Construction and a meeting

 Some construction notes

The skeleton for the new EMS building is up. There was no activity on the site Monday morning.

Deere Road between Matheson and Owen was torn up for a sewer line. The work is finished and the road has been patched.

The same is true for the work on West Washington. Other roads south of the river have been milled, and some roads in the east part of Rensselaer have been paved.

The road into the new lift station has been prepared. The temporary road extending from Elza has been cut down. Stone was then trucked in and spread. Below is what the road looked like last Wednesday.

Later in the day it was being paved.

On Thursday the first coat of asphalt was complete.

Work has begun on the new water tower by the Interstate. 

City Council meeting

Monday's City Council meeting began with a public hearing for the tax abatement for White Castle. No one spoke. The Council then passed a confirmatory resolution affirming it. The electric tracker for the third quarter will be a $3.55 increase per gigawatt hour of usage. (The average customer use is about 700 kilowatt hours per month, so the average bill will see about a $2.50 increase.) 

A change in State law made new appointments to the City's Plan Commission necessary. The Council's appointees must be Council members or work for the City. The three new Commission members are Bryce Black, Joe Effinger, and Justin Wilson. The Council had two applicants for the  position it fills on the Rensselaer School Board. It voted to select Courtney Wilcox, who is a deputy auditor for the County. (She has been attending all Commissioner and County Council meetings with the Auditor. She will no longer be able to attend County Council meetings because the School Board and County Council meet on the same evening.)

At the end of April the Council opened bids for upgrading electric meters. The existing meters (current meters?) are no longer supported and are beginning to fail. The electrical engineer for the utility had obtained four bids from three companies and recommended one that cost about half a million dollars to purchase 1400 meters. The funding will be from the utility's depreciation fund. The Council approved the proposal. Eventually gas and water meters will also be upgraded to advanced metering.

The Council approved having the Mayor sign an agreement with Baker-Tilley for work on an upcoming sewer project. The City Attorney had reached out to Kimberly Horn, the planners of the brick street project about the parking issues raised at the last Council meeting. He was told that to change the parking would be a major change that could end the grant needed for the project. The railroad has promised to fix crossings on Cullen and US 231. The City Attorney said that he asked the City's bond lawyers about waiving tap fees for the new EMS building and was told the City could not do that because those fees are pledged to the bond payments. The Council approved a bid of $33,000 from Titan Construction to get the power plant ready for its next use. The large engine in the plant still has not been moved out. Next week work will begin burying cables under the brick streets. Grinding and paving have begun with the Community Crossings grant project. The new lift station was declared substantially complete on May 15. Landscaping and punch-list items remain unfinished. Sealing of the Cemetery roads west of the ditch is finished and work will continue on the roads east of the ditch.

Odds and ends

Saint Joseph's College had a small art show on Saturday. The paintings were from students at Rensselaer and KV high schools. 

There were two food trucks on the premises. They had no customers during the short time I was there. I am not sure what the goal of the art show was.

Rensselaer High School will be offering some aviation classes this fall. More info here.

The Walk with A Doc event is being replaced with a new event, the Jasper County Wellness Walk. It will meet in the Hall Shelter at Brookside Park Tuesdays at noon. More info here.

The LaRue Pool is scheduled to open on June 5.

The third of six scheduled tournaments at the Blacker Fields took place last weekend. There are two more scheduled for June and on for July.

Next Monday is Memorial Day and lots of stuff will be closed. There will be the usual ceremony at Weston Cemetery at 11:00.

Appleseed Childhood Education was mentioned in an article about childhood education in rural areas. You can read it here.