Pictures and meetings

 Some pictures

I was at the big Remington Park over the weekend and took a picture of the splash pad.

 I am impressed with the Remington Park. It has a sledding hill, nice shelter houses that can be closed with overhead doors, and a long hiking/biking path. Remington has prioritized parks and is seeking public feedback for a five-year master plan.

I wanted to get pictures of Remington's new murals but they were not on the building that had originally been selected for murals. 

A second building is being constructed on the lot in northeastern Rensselaer that once was used by INDOT.

CSX has finished repairing the damage to the Amtrak platform that a train derailment caused in 2017, Concrete had been repaired and new lights installed.

Below you can see the concrete before repair.

City meetings

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works met Monday evening and approved six payments. Four were for Commonwealth Engineering for work on the WasteWater Treatment Project, The Asset Management Project and the Water Tank Project. Two were for Maguire Iron work on the Water Tank Project. The Board also approved a transfer of funds for Commonwealth for additional work on the Asset Management Plan.

When the new water tank goes on-line, the water in Drexel Park tank will be drained and the interior repaired.

Also on Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council met. The person listed to give the invocation did not show up but two other Rensselaer pastors did. They worked out who would give the invocation. 

The Council voted to approve an ordinance that changes the after-hour fees for discontinuation of utility services. With new software and upgraded metering, electrical service can be turned on and off remotely, so there is less need for after-hours servicing. The gas tracker for August reflects about a half cent increase per hundred cubic feet of usage. The Council approved using a new provider for gas-pressure sensors. These record gas pressure at the regulator stations and can send an alarm if there is too much pressure recorded. 

The Council approved $40,000 for gutters on the gas department building. It has seepage after heavy rains on the northwest side. 

The Council approved the submission of a Community-Crossings grant application that will request about $978,164 for road improvements. If the State approved the application, the State funds 74% of the cost and the City 25%. The Council approved the purchase of two new squad cars for the Police Department. The Department will trade in two 2016 squads as part of the deal. Also approved was the hiring of a crossing guard. 

The Eagles requested the closure of part of Harrison and the alley next to their building on September 7 and their request was granted. Noele Weishaar wanted the Planning Commission to change the zoning ordinance so that non-complying residences in business zones do not have to seek a variance every time they are sold. That change will take about three months to get through the various meetings and public hearings, so she also wanted a suspension of enforcement of non-complying uses for 90 days. The Council approved both. Finally, she noted that some of the property owned or formerly owned did not have a zoning classification, so she suggested and the Council approved directing the Plan Commission to zone it.

Special Drainage Board meeting

The Jasper County Drainage Board held a special meeting on Tuesday morning to approve a drainage plan for a proposed solar farm in Walker Township. The applicant has changed its name, but not its ownership, from Solarpack to Zalestra.

It received approval for the proposed farm from the Jasper County BZA in August, 2021 and needed to get its drainage plan approved by the end of the month to keep that approval from lapsing. Because this was a special meeting requested by Zelestra, all the expenses of the meeting will be paid by Zelestra.

The Board heard from the compliance manager hired by the County and from representatives from Zelestra. The compliance manager had spoken at the regular drainage board meeting, but apparently there were some changes since then as Zelastra tries to comply with the various regulations at the State and Federal level. There were no public comments when they were allowed. The Board members then consulted among themselves. At this point a lady in the audience decided she wanted to comment and expressed her disapproval of the project and the Board. The drainage plan was approved with the contingency that the company get all other permits needed.