Early March 2024 meetings

Notes

Crews from Brightspeed have been stringing cable from the utility poles. Brightspeed has replaced CenturyLink as an Internet provider.

Last week people, presumably belonging to the Church that purchased the former R&M building, were busy filling a couple of dumpsters.

Peeking through the window, I could see that the shelving from the grocery store was still there. I assume it will be sold, either as shelving or as scrap metal. There is a lot of work to be done.

The Fire Department has started getting ready to pour a foundation for its training tower, but as of Tuesday there were only some sticks in the ground.

Work continues on the removal of bricks from Van Rensselaer Street. The removal has reached the alley, so about one fourth of the bricks are gone. Below you can see wrapped palattes of bricks that have not yet been moved to the lot that once held the Johnny Rusk building.  (If I called it the R.P. Carton building, would anyone know what I was talking about?)

There are piles of bricks along the edge of the street. I am not sure if these are just not processed or if they are rejects.

Along the sidewalk, which remains open so people can get to the businesses that remain open, there is something new, a sign in the windows of what was Walter's shop.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners meeting on Monday morning had a full house, but it lacked the large crowd of people standing or listening through the windows that the February Plan Commission had. There were two routine buried cable permits, both fiber optics, that were approved.

Mr. Bontreger recognized that most of the people in attendance were interested in the wind-farm item at the end of the agenda so he moved up the Planning and Development items. Two rezones from A1 to A2 that had been recommended by the Plan Commission were quickly approved. The Plan Commission had voted an unfavorable recommendation for the wind-farm overlay in Carpenter Township with some recommendations. Mr Bontreger announced that the Commissioners were taking the matter under advisement and would, at the recommendation of the Plan Commission, begin the process of finding a construction compliance monitor. He asked the Highway Department and the Surveyor's Office to prepare their concerns with the existing road-use and decommissioning agreements. Surprisingly, few people left; they seemed to want to hear the public comments that are given at the end of the meeting.

At the February meeting Animal Control had requested a light bar for a vehicle and at this meeting they reported that the Highway Department had provided one. Animal Control continues to have a problem with mice in their storage shed that they have not been able to contain. The Commissioners will investigate possible solutions including a professional exterminator or a new shed. Community Services had new quotes for seal coating and striping its Rensselaer and DeMotte parking lots and they were approved.

At the previous meeting the Commissioners had discussed donations to theThe Jasper County Recovery House and the House of Grace, which help men and women overcome addictions. They had not acted because they were unsure if funding was available. It is and at this meeting the Commissioners approved $30,000 for each organization.

Sara DeYoung from JCEDO introduced the Yodel website. The Newton Township Trustee reported on the Sayler-Makeever Cemetery west of Rensselaer. It has had some vandalism and she had discovered that the Cemetery is not owned by the Township but by the County. The entrance road was once a County Road that continued to SR 114. There was a discussion of what can be done to improve the Cemetery, and the County will help because it owns the land.

There is an ambulance housed in Remington in a building that the Town of Remington owns. The City of Remington would like to donate the building to the County with the provision that if the ambulance is ever removed, the building will revert back to Remington. The advantage for Remington is that it would no longer be responsible for the upkeep of the building.

The Commissioners decided not to pursue purchase of some grant software that was primarily a database. Rather they would prefer to hire someone to write grants. The Auditor said that White County gets twice as many grants as Jasper. The Commissioners approved mowing contracts for the Surveyor's office, the Fairgrounds, the jail, and the health department. They made appointments to PTABOA and NWICA and approved two conference requests.  The director of Animal Control requested a change in a job description that would eliminate a requirement that the position be a probation officer in order to make the position easier to fill. The Commissioners approved.

The Commissioners approved a software purchase by the auditor and a request for funds from the Veteran's Office for a quarterly training session. Craig Standish asked for their support for a 4-H shooting range at the Fairgrounds. Shooting events will return to the Fair this year with 42 participants. (In the past it once had 132.) The next step will be before the Rensselaer BZA or Plan Commission.

The Commissioners approved ambulance contracts to the Wheatfield, Keener, and Central services. These included the County subsidy to each service. They approved a contract with a construction manager for the planned renovation of the Health Department building. The County would like a new website and a possible website creator was mentioned. The County has received the seismic testing data that BP collected and wants to collaborate with Benton County in analyzing it. The Sheriff received permission to replace a part-time person who is planning on quitting.

The floor was then open to public comments. Most were about the proposed wind farm and some of the speakers had previously spoken at the February Plan Commission. Some were just asking for clarification of an issue. The meeting was continued to March 18 at 8:30 if necessary.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting was short and had an audience of one. Three bids were opened for the annual ditch spraying contract and the low bid of $154,761.82 from Ditchside Management LLC was accepted. There was discussion of a request for a variance allowing a garage to be built into a ditch right-of-way. The construction had approval from DeMotte pending Drainage Board approval. The Commissioners wondered if the location could be shifted to reduce the encroachment and tabled the request to get more information. In a recent meeting the Board had decided to remove a section of tile along a road and replace it with a ditch on the other side. One of the persons who would be affected had a very different cost estimate for replacing the tile and what followed was a discussion of ribbed vs spiral piping.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Monday evening. They released funds that had previously been approved to the Rensselaer Central School Corporation for a Pre-K program ($25K) and for classroom supplies ($25K). They then heard the request for funds from Appleseed Childcare Education. Adam Alson gave a presentation explaining that childcare is one of the things that people look for when deciding where to live. However, in rural communities licensed childcare centers cannot make a profit. Expenses will be higher than the amount of tuition that parents can pay. Therefore, it must be subsidized. Lack of childcare leads to increased absenteeism, so it impacts business and becomes an economic development issue. Appleseed brought together various groups to make licensed childcare happen. The expertise to run a center did not exist locally, so they brought in Right Steps from Lafayette. Franciscan provided a building that otherwise would have been very expensive. About 20 local employers have supported the endeavor financially. The members of the Commission applauded these efforts and agreed that Appleseed was providing a valuable service.

However, the Board wanted to see a budget before it approved funding and Appleseed did not want to provide one. Apparently Appleseed does not want it on the public record. So the matter was tabled.

I was mystified by this because all nonprofits are required to file a form 990 with the IRS and those forms must be available to the public. For example, here are several years of 990 forms for Saint Joseph's College.  The 990 does not contain as much information as a complete budget, but it includes the most important numbers.

Rensselaer Park Board

The Rensselaer Park Board also met on Monday evening. It heard from Pat Fox about plans for the 2024 Little Cousin Jasper Festival. This year will be the 50th anniversary because the festival started in 1974, though there were some years since then that did not have a festival. Because of the uncertainty caused by the Brick Streets Project, the site for the festival will again be Potawatomie Park. Ms Fox said that the lighting in Potawatomie is poor and that there was vandalism despite having a security guard for the night hours. There was a discussion of various options, including using Filson Park and/or Iroquois Park. If Iroquois Park is used, College Avenue will probably be closed during festival hours.

A contract for a program director for summer programs was signed. It will be a template for future independent contractors. There was a discussion of how to get the summer programs off to a fast start and the Board approved $1500 for that on a 4-2 vote. A soccer contract had been prepared but no one from the soccer program was available to sign it. The Board approved the purchase of two lifeguard chairs for the pool. Someone suggested that the horseshoe pits should be moved to the front of Iroquois Park to increase their visibility and thus their use. The Board approved an improvement on the donor posts in Foundation Park and a proposal to hire someone to fertilize the Blacker and the soccer fields.