A first taste of winter

Winter

On Thursday the 21st Rensselaer woke up to the first snow of the season. 

I expected it to be gone by the afternoon, but I was wrong. We got more snow in the afternoon, enough to have local schools dismiss students early and lots of events were canceled. The temps warmed overnight so almost all of the snow was gone by the next afternoon. Then on Thursday evening the City had a large water main break and had to shut down the water system. As a result, a boil order was issued and City schools had an e-learning day on Friday.

The forecast for the week after Thanksgiving features real winter weather, with highs below freezing and lows in the teens. Real winter is coming.

Rensselaer City Council meeting

At the November 25, 2024 meeting of the Rensselaer City Council, Michelle Lagestee, representing the Jasper County Trails Club, gave Council members a handout. She complimented Rensselaer for being very walkable and said that Jasper County has been registered with the DNR for trail development. She noted that Jasper County does not have abandoned rail right-of-way to develop as trails, which some counties have. She and the Trail Club are working with the Mayor's office to get funding for a trail from Brookside Park to the Fairgrounds and possibly the Interstate. 

The Council opened a public hearing to discuss vacating an unnamed street and also a portion of Prairie Street. Adjoining landowners requested that the hearing be postponed until the December 9th meeting, and it was. Returning to the agenda, the Council approved several transfers of funds, most of which were to provide matching funding for the Community Crossings grant. The Superintendent of the Gas Department, Carol Lockridge, is retiring at the beginning of 2025 and the Council approved Todd Wilson as her replacement.

The Council approved signing two items, a HWC Engineering Contract for a ADA Transition Plan and Title VI Update and a USDA-RD 2025 Proposed Budget Statement. It also approved a contract with Peerless Midwest for a Wellhead Protection Plan 5-Year Update Proposal. That contract was for $14,750. 

The Water Department had received two bids for a new truck to use by the water treatment plant. The Council approved the Gutwein Motor bid of $62,119. The truck will be ready in April.

The leaf vac was out of service for four days but is now working again. There was a discussion of the City obtaining a system to broadcast emergency information, such as last week's water-main break and resulting boil order. There was a suggestion to see if the City might piggyback on the Sheriff''s system. The Council approved hiring an outside representative for some building department issue.

The Christmas lights are up in the downtown and on Tuesday the Electric Department will finish installing the street lights in Filson Park. 95% of the design work is finished for the crossing of I-65 by the water, sewer, and gas lines. Contractors are finishing up a few loose ends on the Brick Street Project and the Water Tower Project. The Park Department is working on getting a master plan started. After the Christmas Parade on December 7 there will be activities in Both Filson and Potawatomi Parks and there may be a dedication ceremony for Filson Park.

The various offices in City Hall are competing for the best decorated office.

As promised in the City Council meeting, the Electric Department was installing street lights for Filson Park on Tuesday.

Odds and ends

On Monday a crew was busy taking down several large trees in Weston Cemetery. The northwest corner of Section D will look different.

The outer shell of the building trades house at SJC is finished. 

Someone on Facebook noticed new windows on the building next to the new Clinic of Family Medicine and the post lead to an interesting series of comments. 

It looks to me that the old windows, which were probably in very bad shape, were removed and these decorated windows are temporary until new windows can be installed.

The Christmas lights are up in the downtown. 

The Cobre mural, one of the most impressive murals that Rensselaer has, is showing its age. 

There have been crews installing cable for the past few weeks. On Tuesday they were by the First Merchants drive up.

The old Dollar Tree store, which is now empty, has had its lights on for about a month. When I first noticed the lights, I thought maybe something new was going into the space. Now I think someone just forgot to turn the lights off.

More decorated windows

The window painters have been busy and have finished most or all of what they are planning to do downtown. Now they will paint windows of Chamber members that are not downtown. However, the cold weather may stop them. When it gets too cold, the paint freezes.

The next two are on the windows of the Rensselaer Republican.

Jordan Balvich Dentistry.

The picture says it all.

The State Farm office on the corner of Washington and Cullen.

Rule's Auto Care.

Sblendid.

CI Insurance.

The next two are on the Clinic of Family Medicine.

Earth Magic.

First Merchants Bank.

Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.