Merry Christmas

Pictures

Before the Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting on Thursday night, I paused in front of the Court House to watch some of the light show being displayed and snapped a few pictures. The display seems to be a loop that is five or ten minutes long.

Tuesday night will be the last night for an Advent wreath. Tempus fugit.

The entire staff here at Rensselaer Adventures wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  ;-)

Thursday evening meetings


The Rensselaer Advisory Plan Commission met on Thursday evening. Under old business was the preliminary plat for the SJC Building Trades Subdivision. The item was continued to the next meeting because there are still details to be ironed out. SJC has switched engineers to help design a lift station and that may be finished in time for the February meeting. 

The Park Department needs a master plan in order to be eligible for grants and Mr Davis recommended the firm HWC Engineering, which has helped Remington in its park planning, to develop the plan. The City also needs changes in its master plan to encourage housing and again HWC Engineering was recommended. The Commission endorsed these recommendations that will be sent to the City Council for approval.

There was some discussion of proposed changes in and additions to fees charged by the Building Department. I left the meeting before this discussion concluded because I wanted to get home to Zoom the Airport Authority Board meeting that overlapped the Plan Commission meeting.

The Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting usually has a meeting the second Tuesday of the month and a late December meeting to deal with whatever has to be cleaned up by the end of the year. These two meetings were replaced  with a meeting on Thursday evening. The meeting began with an update on a land swap that the Airport would like to make to provide space for an east-west runway. There is slow progress and that is to be expected because of government regulations. The Airport may be ready to present something at the January or February Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting.

There was a short discussion of what to do with Airport funds when the current short-term investments mature. There will be a Finance Board meeting in January that may decide. The Airport has had a problem with a toilet overflowing. The manager had received quotes to replace toilets, but some Board members suggested the problem might not be the toilets but the sewer lines. A committee was established to investigate.

There were a variety of transfers and encumbrances to clean up the books for the end of the year. The Board approved two new hangar leases. The rental plane needs a new engine and it should be arriving in January. There were various expenses and maintenance issues discussed. Some Windracer drones will be stored at the Airport and the Board approved a storage fee. The website is being revised and may be hosted by IN.gov. This was the last meeting for the President of the Board, David Pettet, and he was given something to express the Board's appreciation for his service.

(The picture was provided by a Board member. From left to right, Emily Hackler, Andrew Andree, and David Pettet. The framed item appears to be a windsock.)



A last meeting

The County Commissioners met for their end-of-the-year meeting on Monday morning. It was the last meeting of the year and the last meeting for three of the main actors in these meetings, Auditor Donya Jordan, Commissioner Jeff DeYoung, and Commissioner James Walstra. I turned in on Zoom a few minutes after the start of the meeting, missing the Pledge of Allegiance, but in time to see former Commissioner Kendell Culp present Donya Jordan with a certificate. He recounted her 44 years of service to the County in the offices of Auditor, Treasurer, and Recorder. President Bontreger then presented these three with a canvas and something I could not identify. Below is what the presentation by Mr Culp looked like for viewers on Zoom. On the left is Attorney Beaver, standing in the back are Commissioners DeYoung, Bontreger, and Walstra, and seated at the right is Auditor-elect Dianne Boersma. (Update: Better pictures here and here. Before I started Zoom, Jim Walstra also received the Governor's Distinguished Service Award.)

After some claims and conference requests were approved, the Health Department had a request to close on January 9 and 10 in order to move within the building. Phase 1 of the remodeling of the building will be finished and the Department will move into the finished space so work can begin on Phase 2. As part of Phase 2, the conference room will be remodeled and the post in the middle of the room will be removed. The January 7 Commissioners meeting will be held in this room, the last public meeting to be held there until the remodeling is finished.

The Commissioners approved, after a brief review by their attorney, a contractual services agreement with the Extension Office. This is done annually. It approved a request by Community Corrections to replace two employees, one part-time and one full-time. A request from the Clerk's Office to replace an employee was tabled to the January meeting. 

There is a new law that requires that the Sheriff's Office get approval from the Commissioners for any contract involving money and the Sheriff had three for them to approve. The Commissioners also approved the signing of the Sheriff's contract that had been previously approved.

The State Board of Accounts told the County that the duties of the Commissioners' attorney need to be spelled out in a contract, and the Commissioners approved that new contract. The Commissioners got a brief report on three safety grants that the County had obtained, two from the State and one from the Federal Government. The County is also working with the City on a grant application for a trail along SR 114.

The Commissioners approved two changes to the work schedule of EDP Renewables for the Carpenter Wind Farm. Residents wanted to have wind-farm use of CR 1800 South finished by the start of the school year and the County wants $1.8 million for new culverts before the work begins. 

The Highway Department wants to allow observance of three County holidays that fall on Fridays to be moved to Thursday for its employees and this was granted. There was a brief discussion of vandalism and theft of stop signs. The Commissioners approved the replacement of a part-time employee in the Recorder's office.

Paul Norwine, speaking as a citizen, praised the work and accomplishments of the three officials who were at their last Commissioners meeting. He lauded Mr Walsta's work on the Kankakee River Commission. Then the Commissioners appointed Vince Urbano to take the spot that Mr Walstra had on that Commission and appointed Jeff DeYoung to the technical advisory board of the Commission. Mr DeYoung urged the incoming Commissioners to make sure the sidewalk on the east side of the Court House is repaired. He also noted that the Commissioner's job takes a lot more time than the job of a Councilman.

Odds and ends

Appletree Rensselaer announced that it has achieved a Level 3 Paths to QUALITY™ rating. Paths to QUALITY is Indiana’s quality rating and improvement system for child care programs. There are four levels, and level 4 does not appear to have anything that improves what the children get.

The old carriage house now has a roof.