Start of September, 2024

Some pictures

As of the weekend, the bricks on Harrison had reached the halfway point.

The stage at Filson Park is finished.

The final touch was stringing lights near the roof.

The park has a memorial bench.

There is a little area that looks like decorative bricks on the north side of the park. They are not real bricks but concrete colored and textured to look like bricks.

On Tuesday more sidewalk was being poured on the north side of the park.

There is still a little area near the alley that needs concrete. The forms were being set on Tuesday afternoon.

The SJC Building Trades program has begun work on the foundation of a first house.

Here is an article in the publication Inside Higher Ed about the shift in direction at SJC.

Remington has plans for an inclusive playground. See here and here. I think this is part of a goal of making the park a destination stop. Their big park on the north side of town is a impressive park for a small town. It would make a good lunch stop for travelers with kids. The kids could play on the playground equipment, run on the trails, or enjoy the splash pad. An inclusive playground, with equipment for handicapped children, might put them on the map. The nearest existing inclusive playground is two hours away according to Remington. I expect to hear more about these plans next year at Tourism Commisson meetings.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority

I was confused when I noticed that there were meetings scheduled for both the Rensselaer Redevelopment Authority and the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission. I asked and found that the Redevelopment Authority was the body that had to authorize any bonds that were issued. That group met Wednesday at 9:00 at City Hall and I arrived after the three members had elected officers. The meeting was apparently held because the State Board of Accounts had told the City that this body should be meeting at least twice a year. 

The Authority has approved one bond that is outstanding, a bond to finance the Rensselaer Fire Station. It is a 25 year bond and was issued in 2015. Twice a year payments must be made for this bond, for interest and the slow payment of principle. The Authority is supposed to approve those payments, and it did at this meeting. The next meeting will be in November and then one probably in January.

The bulk of the meeting was taken up by a discussion of what the City's next big project might be, though it is unlikely the Redevelopment Authority will be involved. The project that Mayor Phillips is most concerned about is meeting a State mandate to deal with the combined sewers. In many parts of Rensselaer the storm sewers and sanitary sewers are combined and when there are heavy rains, those sewers overflow into the Iroquois River. The City has been working on this problem with the high-rate treatment plant on Lincoln Street and the Melville Street Project, but more needs to be done and it will be expensive, potentially in the $13 to $20 million range. There does not seem to be grants available, but the City might get zero-percent loans from the State Revolving Fund. The cost will affect sewage bills in the future.

Trails plan

I received a link to the Jasper County Trails Master Plan that Kimley Horn prepared for the Jasper County Trails Club. There was a big section that gave the results of a survey that was done (and that I probably answered). More interesting were the plans for specific trails. In Rensselaer there was a proposed trail along Melville Street from the Primary School to SR 114. South of the railroad tracks, that route has a good sidewalk on the east side of Melville, but there is a bottleneck at the ditch just south of the primary school. The proposed trail starts at the CourtHouse, goes through the alley next to Filson Park, over the pedestrian bridge and through Iroquois Park. The trail crosses where there is no bridge from the west end of Iroquois to the east end of Weston Cemetery, then through the Cemetery and Brookside Park to SR 114, From there it continues to the Fairgrounds, then to the Interstate, and from there the trail will be extended to reach Fair Oaks Farms.

I think both of these trails would be worthwhile, especially one from Rensselaer to the Fairgrounds and Interstate. The latter would be expensive and would need a big grant to accomplish.

The plan wants to enhance the water trail of the Iroquois River with an additional boat launch site either in Potawatomi Park or on the other side of the River. The Iroquois already has three launch sites serving Rensselaer, at Laird's Landing, at Bicentennial Park, and on Mount Calvary Road. Years ago I rafted the River a couple of times, starting at Laird's Landing and ending at the Maxwell Ditch in Weston Cemetery. The Iroquois only occasionally has good rafting. Usually the water level is too low or too high.

If you want to know more, the Trails Club will be meeting in Rensselaer on September 17 at 7:00 in the basement of the Carnegie Center. (I do not think I can attend because the Jasper County Council meets the same evening and that meeting will be a long one.)

Commissioners' meeting

The Commissioners had a routine meeting on Tuesday morning rather than Monday morning because of the Labor Day holiday. There were no buried cable requests. Farm Bureau is upgrading its sign and will incorporate signs for the Surveyor and Extension in the new sign. The Coroner's new fee schedule was postponed for two weeks. The Forensics building he would like has expanding uses. Councilman Moore suggested that the County have a committee to do preliminary planning for any proposed building and that committee may happen. (It could also consider the proposed new show arena that the Fair Board wants.)

Animal Control gave statistics for 2023 and 2024 that show they are much busier this year than last. Their requests for a new shed and better signage were delayed to the continued meeting. At the last meeting Extension requested a storage shed. The Surveyor said that new shelving and use of the community-garden shed may be able to solve the storage problem. The Commissioners approved Mr Bontreger to sign off on warranties for the EMS building. 

A woman from WorkOne explained that WorkOne pays salaries for people learning the soft skills of holding a job. She has a person who would like to work at the Animal Shelter and WorkOne would pay her salary while she learns the job, which usually takes one to three months. WorkOne provides this service for private businesses and it is a way of getting people employed who lack experience and skills. The Commissioners approved her proposal pending legal review. 

Community Services had a leaky roof repaired and the Commissioners approved the claim. They received a grant to install a new digital sign but the grant does not cover the installation of electrical service. The Commissioners approved that installation. The Fase Center will need someone to remove snow and the Commissioners will look into it.

A road agreement with EDP renewables was postponed for two weeks to allow some changes in the proposed agreement. Growing Patch Learning Center in Remington gave a presentation. They opened after the Jasper County Youth Center closed in a building that formerly housed Treasure Keepers. They have five classrooms and 64 seats. They are accredited, which increases their costs and they lose about $4,000 per child. They have 19 on their wait list, including some unborn babies. They have 18 paid staff. No action was requested; their report was to update the Commissioners on their current status.

A spokesman from Tecton recommended the low bidders for the remodeling of the Sparling Annex/Health Department. Tecton would like construction to start in mid to late October. The Council approved the signing of the recommendation letter. There was a brief discussion of what to do with the old kitchen material from the building. No other County Department has an interest in using it and it probably has more value as scrap metal than what an auction would bring. Pending legal review the Commissioners approved scrapping it.

There were two bids for foam insulation of the storage barn at the Highway Department. They will be further considered at the continuation of the meeting on Monday, September 16 at 8:30.

Drainage Board

The Jasper County Drainage Board met after the conclusion of the Commissioners' meeting. Tri-County Schools is considering a small expansion of the Tri-County Elementary School. The roof will drain into the woods near the property and then into Carpenter Creek. The plan was approved. Also approved was a proposal to place buried cable under tiles and drains in Carpenter Township. BF&S will prepare bid packets for the next phase of the KV River Project. This phase is for two miles of bank stabilization and has had delays in the State and Federal permitting process. Finally there was a short discussion of what appears to be a dispute between two neighbors concerning a dam on a drainage ditch. The Board did not want to get involved.

A graveyard mystery

Gas Utility work

The Gas Department continues work replacing the regulator next to McDonalds on South College. The old regulator has been dismantled and some temporary lines are feeding gas into the distribution network. At the regulator station the gas pressure for residences is lowered from 100 psi to 30 psi. Some gas continues at 100 psi and goes on to the regulator station on Lincoln Avenue. The 100-psi line at one time also fed the power plant.

The old regulator is gone but there is still equipment lowering the pressure. 

I find it amazing that they can do this kind of work without interrupting the gas supply.

A mystery

I talked briefly last week to a woman who probably knows more about local cemeteries than anyone else. I asked her for the name of the Indian boy who died at the Indian School and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery. His name was Frank Hendricks and I found a notice of his death by searching the Hoosier State Chronicles. I attached the notice to his findagrave memorial.

Doing a bit more digging, I found two other death notices of pupils at the Indian School who the paper reported were buried at Mount Calvary. However, they are not recorded in the records that I have access to. The first is from the Rensselaer Republican of April 26, 1894 and the second from the same paper of October 11, 1894.

There seem to be three possibilities. The paper may have been wrong and they were not buried in Mount Calvary. The paper may have been right and they were buried there, but are not in the records that I found. Or they may have been buried there but were later disinterred and were reburied elsewhere. I suspect there is no way to find out which is correct.

Plaques

The post reporting the ribbon cutting at Blacker Fields had pictures of some of the new plaques in the parks. There are more, including two at Foundation Park.

Back to the Blacker Fields, here are the two plaques showing the names of small donors.

Three new benches have been added to the parks. Below is the new bench in memory of Jared Valentine, who was murdered in 2018 at Arby's.

In front of the bench is a stone with an engraving that is hard to read unless the light is just right.

Another bench has been installed by Roth Field in memory of Michelle Effinger. I am not sure where the third one is, but I will find it.

Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission meetings

On Monday evening the Jasper County BZA met in the Circuit Court room. The Commissioners room was, in the words of one person there, full of junk. The County is having the floor on the second floor smoothed and polished, and the various things that were there were moved into the Commissioners room. 

The BZA had only one item on its agenda, a request for a variance for a lot width on a parcel in Keener Township. The required frontage is 250 feet but the owner wanted to split the lot, with a 50 foot access road to the back half. He had no plans to build but wanted that option for the future. There were several people in the audience who spoke on the matter, some for and some against. Concerns were that the road already had too much traffic and adding another driveway would only increase it, potential for groundwater contamination and effects on wildlife. The variance was granted with one member of the BZA opposed.

After a short break, the Plan Commission met. The first item on the agenda was a matter continued from the August meeting in which the applicant had requested a two-lot subdivision. The Commission had continued the matter because the applicant had built without a building permit even though he knew he needed it. The Commission had imposed a $2500 fine and mandated that the owner hire an inspector to make sure the building was up to code. At this meeting the Planning officer reported that all the conditions had been met and the two-lot subdivision was approved.

There were two more two-lot subdivisions approved. The first was in Walker Township where two two-acre lots were being carved from a larger plot, and the second was for the person who had requested the lot-width variance in the BZA meeting. The last item was a rezone of some land in Jordan Township from A1 to A2, The land is a flood plain and not buildable. The owner wants to use it for hunting, which apparently is not an approved use for land zoned A1.

Jasper County Council

The Jasper County Council meeting on Tuesday was long but not especially interesting. The Sheriff had made a job offer to a person who decided not to accept the day before he was to begin. The Sheriff has found another person for the position, but wanted input from the Council about starting pay because the new person has several years of experience in law enforcement. 

The Council approved several additional appropriations. One was for Community Corrections Renovations and was listed on the agenda for $500,000.00. The Council decided that an extra zero had been added and approved it for $50,000. 

The Budget was then read and approved on first reading. There will need to be an approval for a second reading before it is adopted. If you would like to see the budget, you can find it at the Indiana gateway here.

Next on the agenda was a review of non-binding reviews. No reviews were done. Rather the message to whatever units of government that are included here was to stay within the state growth factor.

There were four reviews of binding taxing units: Rensselaer Central School Corporation, Airport Authority, Northwest Indiana Solid Waste, and Iroquois Conservancy. There were presentations for each and the approval of the budgets will be voted in the October meeting. The Airport Authority budget is slightly lower this year and it was a busy year for crop dusters. The solid waste district has a slight increase in its budget, but it has no taxes. Its revenues come from the tipping fees at the landfills.

The most interesting part of the meeting came at the end when the two commissioners who were attending the meeting were asked for comments. They are working with the City of Rensselaer to attempt to get City utilities west of the Interstate. The State controls the process for carbon capture, so the commissioners are telling people with concerns that they should share those concerns with their state legislators. The commissioners cannot stop the project, but it will need 70% of the landowners involved to agree. Rein Bontreger said that the landowners should hold out for top dollar and if the project ever moves forward, the County will try to extract as much money from BP as possible.

Notes

The dome for the arena at the Connection Center in Demotte has been installed.

Dollar Tree had its grand opening in its new location on Thursday. A lot of people were in the store shopping. Most prices are $1.25, but there are a couple of aisles of things from $2 to $5.

The Jasper County Historical Society paid to restore the monument to George Spitler in Weston Cemetery. It was leaning and in danger of falling over. It is located at the east edge of Weston Cemetery and is the tallest monument in that area.

There is no surviving obituary for him; the papers from those years were destroyed in a fire. However, you can read about him here. (Start at the bottom of the page.)

This week's Rensselaer Republican has an excellent article about the Memories Alive Cemetery Walk. It also has the press release from Jasper County Economic Development about the upcoming façade grant program.

If you are a fan of maps, you may enjoy browsing this site.

A very busy weekend

Ribbon cutting Blacker Fields

On Friday, September 15 the Park Department held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Blacker Fields. The actual cutting was posed with the sun behind people, so my pictures of the group did not turn out well. However, the cutting was accompanied with some glitter cannons and that made an interesting picture.

Before the cutting, several people spoke, including the daughter of Rex Blacker. I do not remember a bigger crowd for a ribbon cutting ceremony.

After the ribbon cutting, there was a ceremonial first pitch, which I did not capture.

Newly installed are six plaques. One of the two on the pillars holding up the Blacker Fields sign tells a bit about Rex Blacker, whose large gift to the Park inspired the Parks for People campaign.

On the other pillar are names of donors who have things named for them.

On the RestRoom/Concession building are four plaques with the names of donors. The first has the really big donors.

The second has medium sized donors, and the last two, not shown here, have the small donors who gave between $100 and $2000. There were a lot of them.

The ribbon cutting took place a couple years after the fields started being used, but the purpose was to honor those who contributed to the Parks for People Campaign and to mark its successful conclusion.

Cemetery Walk

The sixth annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery event took place on Saturday with ideal weather; not too hot or cold, little wind, and little sun, which was important in the afternoon because the part of Weston Cemetery covered this year has lost its ash trees. There were two performances. The first in the morning was held in the Hall Shelter. It appeals to those who do not want to walk or who have something else they want to do in the afternoon. I think about 40 people attended.

Something special this year was that attendees could grab a free book. One of the featured descendants was the wife of John Blue, who wrote several books. Not all of them sold so his daughter used the event for inventory reduction. The blue book tells the story of the Blue family as they came from the east and settled in Jasper County. Then part of that family continued west. This is a very common pattern of families that settled here.

In the afternoon performance the attendees were divided into seven groups that rotated around eight stations in the western part of the cemetery. Below is Judy Kanne portraying Margaret Mckinney Lewis, who taught in a couple of early schools. She had three sons, one born after her husband committed suicide because he was afraid that he was going insane, something that had happened to his father and sister. One of the sons was a very successful farmer near Remington and the other two went academic, earning PhDs. One taught briefly in Maine before returning to farming and the other ended up teaching biology at the University of Texas. 

Another person featured was Nora Daugherty Parkison who was a Red Cross nurse in WWI. She was portrayed by a distant relative, Kathy Parkison, who told how nursing developed as a profession, aided a lot by wars.

Others featured this year were Emory Harrison, Dewey Biggs,  and Madelene Sayler Speaks, who was portrayed by her granddaughter Susie Lintner Rayburn.

A comment left on the post from September 8 asked why Frank Clair, the Canadian football coach, was buried in Weston Cemetery. His wife was Patricia Bausman who grew up in Rensselaer. It is not uncommon for people to be buried in places where they did not live but relatives did. 

I am not sure how many attended the afternoon performance but my best guess is about 80. The program for the 2023 Walk can be viewed here.

Fall Frolic

On Saturday evening the annual St Augustine Fall Frolic had a new venue, Potawatomi Park.  I stopped by to take some pictures. The dunk tank attracted a line of kids.

There were a couple of food trucks.

There were several kids' games. Along the path you can see where a new pad has been installed. It will be filled with a bench honoring Jared Valentine.

One of the unusual games was bowling using pumpkins as bowling balls. The bounce houses are alway popular.

There were two sheep for people to admire. They did not seem to be happy to be there.

Quick notes

Other events this past weekend were festivals in Francesville and Wheatfield, a SJC homecoming, and Rock the Arts at Carpenter Creek Winery.

The Gas Utility is replacing the regulator station that is next to McDonalds on College Avenue.

The building that last was leased by Frida's has a new owner, Kentland Bank. 

NuBloom Naturals is gone and the space is again for rent.

Last week Bunkum Road from the Cemetery to Airport Road was being paved. 

There is the feel of fall in the air. Some of the corn looks ready to harvest. Days are getting shorter. The equinox is approaching and the sun will be rising due east and setting due west. Some leaves are starting to turn color. Nights are cool and the days are no longer hot.

Dollar Tree is busy moving into the old Walgreens building and should be opening on Thursday. I enjoyed shopping at the closeout of their old store.

Car Show and Cruise

Last weekend was Rensselaer's biggest summer festival, the Car Show and Cruise Night. I stopped by the park twice, once in the morning and then later in the afternoon. By the afternoon the cars were approaching the swimming pool. I do not recall the car show ever being that big.

Two vehicles that I thought interesting were two that looked like ambulances.

The door of one of them suggested that it was a special ambulance.

The tee-shirts for the show were yellow and when the volunteers wearing them were in groups, they looked like minions.

The bit of the Cruise that I saw seemed to be better organized this year than in the past.

Odds and ends

Also taking place Saturday (and two days previously) was the annual performance of the Fendig Children's Theater. This year they performed Beauty and the Beast. In 2020 Covid canceled the performance and in 2021 Covid disrupted it, so several grades of children did not get the full Children's Theater experience. The Children's Summer Theater is one of the special things in Rensselaer and I hope it can be rebuilt to former glory.

Mural week is approaching  (July 18-23) and RenArtWlk has been announcing some of the muralists for this summer. Three of those announced are scheduled for Remington and one will decorate Ayda's.

Last week the City was working on a gas main just north of the College Avenue Bridge and had to displace the base for a plaque giving the history of the bridge, which was once known as the Creamery Bridge. I hope there are plans to restore the plaque. The old building  to the west may be getting a new tenant, perhaps a used furniture store.

The site for new tennis courts in Brookside Park was asphalted last week.

A few years ago there was one guard at the LaRue Pool who could do front and back flips from the diving board. This year all the guards will probably be able to do flips by the end of the summer and there are little kids who can hardly swim who can do flips. 

BPW meeting

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works met before the City Council meeting and approved paying three invoices. One was for planning for the water main and elevated tower project. This project will probably be approved for outside funding, though how much of that funding will be in the form of a grant and how much as a loan is uncertain. The other two invoices were for the main lift station and sewer project. The work there is extending and connecting sewer lines that will be underground. One storm sewer line that previously emptied into the field was extended to the river. 

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council began with two residents of Kelly Green asking about what the City could do about a residential property that they say is being used as a business with an ever-changing collection of old cars on the property. The reason for coming to the City Council is that the property is in the two-mile buffer zone around Rensselaer in which Rensselaer controls zoning and building permits. They did not get answers, but the City attorney will investigate what the City's options are.

The Council approved correcting the electric trackers for the second and third quarters. I did not understand what this was about. It also approved the gas tracker for July that will reflect slightly more than a one cent increase per hundred cubic feet. The Council also approved a waiver of permit fees for improvements that RBI is making to the restroom next to Staddon Field. (The waiver makes a lot of sense because the City owns the building. On Tuesday work began on the reconstruction.)

A committee to review salaries reported with several recommendations. First, it looked at salaries for the police and found that Rensselaer's pay was low relative to neighboring police departments. The committee recommended a $5.00 increase to take effect on August 1. It was approved but will also need to be incorporated into the salary ordinance at the next meeting. Next, the committee said that the wages of one position, a laborer's position at Weston Cemetery, was out of line with other wages and suggested increasing it by $2.00, which the Council approved. Next, it proposed raising wages of full-time employees by $1.00 for 2023 and this was also approved. The final recommendation was that elected officials receive a 2% increase for 2023 and the Council agreed to this.

At this point the Clerk-Treasurer left the meeting and there was a question of whether the meeting could continue without someone taking minutes. However, the meeting was being recorded so it continued.

There was a suggestion that the City investigate a plan to use an apprenticeship to get an employee certified for the water utility and it was approved. The City needs to have certified operators for its water and sewer utilities and nationally there will be a massive number of certified operators retiring in the next five years. This issue will resurface at the next meeting. Finally, the Fair Board was given permission to use a City garbage truck at the upcoming County Fair.

Airport Authority meeting

The Airport Authority had a short meeting Tuesday evening. Fuels sales remain strong though prices have risen a lot. The airport ran out of fuel in late May for a few days. Seal coating and striping are complete. In outreach, 18 young people ages 8 to 17 got flight experience as part of the Young Eagles Rally and 16 are signed up for summer camp, which is starting next week. There will be helicopter rides offered the first weekend of the County Fair and biplane rides will again be available on the last weekend of the fair.

It's a hot time in the old town

We are having a heat wave and that means there are lots of people using the LaRue Pool. The water is refreshing and not as cold as it has often been this early in the swim season.

The high school tennis courts are being redone with a concrete base. I cannot tell if there will be six courts as in the past or if there will be more.

Also being renovated is the bowling alley. Work has encountered problems.

Main Street Bakery has a food truck that is sometimes parked next to the bakery.

The Cylinders and Snacks car event takes place every Thursday evening on Front Street. Last Thursday there were about a dozen cars on display.

This week the Carnegie Players are presenting the play "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" on June 16, 17, & 18 at the Presbyterian Church at 7:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Willow Switch or Browns Garden Center. (SJC did this play in 2010.)

Below is a picture of a building wall somewhere in Rensselaer. Do you know where it is?

BPW

The Board of Public Works met late on Monday afternoon. It approved three pay invoices, two from Commonwealth Engineering and one from Thieneman Construction. One of the Commonwealth invoices was for work on the Elevated Water Storage & Water Main Replacement Project  and the other for the Main Lift Station & Unsewered Areas. They also approved a change order extending the time to completion of the Lift Station and Sewer project.

The heavy rains last week have delayed work on the lift station project as Weston Pond reappeared. The river rose but crested a foot below minor flood stage. 

Frogs were very happy with the water. I wonder if it will last long enough for their tadpoles to mature to frogs.

City Council meeting

The City Council meeting on Monday evening had a short agenda. The Council recognized an employee for ten years of service and approved the June gas tracker which reflects an increase of 20¢ per hundred cubic feet of use. The Council approved the lower of two quotes for removal of 32 trees. Fifteen of them are along the east side of US 231 south of the College. The accepted bid was for $12,500.

Noelle Weishaar noted that she had dealt with a citizen's complaints about dogs and said that in doing so she had discovered that the City's dog ordinance was seriously out of date. The Police Chief and City Attorney said they would see if they could begin revising it. Hiring an outside consultant to do the work would be very expensive. There was some wondering how many of the other old City ordinances should be revised or repealed. 

The Council approved a request for $250 for Kids Night at the Farmers Market (July 19). Work has begun on separating the storm sewers on Thompson Street from the combined sewer line. In the next meeting there will be a presentation from a company that is somehow involved in distance working. On June 25 there will be a memorial for Mike Riley in Potawotomie Park at 3:00. A tree and plaque are already there.