A last post for February 2025

 A new business

Rensselaer has a new business, a drink bar on Vine Street. It opened at the end of January and is called B&B Teas and Sips. It is filling the void left when Sblendid closed.  It is located in a tiny shop that previously housed hair salons. 

Here is their menu. I learned what bobas are.

And here is a look at the interior.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening with a short agenda. After the usual preliminaries, they discussed a fee schedule that had been tabled at the last meeting. No changes had been made and a couple of Council members thought that some fees were too high and there were too many fees. Mr Davis responded that the reason there were so many fees is because the zoning code is very complex. The Council sent it back to the Plan Commission for some simplification.

The Council made a final vote to vacate an alley way north of vine near the Maxwell Ditch. This was the second vote so the result is final. The Council also made second and final approval of new Districts. They also quickly approved a FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) request and approved Shelby Keys signing a USRDA report after the mayor approved the final document. The next item was a contribution of JCEDO but the director of JCEDO was not present so the item was tabled until the next meeting. Finally there was a brief discussion of an accounting issue. The City accounts on a cash basis and the utilities account on an accrual basis..

In comments by the superintendents, the repair of the Melville sewer line is still in the permitting stage. The line seems to have been installed in the 1930. Closure of the Scott Street rail crossing has begun. The water main along US 231 south of town has had multiple problems. There is the possibility that Rose Acre will expand and will need upgraded gas service. Office furniture has been moved into the new Park office in the light plant.

JC BZA meeting

Later on Monday the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met. The first two items on the agenda were variances for lot width, one in Wheatfield and one in Walker Township. In both cases the owners want to divide off a few acres behind the existing residence. Both were approved. The third item on the agenda was a special exception for a cell tower in Union Township. However, the person who should have been explaining the tower was not present, so the matter was tabled until the March 17 meeting.

JC Plan Commission meeting

The Plan Commission had four items on its agenda. The first was from the people who had received a lot-width variance in Wheatfield Township in the BZA meeting. Their request for a two-lot subdivision was granted. The next item was a request for a rezone from A1 to A2 in Walker Township. To build a house on A1 land requires ten acres but only four in A2. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The third request was for a rezone from A2 to A4 so a young man can establish a landscape business. He said he would not do retail, only park trucks and store supplies on the lot. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The final item on the agenda was a request for a two-lot subdivision in Walker Township. It was approved.

There have been rumors that Jasper County may be considered for a data center. They use large amounts of electricity and water. County officials are working on a data-center ordinance that would specify what requirements would be placed on any future center.

More odds and ends

A grandson had a birthday a few days ago. We called his watch to wish him a happy birthday. I do not think that I had ever before called a watch.

I enjoy watching the report of ice cover on the Great Lakes. After being below the average for most of the year, the cold weather last week created a spike that broke through the average. Now with warmer weather we are again below average. You can access some of that data here.

Rensselaerians can now sign up for Rensselaer's alert system.

Finally, congratulations to the Lady Bombers Basketball team who will play for the State Championship in class 2A on Saturday.

Mostly late Feb 2025 meetings

 Old business

The previous post had a picture of a proposed plan for Milroy Park. After I wrote the post, I wondered when those plans might have been made. The picture had the Milroy monument on it, so the plans were after the monument was erected. That was in July of 1910. The Jasper County Historical Society commemorated the centennial of the dedication of the Milroy statue, and the post for that is here.

Searching the Hoosier State Chronicles, I found that the City bought the Milroy property in December of 1902. In 1903 the buildings, once the home and barn of General Milroy, were sold and moved.

When the site for the Carnegie Library was being discussed, Milroy and Weston Parks were both considered. Weston Park was bordered by Franklin, Division, and Plum Streets. The current name of that park is Flat Iron Park. The first mention of it I could find was in 1893, so it might be Rensselaer's first public park.

I found an article in 1920 that said the tennis court in Milroy Park was being repaired.

Commissioners meeting

The most interesting item at the special Commissioners' meeting on February 18 was a presentation of the proposed Marvella women's sports center that is planned for a 110 -acre site just to the south of Fair Oaks Farms. Although it will be on the Newton County's side of CR 1200W, it will have a large impact on Jasper County. The organizers claim that it will be the first sports center dedicated to women's sports. Construction will be in three phases, with the first phase, scheduled to start this Spring, being the most ambitious. Phase1 will see the construction of a massive indoor center that will be open year around. It should be ready to open in late summer of 2026. The other two phases will see the construction of a success center, a museum, and more outdoor fields and is scheduled for completion in late summer of 2027. The center will employ about 200 full-time people and several hundred part-time people. The goal is to make this a national destination.The complex is named after Marvella Bayh, wife of a former Indiana governor. For more about the center, check their website at marvellasports.com.

In other business the Commissioners approved replacing a correctional officer in the Sheriff's Department and two employees in Community Corrections. They also approved a reshuffling of positions at Community Corrections, eliminating a supervisor position to add a caseworker, to balance workloads. They approved a request from the Health Department for $1790 for flu shots for County Employees. They  provided the Fair Board a letter of support for a feasibility study for their proposed show arena. They approved re-allocating allotments for fuel among the various departments to take advantage of the negotiated Keystone rates. They approved a mowing bid and a vacation extension request. 

The meeting had reached the "Other Business" item. The Commissioners approved the signing of two safety grants. The approval was necessary to meet a time requirement. There was a discussion of credit and debit cards, both for routine County business and for unusual emergency situations. The Auditor was asked to figure out a reasonable policy. The former small-claims office in the Court House is being prepared to become the office of the Public Defender. The Commissioners approved a temporary, part-time hire in the Auditor's office to help with payroll. They approved bore under a County Road by REMC and noted that the warmer weather forecast for next week would trigger the Frost Law restrictions on County roads.

Rensselaer Plan Commission

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met Tuesday evening. They elected Jeff Rayburn as Vice President, replacing a member who resigned. They briefly discussed a fee schedule that the Council had tabled, asking for comparisons to other communities. Those comparisons are hard to make, but the community with a schedule most like the proposed schedule is DeMotte. No action was taken and work will continue on the schedule.

The Commission discussed the possibility of zoning out to the limit of the two-mile buffer zone. The reason for considering this is that the City is expanding sewer and water west of the I-65 and may want to TIF the area and that might be simpler if the County controlled all the zoning. There was discussion of the steps needed to do this. There was a suggestion that rather than just focus on the area west of I-65, why not zone all the land that is in the buffer zone.

There was a discussion of when a person should seek a variance of use rather than ask for a zoning change. There was uncertainty how to make people seek the right path without running afoul what the State legislation allows. They also discussed if they should tighten up the meeting procedures and which ones needed to be modified. Discussion will continue in future meetings.

A recording of the meeting is here.

Jasper County Council

The Jasper County Council also met Tuesday evening. The Sheriff had received an additional appropriation to replace chillers in 2024, but the project is still under construction and he needed a new appropriation because the 2024 appropriation does not carry over to 2025. The appropriation was not advertised in time for this meeting so it will be on the March agenda. He also introduced the possibility of hiring an additional school resource officer (SRO) for Kankakee Valley. He has a candidate interested who has experience and the department is currently down in manpower because one deputy is in military service and another is at the police academy. At this meeting he was simply seeing if there was support for the position and there was. He will need to get Commissioner approval for the position and an additional appropriation from the Council. He mentioned that the Department is looking into a grant for infrared cameras.

The Council then considered two pages of additional appropriations. The largest was for $1,826,680 for culvert replacement. EDP, the company building the Carpenter Wind Farm, has paid that amount to the County to replace 80 culverts as part of their road-use agreement. In order for the County Highway Department to spend that money, it needs to be appropriated. The Council appropriated one million of it. Some of the culverts will not be replaced until after construction is completed. Most of the additional appropriations were corrections for individual salaries.

The Council updated the Salary Ordinance. This led to a lengthy and confusing discussion of the Public Defenders' Office, the head of which is Lori James. The issue of confusion was how to account for those who chose to be County employees and those who chose to be County contractors. The Council reappointed members whose terms had expired to two boards. There was a discussion of how much the County might contribute to the proposed Wheatfield Township splash pad. The contribution would be from the economic development payments made by the Dunns Bridge solar farm and the sentiment was that the people who had to deal with the solar farms should get some of the benefit from those farms. There was mention of the Marvella development and how it might impact Jasper County. Its drainage would flow into Jasper County but there should be significant economic impact. It will be fun to watch.

There was brief discussion of EMS funding. The cost of an ambulance is in the $318,000-$325,000 range. Not all of the ambulances in use are fully equipped and one possibility being considered is to lease the equipment.

The Fair Board asked for and received a letter of support for a feasibility study for a multipurpose facility to replace the show arena at the FairGrounds. This year the Fair Board has three capital projects: additions to the poultry and the dairy barns and a fenced walking path connecting the campgrounds.

The Auditor mentioned that Amazon has a special discount program for Counties and she is researching it. One member said the would prefer the meetings being kept in the Court House rather than returning to the Sparling Annex when remodeling is finished.

Elementary art show

The current exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is the Elementary (K-5) show. In the past this exhibit took two shows, one k-2 and the other 3-5. This year they are combined.

There are several walls similar to this one.

I wandered around and took a few pictures that I liked.

This one has an amazing amount of detail for an elementary student.

Not all the pieces are pictures.

There were several that put a face in a grid.

The exhibit runs until February 23, the date of the closing reception. the High School show runs Feb 27 to March 15 and the Middle School exhibit will run March 20-April 6.

Odds and ends

The Rensselaer Central High School girls basketball team are regional champions. This is the first time that the school's girls team has advanced this far. For more information, see the report at the Rensselaer Republican. 

I noticed a familiar style painting in the front windows of the Carnegie Center. They are done by the same artist that did the downtown windows. Because the windows are so high off the ground, she painted on pexiglasa and they are mounted inside the building. The paint used is house paint.

There is a matching painting on the other side of the door.

The very cold weather this week has refrozen parts of the Iroquois River.

Meetings and some interesting pictures

 Board of Public Works meeting

The Board of Public Works met Monday evening before the City Council meeting. A presentation from Commonwealth Engineering gave a quick update on the I-65 Sewer, Water, & Gas extension. The planning is finished and the Board approved a request for Commonwealth to seek bids for the project. The bids should be ready to open at next month's BPW meeting.

The Board approved an invoice from Commonwealth for $6788 for work on punch list items. They also approved a task order for the preparation of plans for the 7th Street Improvement project. The cost will be $74,799 and will be for designing, preparing permits, and preparing a bid package. Much of the work installing utilities will be done by the City but the paving of the street will be bid out. Some of the cost may be shared with the Redevelopment Commission. The work may be done this year. The Board approved two task orders that have the effect of taking unspent funds from the water-tower project and using them to remove 62 additional lead service lines. The Board was informed that the Park Department plans to demolish its former headquarters building in Iroquois Park.

On Friday the City announced that Walnut Street was closed between Scott and Melville. The reason was that CSX discovered a sinkhole in its tracks just to the west of Melville Street. The cause of the sinkhole was a collapse of a Rensselaer sewer line. The City and CSX responded immediately. Because the sewer line was blocked, it had to be bypassed, and that was done by pumping sewage through pipes from a manhole near Melville to one near Scott. The Board approved an emergency declaration so that some of the red tape could be ignored to get the problem fixed as soon as possible.

Below are some pictures taken Wednesday morning. First, the pump near Melville with the pipes extending to the west on Walnut.

About halfway on Walnut the size of the pipe changes. Notice how the sections are clipped together. I did not see any leakage along the route.

At the west end the pipe empties into a sewer near Scott Street.

I looked for a sinkhole but it had been filled in. Judging from the color of the stone, it was a few yards to the west of Melville. (Video of the meeting is here.)

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The first item on the agenda of Monday's City Council meeting was an ordinance for a fee schedule for zoning and related matters. Several Council members expressed reservations, noting the increases were large and wondering how they compared to what the County and neighboring communities were charging. Rein Bontreger who was at the meeting for another matter, suggested that they ask Mrs DeYoung, head of JCEDO, for comparison data. The item was tabled.

The vacating of an undeveloped alleyway in the northwestern part of the City that had been discussed at a previous meeting was passed on a first reading. It will need to be passed on a second reading to take effect. The gas tracker for February will reflect an 11¢ increase per hundred cubic feet. A quote for ADA improvements for the Electric and Meter Office was tabled because the Mayor wanted more information.

For seven years Rein Bontreger has organized a weekly car-show event during the summer that he calls Cylinders and Snacks. He would like to continue the event for 2025, but switch the location to the brick-street portion of Harrison. The Council approved his use of Harrison from May 22 to September 25 from 5:00 until 7:30.

The Council approved a public relations request of $1500 for the Chamber of Commerce luncheon featuring the Park Department and its new headquarters. They also approved May 5-9 as cleanup week. Later in the meeting Fire Chief Haun announced May 3 would be the date of the town-wide yard sale.

In the comment section, Mr Rayburn asked about a couple of properties and was told that planning was continuing on the renovation of the former R&M building and that appraisals were being sought for the building at Cullen and Clark. Mr Black, the Street Department superintendent, summarized for the Council what had happened at the BPW meeting earlier. He thanked the County for their help. He received approval to hire up to 4 seasonal summer workers. Things are moving along for the Scott Street closing and improvements around the depot.  (Video of the meeting is here.)

Tourism Commission meeting

Because of another commitment I was only able to attend the first part of the Tourism Commission meeting. Two of the four members present were new members, Erica Kingman and Randy Rottler. After approving the minutes of the last meeting, they heard another presentation of Placer AI, a subject that has been discussed for months. The company uses data from cell phones to estimate crowds at locations and can tell where they came from and what businesses they visited. At the Tuesday meeting the Commission finally approved the agreement with the company.

The Touch of Dutch festival had a request for $5000 to support this year's event. It will be the 50th anniversary event and the total budget is $40,000.. The festival will cap the number of vendors at 120. Last year they had 150 and decided that was too many. I had to leave before a decision was made, but I suspect the request was granted.

The Commission had three reports on previous grants on its agenda. The first was for the Jasper County Fair Horse Barn. The JCFA also previewed plans for a new show arena but did not request any money. The Remington Sign Project was on the agenda and I do not know if there was a presentation. The third item was the Carnegie Players who had received a grant of $25,000 to renovate an old church building at 220 N. Franklin. They had submitted a report that said they had replaced the roof on the building which will prevent further damage to the interior. They estimate they need about $100,000 of additional repairs and have raised about $45,000 of that amount.

Airport Authority Board meeting

I got to the Airport Authority Board meeting a bit late because I used the old Zoom address from their website. I got a message that the host was on another feed, so I kept looking and found the correct address on Facebook. I missed the engineer's report and got to hear a discussion of a host of maintenance issues. The new engine for the rental plane has arrived and will be installed before the end of the month. The manager is thinking of replacing the summer aviation camp with a weekly club meeting. There was one bid for the hay lease of $1900 and it was accepted. The Board approved charging the windracer drones $70 a month for a tie-down space. There was a discussion of how to charge crop dusters who are based at the airport. If a crop duster buys fuel from the airport there is no charge for using the airport, but none of them buy the fuel. If they bring their own fuel there is a $100 a day charge. The Board decided the same daily charge should apply whether or not a crop duster rents a hangar. The Airport is almost ready to launch a new website. The Bombers for Academic Excellence (BAE) gave a donation to support the high-school aviation program.

Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its February luncheon in the old light plant. There had been so many reservations that the reservations were closed, but it seemed that some who had been intending to attend did not because there was a lot of room left at the tables. Perhaps the threat of bad weather had an impact. Light rain had started before the event began and when it was over there was a dusting of snow on the ground.

As people finished eating, Mayor Phillips and Park Superintendent Heather Hall spoke. The building is old and historic and has good bones, but it is not clear what the best use of it will be. It was built to house heavy machinery and as a result has peculiarities so there will be difficulties transforming it to other uses. The south end has a large open space, but it has a very high ceiling and will be hard to heat. Ball sports inside probably are not a good idea because of the many windows. The City will ask architectural firms for suggestions of what the best use could be but also invites citizens to make suggestions. I think a roller derby arena would be nice, or maybe an indoor shooting range. (I am sure you can come up with better suggestions than mine.)

Around the west wall were several pictures. Below is the original plan for Milroy Park. If you look closely you can see that the Milroy statue is already there. I do not think a fountain was ever built, but I have heard that early on there was a tennis court in the park.

There were several pictures of the old light plant. This one reads: 1925---RENSSELAER'S FIRST DIESEL ENGINE -- INSTALLED IN EXISTING BUILDING Since the schools still relied on the steam, a steam engine was kept available for standby service.

There is a basement under parts of the building but it was not on the tour after the lunch.

A stairway to the basement.

Next to the the room in which we ate there is a smaller room with a wooden floor. The door is an entrance to what will be a new park office. I did not take a picture inside because the light was bad, but Visit Rensselaer did.

At the north end of the building is a shop area, part of which is used by the Park Department and part of which is used by the Electric Department. The current office of the Park Director is in a corner here.

A final look at the luncheon space. Note the heaters.

Odds & ends

Last week's Rensselaer Republican had an interesting article about economic development that highlighted comments by Councilman Paul Norwine. 

Wednesday's snow resulted in early dismissal of school, lots of cancellations, and Rensselaer snow plows clearing snow from City streets. Area schools were closed on Thursday.

Part 2 of February meetings

 A first meeting

The newly-established Rensselaer Plat Committee met on Thursday (Jan 30) for a quick meeting. This committee was established on Monday (1-27) at the Rensselaer Plan Commission and City Council meetings. The Committee elected Scott Barton as President and Todd Sammons as Vice President. There was only one item on the agenda, Fenwick Simple Subdivision. The owner of this 3.5 acre lot wanted to divide it into two roughly equal lots, one with barns and grain bins that he would keep and another with the existing residence that he would sell. The Committee found that this plan did not open up any new public right-of-ways, that it met the minimum lot sizes set in the Code for A2 zoning, and each lot met the minimum requirements for road frontage. (Video of the meeting here.)

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Monday evening. Mayor Phillips swore in the members and the members voted to keep the same officers as they had in 2024. (Kevin Smith President, Estel George Vice President, & Jeff Webb Secretary) The Commission approved claims and then voted to convert a loan for sewage work improvements to a grant. This action satisfies the State Board of Accounts and will keep sewer rates from rising even more than they have and will.

The Commission received an update from the Mayor on the I-65 water and sewer extension. Planning is finished. A difficulty in the future will occur when a customer decides to hook up to City sewer but not City water. The sewer bill depends on water usage, but apparently there is an alternative way to determine the charge. In addition, a four-inch gas line will also go under the Interstate, creating a loop to provide more reliable service. There were questions about extending the lines west of CR 1000W. That will require more than additional pipes. If this area can be put into a TIF, the tax revenues from improvements could be used to do the things needed in order to extend the lines. Bids will be opened on February 10.

The Mayor gave an update on 7th Street, which is currently undeveloped. Commonwealth Engineering wants $70,000 to finish plans to develop the area. A motion to move forward was approved.

The Commission approved having meetings in 2025 on first Mondays at 5:00 pm. (A video of the meeting is here. As for the audio, I do not know where that is.)

Rensselaer Park Board meeting

Also meeting Monday evening was the Rensselaer Park Board. They heard that the Woodchuck It disc golf tournament had 23 people show up. 

Craig Hooker was sworn in as a new member, filling the remaining term of Rick Williams. 

The Board approved a motion to demolish the former Park Headquarters in Iroquois Park. All operations have been moved out of the building. Whatever can be reused will be reused, whatever can be sold will be sold, and whatever can be recycled will be recycled. The concrete pad will remain and its future use will depend on its state after demolition. 

The demolition work will be done by park staff and perhaps some other City workers. With the building gone, the back end of the park will be opened up.

The Board also voted to demolish a garage at Foundation Park. It was left after the Blacker Trust bought a house and demolished it.

The new Park headquarters is progressing. The high pressure natural gas line that was needed for electrical generation has been removed and a low pressure line has been installed. Plumbing has been roughed in and there is hot water. The Park hopes that a planning grant can be obtained.

The pool house roof will be replaced this spring. However, the cost has risen because the gables need to be replaced, so there will not be enough money to keep the cupola. Cupolas provide ventilation, but the roofers will add vents to the roof, so it would only be decorative. 

The Park Corporation approved spending $2400 to cover the added cost of re-roofing the building. The Gifford Shelter is also scheduled to get a new roof this year.

There was a brief discussion of striping and surfacing the new pickleball courts, but action was postponed until the March meeting. There was a longer discussion of baseball, which I had a hard time understanding because I do not know how the system works. There were thoughts of having the Park sponsor its own tournaments and there were suggestions that the Park-sponsored teams could play teams from neighboring towns. The first scheduled tournament for the Blacker Fields is for April 4-6. There was a concern about too many people parking on the grass and that people attending tournaments do not know that there is additional parking near the pool. The next meeting will be on March 3.

Odds and ends

Garden plots in the Community garden are again available this year. (In the past I had plots there, but have gotten too old to do this anymore.)

In February day length increases by 67 minutes.

In mid-January I had a series of snippets from very old issues of the Rensselaer Republican that mentioned the construction of the first St. Augustine's Church. One of those snippets mentioned Alfred McCoy and I am ashamed to admit that I did not immediately recognize who that was. He was a hero who became a zero. While he was a hero he was a banker, part of the time with Alfred Thompson and they built the building that is now the Beaver Law Office, perhaps the oldest building in downtown Rensselaer. He also had a large farm east of Rensselaer and the little settlement of Marlboro changed its name to McCoysburg. Rensselaer named one of its streets to honor the family, McCoy Avenue. When he retired from banking, his son Thomas McCoy, who was the first mayor of the City of Rensselaer, took over the bank. And then he became a zero. In April of 1904 the bank closed, and hundreds of depositors lost funds. Thomas McCoy was eventually found guilty of fraud and sent to prison. Alfred left town in disgrace and moved to Missouri, where he died and is buried. Rensselaer renamed McCoy Avenue to Milroy Avenue, and someone dynamited Thomas McCoy's house, which was eventually restored by Earle Reynolds, one of Rensselaer's most famous residents. The annual Weston Cemetery Walk found a way to talk about the McCoys because the father of Alfred is buried in Weston Cemetery. (I found an obituary for Alfred and posted it on his find-a-grave memorial.)

The failure of McCoy's bank was local news. The failure of the bank of another Rensselaerian was national news.  

On Feb 1 I heard sandhill cranes flying overhead and on Feb 2 I heard a flock of robins.

We no longer have the bitter cold that we had in January, but it has remained cold enough so that some river ice remains. (The view is downriver from the College Avenue bridge.)

Four meetings to end the month

 SJC Open House

On Saturday Saint Joseph's College had an open house intended to show prospective students the educational programs available on campus.  

The picture below shows the tables of the various programs. Closest is the CDL program. I asked if they did training for school bus drivers and was told that was a separate CDL certificate that they did not offer. 

Next to them was the Indiana Ag and Tech School, a charter school that meets at SJC on Wednesdays. They were unsure of how many students that they have this semester because their meeting on Wednesday was canceled due to weather, but it may be as many as 42. They had 32 enrolled last semester. Most of the almost 500 students enrolled in IATS are in the Indianapolis area and Rensselaer is a branch campus. It is a public charter school.

I talked a bit to the founder of IATS and Chairman of its Board. He is a writer who does not publish under his name. Rather he writes speeches for others and things like fundraising appeals. He said that the key to a good speech is to tell a story. (I am not sure how I can incorporate a more storied approach into this blog.) 

Further down the row and hard to see are tables for the veterinary certificate programs and the health-science programs. One of the draws for the health programs is that with a certificate one can work in the field while one pursues more education, such as becoming a registered nurse. 

Not in the picture and separated from the other tables was a table for WorkOne.  WorkOne provides financial aid to some of the people enrolled in the certificate programs, though I do not know what the criteria are for getting that aid.

I asked if the co-working program was still ongoing and was told it was. I also asked who was in charge overall and did not get an answer.

Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met Monday evening before the City Council meeting. The Mayor swore in a new member, Scott Barton. The first two items of new business were about a 3.5 acre lot that was just inside the City's exclusion zone. The County had already approved the split of this lot from a larger lot, but the City needed to approve it because it was in the City's exclusion zone. They approved the split and also recommended to the Council that the zoning be changed from A1 to A2. The reason for the meeting was to consider a subdivision control amendment. The goal was to create a simpler process for small (1, 2, or 3 lot) subdivisions rather than have them go through the process for large subdivisions. The Commission created a committee to review the process consisting of Barton, Davis, and Sammons. The Commission then sent the matter to the Council with a favorable recommendation.

Before the meeting adjourned, member Stan Haines announced that he was resigning, saying he did not feel welcome. Perhaps this was due to something that happened at the previous meeting before I arrived.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 20 at 5:30. (Video of the meeting here.)

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The first item on the agenda of the City Council meeting was a public hearing for vacating a public right-of-way. At the west end of Vine Street there is a row of houses on the north side. North of those houses is an undeveloped alley. The owners of the lots immediately to the west of the Maxwell Ditch own both sides of that alley and there will likely never be a way to access that part of the alley from the east. By vacating the right-of-way the Council allowed them to connect the parcels they own.

Art in the Alley will take place on June 22 from 10:00 to 4:00 in Filson Park. The Council agreed to close Kellner Street for the event. The Council then heard a presentation from Reach Alert Systems about the emergency-alert system that they offer. The system can send messages via phone, text, and e-mail and can be customized in various ways to limit who gets which messages. It can be used for more than just emergency messages and the control will be with the City. The Council approved adopting the system.

The Council approved a proposal to have Peerless Midwest do maintenance on another water well. The cost is $26,368. Mayor Phillips then swore in Todd Wilson as Gas Department superintendent. An ordinance of fees for zoning and other building department matters was introduced. There was concern about how much some of the fees had risen. Mrs Weishaar commented that it is important to avoid doing things that will inhibit growth and development. 

The next two items on the agenda came from the Plan Commission meeting earlier in the evening. The Council approved the rezone from A1 to A2 and also the amendments that simplified the granting of small subdivisions. The Council approved a transfer of funds for the Park Department, needed for a later item on the agenda. Three conflict of interest forms from Council members were approved. A revised Ward Map was presented and Council members Armold and Weishaar were selected as a committee to review it.

The Park Department had sought quotes for replacing the roof on the pool house and recommended a proposal from Style Craft. The company wants a downpayment of 20%, which was approved. The amount of $23,700 was mentioned and I do not know if that was the total amount or just the down payment. Work will not begin for three months. Appleseed requested a donation of $100,000. There were concerns about the size of the ask and hopes that this would not become permanent. The donation was approved with Mr Armold voting against.

In comments at the end, the Mayor said that the State may require a wheel tax in order for local governments to continue receiving CCMG funding. The Fire Department had some electrical problems that fried equipment on the trucks. The meeting adjourned a few minutes after 7:00. (Video of the meeting here.)

Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission meetings

After the City Council meeting I hurried over to the Court house, arriving as the BZA meeting was finishing. I missed the election of officers but there was only one cause on the agenda, a special exception in Walker Township to allow adding onto a Post Frame Structure for living quarters for when their family is in town. It passed.

There was a surprisingly large crowd for the Plan Commission meeting that followed. There were two new members, Jacob Misch from the County Council replacing Steve Jordan, and Commissioner Ryan Hilton replacing James Walstra. The Commission elected Kent Korniak as President, Vince Urbano as Vice President (though he was not present), and Justin Rodibaugh as Secretary.

The first cause was for approval of a 6-lot subdivision in Walker Township on the east side of CR 200W north of CR 700N. The owners of a strip of land along the road live immediately to the south and would like to sell the north three lots and build on the south three lots, either for use by family or for rentals. The property was rezoned to R1 last year. Several neighbors spoke out with questions or objections. There was concern about drainage, some worrying it would lower the water table and others concerned because the land was swampy. The owners will need Drainage Board approval, so these objections were not the concern of the Plan Commission. The other major concern was renters and the possibility that having renters would lower property values. A couple of people liked the area because of its rural setting and did not want more neighbors. Despite the objections, the Commission approved the subdivision.

The other cause was a request for a rezone in Union Township from A1 to A2 to create a future building site. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation.

The next meeting will be on the fourth Monday of February because the third Monday is a holiday. The State Board of Accounts wants all attorneys working for Boards and Commissions to have a contract, so the Commission approved a contract for Mr Sammons.

Odds & ends

The legals in the January 23 edition of the Rensselaer Republican had an interesting notice titled "Legal Notice of Planned Improvement." The planned improvement is the demolition of the Wolcott Rest Areas on I-65. These rest areas were built in 1975 and the notice says that their parking areas are "undersized for current and predicted capacity demands." The five existing buildings and parking lots will be removed. Demolition will last from February until December. The estimated cost is $615,000.

The Jasper County Sheriff's Department is getting more than local news attention.

Jasper County will be getting a new historical marker, one for Charles Halleck. I believe it will be in DeMotte, where he was born.

A very cold week

County meetings

The County Commissioners had enough items to reconvene their January meeting on Monday morning. I had planned to attend in person because I wanted to see the Commissioners Room in the Court House again, but the new snow and the subzero temperatures changed my mind. I opted to attend via Zoom.

(As I put out my recycling in the morning, I noticed animal tracks in the new snow. A deer and its pet cat must have been by during the night.)

The first item on the agenda was signing the three ambulance contracts. This is done annually and now the size of the subsidies is based on the number of runs each of the services makes. Next the Commissioners made several more board appointments. It seemed that they appointed the whole Jasper County Health Board. They appointed a member to the Remington Plan Commission and four to Northwest Indiana Workforce Development.

The Highway Department has received funds from EDP for culverts in the Carpenter Wind Farm. The Commissioners approved the process for spending them, which will have the Council appropriate the funds and the Commissioners approve the claims. They also approved a financial commitment letter for work on roads as part of the CCMG grant. The project will cost more than $2 million and the County's share will be about $600,000. 

Earlier in December the Commissioners had approved getting quotes for a new railing for the Fase Center. Community Services had obtained a quote from Hamstra for $1750 and it was approved. The Recorder's Office makes documents available on-line via a private third party. That party is changing its software, going away from desktop applications to the Internet, and this new process requires a new agreement. The Commissioners approved having the Recorder entering into a new agreement.

Work has started on a new solar farm near Kniman in Walker Township and there was concern that some stop signs might be needed. The matter will probably need a public hearing. Citizens complained that no agenda for this meeting was published and a short discussion followed. There is no legal requirement for a published agenda for a continued meeting since all items fit under "other business" in the main meeting, but an agenda would be nice. 

The County will be upgrading a storage building at the Highway Department, but before they make the upgrades, some repairs are needed. The Commissioners approved $5108 to make those repairs. They also approved starting the process to get the old sidewalks on two sides of the Court House redone. Finally, they gave approval to the Fair Board to use the Commercial Building for Bingo, which is needed for the Fair Board to receive a State gaming permit. The meeting lasted an hour.

The County Council met on Tuesday evening with two pages of additional appropriations on the agenda. Most were small and seemed to be salary additions. I tried to join via Zoom using the url given on Facebook and also sent to me, but I kept getting asked for a meeting passcode. I did not see any passcode in the page with the url link, so I never joined the meeting.

It is always better to attend a meeting in person but when the weather is terrible, Zoom looks attractive. Next year all public meetings are supposed to be available on-line and because of my age I will probably attend most of the evening meetings during winter via computer. I hope that all the bugs are worked out by then.

Meeting of the Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority, which is a different body than the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission, met Thursday afternoon. It has only three members, and one of them, Jacob Ahler, was new. (He is not the attorney for the Authority. That is Todd Sammons.)

The Authority approved past minutes and elected Avery Douglas as president, Loren Berenda as Vice President, and Jacob Ahler as Secretary. The Authority issues the bonds that are attached to the TIF districts, and currently they have only one bond outstanding, one issued to finance the local fire department. Twice a year payments must be made on that bond, and the current payment was for $187,000, which the Authority approved. The bond will not be totally repaid until 2040. There was a question of whether the bond could be paid off early, and the answer was that if it were, the TIF district would lose some of its power. 

The members were given a report from Baker Tilly to review. The State Board of Accounts wants them to meet at least twice a year to approve the bond claims and they decided that the next meeting would probably be in June.

Odds and ends

The County has a new website and it may take me a while to find things on it. I wanted to find an old agenda and got a page asking me to log in. Also, the new pages are not visually attractive and hopefully that will change with time.

Going to the open house for the Harvest Christian Academy last Saturday, I stopped to take a picture of the other side of one of the semi trucks used for CDL training. (I had not realized that each side was different when I posted a picture here.)

This week's Rensselaer Republican has more details about the Harvest Christian Academy than I had in my post.

After the Redevelopment Authority meeting I visited the bowstring arch bridge to see how much ice was on the Iroquois River. Looking downstream toward College Avenue the River was completely frozen over.

But looking upstream toward the Washington Street Bridge there was open water, which was not surprising because there is a little rapids under the bridge.

I could not resist the temptation to take a picture from the bridge of the mural that the low winter sun was illuminating.

It has been a bitterly cold week but the highs for most days next week will be above zero.

The cold continues

 Winter weather continues. Every few days we warm up and we get a bit more snow. Then the sky clears and we get bitter cold. The sun melts snow from roofs, which leads to the formation of icicles. The forecast suggests this pattern will continue for most of the month.

City meetings


The City of Rensselaer announced on Facebook that Monday's Board of Public Works and the City Council meetings would be live streamed. Because the evening was very cold and the streets had patches of snow and ice, I decided to not attend them in person but to see how these first live-streamings would be.

I followed the link to the youtube site for the live stream, but had problems joining. The live stream did not automatically pop up but only appeared when I followed the link after it had started. The agenda had several items, most dealing with the waste-water treatment plant. Commonwealth Engineering had four sets of invoices for the project, and the Board approved amounts of $155,940.55, $198.56, $46,047.10, and $43,913.85. For work on getting the bonds issued, Bose McKinney & Evans was paid $30,000 and Baker Tilly $25,000. There were also two items from the water-tower project, a payment to Commonwealth Engineering for $823 and one to Maguire Iron for $105,165. The City is withholding $92,979.51 for outstanding issues and Maguire Iron is supposed to respond to a letter sent about those issues.

The meeting lasted about ten minutes. The video of the meeting is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Qo5F3Mkno. The City's youtube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/@RensselaerIN/streams.


Here is what the meeting looked like:


The Rensselaer City Council meeting had a separate live stream and again I could not find the stream until a couple minutes after it started. The first item on the agenda was the election of a Council president for 2025. The president for 2024 had been Noelle Weishaar and she was re-elected for 2025. A gas tracker increase was approved. I believe the new gas superintendent said it was 1¢ per hundred cubic feet, but the sound  was bad. 

The Council passed an ordinance that separates the Lintner and Drexel TIF districts for reporting purposes. They have been combined. The penultimate pay request, #9, to Grimmer for $56, 691.33 was approved. The vacation of part of Prairie Street was the next item considered, and Mrs Weishaar moved to terminate the request because of the objection of one of the adjacent property owners. She had inspected the area and said it needed to be kept clean. Her motion failed on a 2-3 vote. The Building Department will prepare an ordinance, though how the property will be split is not determined yet.

Next on the agenda was "2020 Census Redistricting." Apparently the City has not adjusted its wards to reflect the census, though it does not matter much because we vote for all Council candidates, not just the one from our ward. Mr Davis presented two options that I could not see, and the Council told him to develop one of them to present at a future meeting. 

A person from Peerless Midwest, a company that does water-well protection, gave an update. The company will do some modeling to the various well fields. An advisory committee will be formed to watch for potential threats to the wells. The  Council approved a request from the electric department for a pre-downpayment of $97,668 for a new digger truck that will be ready in early 2026. 

The Clerk/Treasurer said she had received all the nepotism forms. The Line Department sent two linemen to help restore power in Kentucky after a recent snowstorm. Baker Tilly is working on a planning document for the Line Department. The Building Department announced Plan and BZA meetings for the 16th, a Redevelopment Authority meeting for the 23rd, and a special Plan Commission meeting before the Council meeting on the 27th. Plans to cross I-65 with water and sewage lines are almost completed. The recycling department took delivery of a new truck. The Gas Utility is planning a new gas line to the old light plan. There are three applicants for a vacancy in the Gas Utility. The meeting adjourned at 6:43 and the recording of the meeting can be found here.

A couple of notes on streaming: I had to turn the sound volume on my computer to the maximum to hear the meeting. The speakers podium is directly below the two cameras so a viewer could not see someone at that podium. It should probably be moved either forward or backward so one of the cameras will catch it. Overall the streaming went well and did not have the problems that many of the County Zoom meetings have had.

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Commission met on Tuesday morning in the conference room of the Carnegie Center. This year starts with two new members, Erica Kingman appointed by the Rensselaer City Council and Randy Rottler appointed by the County Commissioners. The meeting had a quorum, with one member attending via Zoom. As the longest serving member, Jannelle Musch presided. For some reason the Commission did not elect a new president, perhaps an oversight. It approved the minutes of the last meeting that had had a quorum, the October meeting.

There was a long discussion of a proposal to sign an agreement with Placer AI, a company that uses cell-phone location to determine how many people attend events, where they come from, and where they go. The Tourism director had negotiated new prices, $20K for a first year and $23K for an optional second year. The discussion was about how the data could be used and whether the benefits would exceed the costs. The item was tabled to the February meeting.

The Commission reviewed and accepted the Innkeepers tax report that showed through the end of November the receipts were slightly less in 2024 than in 2023 but up substantially from 2022.

Organizations that receive grants are supposed to report back to the Commission on how the grants promoted tourism. The Fair Board had submitted a report on the horse barn at the Fairgrounds but no representative was available so that item was postponed until February. In their written report, they listed horse shows held in April, June, September, and October.

The Connection Center thanked the Commission for the grant it had received and noted that it was partnering with local businesses. Since its opening in May, it has seen lots of growth. A couple of travel baseball teams from other counties are using the Center for weekly practices. The Center has had a number of camps and the public is finding uses for the Center that the organizers never expected. The medical side of the Connection Center has grown. They currently have 253 members with a goal of 400 by May. They want to be self-supporting and think that will be easier once they pay off their mortgage, hopefully by the end of 2026.


A grant of $4500 from the Tourism Commission to the LEAP Foundation helped fund two murals at the Belstra Farm and Garden Greenhouse. A written report for that grant was received by the Commission.

In 2026 the Commission plans to change the schedule for reviewing grant applications. They will be done quarterly rather than as they randomly come in. The members had a short discussion about advertising in the magazine Travel Indiana and approved an option that will cost $1800, with some conditions.

I hope that the Commission decides to use Placer AI. There are so many questions it could answer, especially about what draws visitors to the County and which of the grants it has given seem to have been worthwhile.

Airport Authority Commission meeting

I had problems joining this meeting on Zoom. The Airport's website had not been updated for 2025 and using a Zoom link from 2024 did not work. There was an agenda and link posted on Facebook, but the link on the agenda was not clickable. After entering the link manually, I was put into the waiting room where I stayed for several minutes. I finally joined the meeting as the Finance Committee meeting was ending.

I missed the election of officers but from the audio I could tell that Andrew Andree had been elected president. There was no video of the meeting room and the Airport Manager, Emily Hackler, was attending remotely and appeared to be sick. The Airport's engineer said that work was continuing on the master plan and that planning was moving forward for the construction of a new t-hangar but that lots of approvals were needed. (It will use federal funding, and with the funding comes federal red tape.)

The manager's report was given by Isaac Gibson, the assistant manager. There are two hangar vacancies in the old building. There were 8779 operations (takeoffs and landings) in 2024. Six people have signed up for a ground school that starts January 19. There will be an Aviation Career Day on May 9. The Board approved an additional appropriation for a new engine and also approved a hangar rental for a person who bought a plane from the person who was previously renting the hangar. The Board approved advertising for a hay lease on 27 acres and also the holiday schedule. There was a discussion of what was needed to complete a land swap of about 27 acres, with the Airport getting land to its west in exchange for land it owns along SR 114. The Board approved a couple of motions to move that swap along. The swap will need approval of the Rensselaer Plan Commission.

The Board approved the recommendation from the finance committee on investment policy.

Etcetera

In the previous post I visited Brick Built Cafe and Coworking, a new realty office and cafe. Here is the post by the owner explaining why she closed S-blended and opened this new business. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 9:30 on Friday, January 17.

I had a picture of one of the SJC trucks used for CDL training and thought that there was only one design. I was wrong.

This coming Saturday two elementary schools will have open houses. Saint Augustine School will have a two-hour open house from 10:00 until noon until 2:00 and the soon-to-be Harvest Christian Academy will have one from 10:00 until 4:00.

For several years I thought the word penultimate was the most useless word in the English language. Then I discovered that antepenultimate is considered a word and preantepenultimate is being considered for inclusion in dictionaries.

Stay warm and drive carefully.

A few bits of news

Park Board meeting

The Rensselaer Park Board met Monday evening. They heard details about an upcoming event, the Woodchuck-It Disc Golf Tournament scheduled for February 1. One purpose of the event is to raise funds for concrete tee pads for the disc golf course. Playing the course gives a person a one-mile walk. There is hope that a disc-golf league might be established this summer.

The move of the Park office from Iroquois Park to the old light plant continues. There is hope that the new office may be able to host the February Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Upcoming projects include new metal roofs for the pool house and the Gifford Shelter. 

The Park Superintendent mentioned that she was exploring using the website SeeMyLegacy for fundraising, highlighting memorials and other park features, and informing the public about the parks. The Board discussed fees for renting Filson Park and its shelter. Ultimately they decided to charge $250 to rent the whole park for a day and $75 to rent just the shelter. Those fees might not apply to civic organizations doing events open to the public.

The leases of the Blacker Fields for tournaments have been signed but there was no mention of how many tournaments are scheduled. This year there will be no fencing to help collect entrance fees. There was a discussion of the dog park and of a person who has not been following the rules of the dog park.

When asked what the future use of the Iroquois building that has been serving as Park headquarters, the Park Superintendent said that she hopes it can be demolished. That would open up the back section of Iroquois Park that presently is not used. A board member asked about Columbia Park and was told that a lot of maintenance has recently been done there, significantly improving its appearance. There is an effort underway to have the park baseball teams play teams from surrounding communities.

Now open

The space that was occupied by S- blended Nutrition is now Brick Built Real Estate Cafe & Coworking. The smoothies are mostly gone, replaced with coffee and snacks. The official opening and ribbon cutting will be January 17. 

The space also serves as an office for the local branch of Brick Built Real Estate. The main office is in Granger and most of the realtors are in the South Bend region. I asked about the very untraditional feel of this office and was basically told that it was a feature, not a bug.

The co-working part is free. They have free wi-fi and anyone can come in, set up a laptop, and work. In addition to tables designed for eating, there are three that are specifically designed for computer use.

There are some very comfortable chairs in the front.

The S-blended business used one supplier for its drinks. The Brick Built Cafe will be using more local suppliers for its coffee and food items. Check out this new, or sort-of-new, business.

Other

On Wednesday the Chamber of Commerce had a luncheon with Christine Bogan, a financial advisor at Edward Jones, as the speaker. She touched on many topics, including ways to and the need to accumulate an emergency fund. Something that younger people may not realize is that the money tucked away in retirement accounts to avoid income taxes will eventually be taxed when the holder reaches the mandatory age, which keeps changing. It is now 73, up from 72 last year, which in turn was up from 70.5. If you have IRAs or can transfer other retirement savings to an IRA and you make charitable gifts to not-for-profit organizations, you may find that you can cut taxes with qualified charitable distributions from an IRA. However, you must be at least 70.5 when the distribution is made. I think most or all the local non-profits get at least some of their donations in this form.

On Thursday evening Mount Hood Pizza announced on its Facebook page:

We would like to announce the merger of Not Your Typical Wingz with Mt Hood Pizza & Grill!

We are excited about the addition of Robert Hearod as Co-Owner. Robert brings not only his food experience background but his FULL MENU from Not Your Typical Wingz!

Addendum: I initially forgot to mention where the painting shown in the previous post was. The comment on the post identified it as Dr Markley's office, which is in the Huth-Thompson building on Drexel Drive.