Inauguration day 2025

 A ribbon cutting

On Friday morning Brick Built Real Estate Cafe and Coworking had its ribbon cutting. While I waited for more people to arrive, I took pictures of their menu.

In the picture below the owner of the cafe, Kylie Black, is holding the scissors to the right of Mayor Phillips. Next to her is the owner of the Brick Built Realty company, which is headquartered in the South Bend area.. Mrs Black began doing marketing for Brick Built several years ago and that eventually led her to becoming a realtor.

Below is a very short video of the ribbon being cut. (My camera adds these to the pictures I take.)

Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met Thursday evening. It elected Kevin Armold as President, Stan Haines as Vice President, and Krystal Bassett as Secretary. After discussion, it approved the preliminary plat for the St. Joseph's Building & Trades Subdivision. The requirements for curbs and gutters along Sparling and Daugherty Roads were waived and a decision on sidewalks was deferred until phase Four. The approval was contingent on completion of a few minor changes. The assistant street superintendent will inspect water and sewer installation for the first phase. A final plat of the first phase must be completed in three years, of the second phase in 5 years, of the third phase in 14 years, and of phase four in 23 years. Brice Black abstained because as Street Superintendent his department must approve inspections.

The Commission recommended to the City Council a new fee schedule for zoning and subdivision control. I did not see the schedule. It discussed changing the subdivision ordinance so that simple two- or three-lot subdivisions have a simpler process for approval than large subdivisions. This matter will be taken up again in a January 27 meeting at 5:00 before the City Council meeting. The Commission approved the 2025 meeting schedule, with meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 5:30 (and BZA meetings at 6:30). The schedule also has filing deadlines on Tuesdays preceding the meeting at 3:00 pm and a public notice date 14 days prior to the meeting.

I did not stay for the BZA meeting because the agenda only had election of officers and approval of the meeting schedule.

A map of the subdivision is in this post. The only difference between the updated map and this one is that the lot numbers of phase one have been reversed.

Open Houses

On Saturday both Saint Augustine School and the newly-forming Harvest Christian Academy had open houses. I stopped by both.

Saint Augustine School opened in 1903, though not in its present building. The original building was located in the corner of what is now the parking lot. The people visiting while I was there were interested in enrolling in the kindergarten. The announcement of the open house mentioned that the parish was 140 years old. I checked the Hoosier State Chronicles and found these notes in the Rensselaer Republican for 1884 and 1885:

3 Jan 1894 In a long list of improvements in Rensselaer for 1883 and their values:  Additional work on Catholic Church, $1400.

17 April 1884: Last Monday was a great day with our Catholic fellow citizens. Their “rattle'’ came off and the new bell was christened and hoisted to its place in the belfry of their neat little church where it now warns the faithful of their duty three times a day, morning noon and night.

31 July 1884 Mr. Alfred McCoy propounded the question to this pastor of the Catholic congregation, “Why don't you finish your church building?” The pastor replied that they lacked the means. “How much will it take?” said McCoy. The reply was, about $400. “Well,” said McCoy, “go ahead and finish it, put me down for $25. I want to see the boards pulled out of those windows.” Mr. McCoy had already made a donation of $100 towards the building. 

27 Nov 1884 The windows of the new Catholic church are at last being put in place, the furniture of the church will soon arrive, and, we are glad to announce, the building is soon to be dedicated. Bishop Dwenger will be present at the dedication, we understand.

18 Dec 1884  The fine brick church building of our Catholic brethren is now almost completed and furnished. The gallery is now in process of erection, and when that is completed the building will be ready for dedication. The dedication services will take place as soon as Bishop Dwenger can spare a Sunday for the purpose. 

8 Jan 1885 The Dedication of the new Catholic church will take place on Sunday, January 18th, 1885, Bishop Dwenger officiating.

That first church building was demolished long ago to make room for the current building. However, the open house was exactly 140 years after the dedication of the first St. Augustine church.

The Harvest Christian Academy is planning to open this fall in one wing of the Core Building. Their slogan is already on their entrance to their wing of the Core Building.

Both Saint Augustine's and Harvest Academy were telling parents of the vouchers available in Indiana that can be used for students in private schools. The cost for many students attending a private school is about the same as attending a public school.

Harvest Academy had one classroom staged to show what a Kindergarten or first-grade classroom might look like.

Odds & ends

Aydas purchased a building next to the Ritz some time ago and their plans did not work out. Here is their explanation of what happened.

JCEDO announed two more façade grants.

The new façade at Short Cuts looks like it is finished except for signage. It was done without a façade grant.

Adam Alson has resigned from the board of Apple Seed and refers questions to the new director, Anthony Butler. Appletree would not have happened if not for the dedication and persistence of Mr Alson.

Bazz's roller rink is now offering breakfasts.

I had planned to publish this post after two County meetings on Tuesday, but decided waiting would make this post too long. The County meetings will wait for the next post.

A last post for 2024?

 More Christmas pictures

Among the Christmas decorations around town are a number of creche scenes. The first three below are at churches and the last two at residences.

Although the next three pictures may not look like Christmas pictures, they are. They show the parking lots at the College Mall, Strack & Van Til, and Walmart as they were on Christmas Day. Not even the Chinese restaurant was open in the College Mall. 

The picture below is from near McDonalds. It was closed. While I was taking this picture, a car drove into the drive-thru and tried to order. The driver left unsatisfied.

The only businesses that seemed to be open in the south part of Rensselaer were the gas stations.

The weather this week has been bleak, with heavy clouds. However, in winter heavy cloud cover usually means warmer weather, and we did get warmer than usual temperatures this past week.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met for its final 2024 meeting on Monday. It passed the annual ordinance writing off non-collectable utility accounts. An account becomes non-collectible when it is six years old or older or the customer has either died or declared bankruptcy. The electric tracker for the next quarter will reflect a reduction of $4.64 per 1000 kilowatt hours. 

The Council then approved several encumbrances. An encumbrance takes funds from the 2024 budget to use in 2025. The Council appointed Kevin Smith and Jeff Webb to the Redevelopment Commission and Mike Lyon to the BZA. The Council appointed Mayor Phillips to another term on the KIRPC Board.

The water, sewer, sanitation, electric, and gas utilities each gave a budget number to the Council. I think this was their anticipated expenses for 2025 and I am not sure what it means because there are a lot of extraneous forces that will affect spending, but the Clerk/Treasurer wanted numbers to plug into her budget.

Consideration of vacating part of Prairie Street was tabled because a key party was not able to attend this meeting. The Council approved a motion to have the Mayor sign a contract with HWC Engineering to develop a housing action plan and a park master plan. 

On December 3 IDEM told the City that it had approved a $62,861 sanitation grant to the City. It will be used to install 15 trash and 20 recycling receptacles in the downtown area. The City would like more recycling as a way to reduce tipping fees at the landfill.

The Mayor announced that Matthew Gunter had been appointed safety director. He then recognized two long-time employees who are retiring at the start of the year, Carol and Jerry Lockridge. (There will be a retirement celebration on Jan 3 in City Hall from 1:00 to 3:00.)

The Street Department won the decorating contest in which the various departments were competing. The Fire Department is starting a Fire School in February. A video by Commonwealth Engineering of the water tower was recommended.

A new Park Office is being constructed in the old power plant and may be finished by the first of the year. A disc golf tournament is planned for February.

Below shows some of the Park equipment moved into the old power plant.

The new Park office will be further north in the building than I expected.

The building is not yet ready to have visitors.

 Finally

The remodeling of the front of Short Cuts by Kim seems to be nearing completion.

Below is a picture from November 11.

And one from October 11.

An earlier picture was shown in a post at the beginning of October.

I suspect this will be the last post of 2024. I do not see any meetings on my schedule until January 6.

November meetings and pictures

Halloween pictures

There were multiple opportunities for kids to get Halloween candy this year. One of the trunk or treat events was held at Saint Augustines on Halloween evening. Many visitors were greeted by Spiderman, who did not have any candy.

The first stops were at the line of trunks next to the school.

It may be hard to see, but there was a pirate handing out candy from his pirate ship.

From there the kids went into the school where more candy was available.

The skeleton had a box of candy for those brave enough to take some.

Not all those giving out candy were as scary as the skeleton, but maybe this witch was.

And there was a second witch a bit further down the hall.

When I left, there was still a line of kids eager for candy outside.

The organizers said they had 855 people come through.

November 1 was All Saint's Day and the kids at Saint Augustine School dressed up in costumes again, this time as a saint. At the school program each kid told a bit about the saint he or she was representing.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met Monday for a rather uneventful monthly meeting. There were no buried cable requests. However there was mention of a problem with contractors installing cable along State highways. When contractors get permits to install in the County right-of-way along County roads, the County Highway Department gives those applications to the Surveyor to see if there are any drains involved. When contractors get permits to install along State roads, those permits are not forwarded to the Surveyor. Recently about seven miles of cable were installed along US 231 and the cables were installed above tiles rather than below them.

Mayor Phillips addressed the Commissioners informing them of the upcoming project to upgrade the sewer system as required by a court order several years ago. To pay for this project, the City will probably be raising sewer rates over the next three years by 40%, 40%, and 20%. This will about double the sewer bill of the average resident, which is $55.00. It will also have a big impact on the County and for this reason that the Mayor was telling the Commissioners about what to expect.

The Commissioners approved a service agreement for some tax software from a company called GUTS. The Health Department received approval for a new hire of a multi-media communications coordinator. The primary reason for the position is that the Health Department has seen an influx of Hispanics who do not speak English and wants someone who can communicate with them. The Health Department assured the Commissioners that the person would be available to help other departments who might need translations. The Council must approve the funding for this position. Remodeling of the Health Department is going well.

The County''s IT guy noted that the County was left without internet for a day because a fiber-optic cable was cut. He asked that the Commissioners approve a second, backup internet provider so if the main provider's service failed, service would not be interrupted. The cost would be $119.95 per month for three years. The Commissioners approved his request.

The Commissioners approved a Carpenter Wind Farm/Drain Tile memorandum of understanding. This had been requested by the Drainage Board and worked out with input from the County's compliance monitor. The reason that Commissioners were asked for their approval is because they hired the compliance monitor. 

The Commissoners approved two rezones that had been sent to them from the Plan Commission with a favorable recommendation. The first was an amendment to the zoning map adding four parcels to the wind-farm overlay district in Carpenter Township and the second was for a zoning change from A1 to R1 for a possible subdivision in Walker Township.

The building that the Jasper County EMS is using in Remington is owned by Remington and Carpenter Township. They want the County to assume ownership with the provision that if the County does not use it for six months, the ownership reverts back to Remington/Carpenter Township. The Commissioners approved the transfer.

In other business, the Highway Department wants a "yield" sign switched to a "stop" sign in a northern subdivision that has expanded, It will need a public hearing. The Commissioners agreed to a proposal of $20,000 to repair and polish the tiles on the first floor of the Court House. (The second floor was done a year or two ago.) The State Board of Accounts was unhappy that the salary contracts for the Sheriff had not been signed so the Sheriff asked the Commissioners to sign them. He also said that the State Board of Accounts wants a better accounting for inventory. Given the rain on Monday, the Commissioners will let the burn ban expire on Tuesday. The meeting was continued until Nov 18 if needed.

Drainage Board meeting

After a short break, the Drainage Board met on Monday morning. First Church is expanding its parking lot but said that they had planned the existing retention plan to be big enough to handle the expansion. The Board approved. The Board then approved the Carpenter Wind Farm MOU that the Commissioners had approved earlier in the morning. A drainage plan for a proposed community center at Grace Fellowship was approved.

A drainage for a substation that is part of the Biscayne Falls solar project in Walker Township was approved conditional on its getting its State permits. (Biscayne Falls is the new name of what was the Solar Pack solar farm.) Three bids were opened for the Kankakee River phase 5 bank stabilization project. Phase 5 covers the last two miles of the project. There were three bids, but one was incomplete. The bid was awarded to the low bid, Gutwein from Francesville. It covers excavation only. Bids were then opened for the materials. There were three companies bidding and all bids were accepted so that the project will be able to get material when they are needed.

There was a brief discussion of the possibility of a boat launch on a bit of County land along the Kankakee. That lot is considered too small but perhaps some additional land could be purchased. Porter and Lake County tourism are interested in getting better access to the river for recreation and may be adding public-access sites on their side of the River.

The meeting adjourned at 10:50.

Park Board meeting

The first item of business at the Rensselaer Park Board meeting Monday evening was a request from the Little Cousin Jasper Festival to continue use of Potawatomi Park for future festivals. The Festival Committee thinks the Park venue works better than the Courthouse Square. There was some discussion of what changes could be made to make Potawatomi Park work even better in the future, and having electricity in the center was one item mentioned. There may also be some changes downtown that may make it easier to serve beer at events. The Board approved the request to use Potawatomi and nearby parks in 2025.

There followed a discussion of plans for a miniature train display in Foundation Park. Preliminary plans had been presented at the previous meeting and Board members suggested three changes: eliminating the small parking lot off the highway, bringing the display closer to the highway, and shortening it by having only two cars instead of three. There were concerns about the cost of maintenance. The item was tabled for the next meeting.

There were some updates discussed. The Jackson Pickle-ball Courts have been paved. The asphalt will need 30 days to cure. It will have four courts running east and west. During the winter it will probably be fenced and it should be ready for use in the Spring.

The Board approved funding for a mural on the south side of the Brookside Pool building. That side was recently power-washed and primed. The Board also approved investigating how best to illuminate the mural at night.

Below is the LaRue Pool bath house with its new coat of primer paint.

Park restrooms except those at Filson Park have been winterized so are no longer available. The Park takes care of 167 trees that the Urban Forest Ministry has planted and waters them for three years. The Soccer league is thinking about a policy for unruly spectators, which was a problem this year. New roofs are needed for the LaRue Pool bath house and the Gifford Shelter. There is the possibility that next year some of the Park baseball teams might play teams from neighboring towns. The comment was made that no one can pitch; in some games most runs are scored by walks.

The next meeting will be on December 2 if there seems to be a need for a December meeting.

I noticed the other day that some kids were playing in our new splash pad.

Alpenhorns at the Library

The alpenhorns returned to the Rensselaer Library on Sunday. They are part of the German Band Inc from Valparaiso.

Below is a video of part of a song they played. To hear it as it was in the Library, turn up your volume to maximum. The alpenhorns are very loud.

If you want to get your own alpenhorn, you need a bit of money. A cheap one will run about $1500 and the horns being played at the Library cost about $5000. However, they can be a good investment. A horn made by a prominent maker can rise in value a lot after the death of the maker.

Odds and ends

The green machine is making its rounds in Rensselaer.

I had some pictures of oak leaves that turned from green to brown. Not all oaks are so bland. Here is a different species of oak that has orange and red coloring.

Many trees are bare or almost bare. 

I rode to Remington on Sunday and saw only three or four corn fields that were not yet harvested.

Below is the building-trades house at SJC as it appeared Monday morning.

The piece of sidewalk that was removed a few days ago because of a crack has been replaced.

The fire training tower got its first use over the weekend. The Rensselaer Fire Department Facebook page has pictures and stats.

The brick streets are open

 Brick Streets

The barricades have been removed and the brick streets (parts of Van Rensselaer and Harrison) are now open to traffic.

On Saturday the still-barricaded Van Rensselaer Street hosted the annual Oktoberfest. I arrived early and enjoyed the German band.

The lead male singer even danced with one of the members of the audience.

I took a couple pictures of the finished bricks. On the left are new bricks that allow water to drain between the bricks and on the right are the old bricks that probably do not drain water well.

The Harrison/Van Rensselaer intersection has new bricks with a herringbone pattern in them. Driving on them is much smoother than driving on the old bricks.

As I said, I came early and there were not a lot of people. Around 5:30 some light rain started, probably an outer band from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The band decided that the rain was not compatible with their electric equipment and stopped playing. I hung around for a while and then decided to leave before most people usually arrive.

The Truth Bible Church, the new owners of what was the Ritz Theater building, was one of several food vendors.

The Brick Street Ice Cream shop was open for the night. I heard that they had a very busy weekend.

The rain stopped after 6:00 but it restarted again later in the evening.

The remnants of Helene gave us a windy day on Friday but almost no rain. The rain bands stopped just to the south of Jasper County, though Remington may have gotten some showers.

Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council meeting

On Monday the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council held a special meeting to meet with two representatives from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the administration of a grant of $157,945.77 that the Forestry Council had recently received.

The funding of the grant ultimately came from the Federal government. The Inflation Recovery Act allocated $1.5 billion to be used for trees, and Indiana's share of that  was $4 million. The Indiana DNR awarded 16 grants. The Rensselaer grant was awarded to the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council and it will be administered by the Jasper-Newton Foundation over the next three years. The grant will fund a database of trees on City property and right-of-ways, community outreach to encourage people to appreciate trees and plant them in their yards, and the planting of 50 trees on City right-of-ways. The grant proposal that was submitted requested support for 100 trees, but the DNR cut that to 50 so the other activities could be supported. Much of the hour-long discussion was about the details of grant administration.

Below the people attending the meeting pose in front of the tulip tree behind the Carnegie Center.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met on Monday evening to discuss a proposed residential housing development program. The plan includes a new TIF district that will have a small area from which taxes will be collected and a fairly large area on the east side of Rensselaer in which the revenues can be spent. The areas that will collect taxes from new development are two blocks north of Van Rensselaer School and a strip of land north of Elm Street and south of the Melt Blown company. Spending can be done for road improvements and sidewalks, utility improvements, parks, public safety, and education. No vote was taken. I believe the vote will be during the October 7 meeting. Then the matter will pass on to the City Council.

Odd & ends

From the legals in the September 26 issue of the Rensselaer Republican:

"Notice it is hereby given that the Remington Board of Zoning Appeals will conduct a public hearing  at the Remington Townhall,,,on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Timeon Carpenter wind Farm LLC's application for a Special Exception permit to build 12 wind turbines within the town of Remington's extraterritorial jurisdiction."

The notice goes on to note that this is part of a wind farm of 45 turbines, with the other 33 located in areas under the jurisdiction of the Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeal. The Remington Plan Commission had recommended establishing a wind-farm overlay and the Remington Council had passed it.

Meanwhile White County is considering battery storage to complement their wind turbines.

In downtown Rensselaer the building that houses Short Cuts is getting a facelift.

A&B Auto Care has been closed for several weeks and the building remains for sale.

Concrete for the final bit of sidewalk next to the old light plant was poured on Monday.

Scarecrow Trail

Scarecrows are beginning to appear in Milroy Park. The first put up was the Chief Buildings' scarecrow.

The Rensselaer Gas Utility has a scarecrow with a gas meter as its head.

The tin man is from Valley Oaks Health. The sign on the right says. "I shall take the heart. For Brains do not make 1 Happy and happiness is the Best Thing in the World. 

The Carnegie Players sort of advertise their winter play production.

It will be a musical called "Saving Christmas" written by local writer Peter Schulenburg. Auditions are on October 21 and 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 at Saint Augustine;s Church and performances will be December 12, 13, & 14. The Carnegie Players continue to do some very creative and unusual stuff.

I do not know if one can call the cheery Tri Kappa exhibit a scarecrow.

The Little-Cousin-Jasper display is very small and unusual.

Finally

My asters are now blooming, which is a bit depressing because they are among the very last flowers to bloom in the summer or early fall. The bees love them.

Still blooming is the plant shown below, which is a garden vegetable. I have appreciated it this year because it is one of the few plants that my resident bunnies and squirrels as well as the wandering deer have left alone. Do you recognize what it is?

It is abelmoschus esculentus. (Google that name to learn its common name.)