaks Farms.

There was not a lot on the agenda. The revenues from the innkeepers tax set a record in 2022. The Horse and Carriage event in Rensselaer was sold out. Planning has begun for this year's Jasper Jaunt, which will be held the 3rd weekend in September. The farm trail will be launched in the spring. It will feature a number of farms that have retail operations. This year's mural week festival will have $50,000 to spend in DeMotte and Wheatfield, funded by the Tourism Commission, and $35,000 for Rensselaer, funded by the City and administered by the Jasper Newton Foundation. Someone mentioned that Remington is busy converting a former bank building into a new town hall.

Airport Authority meeting

The Airport Authority Board met on Monday evening with one vacancy and one new member. They started the year by re-electing the officers that had served during 2022. They then stopped their meeting and convened a meeting of their Board of Finance.

The Airport has a substantial sum of money in bank accounts that are earning next to nothing. However, interest rates have risen in the past few months and the Board would like to take advantage of those rates. So the Board of Finance passed an investment policy, which had been prepared by Baker Tilley, that specifies what investments the State allows. The State limits local governments to liquid, low-risk investments. The Board then considered investing most of what they have in the bank in money market funds, T-Bill, and T-Notes. These investments should result in a huge increase of interest above the $57.10 that the Airport earned on its funds for December.

When the regular meeting restarted, the Board approved the actions of the Board of Finance. They then discussed many things. The search for a new courtesy car continues and the Board authorized the Airport manager to spend up to $7,000 for a promising vehicle. The website has been completely fixed. There was a long discussion of farm rental and flooding issues. There was a shorter discussion of what they need to be doing in the next few years, especially with hangars, and that discussion will continue in future meetings. Mr Yallaly announced that he would serve until the end of the year but then leave the Board to have more family time. The Board will make a recommendation to the Commissioners to fill the existing empty Board position.

Chamber of Commerce luncheon

The Chamber met at the Jasper County Airport on Wednesday and heard a presentation from the airport manager about the two new flight simulators that the Airport recently acquired. They were funded by a grant and the reason that our airport received the grant is because it has been active in outreach.

The picture shows a student pilot taking off and landing at Jasper County Airport. One can select just about any airport anywhere as a starting point or ending point, though the gas is limited so one cannot fly too far. There was a commercial pilot in the audience and he was impressed at the detail of the graphics, which he said were better than some on simulators professional pilots use. A big advantage of the simulators is that they reduce the cost of learning to fly because they cut the amount of plane time a student needs, and plane time is expensive. The demonstrator said the big difference between the simulator and an actual plane is that you do not get the body sensations of the plane's motions.

Those who attend the aviation summer camp this year may get to log a few hours of training on the machines.

Board of Public Works

The Board of Public Works met on Monday evening before the City Council meeting. It approved an engagement letter for waterworks revenue bonds with Bose McKinney & Evans and the Law Office of Riley & Ahler. (The elevated water storage and water main replacement project has been put out for bidding and bids will be opened at a special BPW meeting on Jan 19 at 10:00.) The lawyers will prepare the bond offering that will finance the project.

The Board then approved a batch of invoices from Commonwealth Engineering, the Law Office of Riley and  Ahler, and Thieneman Construction. The City now owns a .9 acre lot behind Kentucky Fried Chicken that will be the site of a new water tower.

There was a firefighter application that was denied with no details given.

City Council meeting

The Council had a short agenda with nothing of great interest. The Council made a minor wording change to the municipal gas utility rate and charges ordinance. The gas tracker for January was good news, a decrease of 41¢ per hundred cubic feet. The Council voted to keep George Cover as Council president. The Mayor made appointments to the Accident Shooting Board, Alcohol Beverage Board, Fire Department Grievance, JECDO, KIRPC, Rensselaer Recycling, Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority, Safety Committee, Tree City Advisory Committee, and the Unsafe Buildings Board.

Some State money may be coming to expand the Rensselaer Fire Departments training facility. The Electric Department was given permission to seek quotes on a 3/4 ton pick-up truck. (It would replace a 2008 truck that is having problems.) Plans for the Brick Street Project are 75% complete.

Other things

The Jasper County Chronicle has published several articles. They seem to be publishing about once a day. They had an interesting piece on the Compass Travel Center a few days ago.

Back in 2020 the Historical Society had an exhibit about Rensselaer authors and in writing about it I divided them into major and minor authors. One of the Rensselaer authors who should be included as a major author is Shannon Anderson, who has been very successful in writing children's books. Her I Love Strawberries has won several awards. She has a webpage (check out her schedule and her media mentions) and also promotes books on her Facebook page.

I mentioned that the Airport Authority is switching money into assets that earn more interest. If you have funds in bank accounts, you might consider doing the same thing. For several years the interest rates banks have been offering have been below 1%, sometimes as low as .01%. (That is .01, not .1.) Now all five Rensselaer banks are offering special promo rates on CDs, some as high as 4%. If you are as old as I am, you might remember shopping interest rates back in the 1970s and 1980s. Those times may be coming back.

Do you recognize this building?

A year ago it was GRG Auto Repair and had two big garage doors in front.

Workers are still dismantling an engine in the power plant. It is the one that was furthest to the north and I believe was the oldest engine there.