Airport Authority meeting
The Jasper County Airport Authority met Tuesday evening and I attended in person rather than via Zoom. While the meeting was in progress, a large, strange aircraft landed. I was told that it was on the way to the UK. The company that owns it is developing hydrogen-electric engines but this plane runs on regular fuel.
At the meeting the Board heard from its engineers that a couple of reports had been submitted to the FAA and saw an updated plan for a new hangar. It is for a 214' by 60' building that will house eight planes. They heard a report about their investments in money-market funds and Treasury notes and bills. Someone is interested in land that the Airport owns along SR 114 but another estimate must be made before a sale can take place.
The Board approved a new lease for a tenant in the old hangar building. Fuel sales were strong in May. The rental aircraft was damaged during a training flight and there was a long discussion of whether the rental policy needs to be modified. No action was taken but the airport manager will see how other airports handle damage by renters. The damage was light, only a bit more than $1000, and the Airport will cover it. There was a discussion of stumps from a line of trees that were removed; the ground is rocky and the stumps cannot be ground without damage to the grinder. Three insurance policy renewals were approved. There are eight students signed up for an airport class in the next school semester, four from RCHS, three from KVHS, and one from SNHS. The meeting ended with a discussion of maintenance on the rental plane.
On the way to the meeting I noticed that the roads in the Fairgrounds had recently been seal coated.
Board of Public Works meeting
The Rensselaer BPW met Monday afternoon and approved paying several bills from Commonwealth Engineering for work it has done: $10,335 on the water project, $20,000 for a preliminary engineering report required for SRF financing, and to bills of $5671 and 470.80 for work on the sewer project. The new water tower does not yet have its electrical work done and there is still work to be done on the existing water towers. The only other action it took was to approve fireworks at the Fair on July 27.
City Council meeting
On Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council approved a request from Jasper County Tourism to paint a mural on the new water tower at the SR 114 and I-65 interchange. There was one member of the public who said that she preferred the water tower to remain without a mural. The project still needs some additional money to pay for the rental of the lift and for the clear coat layer.
The Board approved a new lease for a tenant in the old hangar building. Fuel sales were strong in May. The rental aircraft was damaged during a training flight and there was a long discussion of whether the rental policy needs to be modified. No action was taken but the airport manager will see how other airports handle damage by renters. The damage was light, only a bit more than $1000, and the Airport will cover it. There was a discussion of stumps from a line of trees that were removed; the ground is rocky and the stumps cannot be ground without damage to the grinder. Three insurance policy renewals were approved. There are eight students signed up for an airport class in the next school semester, four from RCHS, three from KVHS, and one from SNHS. The meeting ended with a discussion of maintenance on the rental plane.
On the way to the meeting I noticed that the roads in the Fairgrounds had recently been seal coated.
Board of Public Works meeting
The Rensselaer BPW met Monday afternoon and approved paying several bills from Commonwealth Engineering for work it has done: $10,335 on the water project, $20,000 for a preliminary engineering report required for SRF financing, and to bills of $5671 and 470.80 for work on the sewer project. The new water tower does not yet have its electrical work done and there is still work to be done on the existing water towers. The only other action it took was to approve fireworks at the Fair on July 27.
City Council meeting
On Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council approved a request from Jasper County Tourism to paint a mural on the new water tower at the SR 114 and I-65 interchange. There was one member of the public who said that she preferred the water tower to remain without a mural. The project still needs some additional money to pay for the rental of the lift and for the clear coat layer.
The Council then had a second reading and approved three ordinances that were introduced at its previous meeting: ordinances establishing a redevelopment non-reverting fund, a Plan Commission non-reverting fund, and a fund for extending water and sewer to the west of I-65.
The gas tracker for June will reflect a 16¢ increase per hundred cubic feet of use. The Council passed a resolution to document forgiving under-billed charges, a resolution that the State Board of Accounts wanted passed. The Council approved a pay request from Grimmer Construction of $295,863.85 for work on the Brick Street project and a request from Commonwealth Engineering of $32,448.25 for its work on this project. The Council approved a public relations request of $2000 for a City employee picnic at the end of July.
Some time this week concrete will be poured at the old light plant for a new floor. The space is being rehabilitated to become a new Park Department headquarters. There was a brief discussion about planning for the long-run future of the pool, but no action was taken.
This week work on the Brick Streets Project is construction of curbs and next week it should be on replacing sidewalks. There were five baseball tournaments scheduled for the Blacker Fields but the last two, scheduled for June, have been canceled. The new water main at the Fire Department has passed its tests. The Council approved having the Fair use a City garbage truck; this approval has been granted the last few years. The Council approved the Street Superintendent seeking bids for a new truck to pull the recycling trailer. Finally, the Council approved $8178 for a new flag pole to be installed in front of City Hall.
Below are pictures of new the curbs taken on Tuesday. The corner of Van Rensselaer and Harrison will have a bump out.
Tourism Commission meeting
The Tourism Commission met on Tuesday morning. They approved a sponsorship the the Jasper County Historical Society's Memories Alive at Weston Cemetery, which will be held on September 21. This will be the seventh annual performance of this event. This year the focus will be on the eastern part of Weston Cemetery and as in the past few years will feature a morning program in the Hall Shelter of Brookside Park and an afternoon program in the Cemetery. An unofficial website for the event with past programs is here. (I am on the committee that plans this event.)
The next item on the agenda was a funding request for painting a mural on the Rensselaer I-65 water tower. This project originated with JCEDO and the cost for painting the tower was estimated at $40,000, not including rental of a lift and applying a clear coat. There are two ways the Commission could fund this. It could come from the marketing budget. The mural is intended to highlight the murals that have been painted throughout Jasper County. JCEDO had been considering renting a billboard at a cost of $15,000 annually and had added money to the marketing budget. Alternatively, it could be funded as a capital project. Only the side of the tower facing the interstate will be painted.There was a discussion of how the costs were computed and eventually the members present decided they needed more information, so no action was taken at this meeting. Instead they plan to have another meeting, which members can attend via Zoom, next Tuesday (June 18) at 10:00.
The Tourism Commission met on Tuesday morning. They approved a sponsorship the the Jasper County Historical Society's Memories Alive at Weston Cemetery, which will be held on September 21. This will be the seventh annual performance of this event. This year the focus will be on the eastern part of Weston Cemetery and as in the past few years will feature a morning program in the Hall Shelter of Brookside Park and an afternoon program in the Cemetery. An unofficial website for the event with past programs is here. (I am on the committee that plans this event.)
The next item on the agenda was a funding request for painting a mural on the Rensselaer I-65 water tower. This project originated with JCEDO and the cost for painting the tower was estimated at $40,000, not including rental of a lift and applying a clear coat. There are two ways the Commission could fund this. It could come from the marketing budget. The mural is intended to highlight the murals that have been painted throughout Jasper County. JCEDO had been considering renting a billboard at a cost of $15,000 annually and had added money to the marketing budget. Alternatively, it could be funded as a capital project. Only the side of the tower facing the interstate will be painted.There was a discussion of how the costs were computed and eventually the members present decided they needed more information, so no action was taken at this meeting. Instead they plan to have another meeting, which members can attend via Zoom, next Tuesday (June 18) at 10:00.
The Commission approved joining the Indiana Tourism Association. It will provide networking opportunities and information about what other counties are doing. Two new employees were introduced, Angelica Potts-Bramlage who is in charge of Tourism and Community Development and Tori Smith who is an intern focused on publicity. Mrs Potts-Bramlage has previously worked in marketing for Indiana Beach and Fair Oaks Farms. Ms Smith is a recent grad from Ball State and will only be with Tourism until August when she leaves for Arizona to pursue graduate studies.
Finally the Commission heard a presentation from Placer AI, a company that specializes in location analytics. The company uses data from smartphones to track how many people visit just about any location in the US. They do not get the data from the carriers but from some of the apps that ask people to share their locations. They have data from about 30 million phones, which is about 9% of the U.S. population, and extrapolate from where these people are to estimate what everyone is. I was impressed with what they could show. They could select any area and tell how many people had visited that area during any time period in the last seven years. They could also tell where those people lived, where they worked, and what stores they shopped at. Using data from other sources, they could estimate incomes of the visitors and much else. The cost of an annual subscription for Jasper County Tourism would be about $26,000. The members of the Commission need to figure out how they might use the data that this company provides and whether it would be useful enough to justify the cost. No action was taken but the matter will probably be discussed further at their special meeting that the plan for next week.
Ag report
The Farmers market has about as many vendors as it had last summer. I was interested in seeing what vegetables were available and found turnips, beets, onions, and greens in addition to the asparagus that was at the market when I stopped by a couple weeks ago. One vendor had tomatoes and summer squash that were grown in a hoop house in another county.
I have harvested garlic scapes in my garden and I did not see anyone offering that strange vegetable.
The High School FFA had a booth.
A usual item for sale was freeze dried candy. Freeze drying removes the moisture and make chewy candy crunchy and puffs it up in size.
The corn and soybeans in the fields around Rensselaer are up and growing. Hay has been harvested in a couple places I saw. Mulberries are ripening if you can find a use for them.
I am pretty pessimistic about my garden this year. I have a bunny that hangs out in my backyard and there are lots of squirrels. The squirrels keep digging in the garden. I have removed about a dozen little black walnut trees that sprouted from nuts they buried. Tomatoes do not grow well with black walnuts. And a few days ago I found this next to the garden.
Do you recognize what animal left that? It is deer poop. So not only do I have a bunny and squirrels munching on my beets, beans, peas, and sweet potatoes, but I have a deer who may be visiting my garden.
Early in the month I had visitors from out of town and one of them took this picture in Weston Cemetery. Perhaps momma deer is my garden visitor.
Early in the month I had visitors from out of town and one of them took this picture in Weston Cemetery. Perhaps momma deer is my garden visitor.
Odds and Ends
Fenwicks announced that they will no longer brew beer.
Inside Indiana Business had an article about changes at SJC. (I had no problems seeing the article the first time I looked at it, but after that it wanted me to subscribe.)
The sign shown below is on what used to be the softball field at SJC. The fencing and other structures of that field have been removed and from the road there is no evidence that a softball field was ever there.
Fenwicks announced that they will no longer brew beer.
Inside Indiana Business had an article about changes at SJC. (I had no problems seeing the article the first time I looked at it, but after that it wanted me to subscribe.)
The sign shown below is on what used to be the softball field at SJC. The fencing and other structures of that field have been removed and from the road there is no evidence that a softball field was ever there.
The weekly Cylinders and Snacks car shows on Front Street had a lot of cars this past Thursday.
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