Hazy days of summer

 City Council meeting

The big news out of the City Council meeting on Monday evening came after the main agenda. Bill Hollerman announced that he was resigning as of July 1 for health reasons so this was his last meeting. Mr Hollerman is 92 years old.

First on the main agenda was an issue that returned from the previous meeting, the request for support from the City for Jasper County Community Services Transit. Again Sharon Colee spoke of the services provided to the Community by the vans and buses that Community Services provides. Community Services has one new van being prepared to enter service and two transits that will be delivered in the fall, and though most of the cost of these vehicles is paid by State grants, Community Services has to pay several thousand dollars as a cash match. The Council passed a motion to put $12,000 in the 2024 budget for transportation services.

The Council had opened bids for the Brick Street Project at a special meeting on the 14th. At Monday's meeting they rejected the bids and decided to rebid the project. The rebidding will delay the project by six to eight weeks. No explanation was given for the rejection, so I asked after the meeting. The problem was not the price but rather that something that should have been included in the bid documents was not included, so the decision was that it was best to redo the process.

For reasons that I do not understand, the City needs a variance to complete Filson Park. The Park Board will be the party that asks for the variance and that process will not be finished until August. The only remaining step to finalizing the annexation of Saint Joseph College is a reply from the State.

The issue of private pool permits and fencing came up at the previous meeting. At this meeting the Council approved a change in the permits, requiring a permit for any permanent pool regardless of depth, and changed the fencing requirement to require a fence for any pool that is left unattended regardless of depth. There are other changes in pool policy that will be addressed by the Plan Commission.

The Mayor declared September 1 as this year's Mayor Holiday. The Police Department does not have the authority to stop fireworks during the designated hours despite the no-burn ban. However, the Fire Department can charge costs if they have to respond to fires caused by fireworks. The Building Inspector said that there will be changes that will allow residential use on second floors and in the back of buildings that are in a business district. (They have always been there but the ordinance did not acknowledge them.)

A truck driving out of the alley between Unique Finds and the closed restaurant hit the Unique Finds building, causing damage to a load-bearing wall that will cost over $4000 to fix. This is the second time the building has been hit and damaged. The suggested solution is to close off the northern part of the alley with bollards.

The north College Avenue closure will last two weeks longer than originally scheduled. Friday August 18 is the date for the City auction. Two quotes were obtained to seal coat several City parking lots and the low bid from Kaufman was approved. This past weekend 25 teams competed in a tournament at Blacker Fields and 16 teams are scheduled for the tournament on July 1-2.

Notes

On Tuesday I noticed that walls were starting to go up on the ambulance building

Also on Tuesday, work on new sidewalks along College Ave began.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the air was hazy from smoke from Canadian fires. I was hoping that the photo above might capture some of the haze, but it does not.

Someone is renovating the old Devon's Restaurant in the College Mall. I have not heard if something new is going into the space.

Another tour

On Friday Gutwein Popcorn north of Francesville celebrated its 25th anniversary with an open house. I had never seen the plant and was impressed with its size. We came fairly late to the open house and the parking lot was almost full.

The firm served visitors a lunch from a food truck and then offered a tour. The tour began with a look at some of the equipment used in the early days of the company. The machine on the left filled fifty pound bags and the operator would then stitch them shut and move them so they could be placed on a pallet. Once the bags were all paper but now most are a tough plastic that can take a lot of abuse without ripping.

Leaving that building we could see some of the storage bins. Since popcorn matures only once a year, it needs to be stored so it can be packaged year around.

Walking a bit, we came to their new packaging plant.

The assembly line was very short. A machine filled bags every few seconds. They then were automatically sewn shut and fell onto a conveyor that took them to a formidable looking robot that stacked them on a pallet. Once the pallet was full, the robot would start filling a pallet on its other side and a fork-lift operator would take the filled pallet to a machine that would wrap the filled pallet in a plastic wrap. The pallet was then ready to be shipped.

For a better look at the robot, see the video on Elect Kendell Culp's Facebook page, hopefully reachable here. A bit more information about the company is here.

In addition to 50 pound bags, the company produces really big bags of popcorn that weigh more than a ton. We only saw one line producing small bags with two pounds of popcorn and the tour visitors each received one.

Gutwein exports a lot of their popcorn and apparently Pulaski County is the Nation's largest producer of popcorn. I asked if they sold to ConAgra and was told ConAgra was a rival, not a customer.

Happenings

Sorrel & Rye Mercantile will open soon on Rutsen Street across from the Post Office.

NuBloom Naturals is now open on North Van Rensselaer Street. Their hours are from noon until 8:00 and they have a big green cross in their window. 

On Thursday I noticed a booth next to the Smoked food truck. The booth is owned by the people who own the food truck and this was a test run. They expect to have the booth at the County Fair in a few weeks.

Work got started on a new horse barn at the Fairgrounds but seems to have stopped to wait for the unraveling of red tape.

The walls are still not up on the ambulance building across from the entrance to the Fairgrounds.

Last week rhe Carnegie Players presented two short plays based on Sherlock Holmes stories. The theater was the former site of Country Bumpkin, a long, narrow space. The stage was set up along one of the long walls.

The cast was different in each play, with Holmes and Watson played by women in the second play. The attendance on Thursday was good, with almost every seat filled.

Friday was the first dollar day at the pool. 

The Farmers Market had live entertainment on Saturday.

One of the booths had locally grown mushrooms. I asked the vendor how he grows them and it sounded like a lot of work.

The fence for the Hyper Center is partially finished. It is intended to keep little kids away from the street and parking lot.

The fencing for the new lift station is installed.

This weekend the Blacker Fields hosted the penultimate tournament of the year. At one time I thought the word "penultimate" was the most useless word in the English language, but then I learned that antepenultimate was a word.

The next tournament is July 1 & 2.

We got some much needed rain Saturday night/Sunday morning. I think the total was about two thirds of an inch. 

Titan Construction is working in the old power plant getting it ready for whatever it will become. There is still one large generator in the plant.

The previous post on the Forsythe house is the 12th most popular post of this blog, with just shy of 3000 views.

Drainage Board Public Hearing

The Drainage Board held a special meeting on Wednesday morning at the Fairgrounds. It was a public hearing for the reconstruction of four ditches in the northeast part of the County that serve land that the Dunns Bridge Solar Park occupies. The four ditches are the Hinshaw Ditch #52, the Rassmussen Ditch #90, the Sands Ditch #2603, and the R. E. Davis Ditch # 111. The meeting agenda has fifteen minutes for public discussion for each of those ditches, but the entire meeting lasted about three hours. The meeting was scheduled for the Fairgrounds assuming that there would be too many people for the Sparling Annex meeting room, and that assumption was correct. There were at least 40 people who attended.

Each of the four sections began with a short presentation from someone from BF&S Engineering (Butler Fairman & Seufert) who gave some background and presented estimates of various costs such as tree removal, removal of sediment, and correction of adverse slopes. Then the public had a chance to speak. If the Commissioners expected a lot of unhappy people, and I suspect that they did, they were not disappointed. There were many speakers, but only a few major themes. There were a lot of questions about estimated costs and the costs of specific items. The Surveyor explained several times that the costs were estimates and probably high because if a bid is 10% above the estimated cost, it cannot be accepted. Therefore, he estimates costs on the high side and the actual cost will likely be considerably lower than the estimate.

Some people thought that NextEra should pay for all the costs and I do not think the Commissioners disagreed. A very common complaint was made by people who have been maintaining their sections of a ditch and they, naturally, thought it unfair that they should have to pay for cleaning the ditch for people who did not maintain their part of the ditch. Several commenters asked what the benefit of cleaning the ditches was to them. They saw large costs and small or no benefits. A woman commented that the farmers know best how to maintain the ditches because they live there and they should be allowed to continue what they are doing. This was the only comment that was met with applause.

The largest of the ditches is the Davis Ditch, It has several laterals and the estimated cost of cleaning the whole system was about $1 million. This ditch sometimes attracts beavers and the comment was that when they are on the NIPSCO portion of the ditch, nothing is done about them. One farmer suggested that the main problem of the ditch was that NIPSCO does not maintain its part of the ditch. 

After about two hours of comments, the meeting was recessed while the Board discussed among themselves what they wanted to do. What they came up with surprised me. For the three smaller ditches they gave the landowners the option of cleaning the ditch by themselves under the guidance of the Surveyor. If the work was not done by the end of December, then the Surveyors recommendation would take effect and the reconstruction of these ditches would be put out for bid. A landowner in the Hinshaw watershed agreed to try to organize the other landowners, but no one at the meeting stepped up to organize the other two watersheds. One commented on the Rassmussen Ditch that it ran through the yards of homeowners who would not want anything done. It takes just one stubborn landowner to tank the effort to clean the ditch cooperatively. Cleaning cooperatively will save a lot of money and avoid paying the cost of the engineering studies. The Board wants to know by its August meeting if the landowners in each watershed will be trying to do this privately.

The Board did not give that option on the Davis Ditch but approved the Surveyor's recommendation to seek bids for reconstructing the ditch. 

A tour of a mansion

On Saturday as I was leaving the farmers market, the owner of what is known as the Forsythe-McMahon house asked if I would like a tour of the house. Of course I said, "Yes". This large and imposing house on the corner of Washington and McKinley has been vacant for as long as I can remember and news that it might be rehabilitated was welcomed by many people.

We entered on the southwest side, the entry for the renters who will be on the second and third floors, but we first looked at the main floor. It is unfinished and will remain that way until a renter is found. It will then be finished for the renter's needs. 

There are two fireplaces that are in reasonable condition on this floor.

The second fireplace needs a bit of work

The ceiling and walls are unfinished and the studs are visible. Some of them are original and others are recent additions. Because of the long period in which this building was vacant, the whole interior had to be stripped down to the studs.

The basement has walls made of field stone from Ohio. It has windows and could be made into rentable space.

The second floor is one apartment and it will have tenants moving in soon. The large windows make for very nice views, including this view of the Courthouse.

Some finishing work needs to be completed but the main work is finished.

This floor has some circular walls that I thought were very appealing. My pictures, by the way, do not do justice to the interior of this building.

The third floor was once open, with no walls and people have told me it was used as a ballroom. If you look at the exterior, you can see its space will reflect the roof lines. The ceilings are not horizontal but sloping, and in the middle they reach up to the very peak of the house. Under the peak a loft has been built that will be reachable by a ladder that will slide on a track.

The third-floor kitchen still needs countertops. Though it is higher than the second floor, the views from the third floor are less impressive because the windows are smaller.

On the back of the house is a door that was once the maid's entrance and near it is what was the maid's bedroom. This door has been lowered and will get a ramp to make the main floor handicapped accessible.

This house was built in about 1895 by Benton or Benjamin Forsythe. He and his wife also built the Forsythe Building on the corner of Washington and Van Rensselaer. It burned in 1996 and its site is now a parking lot. Benton Forsythe lost his father when he was three and his mother six years later. He and his sister were then raised by an uncle. At 16 he began teaching school and then entered the business world. In Rensselaer he ran a dry-goods store called "The Chicago Bargain Store" and advertised frequently in the newspapers. In 1909 he and his wife decided to retire, but he could not sell his inventory in a bulk sale and decided to retail it in Winamac. While there his wife died and she is buried with family in Ohio. In the fall he had a sickly niece move in and she died a few weeks later. In 1912 he remarried, and this wife long outlived him and is buried with her second husband in Weston Cemetery. 

Benton Forsythe died in 1920 and left his Rensselaer assets to his wife and his farm assets to his three nephews provided that they pay his debts. They came to Rensselaer, inspected things, and decided they did not want the inheritance because they were not sure that selling the property he left them would yield enough to pay the debts. He owed $13,000 on the store, $2600 on his house, and $3500 on land. He looked a lot richer to his contemporaries than he was.

Below is a picture of the Forsythe Building from The People's Pilot of July 30, 1896. The Chicago Bargain Store opened in this building in October, 1896. 

Forsythe is buried in Weston Cemetery, the only person buried in his lot. If you want to learn more about him, you can search the Hoosier State Chronicles and see what the Rensselaer papers wrote about him.

Happenings

The Eagles had a motorcycle ride on Saturday. 

The tiny building that was a coffee shop across from the Courthouse has sold. I am pretty sure that the new business will be this one.

The sign below is in the window of the building that was Gutwein-Risner Insurance on Washington Street. (The insurance business moved to what was a law office on Harrison.)

In May the Park Board approved a request to use Milroy Park for a fashion show. I did not mark the date (June 17) in my calendar, so I missed it, but apparently it went well. It was not aimed at a local audience.

There is now a fence around the new lift station. Both it and the high-water treatment plant are in the same enclosure. A new fence is also being built in front of the Hyper Center in Brookside Park. It is intended to keep small children away from cars.

The Carnegie Players will be performing Sherlock Holmes on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:00 pm at 116 W Washington. Tickets are $8 at the door.

LaRue Pool has its first dollar day of the season on Friday, June 23. Attendance this year seems to me to be up from last year. There were very few individual season passes sold. Almost all of the admittances via pass are with the family pass.

Gutwein Pop Corn in Francesville has an open house on Friday from 10:30 am until 1:30 pm to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

Wednesday is the summer solstice. For the next six months daylight will decrease.

Rensselaer still needs rain.

County Council meeting

The agenda of the County Council meeting on Tuesday evening had two pages of additional appropriations, most involving salaries. The County is now factoring in longevity in salaries and the changes were to make the budgets compatible with this change. There was little discussion of most of the changes and almost all passed. Those that did not were tabled for more information. A potential tax abatement was also tabled for more information.

Construction of a new horse barn at the Fairgrounds has been held up by red tape, some but not all from the State. There was a lengthy discussion of a proposal to increase pay to two part-time workers in the Auditor's office who came out of retirement to train new employees. There was a concern that the increase might set an undesirable precedent, but a motion to increase the pay passed with one nay vote. The Council was warned that changes are coming to the County's use of GIS and Beacon for tracking property ownership; the current software is no longer supported and cannot be updated. The data will be migrated to a new system and the cost will have to be included in next year's budget.

Update: Left on the Facebook link to this post: "The fashion show was amazing, sorry you missed it!!! So many locals were there to support Preston and her beautiful collection. There were also models, who were local, that walked the runway in her designer pieces."

TOP ribboncutting and a bunch of meetings

 TOP 

On Thursday there was a ribbon cutting for the opening of TOP.

TOP is The Other Place Workspace, a professional shared workspace. It makes up the eastern part of the old REMC/County Annex building and contains 3000 square feet of space. There are six offices that people can rent and one is already rented. The first rental is for a financial consultant whose main office is in Lafayette and this office serves as a satellite office for meeting local clients. The offices range from 100 square feet to 212 square feet and all rent for the same amount. They rent for $500 to $600 depending on how long the rental term is, with a minimum of three months. Until August 1 there is a discount for rentals.

There is an alternative to renting offices. A person can rent access to the facilities for $55 a month with a three month minimum. That will give access to the lobby, conference room (shown below), restrooms, a kitchen, and an area that will have a couple of computers connected to the Internet. 

Below is the area that will have computers. It was set up on this day for a Chamber of Commerce lunch.

Everything is very attractive. This is the kitchen.

Below is the largest office. It was not the first claimed. That was the office in front with large windows.

The rest of the building is called TOPLink Business Center and it has an almost unused Facebook page here. The building was built about 1964 for REMC and no one at the luncheon remembered what was on the site before then. In about 1985 REMC moved and it became an annex to the Courthouse, housing a number of offices, most prominently the Health Department, the Prosecutor's Office, and a Court room. After the County purchased the former PNC Bank building and moved some offices there, the building sat empty until 2022 when the four Fleming brothers purchased it.

After the Chamber lunch, there were tours of the whole building. The 8000 square feet that are not part of the TOP workspace are mostly unfinished. There is room for about ten offices or retail spaces, and the area will be remodeled to suit the needs of whoever wants to rent space. One space will be rented starting in October. Rent includes utilities.

There are reminders of what used to be in this space.

The Facebook page for the workspace is here and you can find more pictures there.

(An earlier post on this building is here.)

Other things

We got hours of sprinkles on Sunday that never accumulated enough to get streets wet under trees and we got a better rain on Tuesday, with about a third of an inch. It was not enough to lift the burn ban in the County. 

The dry weather has created interesting patterns in the grass at Weston Cemetery. One can see where people were buried, and these are not new graves, but graves that are more than half a century old. Apparently the dirt used to fill the holes does not retain water as well as the undisturbed soil does.

Work continues on the utility replacement on Harrison Street.

The storm-sewer replacement under College Avenue seems to be finished because now the sidewalks are being ripped up.

The Rensselaer Republican had an update on the Project Ribeye meat processing plant that was planned for south of DeMotte. An agreement with DeMotte to hook up water and sewer needs to be finalized before construction can begin.

The weekly car show, Cylinders and Snacks started a few weeks ago. Today (Thursday) there were a lot of cars participating.

Last week I went to the Business-After-Hours event at the Chamber of Commerce and when I was writing the previous post, I did not remember some of the tidbits I heard while there. There was mention that the owner of Walters Auto Electric had retired. The building no longer has its sign and the note on the door reads, "Closed. We have retired. It has been a pleasure serving you."

There was mention of a new food provider who delivers a limited menu and does not yet have a physical location for dining. It is called "Not Your Typical Wings" and the Facebook page is here.  The owners left this message on another page: "we are a restaurant in a temporary location until a building is ready for us to move in! that’s why we are doing deliveries only at the moment! but hoping in the next month or so we can move to a store front in town!"

Finally, there was discussion of a Facebook page that links to many events that are going on locally. It is called Destination Rensselaer.

Board of Public Works meeting

The June Board of Public Works meeting on Monday began with approval of change order #5 for the main lift-station and unsewered areas project. It added an additional grinder station on West Clark, additional trees, changes to roads and walkways, and some other things. The cost is $99,126.85 and it adds an extra 93 days to the project, which was substantially completed on May 15. The Board also approved Thieneman Pay Request #13 for $941,498.43. Thieneman expects to be finished by Friday and be out of here. (I assume that means that any additional work will be done by subcontractors.) Two invoices from Commonwealth for the lift-station and unsewered-areas project were also approved, one for $20,054.78 and the other for $611.22.

Maguire Iron, the company that is building the new water tower by the Interstate, made its first pay request and it was approved. The amount was $206,754.31. When it finishes getting the foundation in, there will be a lag of about a month before it starts building the tower. Commonwealth Engineering had three invoices related to this project that totaled $11,372.

Baker Tilly had an invoice for $20,000 for work on the asset management plan for the sewage department. It was approved. Assistant Street Superintendent Bryce Black recommended to the Board that the City enter into an agreement that would make it open to getting financing from a Federal grant. The concern is PFAS contamination in drinking water and right now it is not regulated but may be in the future. The money that the City might obtain would give the City additional testing. The Board accepted his recommendation.

City Council meetings

After the usual preliminaries, the Council approved an ordinance to write off uncollectible utility accounts. They are accounts that are over seven years old or where the person has died or has declared bankruptcy. The gas tracker for June will reflect a 15 cent decrease per hundred cubic feet. 

Sharon Colee from Community Services gave a presentation about public transportation in Rensselaer. The Community Service vans are the only public transportation in Rensselaer. In the first five months of this year they made 3750 one-way trips, with 85% of their trips originating in Rensselaer. The cost per trip is a dollar. Her presentation was to introduce the Council to the idea that the City should provide some money for this transportation in its budget and she left documents with the Council members. When pressed on what she was after, she said she would like the City to provide $1000 per month. The item will be on the agenda for the next meeting. (This week's Rensselaer Republican has more details about her presentation.)

The Council approved a Police Department request for public relations funds for $82.28 for hosting lunch for some school kids. It also approved an amendment to the Community Crossings project to spend $14,360 to repave Augusta Street. The Council granted permission to the Assistant Street Superintendent to apply for a recycling grant that could pay 50% of the cost of replacing the leaf vac, which has frequent breakdowns.

The Mayor is looking for people who would be willing to serve on the Redevelopment Authority, which rarely meets except when bond funding is needed. The appointees must live within the City limits. 

Work on Filson Park started and now is stalled because the plans need approval from some State department or board and also because the Park needs BZA approval. There was a brief discussion of backyard pools, an issue a citizen raised at the last Plan Board or BZA meeting. The matter was tabled.

The Fire Department responded to 21 calls since June 6, all but one grass fires. The Council granted a request from the Fair Board for the use of a garbage truck during the County Fair. The gas department will totally rebuild the regulator station next to McDonalds at the south side of Rensselaer. All City gas goes through it. There was a question about the many reports of gas leaks recently. The problem was not gas leaks but rather too much odorant was being added due to a failure of a sensor on the trunk line. Natural gas is odorless so an odor is added so leaks can be recognized. 

The Council had a special meeting on Wednesday to open bids for the Brick Street Project. I entered the wrong day on my calendar and missed the meeting.

Tourism Commission meeting

The Tourism could not get a quorum for its scheduled Tuesday meeting so postponed the meeting until Thursday.  It began the meeting with the question of whether the County was receiving the inns-keeper tax from the AirBNBs. The matter will be investigated.

The staff of JECDO and Tourism proposed hiring consultants from Ball State to review the resources of the County and what is being done to promote tourism to determine if some adjustments could be made to improve results. The cost of the study will be $12,500 and the Board approved it.

There was a discussion of the need for a community calendar and an application called whatsup247. Jasper County Tourism no longer partners with South Shore and is looking for a way to let people know what is going on locally. Benton County uses this and you can see what they do with this product here. The matter was tabled until the next month as members investigate further.

Businesses are being encouraged to do things that tie into Art Week and a form is available to help. Tourism has recently published brochures on murals, the farm trail, and a listing of attractions and tourism related businesses. There was another discussion of using a marketing company for a range of services. The Commission approved spending up to $5000 to have a Tourism website constructed.

The Commission approved spending $2500 for an event at the end of Mural Week that will feature dueling pianos. The planned site is the lot that once had Long's gifts.

At the last meeting there was mention of a local artist who wanted to be included in Mural Week. The Commission approved $2500 for supplies but did not like the proposed location, the back wall of the Barnes Shelter in Iroquois Park. The comments were that no one uses the park. The Commission approved a sponsorship of $300 for the Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery event sponsored by the Jasper County Historical Society and $5000 for the Little Cousin Jasper Festival. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday July 10.

Jasper County Tourism is giving information about mural artists who will be participating in Mural Week on its RenArtWlk Facebook page.

Airport Authority Board meeting

The Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday evening discussed routine airport matters. There was a brief discussion at the beginning of an Illinois woman who did five big donuts on airport farmland. She had been at a dog show at the Fairgrounds and alcohol was involved. The case is in the Court system and the Board members discussed what damages they might seek.

The Airport passed INDOT inspection. Both flight instructors have left for other opportunities but a new one will start soon. There are five candidates for the position of assistant manager. 32 young people got airplane rides in the Young Eagles program. Five planes, all from Lafayette, participated. 

Art, construction, and zoning

 Parmele Exhibit

The current exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is a retrospective exhibition featuring the art of local artist Abby Parmele. Her interest in art came early. While a high-school student in Iowa, she organized an art club because the school had no art classes. Below is a painting she made in ninth grade.

Mrs Parmele's job as a flight attendent influenced some of her paintings.

She has exhibited in many shows throughout the state and region and won numerous awards.

Mostly she works in oil but there are a few watercolors in the exhibit

At the reception I commented to her that she had not done any pictures of the Courthouse even though it dominates the view from her studio windows. She took me over to this display of paintings on glass bulbs.

These paintings have incredible detail.

The exhibit runs until July 13. The Gallery is open on Tuesdays noon until 4:00 and Thursdays 2:00 until 6:00. There will be a conversation with the artist on Sunday, June 25 from 2:00 until 4:00 with a presentation at 3:00.

Odds and ends

The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce now has an office, the tiny room at the front of the Ritz Theater.

The Chamber had what amounted to an open house on Thursday. I learned that  ghost hunters had investigated the Ritz for paranormal activity and you can see what they found on a video on Youtube. (The video is over an hour long and I have not finished viewing it yet.)

Work continues on replacing the storm sewer under College Avenue. The old pipe was metal that was badly corroded.

A boring machine was working on Harrison earlier this week. This work is to repace the overhead lines and underground cables.

On Friday the cables were being pulled. The drilling machine was working on Harrison near Front Street.

We continue to need rain. The County Commissioners have issued a burn ban because the local fire departments have had to respond to so many field fires. I have begun to accept that this is not going to be a great year for my garden.

Rensselaer Plan Commission and BZA meetings

The City of Rensselaer Advisory Plan Commission met Thursday evening with four new members. The Plan Commission appoints two members to the BZA and they appointed Sean Cawby and Jeff Rayburn.

There were three plat amendments on the agenda. One was a request to separate the house from a farm parcel in the buffer zone west of I-65. The owner wants to sell the house to his tenant but keep the farmland. It was approved. The property owner also needed a variance from developmental standards, which was granted in the BZA meeting that followed the Plan Commission meeting.

The second was a request from the owners of Genova/Rensselaer Plastics to combine its original lot with about an acre of land to the south recently purchased from Lirio (formerly CDC Resources. There were questions about the City Road easement (an undeveloped extension to Cherry Street) that runs through this lot and apparently negotiations between the City and the company are being held. The paperwork was not finished on this re-plat so no action could be taken.

The third item was a request from the Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds would like to build a new horse barn west of the existing horse barn, but it is on a property line, with the land to the east owned by Jasper County and the lot to the west owned by the Commissioners of Jasper County. The County is in the process of combining these lots but the paperwork is not finished. The Board had no problem with the Fair Board moving ahead with the building.

There was a short discussion of the budget, specifically the pay to Board members for attending meetings, which has been $20 for many years. The head of planning will work on that for the next budget.

A citizen had a concern about rules for back-yard swimming pools. A pool that is 18 inches deep or less is unregulated. Anything above that needs a fence and a $100 license. The citizen thought the fees and requirements should be graduated, rising as the depth increases. He also had an issue with the way water for the pools was billed. Our water bills come with an attached sewer bill, but water to fill pools does not normally drain through the sewer system.These issues will be discussed with the Mayor.

The next meeting will be July 13.

Following the Plan Commission meeting, the Rensselaer Board of Zoning Appeals met. It had only three members present, but that was enough for a quorum.

At the previous month's meeting a resident had started building a garage that was on the property line and above their gas line. They have dismantled the construction and will resite it.

The first item on the agenda was a request for a variance of use for a short-term rental. The owners of Market Arts, an 8-foot wide storefront on Washington Street, want to rent out the back part of their building for short-term rentals. There is nothing in the code about short-term rentals so the item was brought to the BZA. It was granted.

The second item was a request for a conditional use for daycare/child care. The woman making the request currently operates an unlicensed daycare but would like to become licensed so she can expand beyond five children. Before she applies for a state license, she wanted to make sure she would not have a zoning issue. It was approved.

Next up was a request for a variance of use for Pizza King, which recently changed ownership. The business is in a residential zone and the previous variance ended with the change in ownership.It was approved and the Board also refunded the $100 application fee.

Concerns had been raised at a previous meeting that perhaps the cost of getting variances was too much and as a result some people simply ignored the process. The local BZA can control some of those costs, such as the requirement to send certified letters to neighbors. Currently the rule is that these letters need to be sent to neighbors within 200 feet, but at $8.13 each, the cost in some cases can be hundreds of dollars. There was also a suggestion that perhaps newspaper notices could be coordinated and combined by the Planning Department. No action was taken at this meeting.