Lots of pictures, May 2023

Demolition

Last week demolition of the old lift station began. The new lift station is operational, though work on the landscaping around the building continues. The picture below was taken on May 4.

On Friday the building was being knocked down.

The work was not finished by Saturday and so far this week nothing more has been done.

Also last week, one of the excavators was loaded up and hauled away.

This week work continues at the site with a large concrete pour.

In the parks

The first Blacker tournament took place over the weekend. Rain may have delayed the start of games on Sunday, but I believe that some games at locations to our south were completely canceled by the rain on Sunday. There are tournaments scheduled for the next two weekends.

Dugouts are being built at the Columbia Park field. This field is used by the Rensselaer Softball Association Inc and that organization raised the funds for this construction.

Work has begun on Filson Park. Below a trencher is digging to install electrical conduit around the perimeter of the park.

City meetings

The Board of Public Works met for their May meeting on Monday afternoon. Before approving bills, it approved the promotion of a police officer to master patrolman.

The Board approved two change orders for the sewer project. One was for demolition of the old lift station, which has begun now that the new lift station is operational. Pay order #12 for Thieneman was for $849,107.15. There were several invoices approved for Commonwealth Engineering, including for the wastewater asset management plan and the phosphorus removal.

In the City Council meeting that followed the BPW meeting, three downtown merchants with businesses on Van Rensselaer voiced concerns about the upcoming Brick Streets project. Their major concern was the project's plan to flip the parking on Van Rensselaer, moving the parallel parking from the Courthouse side to the business side and the angle parking to the Courthouse side. This would increase the number of people who would cross the street, and this could cause problems for the elderly and the handicapped. The Mayor said the City would check with the planners if a change could be made.

The Council approved another amendment to the salary ordinance, this one to incorporate a salary raise approved at the previous meeting. It re-approved a resolution for a preliminary engineering report that had been approved the previous meeting, but this new resolution had a number, something needed by the State. The Council approved a resolution that allows the Mayor to sign documents for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan. The gas tracker for May reflects a 9¾ cent decrease per hundred cubic feet. The Council started a process to get the White Castle tax abatement done so it meets all the State requirements, which will take several Council meetings. It approved $18,000 for Weston Cemetery road crack sealing and repairs where two fallen trees damaged the road.

Fire Chief Haun reported that new emission requirements from the EPA that will go into effect for heavy-duty trucks purchased in 2027 will increase the cost of new fire trucks by 40% to 45%. He wondered if the Council would be interested in putting in an order for a new truck now to replace a 26-year-old truck to avoid that increase. He said that the wait time for new equipment is about three years. The Council did not seem interested.

State Representative and former Commissioner Culp asked if the Council could waive the tap fees for the new ambulance building that is under construction. The Council was not clear if they could do that and will have the City Attorney review the ordinance.

In administrative comments, there was praise for the cleanup crew. There are two applicants for an upcoming vacancy on the Rensselaer School Board and interviews will be arranged. In superintendents' comments, the Police Chief reported that 41 vehicles had been identified as abandoned and all but one had been moved or brought into compliance. Nineteen employees worked clean-up week and they collected 13 loads of metal and 191.8 tons of trash. Over 20 teams participated in the Blacker tournaments last weekend and there are tournaments scheduled for the next two weekends.

Other meetings

The Tourism Commission meeting for May was canceled because not enough members could attend to have a quorum. The agenda was short and did not look very interesting. The Alcohol Beverage Review Board meets at the same time the Tourism Commission meets, so I went to see if their meetings were still as short as they used to be. The May meeting lasted about one minute and approved a renewal of the license for Compass Travel Center doing business as the Empire Bar and Grill.

The Airport Authority Board met on Tuesday evening and because sunset is after 7:00 and the weather was nice, I decided to attend in person rather than attend via Zoom. I am glad I did because the Zoom link did not seem to work very well.

The Board approved a lease agreement with American Crop Care, a crop duster, for a hangar rental. They discussed proposals for fuel charges for all crop dusters. Fuel sales are a large source of income for the Airport, but crop dusters, who use large amounts of fuel, usually bring their own fuel, so the Airport gets little or no revenue from their use of the airport. They thought that making a change this year might be too disruptive, but are considering changes for next year. There was a lengthy discussion of what to do with a hangar lessee who was in violation of the lease agreement but is difficult or impossible to reach.

The Airport has made an offer for the summer internship and has two applicants for the assistant manager position. There was a discussion of to what extent, if any, an effort should be made to increase the applicant pool. The meeting adjourned a little before 7:00.

More pictures

Work to remove the tunnel under Harrison Street has resumed. On Monday a City crew was repairing a water line barely visible below.

Then on Tuesday a contractor began removing the asbestos from the pipes.

There were several County meetings in the past few months about security for the prosecutor's office. I noticed the bollards had been installed, probably quite a while ago.

Three flower pots on the southeast side of the building protect the windows.

The 2023 farmers market season began on May 6. There were eleven vendors, though I did not see any offering garden-grown produce. I like the arrangement in the parking lot better than what had been on Harrison Street.

Demolition at the power plant is finished and the lot that once had cooling towers and then lots of scrap during the demolition is now clean.

I noticed a goose family in Weston Cemetery last week. They would not pose for me but ran down into the river. You can see the goslings staying very close to their mother.

Finally, here are some May flowers.