More pictures from downtown
On Thursday evening the Harrison Street/Van Rensselaer Street intersection was almost finished. It needs to be finished in a week for Oktoberfest. Notice how the use of differet colored bricks outlines the crosswalk.
Jasper County Council meeting
The Jasper County Council met Tuesday evening. The September meeting is the meeting in which the Council reviews budgets for several taxing units and then approves them in the October meeting. First up was the Rensselaer Central School Corporation. The Council reviews this budget because the School Board is appointed, not elected.
Mr Craig, the superintendent of the School Corporation, read a budget summary and commented on parts of it. (Some of those numbers might be available on the Indiana Gateway site, here.) He noted that assessed valuation was up 12% and that should lead to a lower tax rate. The School Board had scheduled a vote on a new bond issue at its meeting later Tuesday night that would fund new doors and windows at the highs school, new light poles for the football field, gutters for Van Rensselaer, new bleachers for the middle school gym, and new auditorium lighting at the high school. In addition to tax revenues, the schools are funded by the State, which gives $8000 for each student enrolled. That money is used to pay teachers. He said that enrollment was up this year, but the trend for recent years is smaller enrollments. The peak number of students was in the 1970s. The rise in enrollments this year was in the grade and middle school. High school was down and he attributed that to kids choosing on-line schools. The school officials then left to get to the School Board meeting.
Next the Council considered the County budget. Again a bunch of numbers were read. Most County employees will be getting a $2500 pay increase for next year. A flat increase of this sort benefits lower-income employees more than higher-income employees. A new public defender system will change the 2025 budget. The Sheriff is changing the pay schedule of his employees to a percentage of his salary, which in turn is a percentage of the Prosecutor's salary. The vote on the budget will take place at the October meeting.
The Council next reviewed the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District budget. This budget had not been approved by the District's Board because the last meeting did not have a quorum. To help it meet future quorums, the Council appointed Jason Armold to serve on the board. The District is completely funded by tipping fees at the landfills in Newton and White Counties. The Jasper County Council reviews the budget because Jasper County has the highest assessed valuation of the counties served by the district.
The Council then reviewed the budget of the Iroquois Conservancy, which clears log jams from the Iroquois River. This year the Conservancy has added those parts of Benton County that are in the watershed of the Iroquois River.
Before approving the August minutes of three sessions of the Council, the Council approved the budget of Walker Township. It could not approve its own budget because two of the Board members were firemen (and presumably had a conflict of interest). Other townships were instructed to stay within the 4% growth factor.
The Council then approved two transfers. At a previous meeting they had approved appropriation for the Recorders Perpetuation Fund but it had been put into the wrong fund. At this meeting they reduced the wrong fund and made an additional appropriation to the correct fund. They also approved spending from a donation fund for maintenance on sirens, an additional appropriation for law books and research for the Courts, and an appropriation for a cleaning lady for the Surveyor/Extension office.
Sara DeYoung from Jasper County Economics Development Organization gave a presentation about JCEDO that was similar to the presentation that she gave to the Commissioners the day before. She stressed that we need to create communities that people want to live in so that when opportunities come our way, we can take advantage of them.
The review of the Airport budget had been advertised for 7:00 so it did not take place with the other reviews. The Airport was established in 1933 but was closed during WWII. Fuel sales, a major source of Airport revenue, have been good this year. The Airport has averaged about 500 takeoffs and 500 landings per month. Last year the high-school class at the Airport, which has the goal of getting students ready to pursue aviation careers, finished with four students. This year the class has seven students, three from RCHS, three from KVHS, and one from SNHS. Priorities for the future are finishing the master plan and designing a new hangar building. There is a wait list for hangar space. When the Airport makes capital improvements, 90% of the cost is funded by the FAA.
The County has a local income tax (LIT) of 2.864% and the revenue is split to fund various categories. Currently the rate that goes to fund ambulance services is .02 and the Council would like to increase it but to do that without raising the overall tax rate, something else must be reduced. After some discussion, they decided to come back to the issue in October.
The County is under a burn ban because the dry weather has increased the changes of field fires. White and Pulaski have also announced burn bans. (Rensselaer got a couple of showers Friday, but the rain was very localized so the burn ban continues for the County.)
The Commissioners established a committee to plan for a new forensics center and one of the positions on that committee is assigned to a Council member. The Council appointed Jacob Misch.
At the Commissioners meeting there was a discussion of how to account for fees that the Coroner pays for transporting bodies. The Commissioners decided that was an issue for the Council. The Council and Auditor had a confusing discussion on the issue and I am not sure if agreement was reached. The Council did agree to raise the transfer fee from $125 to $175 retroactively to January 1.
The meeting lasted almost 2.5 hours and thankfully there were no public comments.
Networking event
On Thursday the Jasper Newton Foundation and United Way of Northwest Indiana hosted a lunch and networking event at the Carnegie Center. This was one of several such events that the United Way has had in the region it serves, primarily Porter and Lake Counties but also Starke, Jasper, and Newton. After a quick lunch and some remarks from United Way (I regret not getting a tour of their mobile van that they brought), the people attending introduced themselves and told what they did. Here are the organizations that I caught and some highlights.
Level Up works with United Way to help people get certifications and jobs or better jobs. They provide conseling and teach financial skills. To get into their program, one needs to have the desire to improve.
Meals on Wheels delivers meals and as a byproduct also provides wellness checks. Like many of the organizations represented, they are headquartered in Lake or Porter Counties.
Girls on the Run of Northwest Indiana has a site in DeMotte and would like to see one established in Rensselaer.
Alzheimer's Association sponsors walks in Porter and Lake Counties and would like to see one established in Newton or Jasper County.
WorkOne has a Rensselaer office and helps people get training to advance in the job market.
KIRPC Head Start is underenrolled in all of their locations except Rensselaer.
Newton County Community Services provides similar services to those provided by Jasper County Community Services. This past year they started a community garden.
Northshore Health Center has a location in DeMotte.
New Vistas High School is an alternative charter school in Portage.
The Connection Center in DeMotte has been expanding their programs.
Catholic Charities-Diocese of Gary looks to partner with other organizations.
I did not catch the name of an adult education group that helped people get their GEDs.
The American Heart Association is putting blood-pressure hubs in various locations to help find people with very high blood pressure and who are unaware that they have a problem.
Scouting, which used to be Boy Scouts before they opened to girls, has several programs.
Birthright of Rensselaer supports pregnant women and women with young children.
Right Steps staffs eight child care centers including Appletree in Rensselaer.
Indiana Department of Health-Health Equity Council was represented as was Franciscan Health Hospice care.
Anew Ministries provides support for young, mostly teen mothers who face challenges. They have a chapter in DeMotte.
Finally, Saint Joseph's College announced that they had purchased two semis for the CDL Academy and that they would be restarting the hoop house with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter school, which now lists SJC as their regional home instead of the Jasper County Fairgrounds.
Rensselaer Plan Commission
The Rensselaer Plan Commission met on Thursday evening. At a previous meeting they did not give approval to the SJC Building Trades subdivision because some details still needed to be worked out. Apparently they were not all worked out because Commission tabled the item to the October 17 meeting.
The next item also concerned SJC. There was no zoning for the SJC property. The proposal sent to the City Council with a favorable recommendation would make the campus between Sparling and the highway as well as the bowling alley, the field south of Justin Hall which SJC no longer owns, and Mount Calvary Cemetery zoned as B2, which is a business zoning. The College Woods will be zoned RS, which is the least restrictive residential zoning, if the Council concurs. Since the Council asked the Commission to deal with this issue, it is highly likely that they will concur.
A second matter that the Council wanted the Commission to address was the need to get variances when a residence in a zone classified for business changed hands. The original variance does not transfer. The Commission voted to change the policy to allow non-conforming residences in business zoning to continue being used as residences when there is a change in ownership. It also allows, with some restrictions, a non-conforming residence to be repaired if it is damaged.
The State says that redevelopment commissions should have a seal so the Commission adopted one. I did not see what it looked like.
Finally, on August 21 the members agreed via telephone to change the lot on which the SJC building trades program would build from lot 5 to lot 1. They affirmed this change with a vote. (I was wondering why the construction was happening on what I thought was the wrong lot.)
Odds and ends
There was a death in the County that has attracted media attention. It is the subject of the lead article in this week's Rensselaer Republican.
Also in the Republican are stories about change in ownership of the Ritz and the change in leadership at the Jasper County Library.
As one theater becomes a church, a church becomes a theater. The is a former church that is becoming a theater and the Carnegie Players are raising money to help repair the building.
Milroy Park has been prepared for the ScareCrow Trail.
The County Clerk has posted the candidates for the general election on Facebook but I cannot find the list on the County website.
Maybe next week the Fire Tower at the Fire Station will be put together.
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