Approaching mid November 2024

 The Wine Room

There is a new business in Rensselaer, The Wine Room. It is located in the old REMC building, now named Toplink Business Center. The Wine Room occupies the corner of the building next to Kellner and Cullen and is quite large.

A closer look at the Christmas-Tree manikin from the picture above.

A view of the other half of the room.

It is a very pleasant space and I think it would be a good space for some kinds of events and parties. I am not the target audience, but I will be watching to see how the business develops.

The owner of the business also owns Erica's Boutique on Front Street. 

A year ago there was a ribbon cutting for Hometown Mortgage in this building. It no longer is listed on the window sign so I think it has abandoned this office. Hometown Mortgage is located in DeMotte and the Rensselaer office was a satellite office.

Across the street, what was ASG Staffing has a new name, Verstela.

City meetings

On Tuesday afternoon the Rensselaer Board of Public Works had its shortest meeting that I can remember. It lasted two minutes. The only item on the agenda was a vote to affirm a sewer bond anticipation note agreement. I am not sure what this does but the City's financial advisor, Baker Tilly, wanted it done.

After a long wait, it was time for the City Council meeting. There had been mention at the previous meeting that this meeting might be streamed over the Internet, but the equipment was not yet in place. The first item was a presentation of and vote on a rate ordinance and bond ordinance for the upcoming sewer project. There are two parts to this project that is mandated by the State, a upgrade to and expansion of the sewer plant that is estimated to cost $19 million and a combined sewer overflow project that will have an estimated initial cost of $9 million. The State Revolving Fund (SRF) will finance the first of those with a 20-year interest-free loan but the second will have to be financed with a bond that will pay interest. To pay back this debt, the utility will need to raise rates and the City will raise them in three steps. Currently a customer using 4000 gallons of water a month has a sewage bill of about $56. The rate ordinance will raise that to $73 in 2025, to $90 in 2026, and to $102 in 2027. Without the interest-free loan from the SRF, the bill in 2026 would be $108. The City will try to get as many bids as possible for this work in hopes of getting lower prices but there are few contractors who do this type of work. There will be a public hearing on December 9 on the rate ordinance. The Council suspended the rules to allow the bond ordinance to be passed at this meeting.

The Rensselaer Urban Forest Council gave a report on what it has been doing. Since 2008 it has planted 987 trees. However, 1070 trees have been removed. Not stated is that many of them were ash trees that were killed or damaged by the emerald ash borer.

The Council had a second reading of an ordinance to close the Scott Street railroad crossing and then passed the ordinance with Mr Armold voting against. The gas tracker for November will be a small decrease in rates. The City supply bids for gasoline and diesel were awarded to Keystone Cooperative, the successor to Ceres Solutions. The Council approved two public relations requests, one for the retirement of two City employees and the other for an employee Christmas party.

Rensselaer received a Community Crossings grant of $733,623 to improve roads. The Mayor would like to apply for a grant to build a trail from Rensselaer to the Interstate. The Council approved the application. The Rensselaer City budget has been approved by the State. The Fire Department 1996 pumper is down again and there is no estimate yet on what it will cost to fix it. The City continues to gradually replace lead service lines. The City received reimbursement for some CDL training of employees. If the weather cooperates, a new mural will be started on the LaRue pool bath house.

Other meetings

The Tourism Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning was canceled because it would lack a quorum. (I could have gone to the Alcohol Review Board meeting instead but I forgot that it meets at the same time the Tourism Commission meets.) There was nothing exciting on the agenda. Members who missed the June presentation on Placer.ai were invited to view the demo video on Zoom. You can see what Placer.ai does in a June post.

The Airport Authority met Tuesday evening but the Rensselaer City Council meeting conflicted because they moved their meeting due to Veterans' Day.

Odds and ends

The local races in Election 2024 were rather uninteresting. The only County races that were contested were the three at-large County Council seats and the Republican candidates easily won those. There will be a number of new County officials come 2025 (two new commissioners, a new council member, a new auditor, and a new judge), but they were mostly determined in the Republican primary, which had quite a few contested races. 

On Friday I drove to Monticello and was delayed in Monon by a train that stopped across the tracks. While I waited, I took a picture of a new mural that Monon has. It is by a local artist, Romulo Diaz. who seems to be a tattoo artist.

The White County paper has an article about the mural and also the other murals in Monon. There is a big mural by Cameron Moberg that is on a north-facing wall that I tried to photograph once but the light was bad. Here is a decent picture of it.

On Monday a Veterans' Day Ceremony was held at Weston Cemetery.

Veterans' Day was established to commemorate the end of WWI with an armistice beginning on November 11 at 11:00 in 1918. Memorial Day was established to commemorate those who died in the Civil War. Veterans' Day honors all vets; Memorial Day honors those who died in service.

Windows downtown are being painted again this year with Christmas decorations. These first two are on Brick Street Ice Cream.

City Hall

The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce office.

And finally the start of one on Gallina Insurance

Lots of good info

Park news

The first tournament at the Blacker fields was held this past weekend. The teams lucked out with some good weather. There was rain, but it was overnight on late Saturday and the fields were OK for Sunday. There were 30 teams participating.

New this year was an admission charge. Rensselaer had been the only venue used by the organizers of these tournaments that did not charge an admission fee.

There will be more tournaments for the next two or three weekends.

At the Park Board meeting on Monday evening, Mr Effinger explained that without the admission fee the teams had to pay a higher entrance fee, and that deterred some teams from coming to Rensselaer to play. There was concern that locals might complain about the fee if they only wanted to stop by and watch a game or a partial game and the fee might depress concession sales (which is where the Parks make money--the fees to use the fields cover the cost of preparing the fields). But with more teams coming for each tournament, the extra number of parents and players should more than offset the lost sales to those who are deterred by the entrance fee.

The Park Board also approved buying a sprinkler for the ball fields. Brianne Hooker from the Jasper-Newton Foundation said that she had donors who want to replace some of the playground equipment at Foundation Park and the Board encouraged her to support these efforts. The Board reviewed the accountant's report that showed that the Parks have operated in the black for the past four years. Softball should be getting started soon. Younger people seem to be uninterested in the sport. Pickleball has become popular at the new tennis courts.

Last week Brookside Park hosted a large group of students from the Kankakee Valley School system.

When I took the photo above I wondered what the purpose of the fencing was. I figured it out on Saturday when I stopped by to look at the baseball games.

Commissioners meeting

Near the beginning of the Commissioners meeting on Monday morning, Mr Bontreger mentioned the proposed carbon sequestration project. BP is apparently planning a test well to explore the rocks that lie beneath us. Newton County did not have the seismic testing that was done in Jasper County not because of something that their County government did but because there was data from the testing done before the landfill was put in and it apparently showed that the rock structures were too thin for significant CO2 storage. The Commissioners continue talking with BP and think that respectful dialogue is best at this point. All three commissioners oppose the project.

The meeting then proceeded with routine business. Two buried cable permits were approved for Carpenter Township and Remington,. The Commissioners approved lease contracts for postage machines for the Courthouse, Sheriff's Department, and the annex. New employee hours in the Health Department were approved as well as two new vehicles financed from a fund that the State wants the Department to spend down. A request from EMS to hire a full-time administrative assistant was approved. The Director is part-time (he has a full-time job in Valparaiso) and the salary for the Director is budgeted for a full-time director. Most of the money for the administrative assistant will come from unused funds for the director. The new EMS building will have an open house on May 23 from 4:00 until 6:00.

The Commissioners approved some conference requests and a vacation-extension request. The Sheriff received permission to replace two jailers and an officer who is leaving the Department after 20 years to work at Purdue. The leak in the jail roof was found under one of the condensers. There was a discussion of whether it would be better to put the air-conditioning equipment on the ground rather than have it on the roof and the Sheriff was told to proceed with planning for that change. The Commissioners approved a new application for a COPS grant. Last year the application was not funded because other departments were judged to have greater need for the funding. The Corrections Department received permission to replace a correctional officer. 

Two bids for outside contractor services were opened and both accepted. They allow the Highway Department to outsource work when the Department cannot perform it. The Commissioners accepted a bid of $2000 from Rensselaer Monuments to repair damage done by vandals in Makeever Cemetery. The County wants to transfer ownership to Newton Township and paperwork needs to be finished. The Commissioners also accepted proposals from Reliable Exterminators to service Corrections, EMS, and Animal Control.

In other business, it was noted that DeMotte is considering a speed limit for its buffer zone. The County Attorney said that they do not have the authority to do that, but they can make a request to the Commissioners. The Commissioners approved purchase of updated GPS equipment for the Surveyor's Office that will automate updating records. 

Changes to the Solar Ordinance will be discussed in the May Plan Commission meeting. Among the many changes will be the elimination of the requirement to plant trees or bushes for screening. Instead the setbacks will be increased and the land in the setback will be used for crops. There is currently no provision for battery storage facilities; the changes add some.

At a previous meeting the County Coroner expressed concerns about the speed limits on SR-10 as it approaches and goes through Wheatfield He said the State had been unresponsive to his request and Wheatfield's request for change and wanted the Commissioners to add their support for changes. He also gave the Commissioners updated and improved plans for a new building he would like built to house the mortuary. EMA Director Karen Wilson wanted a vehicle for EMA and the Commissioners approved transferring one from the Sheriff;s Department.

A number of citizens sat through a couple of hours of the meeting waiting to make public comments and most were about the proposed carbon sequestration project that BP has proposed. One speaker said that her communication with State officials said that the County had considerable authority to regulate both a CO2 pipeline and wells. Another speaker suggested that the Commissioners draft a resolution stating that the Commissioners were opposed to carbon sequestration. Mr DeYoung then made a motion to have the Attorney Beaver draft to that effect. Mr Bontreger then asked what effect that would have on IBEC, which is currently sequestering CO2. They were apparently told that they had to do this or they would be shut down. Further, IBEC provides a major market for the corn grown in Jasper County, so what happens to them may affect the farmers. The motion was then tabled until May 20 and Mr Beaver was asked to determine exactly what the County can and cannot do with the issue of carbon sequestration. After almost 3 hours, the meeting was continued to May 20 at 8:30.

Other meetings

I was not paying attention to the time on Monday afternoon so arrived at the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting fifteen minutes late. The meeting was over by the time I got there. I learned that the Commission had approved $60,000 for Apple Seed. The cost of running the Appletree Center is a bit over $600,000 and the revenues are a bit under $400,000, so a bit more than $200,000 must be raised each year to keep the Center open. The money from the Redevelopment Commission fills about a quarter of the gap.

The other item on the agenda was the building on the corner of Clark and Cullen that was once a bottling plant. The Commission would like it demolished.

The Drainage Board met after the Commissioners meeting. They decided to reject a request for a variance that would allow a garage to be built on the right-of-way of a ditch. The Surveyor needs the right-of-way if the ditch is cleaned. This issue had been discussed at previous meetings. They approved a request for a culvert placement and approved a fiber-cable request to cross County drains in Remington. A homeowner wanted three 18-inch culverts removed from a neighbor's driveway because she said the runoff was threatening the foundation of her house. After some discussion, Mr DeYoung told her to arrange a meeting with the adjoining property owner or owners and  together with him, the Surveyor, and the Highway Department, a solution would be worked out. A woman had a question about her drainage bill and was told that the overcharge was due to the computer program used by the Auditor and Treasurer. She was told to take the matter to their offices.

Brick street pictures

Work continues on the Brick Street project. Last week the workers were installing a couple of manholes on Harrison Street.

The sidewalks along Harrison Street were removed about a week ago.

This is a view of Van Rensselaer Street taken on Tuesday.

Odds and ends

The first farmers market of the summer took place on May 4. Only one of the booths had garden produce, some asparagus. 

I wonder why there is no rhubarb for sale. Is it because there is no demand for it or is it because no one is growing it?

A tree fell across the Iroquois River along Weston Cemetery. 

Property tax bills are due May 10. 

The primary election held on Tuesday had a number of contested County races on the Republican side. Emily Waddle defeated John Potter 52.61% to 47.39%. Diana Boersma won easily in a three-way race in the County Auditor race with over 50% of the vote. The two Commissioner candidates who will be on the ballot in November are Ryan Hilton (District 1) and Craig Standish (District 2). The race in District 2 was extremely close, with Standish edging Jeff DeYoung by six votes, 1617 to 1611. The three Republican candidates for County Council in November will be Brian Moore, Jacob Misch, and Scott Walstra. Complete results are here.

A short post to start May

 Medical signs

In the previous post I had pictures of a sign for the Clinic of Family Medicine being installed downtown. According to its website, The Clinic of Family Medicine has three medical providers: Dr Robert Darnaby, Family Nurse Practitioner Sharon Johnson, and Nurse Practitioner Debra Drescher. They have not moved yet as the renovation of their downtown office is not finished.

What used to be the Clinic of Family Medicine is now three offices of Franciscan Health: Working Well, Express Care, and HealtheAccess. 

These services have moved from the building to the west, which is now vacant.

It has a sign in one of the windows saying the space is available.

The property tax record from the County says this building has 3142 square feet and the former Clinic of Family Medicine has 5312 square feet.

The Liberty Clinic of Dr. Randy Lehman is now operating out of the Hospital. Dr Lehman posted a video on Facebook that explains what he is doing and why.

The Clinic of Family Medicine is now operating from the building to the south and east of the building Franciscan is using.

It is open four days a week and on the fifth day the building is used by Lafayette Pain Care.

Odds and Ends

The Food Pantry has a sign in front of their building along the highway.

Over the weekend the Chamber of Commerce sponsored Daffodil Days, which featured a scavenger hunt to get people to visit the participating businesses. I picked up the goodie bag but decided I did not want to enter the drawing for the big prizes. (I am too old to want more stuff.) The goodie bag had some pens, some popcorn, a fan that folded up in a funny way, and a coupon for a free cookie at McDonalds. I used the coupon and was surprised that there were no customers inside. I asked the lady who waited on me how much business is through the drive-up and she said over 80%. There always seems to be cars in the drive up.

On Friday the City's Gas Utility hosted an 811-Awareness event with a free lunch.

You can find better pictures here.

I sat by some City officials and some County candidates joined them a bit later. One of the County candidates noted that the issues that concern people in the northern part of the County are completely different from those that concern people in the southern part of the County.

We had a frost on the morning of April 25. Hopefully that will be the last frost of the season. I saw someone on Facebook asking when the peach trees would bloom. Mine bloomed two or three weeks ago and had very few flowers. Apparently the cold snap in January has largely destroyed this year's crop in our area.

We have had a very wet spring and you can see it in the rise and fall of the Iroquois. The graph below is from the gauging station at Laird's Landing.

I do not see much activity in the fields. They are too wet to work. The oak trees are leafing out, which may mean it is time to plant some of the more sensitive plants in the garden.

Work on the Brick Street Project continues. Last week there was a pile of stuff found under the streets. 

The workers keep digging and filling holes.

More large concrete structures are being put in. I believe this is part of a sewer line.

Almost all of the sidewalks on both sides of the brick-streets part of Harrison Street have been removed.

This Saturday we will have the opening of the Farmers Market and the Town-Wide Garage Sale. On Friday is the Fire Department's fish and chicken dinner. Tickets are $14 for adults, which may seem a bit expensive, but it is all you can eat (and some people can eat a lot.)

Next Tuesday is primary election day. If you have not voted early, you can vote at any of the ten voting centers in the County. The two that are most convenient for Rensselaer are at the armory and the Fairgrounds. This week's Rensselaer Republican is devoted to previewing all the contested races.

Warmer weather

 Spring

We had the first hot days of the year over the weekend, with temperatures into the 80s. The longer days, the trees getting leaves, and the many flowers tell us that spring really is here.

The trees below are on the SJC campus.

Some beautiful tulips, but not mine.

I was surprised last week to see that the geese already have goslings.

On Friday I attended the first of the wellness walks, which are being held on Fridays from 10:40 until noon from April 12 to May 17 at Brookside Park. They replace the old Walk-with-a-Doc Walks and are sponsored by the Extension office. As the very small group of walkers assembled, we watched the City and the Urban Forest Ministry unload trees that will be planted in Rensselaer this spring.

Spring is a good time to flush hydrants. 

It is also a good time to patch streets where utility work has been done. 

(I noticed that there is a new dumpster by the old R&M Store.)

There are frogs croaking in Weston Pond. I saw a turtle on the road on Sunday and helped it over the curb. And not necessarily a sign of spring, but something I had never seen before during 50 years of living in Rensselaer: I saw a motorboat speeding downstream on the Iroquois River. I did not have time to snap a picture.

Not a lot of planting has begun because the fields are still too wet from the recent rains.

AppleTree is one

Appletree celebrated is first birthday on Saturday with an open house.

There were tiny cupcakes available for those who came. Kids could get their faces decorataed or get balloon sculptures.

Below is a bubble machine and if you look carefully you might see some of the bubbles on the right side of the pictures. Some of the kids had fun chasing them.

Inside the building was a cake that was served at the celebration at 1:00, which I did not attend.

Everyone who was there when I stopped by seemed to having a good time.

Brick Streets

Work continues with installing utility lines and pipes beneath where the brick streets were. New water lines crossed the sidewalk last week, so access to the businesses on Van Rensselaer has been difficult. 

There are still lots of pipes and materials left to install.

Continued Commissioners meeting

On Monday morning the Commissioners met in a continuation of their April 1 meeting. I decided to attend via Zoom, which I immediately regretted because the audio did not work at the start of the meeting. About five minutes in the people attending live realized there was a problem and discovered that a wire was not connected properly. Fortunately Mr Bontreger gave a summary of what had happened while there was no audio.

Mr Phillips, presumably acting as head of the Jasper County Republicans, had thanked Mr Walstra and Mrs. Jordan for their years of service to the County. Neither are seeking reelection. The Commissioners had approved contracts for 100 day of housing juvenile offenders in other county jails. Community Corrections will provide people to mow grass at the new EMS building.

With the audio problem fixed, the Commissioners continued with what was probably the most important item. They had met on Thursday in executive session to interview five firms to serve as construction compliance monitor for the proposed wind-farm project in Carpenter Township if the project becomes a reality. They had decided to use BF&S, a company that has done a lot of work for the County in the past. They also said that they appreciated learning about the other companies and may use them in the future if there are projects that fit their expertise. EDS, the company that is proposing the wind farm, has agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it will pay for the services of construction monitoring. They will provide an initial  deposit of $200,000, from which the County will make payments, and there is a soft cap of $400.000 in the agreement. This MOU should satisfy the concerns that the Advisory Plan Commission had in their February meeting.

The Commissioners formally approved the agreement with BF&S. They also said that they are close to finishing an agreement with the City of Rensselaer to extend water and sewage lines west of I-65.

Jasper County BZA meeting

The Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals met Monday evening with one cause on their agenda, a request for a lot-width variance for a property in Walker Township. The owner wants to split a 4.8 acre lot into two 2.4 acre lots that would be long and thin and not have the road frontage that the zoning code requires. However, it is in the area that is full of lots that are of similar size. The hearing took longer than I expected because the petitioners had not provided enough detail on their application. The variance was granted with the condition that the new lot lines preserved required setbacks for the existing buildings. The purpose of the split was to provide a lot for a new house. This is not the final step the owners must take. They will need to have the Plan Commission approve a two-lot subdivision.

The last bit of the meeting had a discussion of how to get applicants to file better organized and complete forms to streamline the meetings.

Joint Council/Commissioners meeting

There are two joint Council/Commissioners meetings scheduled each year, in July and December. However, the Council and Commissioners decided that two issues were important enough to hold an extra one in April,

The first issue concerned public defenders. Judge Potter had made a case to both Commissioners and Council that the current system needed to be changed. At Tuesday's meeting Todd Sammons and a person from Indianapolis who is part of the State Public Defender Commission explained the case for change and what it might look like. In the years since public defenders were introduced, the County has gone from having an abundance of applicants for the positions to a shortage. Public-defender expenses are reimbursed 40% by the State but it is not clear that the County is getting all the reimbursement that it could get. Many counties have already moved to establishing a chief public defender position and that is what Jasper County is now considering. Some of them have full-time positions and others part-time, and it is unclear which would be better for Jasper County. Many of the details of how the change would happen and what the final result would be were discussed and the discussion took about 50 minutes. The next step is for the local public defender board to set up a plan and to figure out a budget. They can base their plan on existing plans from other counties and the State Commission is available to help them.

The second issue was the request from the Coroner to provide him with more space. The County morgue is located next to the Fase Center east of DeMotte and it shares space with the Sheriff's Department. The Coroner had taken some public officials to Fulton County to view their recently-built morgue and he had a handout showing what he would like in a new building. There is an upcoming meeting with Baker Tilly and perhaps at that meeting questions of how a new building might be financed can be answered.

County Council meeting

The County Council meeting started about a half hour late because the joint meeting had lasted so long. Kristen Louck, head of the Health Department, had had a new nurse position approved by the Commissioners and now needed the salary approved by the Council. The Council approved it but it needs to be advertised so they will need to approve it again at the next meeting. She also requested a pay of $40 per hour for the part-time director of EMS services.

The meeting then moved on to a list of additional appropriations. The Sheriff had a request for a jailer and overtime. The overtime budget had been approved for $2,000 rather than the $20,000 intended, so the $18,000 was added back. The Court needed more for translators. That is an expense that is increasing in most counties and a recent decision by the Supreme Court raised the qualifications for translators, so they have become more expensive. The Animal Shelter needed $3,000 for a new tranquilizer gun. $100,000 was needed for a second payment for new voting machines. They were purchased with the payments spread over three years. Some expenses for the Health Department did not get paid in 2023 so there was an additional appropriation to pay them. Community Corrections is installing new security cameras and there was an additional appropriation of $30,000 to pay for them.

The last item on the agenda was a report about the Connection Center. I believe this was purely an informational report and I left shortly after it started because I could see lightning through the windows and I did not want to get caught in a thunderstorm.

Notes

I got my property tax bill last week and went to the Courthouse to pay it. While there I voted. Voting is on the second floor where the buffalo usually is. Hours are 8:00 till noon and 1:00 till 4:00 with extended hours on Mondays and Wednesdays until 8:00. If you wait until election day, the two places in Rensselaer to vote will be the Fairgrounds and the Armory. 

Brick streets and more

 Brick Streets

Work continued on the Brick Street Project this week. Even the half bricks were being saved.

The bricks on the streets were made in Brazil, Indiana. Here is an article I found about the company. The bricks are in remarkable shape given that they are over a century old.

On the Johnny Rusk lot a variety of materials are being assembled, such as these fire hydrants.

With most of the bricks gone from Van Renssealer Street, Grimmer Construction has begun working on replacing the water line. The red spot in the trench is the helmet of a worker.

On Tuesday an evacuator was filling a dump truck. Notice that the sidewalk has been removed.

On Tuesday the workers had begun removing the bricks on Harrison Street.

Candidate Forum

The Jasper County Republican Women sponsored a candidate forum for the upcoming Republican primary election on Saturday morning. There are five races that are contested: Circuit Court Judge, Auditor, County Council at large, Commissioners district 1 and Commissioners district 2. There was a decent sized crowd despite limited publicity. The event was live-streamed on Facebook and you can find the recordings here and here. (There were technical issues which resulted in the posting of the event in two parts.) The rules for candidates were they were given three minutes to introduce themselves and then were asked three questions that they could respond to.

The first candidates to speak were those for Circuit Court Judge. Judge John Potter is the current judge. He stressed that the judge must be everyone's judge and has to treat each case seriously because each case is important to those involved. Emily Waddle is from DeMotte where she has been an attorney for 20 years. She has been head public defender and is the attorney for DeMotte. She said she wants to repair communication.

There are three candidates for Auditor. Diana Boersma spent many years as a teacher. Her husband is the County Coroner and she says they get calls for bills that have not been paid and suspects other County departments have had the same experience. She has done the accounting for the funeral home she and her husband operate. 

Treasure Gilbert is currently a deputy auditor in the Auditor's Office and she stressed her experience in that office. She is the secretary for the Commissioners meeting. She believes the office could work better with more reliance on electronic record keeping.

Christina Tryon is a deputy clerk in the Clerk's Office. She has been active in 4-H and with the Fair Board. She has had a variety of jobs and has a real-estate license. She thinks more automation would improve the office.

There are five candidates running for three at-large Council seats. Jacob Misch was appointed in December 2023 to replace Brett Risner, who resigned. He farms near Wheatfield and like many of the candidates, he stressed his roots in Jasper County. He said that preserving the County's agricultural heritage was important.

Brian Moore, who spoke next, is another farmer and in addition to farming he runs a trucking company. He was elected as a Councilman in the 2020 election and has been a member of the EMS Board, which has established the County-run ambulance service.

The last Council candidate to speak was Barbara Neihouser. She lives in Gillam Township where she and her husband farm. She also works as a labor and delivery nurse in Lafayette. She does not want any tax abatements for renewable energy and is opposed to the C02 pipeline.

Scott Walstra  and Eric Kidwell, who joined the Council when Jeff DeYoung replaced Kendell Culp when Culp was elected as a State Representative in 2022, did not speak.

Two of the candidates for Commissioner from district 1 gave presentations. James Walstra is the current District 1 Commissioner but is not seeking re-election. Ryan Hilton did not attend but his wife read a prepared statement. He works for Belstra and has been active promoting FFA, 4-H, and agriculture. He is against wind, solar, and the CO2 pipeline.

Mike Johnson moved to DeMotte in 1996. He is on the DeMotte Christian School Board. He has a business background with experience in drainage and road construction, two topics that occupy a lot of attention from Commissioners. He was encouraged to run by former Commissioners.

Only one candidate for the District 2 Commissioner slot spoke: Craig Standish. He is a fifth generation Jasper County resident. He heads the division of a small business. He wants to see Jasper County develop by expanding in agricultural areas and businesses.

There was a lot of emphasis on farms and farming. That perhaps should be expected. For those who live in Rensselaer and towns of Jasper County, county government is not as immediate as it is to those living in the rural areas. The County spends a lot of its resources on drainage and roads, which are of little importance to those living in towns.

The question that seemed to give the candidates the most trouble was the one asking what their vision of Jasper County was. Even the later candidates seemed unprepared for it even though they should have known it was coming. One reason for the difficulty in answering it was that  some of the offices have very limited range in what they can do, so it is difficult to connect that to a broad vision of the future of Jasper County.

Most of the candidates thought that Jasper County was a good place to live but thought it could be a bit better. No one mentioned the County's problem with drug addiction, which is the source of many of the County's woes.

I looked for Facebook pages of the candidates and found these: Emily Waddle, Judge John Potter, Jennifer Grynovich, Ryan Hilton. and Jeff Spurgeon II.

The primary election may be more important than the general election for County races. The winners of the contested primary races will probably win in November because Republican voters outnumber Democratic voters.

BPW and City Council meetings

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works and City Council met Monday evening. The BPW meeting was short but approved six items. Four were for the Lift Station & Unsewered Areas Project. Two of these were pay requests from Thieneman, one was a change order that reduced the cost of the project, and one was an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering. The Water Utilities Improvement project had an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering and a pay request from Maguire Iron. The Lift Station project is almost entirely complete. For the Water Utilities project tower erection has been completed and the contractors are waiting for good weather to sandblast and paint the tower. Bills for the Brick Street Project have not started arriving.

The City Council heard a presentation from Sarah DeYoung explaining what the Jasper County Economic Development organization does and how it helps Rensselaer. She had been at the last meeting but the Council wanted more information before it approved her request for a contribution. At this meeting they approved a contribution of $10,000. (I did not attend the previous meeting because I chose to attend a Jasper County Plan Commission meeting that was held at the same time. Minutes of the Council meeting are here.)

There was a short discussion of utility budgets. This year will be a practice year to discover and iron out problems. The Council approved a motion to move forward with them

The gas tracker for April will reflect a decrease of 10¢ per hundred cubic feet of usage. The Council approved a second reading of a flood damage prevention ordinance. It also approved a zoning change recommended by the Rensselaer Plan Commission for a lot at 405 N McKinley from R2 to B1. Rensselaer purchases gas through a natural gas manager that is increasing fees from 6¢ to 8¢ per dekatherm. (I had never heard that term.) The Council approved signing the agreement.  (The last month's fee was $3669.66.)

The rest of the meeting contained administrative comments and superintendents' reports.  Planning to convert the light plant for use by the Park Department continues. Baker Tilly is working on a TIF report. There is concern about properties with too much trash and letters are being sent out telling people to use Clean-up Week. One Council member received a complaint from a citizen about the work stringing fiber optic. There will be some boring after the overhead lines are finished. The Police Department has made a new hire and he may be sworn in at the next Council meeting. Electric meter switch-outs are coming. The meetings of the Rensselaer Plan Commission and the BZA have been moved from March 21 to March 19. Because of Spring Break in the local schools, a quorum would not have been available on the 21. On the agenda for the BZA are three variances. The food pantry is relocating behind Pizza King in a residential zone, so it needs a variance. The owner of the Forsythe House on the corner of Washington and McKinley has not been able to find a business to rent space, so would like to rent the space as housing. The Fire Department needs a variance for its proposed fire-tower because it exceeds height limits. (The new date and time makes it conflict with the County Council meeting.)

The company Decorative Bricks is completing removal of bricks from Van Rensselaer Street and will begin removing them from Harrison. Grimmer Construction has begun water-line replacement on Van Rensselaer. The Street Department received a $10,000 grant to work on planning more lead service lines. The Gas, Street, and Cemetery Departments received approval to hire summer help. The Park Department hopes to have water turned on in the Parks before the Easter Egg Hunt on the 23rd. Mr Haun was not at the meeting so there was no update on the fire tower.

Jasper County Tourism Commission meeting

Reviewing the Innkeepers tax report, Mr Patel said that the Remington motels were doing a brisk business because of construction (I heard solar but it may be wind) near Wolcott. In April the Commission will hear a presentation from a company called Placer AI. It uses tracking software to see how many people visit various locations and where they come from. (You trade privacy for convenience when you use a smartphone.) Consultants from Ball State have completed a draft of a strategic plan and it will be fine tuned in the upcoming weeks.

There were two funding requests. The first on the agenda was from the Rec at the Connection Center. This group had presented in February but no action was taken because the Commission wanted more information. A very long discussion followed. The concern of most of the members of the Commission was to what extent it would promote tourism. Some saw it as a great community center, but did not think that is something the Tourism Commission should be funding. The Connection Center people predict it will bring in tournaments, but the Center will not be open on Sundays. The ask was for $187,000. The capital assets funding for the Commission is only $100,000 and it has committed $20,000 for Remington murals. It can go to the County Council for an additional appropriation if needed, but the members seemed reluctant to do so. Eventually they approved $25,000 for fitness equipment, with two supporting and one not voting.

The other request was also a return visit, this by Greg Whaley who has a vision of one of the miniature trains that was manufactured in Rensselaer from 1946 to 1956 being installed in a park. The train would be a non-working train because it would be too expensive to buy and maintain a working train. The problem is that these come up for sale at unpredictable times and they are now being snapped up by collectors. Hence, it is not clear what the cost would be. He argued that once a train was obtained, the money for restoring it and mounting it would be easy to raise. The Commission suggested that he raise the money to purchase a train and then come to the Commission to fund the restoration and mounting of it. No action was taken.

Notes

There is a new swing next to the Zorich Shelter in Brookside Park.