Big plans

Chamber lunch and plans for a new Show Arena


The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its monthly luncheon at Filson Park. The main speaker was from Express Employment Professionals, who talked about how the labor market has changed.  Employers looking for new locations are very concerned about supply of labor and water. The days in which employers and employees had loyalty to each other are mostly gone. Employees jump from job to job to take advantage of better wages and conditions. A lot of people use Indeed.com to upload resumes and search for applicants, but often a personal touch, such as that Express provides, produces better results.


For me, totally out of the labor market, the more interesting presentation was from the Fair Board about their plans for a new show arena. The plan is to demolish the old arena and build a much bigger building where it sits. The proposed arena will be about double the size. It will have retractable bleachers that can seat up to 1200 and if chairs are put on the arena floor, seating could be 3000.

The arena will be open all year for rental. Potential renters would include livestock shows, trade shows, and machinery shows. Currently there are potential exhibitors who do not use the Fairgrounds because there is no building big enough for their needs. The estimated cost is currently $3 million to $3.5 million. The rentals are not expected to be enough to pay for the arena but should be enough to pay the operating expenses (mostly utilities and labor).

The Fair Board is looking for grants and donations. The first step will be to hire design services to get engineering designs. The expectation is this will be a five-year project because it will take that long to raise enough money. The first regulatory step will probably be an appearance before the Drainage Board in October. Donations to the project can be made to a Show Arena fund at Alliance Bank.

Above is the view from the east and the front of the building. Below is the view from the west and the back of the building.

While the lunch was finishing up, a worker was tilling the grounds of Filson Park getting it ready for a new seeding of grass. Workers have also been working on the bases of the future light fixtures.


More pictures

The permeable pavers have been installed along both sides of Harrison Street and one side of Van Rensselaer. It takes only about a day to do one side of a street. The big task still ahead is to finish the intersection of Harrison and Van Rensselaer.

On Tuesday workers were pressure washing the outside of the Drexel water tower. There will be work done inside the tank in the upcoming days.

Below is a picture of the foundation for the first house to be constructed by the Building Trades program at SJC.

I mentioned the Winter SJC newsletter in the previous post. The newsletter tells about the new SJC logo, gives an update on the CDL program,  reports on the groundbreaking ceremony for the Building Trades program, gives the schedule for the 2024 homecoming, highlights a recent graduate of their certificate program who now works for WorkOne, discusses the partnership with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter School, and announces the hiring of a senior administrative assistant. 

SJC is seeking partnerships that will allow it to continue to develop and expand as a trade school. The number of high school graduates has been dropping year by year and will continue to drop because the Country's fertility rate has dropped below replacement level. Those who do go to college increasingly go to on-line schools or large public universities, so the brunt of the decline in students is felt in smaller schools, especially private schools. These demographics alone are a reason that SJC can never be what it once was.

A positive note for SJC: it has cleared its debt. 

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Board met Monday. They approved their July minutes; the August meeting did not have a quorum so there were no minutes to approve. First on the agenda was a request from the Rensselaer Chamber for $3500 to help pay for a mailing to advertise the Holiday Shop and Stroll on November 14-16. This is the first year that the Chamber is running the event. It is continuing with the past practice of mailing out about 17,000 postcards to area communities. Those who attend the event and visit all the participating shops are entered into a drawing for a grand prize. The cost of the mailing is about $300 per retailer and Chamber argues that the event brings in people from outside the County who then spend money not only at the participating shops but at other stores as well.


A big concern from Board members was the lack of data to show how many people respond and thus to show the effectiveness of the mailing. Last year 146 people entered the drawing, showing that they had visited all the shops, but there is no way to know how many other people visited only some of the shops. There were various suggestions on how to get more data on turnout. There were also questions of whether there were most cost effective ways to publicize the event, such as using social media. After discussion, the Board approved a grant of $1500.

Next was a request from Remington MainStreet for $30,000 for seven new signs highlighting points of interest in town. The Board wanted additions to the signs mentioning Discover Jasper County and the Tourism logo. The request was approved with the contingency that a brand mark agreement be reached. Remington has plans for an inclusive playground and will make a formal presentation for that project next year.


 The Board adopted a strategic plan that the Tourism office and Ball State have developed. Revenues from the inn-keeper tax were down in July and August and are expected to below 2023 levels for the rest of the year.

Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting


I attended the Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday evening via Zoom. Work continues on their master plan. A property owner to the west of the Airport has agreed to a land swap. The Airport wants the land for an east-west runway expansion and does not need some land it owns along SR 114. Nothing will be done on this until after harvest. There was a long discussion of the rental plane, which will be getting a new engine this fall. The Board adopted a policy for renters of the plane to acknowledge that they may be liable for a deductible if the plane is damaged while they use it. The Airport is finalizing grant papers that will result in $151,899 that will be used to finance the preparation of the master plan. The Airport tentatively plans to do another Scareport event on October 19. The Board accepted a new salary ordinance.

Odds and ends


This week's Rensselaer Republican has the complete list and description of the people who will be featured in this year's Weston Cemetery Walk. It is the front page article. 

Another walk starts Friday. The first of a series of Wellness Walks sponsored by Franciscan Health and Purdue Extension will take place on Friday, September 13 at 10:30 in the Hall Shelter of Brookside Park. After a short talk, the walk will take place in Weston Cemetery. The series will continue on Fridays until October 18. There is no admission charge and is open to all.

More Festival pictures

 Little Cousin Jasper Parade

Many people lined Washington Street on Saturday for the Little Cousin Jasper Festival parade. 

After the very loud fire trucks passed, the Cousin Jasper King and Queen for 2024 rode by.

These marchers were handing out popcorn. They were from ConAgra.

The Rensselaer Care Center had a float with two kids on it.

The Rensselaer marching band was the only band in the parade this year.

The Republicans had a float with lots of signs for its candidates for County, State, and National offices.

I do not remember who sponsored this float, but it commemorated the 50 years that the Little Cousin Jasper Festival has been around.

Youth soccer has a lot of kids in its program and the younger ones were on a float. Some of the older ones were marching behind, throwing out candy. There was a lot of candy this year, and any kid who did not go home with a big bag of it was a slacker.

I did not quickly recognize what the woman on the right was supposed to be. She was a toothbrush and represented one of our local dentists.

Donaldson's had a colorful float.

The Democrats have fewer candidates running for local offices than the Republicans. Neither Luttringer nor Jeffries ran in the primary election. 

At the end of the parade was a strange three-wheeled vehicle and a car that looked like it had been in a demolition derby.

More Festival pictures

The Carnegie Players put on several performances of what they called "Professor Galen Placebo's Miracle Elixir Medicine Show". Here Professor Galen demonstrated how his miracle elixir was keeping a head without a body alive. 

The show also had a magician trying to perform tricks. Here she is with Ima Lone and her assistant Lotta Tusch. 

The whole thing was very funny but the sound from the main stage was distracting. Hopefully they will be able to perform it again in a better venue.

Two of the actors shown in these pictures will be performing on September 21 at the Memories Alive at Weston Cemetery.

The stage show that had the loud sound was a hypnotist.

I paid a last visit as the Festival was closing and was surprised at how many people were still there. I saw a bunch of kids wearing these hats that had bulbs in the legs. When they were squeezed, the ears moved.

Board of Public Works meeting

The Board of Public Works meeting had only one item on its agenda, a payment of $20,572 for Commonwealth Engineering for its work on the Water Project. It was approved.

The fence around the water treatment plant next to Iroquois Park is finished. The City has started filling the I-65 water tower. The generator for the water towers passed their tests. Work has started on the permeable pavers along Harrison Street. The new police cars are still not ready to enter service.

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The Council passed on a second reading of an ordinance for discontinuation of services. There were a few minor changes and clarifications made to it. The gas tracker for September did not change. The Mayor issued a proclamation for the Knights of Columbus' Blue Light Program. It honors first responders by encouraging people to light a blue light on September 11, which was proclaimed Blue Light Day.

The Council approved starting to prepare for closing the Scott Street rail crossing. There will be a public hearing on October 14.

The Council then heard presentations for Commonwealth Engineering and Baker Tilley about making improvements to the sewage system to comply with a State decree. The City has until 2030 to make these improvements. It had sought financing from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) for zero percent financing, but initially did not make the cut. However, several localities that were above it in the rankings were not ready to begin their projects, so the cut line dropped down until it included Rensselaer. Rensselaer can borrow up to $20 million at the zero interest rate and Commonwealth expects the changes to the sewage plant to be $18.8 million. The City also needs to make changes in its sewers within Rensselaer and that is estimated to cost another $8 or $9 million. The speakers kept making references to a packet that the Council members had so the presentations were hard to follow for someone in the audience.

The Baker Tilley presentation ran through the financing numbers and said that the end result would be almost a doubling of sewage rates. The City will not be able to tap into a second zero-interest rate for the second part of the project. Delaying the project will only increase costs and the size of rate hikes, so the Council voted to move forward to seeking the funding and preparing the many steps needed before construction actually begins. The first step will probably be approving a bond ordinance next month.

The Council will have to have its meetings on-line starting next July. It will keep its current audio system, spend $1945 for new video equipment, and use Youtube to stream the meetings. The Council then approved some changes to health insurance and pay. They will be included in the salary ordinance at a future meeting.

Trick and Treat hours will be from 5:00 to 8:00 on October 31.

The EPA is beginning to regulate a contaminate that I did not catch, though it may be PFAS. The City has the opportunity to have testing for it paid by the Indiana Finance Authority, and the Council approved taking the free testing.

Because the second Monday of November is Veterans Day, the first Council meeting in November will be on Tuesday, November 12. The next Council meeting will have a public hearing on the budget. There is a Plan Commission meeting on September 19 and a public hearing on a proposed TIF district on September 30.

Odd and ends

Fase-Kaluf Appliances has new owners.

The doors of what used to be Not Your Typical Wingz now have "for rent" signs on them.

The Fall newsletter from SJC is available.

At the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting summarized in the previous post, there was mention that a Sanborn Insurance map showed that the property on the corner of Clark and Cullen had once had a gas station. I searched the Internet and found a 1921 map that did not have the building, but a map at the Rensselaer Library showed it.

Part of the building was storage for soft drinks. The gas tanks seem to have been located next to Clark. I suppose that is where the pumps were.

In the past the Weston Cemetery Walk (September 21 this year) has had one presenter for each grave visited. This year we will try something different, a conversation among three sisters who died within two years in the late 19th century. All were between the ages of 16 to 22 and their father was a popular craftsman/shopkeeper. I have seen the script and if the three women do as well as they have in rehearsals, it will be a highlight of this year's walk.

Three years ago we featured Ernest Zea as told from the perspective of his mother. Ernie was blind and confined to a wheelchair, but he made the most of what he had and was admired by the citizens of Rensselaer. This year we initially considered another person who had severe physical handicaps and an eventful life. Ultimately we decided not to portray him because, unlike Ernest, he took a destructive path that caused him and others great pain. Which raises the question, are their lives that are so objectionable or offensive that they should be out-of-bounds for an event like the Cemetery Walk? Does the answer depend on whether they have surviving relatives in Rensselaer?

The organizers appreciate the sponsors who make this event possible, including:

The start of Little Cousin Jasper Festival

 Pictures from downtown

On the way to Wednesday's Redevelopment Commission meeting, I noticed that there were trees ready to be planted at Filson Park.

By Friday they were planted.

Also, the last of the sidewalk around and in the park was finished.

On Friday early afternoon the bricks on Harrison had almost reached the intersection.

Finally I noticed that there were tables and chairs inside what will be Brick Street Ice Cream. Maybe it will open soon.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Wednesday evening. The Commission would like to buy the property with the vacant building on the corner of Clark and Cullen, tear down the building, and then sell the land so it can be developed. The building there once served as a laundry and apparently before that as a gas station, two uses that can leave polluted soil behind. The Commission considered doing a phase 2 environmental survey that would involve test wells, borings, and ground samples for $13,800. For an added $2,800 they could do ground penetrating radar in hopes of locating underground gas tanks. After discussion, they opted to do the survey without the radar study.

Next on the agenda was a short discussion of a proposed 7th Street Rensselaer TIF area. There will be a public hearing on this proposal on September 30. Finally there was a discussion of upgrades needed for the Rensselaer sewer system. In 2010 IDEM took Rensselaer to court over its combined sewer system that allows sewage to be dumped into the Iroquois River when there are heavy rains. Since then the City has done a number of projects to reduce the problem, but not enough to eliminate it. The waste-water treatment plant needs to be expanded and the estimated cost of that is at least $13 million. The median income in Rensselaer is now too high for the City to be eligible for grants, though it can get loans at zero percent interest. The next City Council meeting will discuss financing options.

Odds and ends

From Facebook I found a link to a page about the proposed Heritage Christian Academy. This is a school that plans to open in August 2025 in one wing of the SJC Core building.  The plan is to initially start with three grades and then add grades until the school has K-12. For more info, search the internet for Heritage Christian Academy Rensselaer.

We are two weeks away from the 7th annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery, aka The Weston Cemetery Walk. The walk is a program of the Jasper County Historical Society and it is meant to inform people about history in an entertaining and enjoyable way. Each year it has focused on eight people or families and had actors portray these eight. Some have made a difference locally, some on the State level, and a few have had national significance. Others have been part of some important or interesting historical even. Some just have interesting life or death stories. This year we will be in the eastern part of the Cemetery where some very early settlers are buried. This year two people who will be portrayed or discussed left Rensselaer and made a mark on the wider world. 

Anyone who has worked on an event like this knows how much work goes into the planning and execution. Also, most of these events are dependent on sponsors and the Cemetery Walk is no different. The ticket sales do not cover the costs of the event. The organizers are very thankful for our sponsors, four of whom are highlighted below. (The other four will be shown in a future post.)

My wild sunflowers have started to bloom. They tell me it almost time for the asters to bloom, and the asters are the last flowers of the autumn.

Little Cousin Jasper Festival starts

The LCJF started on Friday. The City parking lot next to the bowstring arch bridge is the food court. Food booths and food trucks are on the edges of the lot and tables are in the center.

A look at the festival from near the bridge.

There are a lot of booths. They line the sidewalks on both sides.

In the middle of Potawatomi Park are attractions for kids, including these bubbles in a pool.

Crossing the bridge one gets a good view of the Eagle mural.

On Friday evening the Hickory Huskers school bus was in the food court. It is a 1939 Chevy and was the bus used in the movie Hoosiers.

Below is the steering wheel and dashboard of the bus. I wonder how many people today could drive it. (Notice the stick shift.)

The food court was a lot busier in the evening than at noon.

The first act on the stage was getting ready to perform as I left.

Saturday will be a busy day with a parade at noon.

Start of September, 2024

Some pictures

As of the weekend, the bricks on Harrison had reached the halfway point.

The stage at Filson Park is finished.

The final touch was stringing lights near the roof.

The park has a memorial bench.

There is a little area that looks like decorative bricks on the north side of the park. They are not real bricks but concrete colored and textured to look like bricks.

On Tuesday more sidewalk was being poured on the north side of the park.

There is still a little area near the alley that needs concrete. The forms were being set on Tuesday afternoon.

The SJC Building Trades program has begun work on the foundation of a first house.

Here is an article in the publication Inside Higher Ed about the shift in direction at SJC.

Remington has plans for an inclusive playground. See here and here. I think this is part of a goal of making the park a destination stop. Their big park on the north side of town is a impressive park for a small town. It would make a good lunch stop for travelers with kids. The kids could play on the playground equipment, run on the trails, or enjoy the splash pad. An inclusive playground, with equipment for handicapped children, might put them on the map. The nearest existing inclusive playground is two hours away according to Remington. I expect to hear more about these plans next year at Tourism Commisson meetings.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority

I was confused when I noticed that there were meetings scheduled for both the Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority and the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission. I asked and found that the Redevelopment Authority was the body that had to authorize any bonds that were issued. That group met Wednesday at 9:00 at City Hall and I arrived after the three members had elected officers. The meeting was apparently held because the State Board of Accounts had told the City that this body should be meeting at least twice a year. 

The Authority has approved one bond that is outstanding, a bond to finance the Rensselaer Fire Station. It is a 25 year bond and was issued in 2015. Twice a year payments must be made for this bond, for interest and the slow payment of principle. The Authority is supposed to approve those payments, and it did at this meeting. The next meeting will be in November and then one probably in January.

The bulk of the meeting was taken up by a discussion of what the City's next big project might be, though it is unlikely the Redevelopment Authority will be involved. The project that Mayor Phillips is most concerned about is meeting a State mandate to deal with the combined sewers. In many parts of Rensselaer the storm sewers and sanitary sewers are combined and when there are heavy rains, those sewers overflow into the Iroquois River. The City has been working on this problem with the high-rate treatment plant on Lincoln Street and the Melville Street Project, but more needs to be done and it will be expensive, potentially in the $13 to $20 million range. There does not seem to be grants available, but the City might get zero-percent loans from the State Revolving Fund. The cost will affect sewage bills in the future.

Trails plan

I received a link to the Jasper County Trails Master Plan that Kimley Horn prepared for the Jasper County Trails Club. There was a big section that gave the results of a survey that was done (and that I probably answered). More interesting were the plans for specific trails. In Rensselaer there was a proposed trail along Melville Street from the Primary School to SR 114. South of the railroad tracks, that route has a good sidewalk on the east side of Melville, but there is a bottleneck at the ditch just south of the primary school. The proposed trail starts at the CourtHouse, goes through the alley next to Filson Park, over the pedestrian bridge and through Iroquois Park. The trail crosses where there is no bridge from the west end of Iroquois to the east end of Weston Cemetery, then through the Cemetery and Brookside Park to SR 114, From there it continues to the Fairgrounds, then to the Interstate, and from there the trail will be extended to reach Fair Oaks Farms.

I think both of these trails would be worthwhile, especially one from Rensselaer to the Fairgrounds and Interstate. The latter would be expensive and would need a big grant to accomplish.

The plan wants to enhance the water trail of the Iroquois River with an additional boat launch site either in Potawatomi Park or on the other side of the River. The Iroquois already has three launch sites serving Rensselaer, at Laird's Landing, at Bicentennial Park, and on Mount Calvary Road. Years ago I rafted the River a couple of times, starting at Laird's Landing and ending at the Maxwell Ditch in Weston Cemetery. The Iroquois only occasionally has good rafting. Usually the water level is too low or too high.

If you want to know more, the Trails Club will be meeting in Rensselaer on September 17 at 7:00 in the basement of the Carnegie Center. (I do not think I can attend because the Jasper County Council meets the same evening and that meeting will be a long one.)

Commissioners' meeting

The Commissioners had a routine meeting on Tuesday morning rather than Monday morning because of the Labor Day holiday. There were no buried cable requests. Farm Bureau is upgrading its sign and will incorporate signs for the Surveyor and Extension in the new sign. The Coroner's new fee schedule was postponed for two weeks. The Forensics building he would like has expanding uses. Councilman Moore suggested that the County have a committee to do preliminary planning for any proposed building and that committee may happen. (It could also consider the proposed new show arena that the Fair Board wants.)

Animal Control gave statistics for 2023 and 2024 that show they are much busier this year than last. Their requests for a new shed and better signage were delayed to the continued meeting. At the last meeting Extension requested a storage shed. The Surveyor said that new shelving and use of the community-garden shed may be able to solve the storage problem. The Commissioners approved Mr Bontreger to sign off on warranties for the EMS building. 

A woman from WorkOne explained that WorkOne pays salaries for people learning the soft skills of holding a job. She has a person who would like to work at the Animal Shelter and WorkOne would pay her salary while she learns the job, which usually takes one to three months. WorkOne provides this service for private businesses and it is a way of getting people employed who lack experience and skills. The Commissioners approved her proposal pending legal review. 

Community Services had a leaky roof repaired and the Commissioners approved the claim. They received a grant to install a new digital sign but the grant does not cover the installation of electrical service. The Commissioners approved that installation. The Fase Center will need someone to remove snow and the Commissioners will look into it.

A road agreement with EDP renewables was postponed for two weeks to allow some changes in the proposed agreement. Growing Patch Learning Center in Remington gave a presentation. They opened after the Jasper County Youth Center closed in a building that formerly housed Treasure Keepers. They have five classrooms and 64 seats. They are accredited, which increases their costs and they lose about $4,000 per child. They have 19 on their wait list, including some unborn babies. They have 18 paid staff. No action was requested; their report was to update the Commissioners on their current status.

A spokesman from Tecton recommended the low bidders for the remodeling of the Sparling Annex/Health Department. Tecton would like construction to start in mid to late October. The Council approved the signing of the recommendation letter. There was a brief discussion of what to do with the old kitchen material from the building. No other County Department has an interest in using it and it probably has more value as scrap metal than what an auction would bring. Pending legal review the Commissioners approved scrapping it.

There were two bids for foam insulation of the storage barn at the Highway Department. They will be further considered at the continuation of the meeting on Monday, September 16 at 8:30.

Drainage Board

The Jasper County Drainage Board met after the conclusion of the Commissioners' meeting. Tri-County Schools is considering a small expansion of the Tri-County Elementary School. The roof will drain into the woods near the property and then into Carpenter Creek. The plan was approved. Also approved was a proposal to place buried cable under tiles and drains in Carpenter Township. BF&S will prepare bid packets for the next phase of the KV River Project. This phase is for two miles of bank stabilization and has had delays in the State and Federal permitting process. Finally there was a short discussion of what appears to be a dispute between two neighbors concerning a dam on a drainage ditch. The Board did not want to get involved.