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.

January is off to a cold start

 Mystery window

During December I posted many pictures of decorated windows. Here is what I think is a final one. I would never have found it if I had not been told were it is. Do you know where it is? If so, tell everyone by leaving a comment.

If no one answers, I will tell where I found it in my next post.

New Commissioners

County government has two new Commissioners for 2025 and they got a workout on Tuesday morning. At 8:00 the Board of Finance met. It is required to meet between the first and last Mondays of January and the three County Commissioners are its members. The Board elected Rein Bontreger as president and Tammy McEwen, the County Treasurer, as secretary/treasurer. It approved an investment policy for 2025, which the Board members had in written form. The State severely limits how counties can invest funds, limiting them to liquid, safe assets such as CDs and Treasury notes. The County has over $30 million in various accounts that the Treasurer invests and last year the County earned more than $1 million on those funds. The meeting lasted only about 15 minutes.

The Commissioners meeting that followed was not as short, lasting about two and a half hours. Rein Bontreger was elected president and Ryan Hilton was elected vice president. The next item on the agenda was the opening of highway bids for various items that the Highway Department uses. This took about twenty minutes and involved a lot of prices that made no sense to me but were important for the Highway Department. As in past years, all bids were accepted so that if the low-price supplier cannot deliver, the County can get the material when it is needed.

A new State law now requires that contracts that the Sheriff previously approved must now receive Commissioner approval. The Commissioners approved a contract for battery maintenance. They also approved the yearly forfeiture audit. Finally, they approved the retirement of K-9 dog Alpha.

The Coroner wanted to make sure that the change in Commissioners would not interrupt planning for a new forensic center. Sharon Colee from Community Services had several items for Commissioner approval. A furnace at the Fase Center failed and was replaced at $5200. She wants a railing at the entrance of the Fase Center to help those who are mobility impaired. Both of these items were approved. She had investigated getting DeMotte water for the Fase Center but there is no nearby water main, so the cost would be over $100,000. She wants the Commissioners to do a walk through of the Rensselaer Center to see maintenance issues.

Last year the Commissioners approved $30,000 from Opiod settlement money to the House of Grace and Tammy Tidd, head of the House of Grace, would like a similar amount this year. In the four years that they have had a location in Rensselaer, they have served 19 women and have two current women living here with another pending. The local facility can handle up to four women. I think she said that they have bought a house here. The Commissioners decided to make a decision on the request in February.

The Commissioners approved the replacement of an employee in the Clerk's Office who retired at the end of last year. The Office is still short-staffed because an employee is on maternity leave. The Commissioners also approved two conference requests from the Health Department. They were skeptical, however, at the Department's request to fill a full-time position for a second person to do food inspections and septic-tank inspections. The Health Department argued that the position would be needed because two new subdivisions are going in near DeMotte. The matter will be on the agenda again in February. 

The transfer of the Remington EMS building to the County was delayed because one of the people signing did not have the proper seal. Next on the agenda was "Arrowhead Grant." I could not find the full name of the Arrowhead organization, but it gives small grants in our area. The Commissioners could not think of any programs that might benefit, but said "maybe next year.

The next 20 or 25 minutes were devoted to appointments to boards and various office positions. In most cases the current members were retained. There were several applicants for the Airport Authority Board and the Commissioners approved Tommy Gutwein. Noah Hoek and Chad Healy were added to the Citizens Advisory Board for Land Acquisition. The Community Corrections Advisory Board adds Jake Misch, Justin DeYoung, and Clifford Robinson (who may be the new head of the Public Defenders Office). Ryan Hilton was added to several boards, including the Fair Board, Kankakee River Regional Planning Board, and the Jasper County Plan Commission. Craig Standish will be new on the Northwest Solid Waste District. Both were added to the Water and Sewer Board. Jake Misch wanted off the Property Tax Board of Appeals and will be replaced by someone whose name I did not catch. Risk Management Board added Diana Boersma and Craig Standish. The commissioners appointed George Hamstra to the Town of DeMotte Plan Commission and John Schwab to the Remington BZA. 

Employee bonds were approved for employees who handle money. Three buried cable requests were approved. There was a brief discussion of plans to renovate a barn at the County Highway Department and the Commissioners approved getting bids to move along the process. The County has received safety grants and needs to request proposals to implement them. One citizen expressed concern about a plan for an unelected regional government. 

If needed, the meeting was continued until January 21 at 8:30 in the Commissioners' Room in the Court House.

After a short recess, the Drainage Board met. Craig Standish was elected president, Ryan Hilton Vice President, and Rhonda Eldridge secretary. Jacob Ahler will serve as the Board' attorney. There were also appointments to the various joint drainage boards with surrounding counties. 

The Board approved compensation for the Board's attorney of $10,000 plus $215 for any work not covered by the usual duties. Landowners drained by the Zimmer Ditch brought signatures to reconstruct the ditch. The next step will be for the surveyor to do a report outlining what work needs to be done and how much it will cost. The Board accepted certifications for the Sands Ditch and the R. E. Davis Ditch and approved signing a hold-harmless agreement with Genova Plastics. There was discussion of the need to update the County's drainage specifications because some of it is out of date.

These were the last meetings to be held at the Sparling Annex for at least a couple of months. When the remodeling is finished, the column in the center of the room will be gone.

Odds and ends

There was a Park Board meeting on Monday evening but this post is long enough already so I will write about it for the next post.

Rensselaer avoided heavy snow fall that the weekend brought both north and south of us. 

During January daylight increases by 47 minutes, with about two thirds of that coming by later sunsets and about one third by earlier sunrises. The reason that the two are unequal is due to the eliptical orbit of the earth and the fact that it earth is tilted on its axis. The perihelion for earth (when it is closest to the sun) just occurred on January 4. Did you enjoy the extra warmth on that day?

On January 1 I took a picture of the building trades house at SJC. It has windows and doors, so work inside can be a bit more comfortable than it would be without them.

Leaving SJC I noticed a new sign at one of the entrances. The hours for the open house are from 10 to 4.

SJC has an open house for its various certificate programs on January 25 from noon until 2:00.

Driving past SJC on Sunday I noticed that they had their semi-trucks used for CDL training decorated. I was able to get a picture on Tuesday.

Lirio Resources now has a Crown Point office.

Approaching the solstice

Pictures

I finally got around to taking pictures of the trees in Potawotomi Park. I am not sure who put up some of the trees.

I think this one is K&W Trucking, Amazon Freight Partner.

Franciscan Health

The one of the right is Fendig Theater and the one on the left is probably ConAgra because it has a picture of Orville Redenbacher on the tree. The one in the middle is Edward Jones.

Chief Industries.

Part of White Castle on the left and the Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce on the right.

White Castle Bakery.

Several trees that I did not identify leading up to the White Castle display.

On the left Donaldson and Little Cousin Jasper on the right.

Renew Salon and DAR.

The very blue one is IBEC and the one next to Santa's house is Brushwood Church. The middle one is the Post Office. The closest is either by the Police Department or in honor of the Police Department.

A better look at the IBEC and Brushwood Church trees.

Two Park trees. The one close was planted here a few years ago.

Painted windows at Rensselaer Pet Care.

The decoration on the windows of the Library are more modest than they were last year. The artist was running out of time and daylight when she did it.

Main Street Rensselaer has a light show playing on the Court House.

I have seen a very limited part of Rensselaer after dark, but the parts I have seen impress me with the number of houses with outside decorations. Many are quite elaborate.

Jasper County BZA meeting

The Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals met Monday evening with three requests for variances on their agenda. First, however, they decided new dates for their January and February meetings. The third Monday of those months are Federal holidays, so they decided to move those meetings to the fourth Mondays. The Board had a new member, Scott Walker who replaced Scott Walstra, who had resigned because he had been elected to the County Council.

The three requests for variances were all from dairy farms and all were for setbacks. The required setbacks are 300 feet from the property line. The first request was from DeJong Family Farms in Gillam Township. They want to erect solar panels to partially power their dairy farm. The Federal government has a program that subsidizes these solar installations. They had selected a parcel of land that was unused for any productive purpose, but that land extended to 75 feet from the edge of Division Road. Not part of the variance, but the Farm wants to add another digester to produce more methane that is then injected into the natural gas pipeline. All the adjacent land is farmland, some owned by the DeJong Farms. Members of the Board wondered if the panels could be located on a different part of the property so they would not need a variance. The lawyer representing the Farms said that the BZA had always stressed preserving crop land and that is what this location did. Other locations would reduce cropland. The Board voted on the three findings of facts and nay votes exceeded yes votes on two of them so the variance was denied.

The second request for a variance was from Windy Ridge Dairy in Union Township. This dairy is on the east side of I-65 north of SR 14. It is the first dairy that was permitted in Jasper County and it also wants to install solar panels because of the Federal subsidy. The solar panels planned would be about 100 feet from CR 1100 W. Again, they had tried to find space that would avoid crop loss. Some of the panels they planned were on a bit of land that was not near the road. The dairy needs to renovate and expand, but none of that will need a variance. The panels are designed to provide 80% of the power the dairy needs when the sun is shining and 35% to 40% overall. The Board again asked if other siting was possible, including perhaps on roofs, but was told that there were problems with roof siting. The attorney representing the dairy was a bit frustrated that the Board was more interested in preserving setbacks than crop land. Eventually the Board decided that they could approve an increased setback that was 45 feet more than the 100 feet that the dairy had requested.

The final variance request was from the Oak Basin Dairy in Barkley Township and this one had no solar but was for an additional free-stall barn that would be less than 300 feet from the farm field to its west. The owner of that property had no objection to the siting. The new barn would add about 1400 additional cows but, when it was built, the infrastructure of the dairy had been planned to handle these cows. This variance passed with little discussion.

County Council meeting

I attended the County Council meeting on Tuesday evening via Zoom because the agenda did not look very interesting. The agenda had six additional appropriations, all of which were approved. There were also several transfers of funds that were approved. A salary ordinance was approved with the comment that the salaries listed are maximums and a department can pay less. The ordinance does not include salaries for the public defender's office.

The Council approved the salary contracts for the Sheriff for both 2024 and 2025. They had previously been approved by the Commissioners. It also approved the contract for its attorney, Jacob Ahler.

Under old business, the Council considered a resolution that says the Council will modify its tax-abatement scorecard to give negative points for commercial solar farms and battery storage facilities. In the discussion one councilman pointed out that the statement that the majority of citizens opposed solar farms had no factual backing. There was a discussion of tax rates and assessed valuation. One member wanted the matter tabled because it had not been available before the meeting and he said he needed time to evaluate it. The motion to table was rejected 2-4. The motion to pass the resolution with one section omitted and another added passed 4-2.

The Sheriff's office wanted to make some promotions so there would be a supervisor on each shift. The Council agreed and will work on implementing it in the next salary ordinance.  The EMS director has resigned and has been replaced by one of the EMTs. The January and February meetings will be in the Court House due to remodeling at the Sparling Annex.

Odds and ends

New County officials were sworn in on Monday evening at the same time as the BZA meeting started.

The rescheduled Tourism Commission meeting was canceled. The next meeting will be in January and it will meet at the meeting room in the Carnegie Center.

The old carriage building that was last used to store stuff for the Fendig Theater is getting a new roof.

Comments on this blog are moderated, which means they do not appear until I review them. The reason for this is that almost half the comments that are submitted are spam. A lot of them seem to be designed for search engine optimization. The more links going to a site, the higher it appears in search-engine results. So I get things from Indonesia and India offering products and services that can not be of interest to the blog readers. 

Another note: Much fuller accounts of the meetings reported on the blog are available in official minutes that can be found on County or City websites. However, they do not get posted until they are approved, which is usually two weeks or a month after the meeting. 

The winter solstice will be on December 21 this year. On that date we will have nine hours and 17 minutes of daylight. By Christmas we will have added 38 seconds more. You can track the changes in daylight at https://sunrise-sunset.org/us/rensselaer-in.

December and winter arrive.

Winter

Winter fully arrived during the week of Thanksgiving. There were a series of days in which the temperature stayed below freezing. One result was that the fountain in Filson Park froze.

The dedication of the park is scheduled for Friday after the Christmas Parade. Will warmer weather on Wednesday bring down some of that ice?

Travels

I spent the weekend of Thanksgiving visiting family south of Indianapolis. The new section of Interstate 69 has been open for several months, and where we exited, we encountered three roundabouts within a couple hundred yards. That area loves roundabouts. I am still uncomfortable with them because I have not driven enough of them (and maybe because it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks).

I also do not like driving some of the roads there because when housing moved out, the county authorities did not realize that they needed to widen roads. So there are many busy roads that have two lanes with no room for shoulders or sidewalks because the utility poles (often on both sides of the road) are about 18 inches from the pavement. Some of the newer developments seem to have learned from past mistakes and are leaving more room for the roads and also putting in sidewalks.

A few family members decided that it would be fun to go to a professional basketball game during our stay. They did not go to a Pacer's game. They went to the other men's professional team in Indianapolis, the Indiana Mad Ants. The team was originally located in Fort Wayne. The G league is a developmental league for the NBA. I had never heard of this team or league. There seem to be plenty of seating available at its games.

In both going and returning I was reminded that I-65 really needs to be three lanes each direction for its whole length.

Commissioners meeting

I could not attend the Commissioners meeting in person on Monday because I was still not back in Rensselaer. I attended via Zoom. The meeting was in the CourtHouse and it would have been fun to attend one more meeting there. (The Sparling meeting room is being renovated, with the column in the middle of the room slated for removal.) I also prefer attending in person because Zoom does not capture everything. Sound from the Commissioners was good, but some of the speakers in the audience were hard or impossible to hear. Some of my audio problems were on my end; my earphones did not work well with my device.

A couple of buried cable requests, both from NIPSCO, were approved. The Sheriff had contracts for 2024 and 2025 approved. He was too far from the microphone for me to hear what he had to say. The contracts also need Council approval. He had some surplus property with little or no value and the Commissioners gave him permission to dispose of it. They also approved filling a vacant dispatcher position.

The Commissioners approved an agreement with Illiana Heating & Air for the north annex They approved a laser light display for the Court House that Main Street Rensselaer is planning. Sharon Colee's snow removal plan for the Fase Center was approved and she was allowed to pursue getting DeMotte water service for the Fase Center. She wants the Commissioners to do a walk through of the Rensselaer Center to show them the maintenance issues. The building is about 35 years old.

Jatin Patel has resigned from the Jasper County Tourism Commission and the Commissioners appointed Randy Rottler from Carpenter Creek Cellars to replace him. (Mr Patel's insights from the hotel industry will be missed.) The Commissioners approved a couple of conference requests and a GUTS agreement that I think was for lock-box services. They appointed Susie Howard to the Wheatfield Plan Commission Board, filling the remainder of a term of someone who retired. This position is for someone from Wheatfield's buffer zone. 

There was a short discussion of progress being made in the new public defender office. There are still details to be worked out. The Commissioners approved changes to the Unified Development Ordinance that had been recommended by the Jasper County Plan Commission. They approved a contract to inventory capital assets, had a discussion about a SAFE grant, trying to decide whether to be part of a multi-county proposal or going alone. The matter should be decided at the December 23 meeting. Snow plow quotes were opened and all were accepted, with Mr DeYoung abstaining.

There were several public comments. A woman who in the past voiced concerns about chemicals eroding from windmill blades gave some updated research. Someone had questions about the County agreement with Remington regarding the Remington EMS building. There were concerns about vandalism with the newly-installed lighted stop signs in the northern part of the County.

I do not know if there was a Drainage Board meeting following the Commissioners meeting. There was a Rensselaer Redevelopment meeting Monday afternoon that I was too tired to attend. The agenda did not look very interesting.

More painted windows

Continuing the showing of windows that the Rensselaer Chamber has been painting, the one below is from Kentland Bank. I wonder if this counts as one window or two. The Chamber says it has painted 90 windows and I would like to find as many as I can.

Two windows from SuperCuts in the College Mall.

Arni's a bit north of Strack.

M&W Insurance.

The law office of Samantha Joslyn.

Jasper County Abstract office.

The dental office of Jordan Balvich

Estel George's State Farm Insurance office.

The next two are windows of the Deerwood Group on North McKinley.

The doors of the Knights of Columbus hall.

Finally

Awaiting sunrise on a winter morning

A first taste of winter

Winter

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

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

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

Rensselaer City Council meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and ends

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

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

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

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

The Christmas lights are up in the downtown. 

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

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

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

More decorated windows

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

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

Jordan Balvich Dentistry.

The picture says it all.

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

Rule's Auto Care.

Sblendid.

CI Insurance.

The next two are on the Clinic of Family Medicine.

Earth Magic.

First Merchants Bank.

Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.