Another SRO Commissioners meeting

Fire Department open house

The Rensselaer Fire Department held an open house as part of Fire Prevention Week. It attracted a lot of people, most with children. On display was a boat that can be used in rescues.

The bounce house was popular with the kids.

There were snacks available. These cookies as well as hot chocolate and popcorn were provided by the Fire Department.

I had to ask what this was. It was carmel for apple slices and was provided by McDonalds. Alliance Bank also gave out food, their usual ice cream bars.

A helicopter from Lutheran Air attracted a lot of attention.

When I first saw this vehicle I thought it was from the National Guard. It is the Sheriff Departments Tactical Response Truck. The Department has had it for about ten years.

More pictures can be found on the Fire Departments Facebook page.

Continued Commissioners Meeting

At their regular October meeting the Commissioners heard many public comments opposing BP's proposed carbon capture and sequestering project that may be partially located in Jasper County. They delayed signing a road-use agreement, moving the item to a continued meeting on October 16. On Monday that continued meeting also had a standing-room-only audience, and it may have had more people attending than were at the initial meeting.

Before the road-use agreement was discussed, the Commissioners had several other items on their agenda. The County switched health insurance brokers this year and the new brokers had promised they could find savings for the County. The new brokers shopped the various policies and said they had found $672K in savings with no reduction in benefits. The Commissioners approved the changes.

Two bids for a new roof on the prosecutor's annex building were reviewed but no decision was made because there may be a third party who will make a bid. The Commissioners approved a change in the holiday schedule for the Highway Department. A jail correctional officer has resigned and the Sheriff was given approval to replace her.

Then it was time for the big item, the road-use-agreement. BP had agreed to end the testing on October 30 and will allow the County to hire an expert to review the data. There were a number of public comments. The first person wondered why the public had not been allowed to vote on this issue. Another person recognized that the County can do little to stop this project if the State gives it a green light and is organizing to change the legislation. The legislation that takes the permitting of this type of project away from the counties is House Bill 1209 that was passed in 2022. A person from Porter County who is running for Congress urged the County to look for opportunities to disrupt the process. It is federal tax credits that make this project viable; without federal support none of these sequestering projects would be profitable. A retired 3M person said that contaminates in the fluid that will be pumped into the ground might react chemically with the rocks and that no one knows what the long-term risks of this project would be. In the end the Commissioners signed the agreement even though I am pretty sure that they agree with the audience that the County does not want the County to be used for carbon dioxide sequestering.

They passed a resolution to gather information to be used for a future ordinance governing seismic testing on County roadways.

County Council meeting

The County Council met Tuesday evening in a long meeting, lasting about two hours. Rensselaer Fire Chief Kenny Haun told them about the addition to the Rensselaer training center that will be built with State funding and is expected to be finished in the Spring of 2024. However, the Department needs to provide some infrastructure and Haun would like to have the County contribute for this. No action was taken and the request for funds will be discussed at the joint Council-Commissioners meeting in November.

The Council approved an ordinance that allows the Drainage Board to secure a line of credit to help finance the cleaning of the R. E. Davis ditch. It also approved an ordinance that allows money from the Recorder's Perpetuation fund to be used for supplies and salaries. This ordinance was recommended by the State Board of Accounts and does not represent a change in what the County has been doing.

Next was a long discussion about a resolution establishing an Economic Revitalization Area in Walker Township that will allow a tax abatement for a proposed solar park. This project has been mentioned at various County meetings over the past few years. It will use 470 acres and have a 60 megawatt capacity. The abatement will be decided next month. Offsetting the abatement will be an economic development payment that the company will make. Unlike the tax revenue that is divided into various funds, this money can be spent in whatever way the County wants. After reading the resolution, a vote was taken and it was approved by a 3 to 2 vote. However, one of the Council members was attending via Zoom and his delayed vote as a no, so the vote was tied 3 to 3. Council president Jordan then broke the tie and the final vote was 4 to 3. I am not sure if the negative votes were cast because the members do not like abatements or if it was a protest against solar power. (Voting for were Jordan, Fritts, Norwine, and Risner. Voting against were Armold, Kidwell, and Moore.)

The Council then approved a number of transfers of funds, none very large, and moved on to additional appropriations. Most were for the Sheriff's Department. All of the additions were approved except one for Community Corrections, which was tabled because the Council wanted more information.

The Council President then read and the Council approved five budgets, those of the County, the Rensselaer Central School Corporation, the Airport Authority, the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District, and the Iroquois Conservancy. Discussion of these budgets had been held at the previous meeting. The budget of the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District is approved by Jasper County because Jasper County has the largest assessed valuation of any of the counties that the District serves.

The Prosecutor had some salary adjustments that should be made and they will be taken up in January. For reasons that I did not understand, Walker Township could not approve its budget with the normal process and the Council finished the meeting by approving its budget.

Notes

There was a partial solar eclipse on Saturday. It was unnoticeable here because of the heavy clouds, but some people in the west got to observe it as an annular eclipse. However, next year there will be a total eclipse that will be visible in Indianapolis. It will be in April, a month that has a lot of cloudy days. More info here and a map here. The view of the annular eclipse from Nevada is here.

Mount Ayr now has a mural. It was painted by Rensselaer native Trenton Musch.

Early voting for Rensselaer offices can be done at the Court House on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 until noon and 1:00 to 6:00. The voting is on the second floor, and it you have questions you can ask the security guards for information.

The railroad crossing on McKinley (US 231) is getting new pavement and the road will be closed for a few days.

The video about the Domestic Arts building at the Newton County Fairgrounds can be viewed on youtube.

What keeps the lights on? Graphs showing how much electricity is generated with various sources can be found here. I was surprised at how dominant natural gas is and how variable over the day coal is. The good thing about solar power is that it is generated during the times when electrical use is highest.