Have a happy Easter

Mostly pictures

The annual Easter Egg Hunt in Brookside Park attracted a lot of kids.

Below are more pictures of recently painted windows. Brookside Florist.

Three windows at Sorrel & Rye Mercantile

Fase Kaluf

McDonalds

The watermain work on Van Rensselaer is finished. Notice how far the fire hydrant is from the existing sidewalk. The plan calls for wider sidewalks.

On Tuesday there were still bricks on Harrison.

Work began on the water main for Harrison on Tuesday.

The concrete piers that will support the fire tower have been poured.

The Carnegie Players will be presenting "An Evening with George Ade" in June and are inviting people to audition for parts.

SR 114 in Newton County will be closing for resurfacing at the end of the month.

I could complain about the weather, but where I went to school in Minnesota just canceled classes for two days because of heavy snow.

Have a happy and holy Easter. 

 PTABOA

The Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals met on Thursday morning. It was the first meeting of 2023 so the three members were sworn in and Jacob Misch was elected president of the Board. There were two requests for tax exemption. The Carnegie Players own a couple of lots on Walnut Street, one with a building used for storage. The second request was from the DeMotte Christian Schools. They had purchased a lot with a church next to the high school that was tax exempt and wanted it to remain tax exempt.

There was a brief discussion of someone who was contesting an appraisal but he could not make the meeting so they will consider it at another meeting. PTABOA meets as needed so there is no scheduled next meeting.

The meeting lasted only about ten minutes.

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening for its second March meeting. During Citizens' Comments a woman asked to have her sewage bill reduced, She said a child had turned on a hose and did not turn it off and she only discovered this when she got her water and sewage bill. Mr Rayburn moved to adjust her bill but there was no second to his motion so her request was not approved.

Next was a public hearing on a preliminary engineering report from Commonwealth Engineering for a wastewater proposal to the State Revolving Fund Loan Program. Last year a similar report had been submitted but it did not score well so no funding was offered. This year's report was amended to expand the scope of work in hopes that it would score better. The  City is required by an unfunded Federal mandate to make changes in its sewage system, and those changes are very expensive. The goal of this report is to see if grants and cheap loans can be obtained. There are two parts to the proposal, to make changes at the sewage plant and to make changes in the collection system. The total cost was estimated at $27,531,000. The Council approved a resolution to submit the report and another resolution to authorize the Mayor to sign it. Submitting the report does not commit the City to do anything.

The electric tracker for the second quarter will reflect a 75¢ reduction per 1000 kilowatt hours of usage. (The average home uses less than that per month.) The Council repealed and replaced the Salary Ordinance; there was a change for people who were on-call. The Council acknowledged receiving the TIF Management Report. (The Redevelopment Commission meeting is next Monday at 5:00.) 

The Little Cousin Jasper Festival asked for permission to use Potawatomie, Iroquois, and perhaps Filson Parks as well as having portions of College Avenue and Front Street closed from Thursday through Sunday for the Festival. The Council approved closing the streets and the City will continue working with the Festival. The Council also approved $500 for a scholarship the Festival offers each year.

The Council approved moving forward with the Water Meter AMI program. (AMI = Advanced Metering Infrastructure.) As I heard the discussion, there are 2443 meters that are ready for the program but 367 services will need to be updated, including 130 that are inside residences or businesses. Many of these probably have lead service lines.

The City received two bids to mulch their brush pile and accepted the lower bid of $7500. The Council approved a public relations request for $1300 for the annual Gas Department's Customer Appreciation (and pipeline awareness) day. It features a lunch at the Gas Department on April 26 from 11:00 until 1:00. This year other City utilities and first responders are invited to participate. The Gas Department will seek a grant to cover the expenses and if granted, the public relations account will be reimbursed. 

The Council approved the Building Department getting quotes for a proposal for a revised zoning ordinance. The repeated power interruptions on Monday afternoon were caused by the feeder lines from NIPSCO. The Council approved replacing the roof for the Electric Department roof, which has serious leakage. It accepted a bid of $56243. It also gave the Electric Department approval to order a new digger truck. The parts for the existing truck are no longer being made. The wait time for a new truck is two to three years and the cost is $317,492.