April showers

 Ribbon Cutting

The Good Samaritan Food Pantry has moved to a new location on College Avenue behind Pizza King. The new location has about triple the floor space that the old location had. 

In brief remarks before the ribbon was cut, the Food Pantry thanked the Walters for their many years of being landlords who charged below market rates for rent. Also thanks for those who rehabilitated the new quarters and helped with the move.

Commissioners meeting

The Jasper County Commissioners met for their April meeting on Monday. They quickly approved three buried cable permits: one for broadband in the Georgetown Subdivision,  a second for NIPSCO repairing a gas pipeline in Remington, and a third for Farm Builders for extending a water main from Remington.

Judge Potter gave them the same presentation about public defenders that he had given to the County Council in March. He noted that while the $50,000 that Jasper County pays public defenders seems like a lot, other counties are paying more and offering benefits. He mentioned Cass County, which pays $80. He also said that there is a shortage of lawyers, giving some numbers of area counties with Warren County having none. He suggested that a joint meeting of the Commissioners and Council might find a solution and Mr Bontreger suggested that a May meeting might be arranged.

A person from Pulse Technology answered questions about a new postage machine that the Extension/Surveyor would like. Currently they use either the postage machine at the jail or the Courthouse. The Commissioners approved a lease. Corrections received approval to submit its annual grant application to the Department of Corrections. They are asking for $724,003 and if they get that amount would like to hire a recovery counselor, someone who has overcome addiction to help the inmates deal with their additions. They also received approval to replace and add security cameras. The Commissions signed a contract with Phegley Construction for remodeling the Community Corrections kitchen.

The Sheriff's Department received approval to release a vehicle to EMS. The Commissioners approved the Farmers' Market use of the Court House parking lot on Saturdays from May to October and on Tuesday afternoons after 4:30 during July and August.

The Health Department had several requests. As a result of a change in State funding, they have to spend down an account and would like to use the money to purchase two vehicles. They will look for vehicles and bring the results back to the Commissioners for approval. They want to hire a new nurse to do things that they are not currently doing and the position will be paid by State funding. The Commissioners approved. They also received permission to change some hours. Because most of the State is on Eastern time, the current hours cause some problems. Finally, the Commissioners approved hiring a part-time EMS director.

The Commissioners approved the rezone from A1 to A3 for Rose Acres that the Plan Commission had recommended. They approved an updated contract for the Recorder's Office that allows the public to find documents electronically. They also approved a conflict of interest statement that allows an employee of the Sheriff's Department to sell a K-9 dog to the Department. They adjusted that start time of future Commissioner meetings from 8:15 to 8:30. The old start time seemed to have been set so County employees who arrived at work in the Courthouse had a few minutes to settle in before the Commissioners meeting began. Now that the meetings are no longer in the Court House, 8:30 seems more convenient.

A citizen had relayed concern about speed limits on the roads around DeMotte. The Highway Department is working on a proposal. The Auditor needs to replace a deputy auditor and was given the OK. Early voting at the Courthouse for the primary election will begin April 9. Andrew Boersma expressed concerns about the speed limits on the highways bordering Wheatfield. The meeting was continued until April 15 at 8:30 if needed.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting was short. The request for a variance to locate a garage on a ditch easement that was considered in March and tabled was tabled again. https://rensselaeradventures.blogspot.com/2024/03/early-march-2024-meetings.html

In several recent meetings there was discussion of replacing a tile alongside a road that is failing. At this meeting they opened two bids and accepted the higher bid because the lower bid had stipulations that they believed could not be met. The bid was for $21,400 and materials will cost $38511. The materials could be purchased from the Bridge Cumulative fund but there was a question about how the labor costs could be funded. They approved the bid pending taking money from the Bridge Cumulative fund.

The Surveyor had received a petition to clean a ditch whose name I did not catch. The Board approved having him start the process that will end in a public hearing.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission held a short meeting on Monday afternoon. Left over from the March meeting was a request for funding from Apple Seed that had been tabled. Apparently Apple Seed provided more financial data since that meeting, but the Board decided it was not enough and wanted financial data from Right Steps, the organization that actually runs the Apple Tree center. The request was tabled again.

A woman from Baker Tilly was on Zoom to discuss the TIF Management Report that Baker Tilly had prepared. I could not read the very small print on the screen and did not have a copy of the report. The Commission acknowledged that they had received the report. It then reviewed and approved a contract with Baker Tilly for future reports.

Park Board meeting

The Park Board met later Monday evening. It heard a presentation of summer programming for 2024 and approved it. Most or all of the events from 2023 will return for 2024, though some will be revised. There will be theme days/dollar days at the pool on Fridays in July and on June 19 the pool will celebrate its 75 birthday. There was a discussion of tournaments at Blacker Fields. Not all of the dates for tournaments have confirmed concession workers. The next meeting will be on May 6.

Notes

Below are a few pictures from the Brick Streets project. At the end of last week almost all of the bricks on Harrison had been removed from the street.

At the end of last week and the beginning of this week, workers had dug into Harrison Street south of the brick streets. I think the pipe in the trench is for storm sewers, but it may be something else.

The new water main had been installed under most of Harrison last week. 

The Walgreens in Monticello is scheduled to close on April 3.

Our April showers are causing the River to rise. As I write this on Tuesday evening, the gage at Laird's Landing says it is over ten feet and the level is still rising. Will it hit flood stage at 12 feet?