TOP ribboncutting and a bunch of meetings

 TOP 

On Thursday there was a ribbon cutting for the opening of TOP.

TOP is The Other Place Workspace, a professional shared workspace. It makes up the eastern part of the old REMC/County Annex building and contains 3000 square feet of space. There are six offices that people can rent and one is already rented. The first rental is for a financial consultant whose main office is in Lafayette and this office serves as a satellite office for meeting local clients. The offices range from 100 square feet to 212 square feet and all rent for the same amount. They rent for $500 to $600 depending on how long the rental term is, with a minimum of three months. Until August 1 there is a discount for rentals.

There is an alternative to renting offices. A person can rent access to the facilities for $55 a month with a three month minimum. That will give access to the lobby, conference room (shown below), restrooms, a kitchen, and an area that will have a couple of computers connected to the Internet. 

Below is the area that will have computers. It was set up on this day for a Chamber of Commerce lunch.

Everything is very attractive. This is the kitchen.

Below is the largest office. It was not the first claimed. That was the office in front with large windows.

The rest of the building is called TOPLink Business Center and it has an almost unused Facebook page here. The building was built about 1964 for REMC and no one at the luncheon remembered what was on the site before then. In about 1985 REMC moved and it became an annex to the Courthouse, housing a number of offices, most prominently the Health Department, the Prosecutor's Office, and a Court room. After the County purchased the former PNC Bank building and moved some offices there, the building sat empty until 2022 when the four Fleming brothers purchased it.

After the Chamber lunch, there were tours of the whole building. The 8000 square feet that are not part of the TOP workspace are mostly unfinished. There is room for about ten offices or retail spaces, and the area will be remodeled to suit the needs of whoever wants to rent space. One space will be rented starting in October. Rent includes utilities.

There are reminders of what used to be in this space.

The Facebook page for the workspace is here and you can find more pictures there.

(An earlier post on this building is here.)

Other things

We got hours of sprinkles on Sunday that never accumulated enough to get streets wet under trees and we got a better rain on Tuesday, with about a third of an inch. It was not enough to lift the burn ban in the County. 

The dry weather has created interesting patterns in the grass at Weston Cemetery. One can see where people were buried, and these are not new graves, but graves that are more than half a century old. Apparently the dirt used to fill the holes does not retain water as well as the undisturbed soil does.

Work continues on the utility replacement on Harrison Street.

The storm-sewer replacement under College Avenue seems to be finished because now the sidewalks are being ripped up.

The Rensselaer Republican had an update on the Project Ribeye meat processing plant that was planned for south of DeMotte. An agreement with DeMotte to hook up water and sewer needs to be finalized before construction can begin.

The weekly car show, Cylinders and Snacks started a few weeks ago. Today (Thursday) there were a lot of cars participating.

Last week I went to the Business-After-Hours event at the Chamber of Commerce and when I was writing the previous post, I did not remember some of the tidbits I heard while there. There was mention that the owner of Walters Auto Electric had retired. The building no longer has its sign and the note on the door reads, "Closed. We have retired. It has been a pleasure serving you."

There was mention of a new food provider who delivers a limited menu and does not yet have a physical location for dining. It is called "Not Your Typical Wings" and the Facebook page is here.  The owners left this message on another page: "we are a restaurant in a temporary location until a building is ready for us to move in! that’s why we are doing deliveries only at the moment! but hoping in the next month or so we can move to a store front in town!"

Finally, there was discussion of a Facebook page that links to many events that are going on locally. It is called Destination Rensselaer.

Board of Public Works meeting

The June Board of Public Works meeting on Monday began with approval of change order #5 for the main lift-station and unsewered areas project. It added an additional grinder station on West Clark, additional trees, changes to roads and walkways, and some other things. The cost is $99,126.85 and it adds an extra 93 days to the project, which was substantially completed on May 15. The Board also approved Thieneman Pay Request #13 for $941,498.43. Thieneman expects to be finished by Friday and be out of here. (I assume that means that any additional work will be done by subcontractors.) Two invoices from Commonwealth for the lift-station and unsewered-areas project were also approved, one for $20,054.78 and the other for $611.22.

Maguire Iron, the company that is building the new water tower by the Interstate, made its first pay request and it was approved. The amount was $206,754.31. When it finishes getting the foundation in, there will be a lag of about a month before it starts building the tower. Commonwealth Engineering had three invoices related to this project that totaled $11,372.

Baker Tilly had an invoice for $20,000 for work on the asset management plan for the sewage department. It was approved. Assistant Street Superintendent Bryce Black recommended to the Board that the City enter into an agreement that would make it open to getting financing from a Federal grant. The concern is PFAS contamination in drinking water and right now it is not regulated but may be in the future. The money that the City might obtain would give the City additional testing. The Board accepted his recommendation.

City Council meetings

After the usual preliminaries, the Council approved an ordinance to write off uncollectible utility accounts. They are accounts that are over seven years old or where the person has died or has declared bankruptcy. The gas tracker for June will reflect a 15 cent decrease per hundred cubic feet. 

Sharon Colee from Community Services gave a presentation about public transportation in Rensselaer. The Community Service vans are the only public transportation in Rensselaer. In the first five months of this year they made 3750 one-way trips, with 85% of their trips originating in Rensselaer. The cost per trip is a dollar. Her presentation was to introduce the Council to the idea that the City should provide some money for this transportation in its budget and she left documents with the Council members. When pressed on what she was after, she said she would like the City to provide $1000 per month. The item will be on the agenda for the next meeting. (This week's Rensselaer Republican has more details about her presentation.)

The Council approved a Police Department request for public relations funds for $82.28 for hosting lunch for some school kids. It also approved an amendment to the Community Crossings project to spend $14,360 to repave Augusta Street. The Council granted permission to the Assistant Street Superintendent to apply for a recycling grant that could pay 50% of the cost of replacing the leaf vac, which has frequent breakdowns.

The Mayor is looking for people who would be willing to serve on the Redevelopment Authority, which rarely meets except when bond funding is needed. The appointees must live within the City limits. 

Work on Filson Park started and now is stalled because the plans need approval from some State department or board and also because the Park needs BZA approval. There was a brief discussion of backyard pools, an issue a citizen raised at the last Plan Board or BZA meeting. The matter was tabled.

The Fire Department responded to 21 calls since June 6, all but one grass fires. The Council granted a request from the Fair Board for the use of a garbage truck during the County Fair. The gas department will totally rebuild the regulator station next to McDonalds at the south side of Rensselaer. All City gas goes through it. There was a question about the many reports of gas leaks recently. The problem was not gas leaks but rather too much odorant was being added due to a failure of a sensor on the trunk line. Natural gas is odorless so an odor is added so leaks can be recognized. 

The Council had a special meeting on Wednesday to open bids for the Brick Street Project. I entered the wrong day on my calendar and missed the meeting.

Tourism Commission meeting

The Tourism could not get a quorum for its scheduled Tuesday meeting so postponed the meeting until Thursday.  It began the meeting with the question of whether the County was receiving the inns-keeper tax from the AirBNBs. The matter will be investigated.

The staff of JECDO and Tourism proposed hiring consultants from Ball State to review the resources of the County and what is being done to promote tourism to determine if some adjustments could be made to improve results. The cost of the study will be $12,500 and the Board approved it.

There was a discussion of the need for a community calendar and an application called whatsup247. Jasper County Tourism no longer partners with South Shore and is looking for a way to let people know what is going on locally. Benton County uses this and you can see what they do with this product here. The matter was tabled until the next month as members investigate further.

Businesses are being encouraged to do things that tie into Art Week and a form is available to help. Tourism has recently published brochures on murals, the farm trail, and a listing of attractions and tourism related businesses. There was another discussion of using a marketing company for a range of services. The Commission approved spending up to $5000 to have a Tourism website constructed.

The Commission approved spending $2500 for an event at the end of Mural Week that will feature dueling pianos. The planned site is the lot that once had Long's gifts.

At the last meeting there was mention of a local artist who wanted to be included in Mural Week. The Commission approved $2500 for supplies but did not like the proposed location, the back wall of the Barnes Shelter in Iroquois Park. The comments were that no one uses the park. The Commission approved a sponsorship of $300 for the Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery event sponsored by the Jasper County Historical Society and $5000 for the Little Cousin Jasper Festival. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday July 10.

Jasper County Tourism is giving information about mural artists who will be participating in Mural Week on its RenArtWlk Facebook page.

Airport Authority Board meeting

The Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday evening discussed routine airport matters. There was a brief discussion at the beginning of an Illinois woman who did five big donuts on airport farmland. She had been at a dog show at the Fairgrounds and alcohol was involved. The case is in the Court system and the Board members discussed what damages they might seek.

The Airport passed INDOT inspection. Both flight instructors have left for other opportunities but a new one will start soon. There are five candidates for the position of assistant manager. 32 young people got airplane rides in the Young Eagles program. Five planes, all from Lafayette, participated. 

We have passed the vernal equinox

Sunday was the vernal equinox. The sun will now rise north of due east and set north of due west.

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening. First on the agenda was an ordinance that would charge new electric services for meter bases and, for commercial installations only, transformers. Currently there is no charge for either though many other electric utilities charge for these and other costs of providing new hook-ups. This matter had been discussed at a February meeting and tabled to get more information. The measure passed. 

The Council also approved the transfer of funds not spent from the general fund to the rainy-day fund. The amount was $250,000. It also approved the electric tracker for the next quarter. It will be a reduction of $12.20 per megawatt. The customer using the average amount of electricity will save $8.54 on a monthly bill.

The Council opened bids for a new pole-barn storage building for the electric utility. There was only one bid, from Farm Builders for $173,686. However, the bid submission did not include a non-collusion affidavit. Normally this would disqualify the bid, but there was only one bid. The matter was taken under advisement and tabled to the next meeting. The Mayor selected a committee to review the bid if the City Attorney can get a non-collusion agreement from FBI.

There were four bids received to remove 35 trees on City right-of-ways and the low bid was from Timber Tree Service for $14,475. This bid resulted in something I do not recall ever seeing in a meeting, concern that the bid was too low. (The bid works out to $414 per tree. Two recent contracts had per-tree costs of $772 and $580.) The project manager had talked to the bidder who said that he wanted to get his foot in the door for working with the City. Later there was some discussion whether all bidders on City contracts above a certain amount should be bonded to insure that they do the work properly.

The Council approved a request of $5000 to help purchase new Christmas lights decorations. 

The four-year term of the Rensselaer School Board member appointed by the Council ends in June and the Council is inviting anyone interested in the position to apply before the second meeting in April. The Council will interview and make an appointment in May. Several Council members expressed the opinion that the Board should be elected, but Mayor said that the townships oppose this so it will not happen.

There will be work this year on McKinley Avenue and it will be closed for several weeks. The City-wide garage sale is set for May 1.

(INDOT is working on the local I-65 interchanges. From the Facebook page of Indiana Department of Transportation Northwest: "The State Road 114 and State Road 14 bridges over I-65 will be reduced to one lane for bridge deck overlay projects beginning Monday, March 15. Temporary stoplights will be installed to direct traffic, and lane restrictions will be in place through mid-August, 2021.")

I have seen quite a few people enjoying the new disc golf course in Brookside Park. There is now a map of the course posted near the entrance from Lincoln Street.

Rules for the course are also posted.

In a little more than a month the first tournament at Blacker Fields is scheduled. Benches for the dugouts and stands for a few fans have been installed.

Newton County is planning a rather unusual triathlon on May 15. It features a paddle, bike ride, and trail run on a course that will have mud.

Benton County will be offering tours of wind farms this summer.

The County has listed for sale its former annex at 128 N Cullen. The former Cooper Tire building on the corner of Washington and Front also has a for-sale sign. The building has been closed for about a year but it has had lights on. I guess this means that they are not planning to reopen it. They have a second location near the SR 114 and I-65 intersection. A third downtown property for sale is the building that houses Balloons Galore and More.

Council meeting, population, and an bygone controversy

Monday's City Council meeting had a short agenda. After the routine opening items, the Council approved the gas tracker resolution, which was an eight cent decrease per hundred cubic feet. (January had seen a fifteen cent increase.)

Each year the City passes an ordinance to return outstanding warrants to original funds. The ordinance assumes that City checks that have not been cashed for two years will never be cashed, and the books are adjusted accordingly. If someone who was supposed to be paid and lost the check asks for payment, they will still be paid. The Council, as it does each year, passed the ordinance. It then passed an ordinance establishing a donation fund. If someone or a group wants to make a donation for a specific purpose (flags for downtown was the one mentioned), this fund will be a place to park the funds. People can earmark donations for specific purposes and the money will only be spent for that purpose.

The Little Cousin Festival Committee requested a donation of $500 for a scholarship it is offering. Why the LCJ Committee is giving a scholarship and why the City should contribute were never really explained, but the Council granted the request.

In a recent Council meeting the discussion of recording equipment led to the establishment of a committee to investigate options. On Monday the committee reported that it had gotten a second quote. The quote from the company that had made the presentation a few meetings back was $17,000 and the new quote was not to exceed $12,000. It would include microphones for each Council member that record on a separate track so that each mic can be isolated on playback. It would also include two large monitors that would allow the audience to see presentations. The Committee was asked to get a written quote for the next meeting.

The Clerk-Treasurer asked the Council to consider moving her office into some of the space vacated by the Police Department. A committee (Barton and Cover) was established to consider the proposal.

City offices will closed on President's Day.  A new power line along SR 114 has been completed that connects the City with the Watt substation. Well #8 (on Sparling) has its new pump and this week should be tested. If all goes well, it may be on line by the end of the week. With that, the meeting ended.

A few days ago a Pulaski County Facebook page linked to a page of population estimates for Indiana Counties. (See here.) Pulaski County had one of the largest percentage drops in the state, a decline of 6% from 2010 to 2017. I wonder if their tax structure contributed to that. Pulaski has the highest county income tax in the state. They decided to transfer taxes from property, which is hard and in the case of land impossible to move, to people with income. Jasper County has had almost no change in population according to these estimates, though any effect from the closing of St. Joseph's College would probably not show up because the data only goes to 2017. Most rural counties show population declines and most urban counties have population increases.

The cold weather and the falling river level have created some strange ice formations on trees along the river.

Finally, I was recently scanning through newspapers from 1903. The contentious issue of the day was liquor, with the temperance movement seeking to shut down the bars. I thought this article was humous enough to save.

Odds and end to begin November

As far as I know, there is nothing big and exciting happening this week but there are a lot of little things happening. I ventured out to see if the Watt substation on Bunkum was finished yet. It is not but is much further along than the last time I was there (which seems to have been two months ago).

 On the way out I stopped by the old water well field on Bunkum. The well houses were demolished in July but only recently have the pipes above ground been removed and the wells capped. Or maybe one has not been capped yet. There seemed to be water seeping out of the pipe where the westernmost of the three wells was located. Early history of Rensselaer reports that there was at least one artesian well in the area so maybe this should not be so surprising.

 The curb for the widening of North Elza Street is in place. The street will be a bit wider when the project is finished.

 The asphalt to smooth the transition of the Milroy walking path and the street has been put in place, though the last time I looked at it, barricades were still up.

This week workers finished the little sidewalk that leads to the soccer field in Brookside Park.

I visited Monon this week and noticed a new marquee on the old theater. The theater has been closed for quite a few years but is being restored. A post on the Facebook page of the Monon Civic Preservation Society indicates it was installed on September 1.

Meanwhile the restored theater in Fowler seems to be having trouble attracting enough people (and volunteers).

I noticed that gas prices have jumped to their highest level in quite a while.  Most of the prices in Rensselaer are just shy of $2.90.

Work on the bridge seems to have slowed this week. There is still a bit of concrete to pour for the end railings and some asphalt needed to connect the concrete of the bridge with the existing road. The bridge is scheduled to be open in a couple of weeks.

I could not resist including this article published a century ago in the Jasper County Democrat. I wonder what the current figures would be. Also, note that DeMotte is not mentioned. It must have been very small if Keener township has so few cars.

And while on the subject of livestock, congratulations to the Rensselaer Central High School FFA Livestock Judging team that won the national competition last week. The Rensselaer Republican had an article about the team and their accomplishment in Saturday's (10/28/2017) edition. The press release from the national FFA is here.

City Council, Sept 11 2017

The Rensselaer City Council had its first September meeting on Monday evening. First up was a presentation on the Vietnam Wall that will be visiting Rensselaer on May 24-28 next year. This Wall is scaled-down replica of the Wall monument in Washington DC. There was a booth promoting the Wall at the Little Cousin Jasper Festival and signing up volunteers to help work the event.

A public hearing for the 2018 budget elicited no response from the public and the budget was passed. The Council then repealed a recently-passed ordinance on use of City credit cards by City employees and pass a replacement. The State Board of Accounts had reviewed the original ordinance and thought there should be some minor changes and the repeal and replace made those changes.

The gas tracker was essentially unchanged for September. The Council then discussed pay for seasonal Park supervisors. It was noted both that the pay for some of the positions seemed to translate into very high hourly wages and that it was difficult finding people for these positions. The Council froze the pay for these positions for 2018 with the intention of reviewing them in the next year.

The City electrical utility has dispatched two trucks and four employees to help restore power in Florida. This was part of an IMPA initiative. The crews have arrived in Florida and have started working.

The Washington Street bridge is now closed. Equipment for the work is being positioned on the County lot across from Ayda's.

 Two large excavators are now on the bridge but as of Tuesday evening had not started deconstruction.

 Embers had a humorous take on the situation. (The words "Detour Here" are in the arrow.)

Odds and ends, May 26 2017

On Wednesday workers were taking down the fencing around the tennis courts at Saint Joseph's College. Below is a picture from the afternoon.

 On Thursday afternoon all the posts were gone.

The two goal posts on the practice field east of the field house were also removed. I have no idea why any of this was done.

 On Wednesday I noticed a large number of parts for wind turbines south of US 24 between Wolcott and Remington. I searched the Internet to find more, but found little. The town of Wolcott had a two pictures a couple weeks ago, and I found an article from last November announcing a contract to sell the output from an expansion of the Meadow Lake farm. I did not get a picture, but there were a lot wind mill pieces.

Also to our south, the artist who did the bird mural on the wall of Embers has been busy in Fowler. He has painted grain on one elevator silo and has some other projects scheduled. It is surprising he is back in Indiana because he lives in San Francisco.

The LaRue pool now has water.

 The playground and many other park areas have new mulch.

 On Thursday there was activity in the O'Reilly building. Stocking seems to be beginning. To the north the excavation at GRG Service is finished and the area has a new concrete surface. Concrete was also being poured this week at the Marathon by the railroad. I think that means that the new fuel tanks have been installed.

A crew was working on the landscaping at the high rate treatment plant and perhaps they have finally finished the project.

Have a nice weekend.

Update: See comments for more about the goal posts and fencing.

Where and what? (Updated)

Do you know where this picture was taken and what it is showing? It was taken yesterday (Thursday) and today most of that snow would be gone after above-freezing temperatures and rain.

I will update with an answer tomorrow.

Benton County Economic Development put a promotional video on Youtube. I thought it was interesting. (The video mentions the Teays River, which two million years ago drained much of what is now the eastern US.)

Update: The scene is from the east end of Maple Street, east of the state highway garage and north of National Gypsum. It will be the future home of a solar panel farm. The placement of the culvert allows machinery access to the field, a necessary first step. I expect to be making frequent visits in 2014 to document the progress of the project.

Today (Saturday) is the winter solstice. That means that the days will start getting longer, though it may not be until the end of January that most of us will be able to see the lengthening.

It looks like I was wrong a week ago when I predicted a white Christmas. The weather forecasters did not predict the rain that we have had this weekend which is melting most of the snow.