Warmer weather

 Spring

We had the first hot days of the year over the weekend, with temperatures into the 80s. The longer days, the trees getting leaves, and the many flowers tell us that spring really is here.

The trees below are on the SJC campus.

Some beautiful tulips, but not mine.

I was surprised last week to see that the geese already have goslings.

On Friday I attended the first of the wellness walks, which are being held on Fridays from 10:40 until noon from April 12 to May 17 at Brookside Park. They replace the old Walk-with-a-Doc Walks and are sponsored by the Extension office. As the very small group of walkers assembled, we watched the City and the Urban Forest Ministry unload trees that will be planted in Rensselaer this spring.

Spring is a good time to flush hydrants. 

It is also a good time to patch streets where utility work has been done. 

(I noticed that there is a new dumpster by the old R&M Store.)

There are frogs croaking in Weston Pond. I saw a turtle on the road on Sunday and helped it over the curb. And not necessarily a sign of spring, but something I had never seen before during 50 years of living in Rensselaer: I saw a motorboat speeding downstream on the Iroquois River. I did not have time to snap a picture.

Not a lot of planting has begun because the fields are still too wet from the recent rains.

AppleTree is one

Appletree celebrated is first birthday on Saturday with an open house.

There were tiny cupcakes available for those who came. Kids could get their faces decorataed or get balloon sculptures.

Below is a bubble machine and if you look carefully you might see some of the bubbles on the right side of the pictures. Some of the kids had fun chasing them.

Inside the building was a cake that was served at the celebration at 1:00, which I did not attend.

Everyone who was there when I stopped by seemed to having a good time.

Brick Streets

Work continues with installing utility lines and pipes beneath where the brick streets were. New water lines crossed the sidewalk last week, so access to the businesses on Van Rensselaer has been difficult. 

There are still lots of pipes and materials left to install.

Continued Commissioners meeting

On Monday morning the Commissioners met in a continuation of their April 1 meeting. I decided to attend via Zoom, which I immediately regretted because the audio did not work at the start of the meeting. About five minutes in the people attending live realized there was a problem and discovered that a wire was not connected properly. Fortunately Mr Bontreger gave a summary of what had happened while there was no audio.

Mr Phillips, presumably acting as head of the Jasper County Republicans, had thanked Mr Walstra and Mrs. Jordan for their years of service to the County. Neither are seeking reelection. The Commissioners had approved contracts for 100 day of housing juvenile offenders in other county jails. Community Corrections will provide people to mow grass at the new EMS building.

With the audio problem fixed, the Commissioners continued with what was probably the most important item. They had met on Thursday in executive session to interview five firms to serve as construction compliance monitor for the proposed wind-farm project in Carpenter Township if the project becomes a reality. They had decided to use BF&S, a company that has done a lot of work for the County in the past. They also said that they appreciated learning about the other companies and may use them in the future if there are projects that fit their expertise. EDS, the company that is proposing the wind farm, has agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it will pay for the services of construction monitoring. They will provide an initial  deposit of $200,000, from which the County will make payments, and there is a soft cap of $400.000 in the agreement. This MOU should satisfy the concerns that the Advisory Plan Commission had in their February meeting.

The Commissioners formally approved the agreement with BF&S. They also said that they are close to finishing an agreement with the City of Rensselaer to extend water and sewage lines west of I-65.

Jasper County BZA meeting

The Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals met Monday evening with one cause on their agenda, a request for a lot-width variance for a property in Walker Township. The owner wants to split a 4.8 acre lot into two 2.4 acre lots that would be long and thin and not have the road frontage that the zoning code requires. However, it is in the area that is full of lots that are of similar size. The hearing took longer than I expected because the petitioners had not provided enough detail on their application. The variance was granted with the condition that the new lot lines preserved required setbacks for the existing buildings. The purpose of the split was to provide a lot for a new house. This is not the final step the owners must take. They will need to have the Plan Commission approve a two-lot subdivision.

The last bit of the meeting had a discussion of how to get applicants to file better organized and complete forms to streamline the meetings.

Joint Council/Commissioners meeting

There are two joint Council/Commissioners meetings scheduled each year, in July and December. However, the Council and Commissioners decided that two issues were important enough to hold an extra one in April,

The first issue concerned public defenders. Judge Potter had made a case to both Commissioners and Council that the current system needed to be changed. At Tuesday's meeting Todd Sammons and a person from Indianapolis who is part of the State Public Defender Commission explained the case for change and what it might look like. In the years since public defenders were introduced, the County has gone from having an abundance of applicants for the positions to a shortage. Public-defender expenses are reimbursed 40% by the State but it is not clear that the County is getting all the reimbursement that it could get. Many counties have already moved to establishing a chief public defender position and that is what Jasper County is now considering. Some of them have full-time positions and others part-time, and it is unclear which would be better for Jasper County. Many of the details of how the change would happen and what the final result would be were discussed and the discussion took about 50 minutes. The next step is for the local public defender board to set up a plan and to figure out a budget. They can base their plan on existing plans from other counties and the State Commission is available to help them.

The second issue was the request from the Coroner to provide him with more space. The County morgue is located next to the Fase Center east of DeMotte and it shares space with the Sheriff's Department. The Coroner had taken some public officials to Fulton County to view their recently-built morgue and he had a handout showing what he would like in a new building. There is an upcoming meeting with Baker Tilly and perhaps at that meeting questions of how a new building might be financed can be answered.

County Council meeting

The County Council meeting started about a half hour late because the joint meeting had lasted so long. Kristen Louck, head of the Health Department, had had a new nurse position approved by the Commissioners and now needed the salary approved by the Council. The Council approved it but it needs to be advertised so they will need to approve it again at the next meeting. She also requested a pay of $40 per hour for the part-time director of EMS services.

The meeting then moved on to a list of additional appropriations. The Sheriff had a request for a jailer and overtime. The overtime budget had been approved for $2,000 rather than the $20,000 intended, so the $18,000 was added back. The Court needed more for translators. That is an expense that is increasing in most counties and a recent decision by the Supreme Court raised the qualifications for translators, so they have become more expensive. The Animal Shelter needed $3,000 for a new tranquilizer gun. $100,000 was needed for a second payment for new voting machines. They were purchased with the payments spread over three years. Some expenses for the Health Department did not get paid in 2023 so there was an additional appropriation to pay them. Community Corrections is installing new security cameras and there was an additional appropriation of $30,000 to pay for them.

The last item on the agenda was a report about the Connection Center. I believe this was purely an informational report and I left shortly after it started because I could see lightning through the windows and I did not want to get caught in a thunderstorm.

Notes

I got my property tax bill last week and went to the Courthouse to pay it. While there I voted. Voting is on the second floor where the buffalo usually is. Hours are 8:00 till noon and 1:00 till 4:00 with extended hours on Mondays and Wednesdays until 8:00. If you wait until election day, the two places in Rensselaer to vote will be the Fairgrounds and the Armory.