Mostly late Feb 2025 meetings

 Old business

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

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

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

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

Commissioners meeting

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

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

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

Rensselaer Plan Commission

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

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

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

A recording of the meeting is here.

Jasper County Council

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elementary art show

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

There are several walls similar to this one.

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

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

Not all the pieces are pictures.

There were several that put a face in a grid.

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

Odds and ends

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

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

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

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

Meetings and some interesting pictures

 Board of Public Works meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rensselaer City Council meeting

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

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

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

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

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

Tourism Commission meeting

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

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

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

Airport Authority Board meeting

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

Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

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

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

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

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

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

A stairway to the basement.

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

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

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

Odds & ends

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

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

Part 2 of February meetings

 A first meeting

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

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

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

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

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

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

Rensselaer Park Board meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and ends

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

In February day length increases by 67 minutes.

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

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

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

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

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.

Homecoming and harvest

 Homecoming parade

This past weekend was RCHS Homecoming and on Thursday the school held its annual homecoming parade. I stopped by the line-up to take some pictures because I never know how well the pictures at night will turn out. I was surprised to see so many old cars ready for the parade, but I later learned that the grand marshall was shop teacher Walt Brown who co-founded the JC Cruisers.

In the lineup I took pictures of a couple of floats that I did not capture during the parade

I am not sure which class belonged to each of the class floats.

The FFA had its own float.

The band marched by quickly and my camera did not focus on them well.

At the end of the parade the very loud fire trucks carried the members of the football team.

Lots of candy was thrown to the delight of small and some big kids.

The football team won the game.

October Commissioners meeting

The October Commissioners meeting may have been the shortest of the year, lasting only about one hour. After approving minutes and claims, the Commissioners approved a simple bore request in Keener Township for a fiber optic cable.

The Commissioners and Council have discussed reorganizing the public-defender program for the past year. At this meeting a public-defender plan was presented to the Commissioners for their approval. It was based on a draft that came from the State public defender office. That draft had some changes made in various meetings. It will have a chief public defender officer who will do paperwork currently done by the Courts or the Auditor. The budget should be on the agenda of this month's Council meeting. The Commissioners approved the plan and thereby established the office of the chief public defender.

The Commissioners approved the meeting calendar for the Commissioner meetings in 2025 and also the 2025 holiday schedule. It approved a rezone of 83 acres in Walker Township from A1 to A2 in Walker Township. The owner decided that the land was not worth farming and would be better used for housing. An animal shelter shed was on the agenda but was pushed to another meeting for more information. Community Corrections received approval to replace an employee who left. 

The Sheriff reported that his food vendor is increasing prices by 4%. Also, a service a medical provider was providing free will now have a cost. He submitted and the Commissioners approved a conflict-of-interest form so that one of his employees can be hired to fix a car damaged by a deer. 

NIPSCO is planning a gas-fired peaking plant on its Wheatfield property and has agreed to pay for an analysis of an economic agreement with the County. The County has approved this but has not gotten a final word back from NIPSCO.

The harvest is in full swing and the fields are dry. On the advice of the local fire departments, the Commissioners approved reinstating the burn ban for the next seven days. Bids for various supplies for the Highway Department are going out to be opened in January. The Commissioners approved the contract snow plowing for the same subdivisions that had it last year. The Prosecutor was given permission to fill the position of a deputy prosecutor who is leaving. The meeting was continued to Tuesday, Oct 22 at 8:30 if needed. If the Sparling Annex room is unavailable because of construction, the alternative will be the Commissioners room in the Court House.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting lasted longer than the Commissioners meeting, which is very unusual. The first item after approval of minutes was an adjustment to the drainage plan for the Genova south parking lot in Rensselaer. They will add a pond and the adjustment was approved with a hold-harmless agreement.

A landowner who has been getting water near the Davidson tile thinks there is blockage in the Davidson tile and would like assistance in finding the blockage. There was a long discussion that followed. The tile is from 1902. No action was taken and he was told to carry a petition to maintain or reconstruct.

The next case on the agenda was from a person who bought a 2+ acre lot in a subdivision that has a house. However, most of the lot is a retention pond that he must maintain and cannot build. He was not at the meeting and no action was taken.

There were two items involving NIPSCO. About a year ago they had received permission to make a temporary crossing of a County ditch on their property to do some work. The work is now done and they would like to leave the crossing, thereby making it permanent. The Board approved contingent on them getting the required permits from other agencies. The second item was a request to cross another ditch with a fiber optic cable. That was also approved.

There was a request for a variance to build a pole-barn building on North McKinley that will be over a tile. Several existing buildings are already over this tile. The request was granted but the owner will now be responsible for that section of the tile and must sign a hold-harmless agreement.

At a meeting on reconstructing the Kelly-Denton tile, the landowners decided they would like the tile replaced with a ditch. The Army Corps of Engineers said no to the ditch but the tile can be replaced because the ditch would drain a wetland. A new public hearing was scheduled for 10:30 on December 2. The location is uncertain because of upcoming remodeling at the Sparling Annex.

Two bids were received for cleaning the Claude May ditch and the lower bid was accepted.

Finally someone in Rensselaer wants to build a garage on a County right-of-way. The house is already on the right-of-way, as are some other homes. The variance was granted with a hold-harmless agreement.

Odds & ends

There were multiple Facebook reports on Tuesday morning of reports of people seeing the Northern Lights.

Steinke Funeral Home shared some pictures of their building when it was the Granlund Funeral Home. I had never heard of name. The Jackson Funeral Home began in 1944 when John Jackson bought the Worland Funeral Business and then in 1949 it purchased the Wright Funeral business. The Wrights were the only funeral home in most of Rensselaer's early history.

The brick streets have fancy new trash cans.

I have seen some harvested fields in the past couple of weeks but on Tuesday I saw a combine harvesting a soybean field along Sparling Avenue.

It stopped and unloaded into a large trailer.

Another sign of fall is the appearance of large preying mantises. For some reason this one thought my bike tire made a good perch.

I have more to write but this post is long enough. More later when I get to it.

More Festival pictures

 Little Cousin Jasper Parade

Many people lined Washington Street on Saturday for the Little Cousin Jasper Festival parade. 

After the very loud fire trucks passed, the Cousin Jasper King and Queen for 2024 rode by.

These marchers were handing out popcorn. They were from ConAgra.

The Rensselaer Care Center had a float with two kids on it.

The Rensselaer marching band was the only band in the parade this year.

The Republicans had a float with lots of signs for its candidates for County, State, and National offices.

I do not remember who sponsored this float, but it commemorated the 50 years that the Little Cousin Jasper Festival has been around.

Youth soccer has a lot of kids in its program and the younger ones were on a float. Some of the older ones were marching behind, throwing out candy. There was a lot of candy this year, and any kid who did not go home with a big bag of it was a slacker.

I did not quickly recognize what the woman on the right was supposed to be. She was a toothbrush and represented one of our local dentists.

Donaldson's had a colorful float.

The Democrats have fewer candidates running for local offices than the Republicans. Neither Luttringer nor Jeffries ran in the primary election. 

At the end of the parade was a strange three-wheeled vehicle and a car that looked like it had been in a demolition derby.

More Festival pictures

The Carnegie Players put on several performances of what they called "Professor Galen Placebo's Miracle Elixir Medicine Show". Here Professor Galen demonstrated how his miracle elixir was keeping a head without a body alive. 

The show also had a magician trying to perform tricks. Here she is with Ima Lone and her assistant Lotta Tusch. 

The whole thing was very funny but the sound from the main stage was distracting. Hopefully they will be able to perform it again in a better venue.

Two of the actors shown in these pictures will be performing on September 21 at the Memories Alive at Weston Cemetery.

The stage show that had the loud sound was a hypnotist.

I paid a last visit as the Festival was closing and was surprised at how many people were still there. I saw a bunch of kids wearing these hats that had bulbs in the legs. When they were squeezed, the ears moved.

Board of Public Works meeting

The Board of Public Works meeting had only one item on its agenda, a payment of $20,572 for Commonwealth Engineering for its work on the Water Project. It was approved.

The fence around the water treatment plant next to Iroquois Park is finished. The City has started filling the I-65 water tower. The generator for the water towers passed their tests. Work has started on the permeable pavers along Harrison Street. The new police cars are still not ready to enter service.

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The Council passed on a second reading of an ordinance for discontinuation of services. There were a few minor changes and clarifications made to it. The gas tracker for September did not change. The Mayor issued a proclamation for the Knights of Columbus' Blue Light Program. It honors first responders by encouraging people to light a blue light on September 11, which was proclaimed Blue Light Day.

The Council approved starting to prepare for closing the Scott Street rail crossing. There will be a public hearing on October 14.

The Council then heard presentations for Commonwealth Engineering and Baker Tilley about making improvements to the sewage system to comply with a State decree. The City has until 2030 to make these improvements. It had sought financing from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) for zero percent financing, but initially did not make the cut. However, several localities that were above it in the rankings were not ready to begin their projects, so the cut line dropped down until it included Rensselaer. Rensselaer can borrow up to $20 million at the zero interest rate and Commonwealth expects the changes to the sewage plant to be $18.8 million. The City also needs to make changes in its sewers within Rensselaer and that is estimated to cost another $8 or $9 million. The speakers kept making references to a packet that the Council members had so the presentations were hard to follow for someone in the audience.

The Baker Tilley presentation ran through the financing numbers and said that the end result would be almost a doubling of sewage rates. The City will not be able to tap into a second zero-interest rate for the second part of the project. Delaying the project will only increase costs and the size of rate hikes, so the Council voted to move forward to seeking the funding and preparing the many steps needed before construction actually begins. The first step will probably be approving a bond ordinance next month.

The Council will have to have its meetings on-line starting next July. It will keep its current audio system, spend $1945 for new video equipment, and use Youtube to stream the meetings. The Council then approved some changes to health insurance and pay. They will be included in the salary ordinance at a future meeting.

Trick and Treat hours will be from 5:00 to 8:00 on October 31.

The EPA is beginning to regulate a contaminate that I did not catch, though it may be PFAS. The City has the opportunity to have testing for it paid by the Indiana Finance Authority, and the Council approved taking the free testing.

Because the second Monday of November is Veterans Day, the first Council meeting in November will be on Tuesday, November 12. The next Council meeting will have a public hearing on the budget. There is a Plan Commission meeting on September 19 and a public hearing on a proposed TIF district on September 30.

Odd and ends

Fase-Kaluf Appliances has new owners.

The doors of what used to be Not Your Typical Wingz now have "for rent" signs on them.

The Fall newsletter from SJC is available.

At the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting summarized in the previous post, there was mention that a Sanborn Insurance map showed that the property on the corner of Clark and Cullen had once had a gas station. I searched the Internet and found a 1921 map that did not have the building, but a map at the Rensselaer Library showed it.

Part of the building was storage for soft drinks. The gas tanks seem to have been located next to Clark. I suppose that is where the pumps were.

In the past the Weston Cemetery Walk (September 21 this year) has had one presenter for each grave visited. This year we will try something different, a conversation among three sisters who died within two years in the late 19th century. All were between the ages of 16 to 22 and their father was a popular craftsman/shopkeeper. I have seen the script and if the three women do as well as they have in rehearsals, it will be a highlight of this year's walk.

Three years ago we featured Ernest Zea as told from the perspective of his mother. Ernie was blind and confined to a wheelchair, but he made the most of what he had and was admired by the citizens of Rensselaer. This year we initially considered another person who had severe physical handicaps and an eventful life. Ultimately we decided not to portray him because, unlike Ernest, he took a destructive path that caused him and others great pain. Which raises the question, are their lives that are so objectionable or offensive that they should be out-of-bounds for an event like the Cemetery Walk? Does the answer depend on whether they have surviving relatives in Rensselaer?

The organizers appreciate the sponsors who make this event possible, including: