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.

Park dedication and Christmas parade

Dedication and parade

On Saturday evening Filson Park was dedicated with speeches by Heather Hall, Stace Pickering, Brienne Hooker, Mayor Jeff Phillips, and Barb Michals followed by a ribbon cutting. The lighting was poor, so I adjusted the exposure so the ribbon could be seen. (This week's Rensselaer Republican will almost certainly have a much better picture and also an article with more details.)

The picture below is more like what the event looked like to me.

Before the park dedication and other events of the evening, there was a parade. The crowd waited until it got dark, with kids excited by the prospect of picking up lots of candy.

The parade started with a lot of noise with fire trucks and tow trucks, all with horns honking and sirens screaming.

One of the highway department trucks had a decoration that I remember was in last year's parade.

The snow plows were intimidating.

I am not sure what group these were with.

Teen Mission

No horses this year, but giant tractors.

The Rensselaer High School band played on.

The City of Rensselaer had several entries, including their recycling trailer.

Bomber softball.

Probably ConAgra. Someone gave me popcorn,

The kids on either side of me got plenty of candy, though some of it was not thrown well and was left on the street. (See picture above.)

There were many more entries than those shown above. My camera malfunctioned before Santa came by to end the parade.

City meetings

There was a very short Board of Public Works meeting Monday afternoon. It approved a pay request from Commonwealth Engineers for $6740 for work on the water-tower project. There remain several items on the water towers that have unfixed problems.

The City Council meeting that followed had two public hearings. The first was about the sewer-rate increase. A person from Baker Tilly explained that the City is under an unfunded mandate to fix problems with its combined sewer system by 2028. The fix will be expensive but the first part will be financed with a $19 million loan at a zero interest rate and the second part will be financed with about a $9 million loan with a below-market rate. The pay off these loans, sewage rates, which are determined by how much water a household uses, will rise 30% next year, another 23% the year after, and a final 13% the next year. One member of the public asked if the rates could be phased in over four or five years rather than three and he was told that the State wants the full rate in place when payments start, so three is the maximum.  Below is a handout provided at the meeting showing how Rensselaer rates will compare to other communities. We go from quite low to very high.

(How much water do you use? I am no where near the 4000 gallons a month level.)

The second public hearing was on a petition to abandon parts of Prairie Street and unnamed road that are north of the large Presidio warehouse on Merritt Street. Some of these streets seem to have been previously vacated but no one could find a record of the vacation. Presidio would like the streets vacated to improve truck flow for the renters of space in the warehouse. One adjoining property owner objected and said he wanted some of the land if the streets were vacated. 

Two bids were opened for Community Crossings paving grant, one from Milestone for $1,169,000 and the other from Town & Country Paving for $1,077,498. They were given to a consultant and a person from the Street Department to review for a recommendation.

The Council then passed the sewer-rate increase. Next on the agenda was an ordinance on the collecting and writing off debt owed to the City. The Council suspended rules so it could be passed with one reading, which was done. There were several transfers of funds passed, and the gas tracker for December will be a one-half cent increase per 100 cubic feet of usage. There was a discussion of replacing clocking in with time cards to using a software system. The Council voted to have the clerk/treasurer pursue the matter. On Thursday and Friday the front entrance to City Hall will be closed for upgrades to the doors to make them ADA compliant.

The two people examining the paving bids returned with a recommendation that Town & Country be awarded the bid. However, they recommended that the work proposed for Milroy Avenue be postponed to bring the project down to the budget even though that will result in a somewhat smaller grant from the State. The Council accepted their recommendation.

The Street Department said it would like to switch mapping vendors, but other departments were happy with the status quo. No action was taken.

Odds & ends

Wreaths Across America Day will be Saturday, December 14. Opening ceremonies will be at 10:00 at the Jasper County Fairgrounds.

On Monday Rensselaer School Corporation schools canceled classes because the computer network was down. Things have changed a lot since I went to school. We had no computers, much less a computer network.

Sblended has announced that it is closing. Dec 22 will be their last day.  The owner says, "There will be another business taking over in the building where we are located now, I think it’s going to make an incredible addition to the lovely Rensselaer Community and I hope that you all will love and support it."

The organ that was in the Ritz Theater has been moved to the building that the Carnegie Players recently purchased and will renovate. The picture below was provided.

The Tourism Commission meeting scheduled for December 10 was canceled because a quorum could not be assembled. It will be rescheduled.

The Airport Authority Commission meeting scheduled for December 10 has been moved to December 19 and the December 30 meeting canceled.

The Carnegie Players production of Saving Christmas is scheduled for the 12th, 13th, and 14th.

The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce has its annual meeting with civic awards on Tuesday (Dec 10) evening. Update: the Presidents Award went to Denise Espino, the artist who designed and painted the Christmas windows.

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.

A few last days of summer

 More pictures from downtown

On Thursday evening the Harrison Street/Van Rensselaer Street intersection was almost finished. It needs to be finished in a week for Oktoberfest. Notice how the use of differet colored bricks outlines the crosswalk.

Work continues in Filson Park. New pillars at the entrance on Kellner match the brick pillars in the downtown parking lots. I believe there will be an entrance arch over these pillars.

New street signs match those being installed for the brick streets.

The bases for light poles are ready.

Jasper County Council meeting

The Jasper County Council met Tuesday evening. The September meeting is the meeting in which the Council reviews budgets for several taxing units and then approves them in the October meeting. First up was the Rensselaer Central School Corporation. The Council reviews this budget because the School Board is appointed, not elected.

Mr Craig, the superintendent of the School Corporation, read a budget summary and commented on parts of it. (Some of those numbers might be available on the Indiana Gateway site, here.) He noted that assessed valuation was up 12% and that should lead to a lower tax rate. The School Board had scheduled a vote on a new bond issue at its meeting later Tuesday night that would fund new doors and windows at the highs school, new light poles for the football field, gutters for Van Rensselaer, new bleachers for the middle school gym, and new auditorium lighting at the high school. In addition to tax revenues, the schools are funded by the State, which gives $8000 for each student enrolled. That money is used to pay teachers. He said that enrollment was up this year, but the trend for recent years is smaller enrollments. The peak number of students was in the 1970s. The rise in enrollments this year was in the grade and middle school. High school was down and he attributed that to kids choosing on-line schools. The school officials then left to get to the School Board meeting.

Next the Council considered the County budget. Again a bunch of numbers were read. Most County employees will be getting a $2500 pay increase for next year. A flat increase of this sort benefits lower-income employees more than higher-income employees. A new public defender system will change the 2025 budget. The Sheriff is changing the pay schedule of his employees to a percentage of his salary, which in turn is a percentage of the Prosecutor's salary. The vote on the budget will take place at the October meeting.

The Council next reviewed the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District budget. This budget had not been approved by the District's Board because the last meeting did not have a quorum. To help it meet future quorums, the Council appointed Jason Armold to serve on the board. The District is completely funded by tipping fees at the landfills in Newton and White Counties. The Jasper County Council reviews the budget because Jasper County has the highest assessed valuation of the counties served by the district.

The Council then reviewed the budget of the Iroquois Conservancy, which clears log jams from the Iroquois River. This year the Conservancy has added those parts of Benton County that are in the watershed of the Iroquois River.

Before approving the August minutes of three sessions of the Council, the Council approved the budget of Walker Township. It could not approve its own budget because two of the Board members were firemen (and presumably had a conflict of interest).  Other townships were instructed to stay within the 4% growth factor.

The Council then approved two transfers. At a previous meeting they had approved appropriation for the Recorders Perpetuation Fund but it had been put into the wrong fund. At this meeting they reduced the wrong fund and made an additional appropriation to the correct fund. They also approved spending from a donation fund for maintenance on sirens, an additional appropriation for law books and research for the Courts, and an appropriation for a cleaning lady for the Surveyor/Extension office. 

Sara DeYoung from Jasper County Economics Development Organization gave a presentation about JCEDO that was similar to the presentation that she gave to the Commissioners the day before. She stressed that we need to create communities that people want to live in so that when opportunities come our way, we can take advantage of them.

The review of the Airport budget had been advertised for 7:00 so it did not take place with the other reviews. The Airport was established in 1933 but was closed during WWII. Fuel sales, a major source of Airport revenue, have been good this year. The Airport has averaged about 500 takeoffs and 500 landings per month. Last year the high-school class at the Airport, which has the goal of getting students ready to pursue aviation careers, finished with four students. This year the class has seven students, three from RCHS, three from KVHS, and one from SNHS. Priorities for the future are finishing the master plan and designing a new hangar building. There is a wait list for hangar space. When the Airport makes capital improvements, 90% of the cost is funded by the FAA. 

The County has a local income tax (LIT) of 2.864% and the revenue is split to fund various categories. Currently the rate that goes to fund ambulance services is .02 and the Council would like to increase it but to do that without raising the overall tax rate, something else must be reduced. After some discussion, they decided to come back to the issue in October.

The County is under a burn ban because the dry weather has increased the changes of field fires. White and Pulaski have also announced burn bans. (Rensselaer got a couple of showers Friday, but the rain was very localized so the burn ban continues for the County.)

The Commissioners established a committee to plan for a new forensics center and one of the positions on that committee is assigned to a Council member. The Council appointed Jacob Misch.

At the Commissioners meeting there was a discussion of how to account for fees that the Coroner pays for transporting bodies. The Commissioners decided that was an issue for the Council. The Council and Auditor had a confusing discussion on the issue and I am not sure if agreement was reached. The Council did agree to raise the transfer fee from $125 to $175 retroactively to January 1.

The meeting lasted almost 2.5 hours and thankfully there were no public comments.

Networking event

On Thursday the Jasper Newton Foundation and United Way of Northwest Indiana hosted a lunch and networking event at the Carnegie Center. This was one of several such events that the United Way has had in the region it serves, primarily Porter and Lake Counties but also Starke, Jasper, and Newton. After a quick lunch and some remarks from United Way (I regret not getting a tour of their mobile van that they brought), the people attending introduced themselves and told what they did. Here are the organizations that I caught and some highlights.

Level Up works with United Way to help people get certifications and jobs or better jobs. They provide conseling and teach financial skills. To get into their program, one needs to have the desire to improve.

Meals on Wheels delivers meals and as a byproduct also provides wellness checks. Like many of the organizations represented, they are headquartered in Lake or Porter Counties.

Girls on the Run of Northwest Indiana has a site in DeMotte and would like to see one established in Rensselaer.

Alzheimer's Association sponsors walks in Porter and Lake Counties and would like to see one established in Newton or Jasper County.

WorkOne has a Rensselaer office and helps people get training to advance in the job market.

KIRPC Head Start is underenrolled in all of their locations except Rensselaer.

Newton County Community Services provides similar services to those provided by Jasper County Community Services. This past year they started a community garden.

Northshore Health Center has a location in DeMotte.

New Vistas High School is an alternative charter school in Portage. 

The Connection Center in DeMotte has been expanding their programs.

Catholic Charities-Diocese of Gary looks to partner with other organizations.

I did not catch the name of an adult education group that helped people get their GEDs.

The American Heart Association is putting blood-pressure hubs in various locations to help find people with very high blood pressure and who are unaware that they have a problem.

Scouting, which used to be Boy Scouts before they opened to girls, has several programs.

Birthright of Rensselaer supports pregnant women and women with young children.

Right Steps staffs eight child care centers including Appletree in Rensselaer.

Indiana Department of Health-Health Equity Council was represented as was Franciscan Health Hospice care.

Anew Ministries provides support for young, mostly teen mothers who face challenges. They have a chapter in DeMotte.

Finally, Saint Joseph's College announced that they had purchased two semis for the CDL Academy and that they would be restarting the hoop house with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter school, which now lists SJC as their regional home instead of the Jasper County Fairgrounds. 

Rensselaer Plan Commission

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met on Thursday evening. At a previous meeting they did not give approval to the SJC Building Trades subdivision because some details still needed to be worked out. Apparently they were not all worked out because Commission tabled the item to the October 17 meeting.

The next item also concerned SJC. There was no zoning for the SJC property. The proposal sent to the City Council with a favorable recommendation would make the campus between Sparling and the highway as well as the bowling alley, the field south of Justin Hall which SJC no longer owns, and Mount Calvary Cemetery zoned as B2, which is a business zoning. The College Woods will be zoned RS, which is the least restrictive residential zoning, if the Council concurs. Since the Council asked the Commission to deal with this issue, it is highly likely that they will concur.

A second matter that the Council wanted the Commission to address was the need to get variances when a residence in a zone classified for business changed hands. The original variance does not transfer. The Commission voted to change the policy to allow non-conforming residences in business zoning to continue being used as residences when there is a change in ownership. It also allows, with some restrictions, a non-conforming residence to be repaired if it is damaged.

The State says that redevelopment commissions should have a seal so the Commission adopted one. I did not see what it looked like.

Finally, on August 21 the members agreed via telephone to change the lot on which the SJC building trades program would build from lot 5 to lot 1. They affirmed this change with a vote. (I was wondering why the construction was happening on what I thought was the wrong lot.)

Odds and ends

There was a death in the County that has attracted media attention. It is the subject of the lead article in this week's Rensselaer Republican.

Also in the Republican are stories about change in ownership of the Ritz and the change in leadership at the Jasper County Library.

As one theater becomes a church, a church becomes a theater. The is a former church that is becoming a theater and the Carnegie Players are raising money to help repair the building.

Milroy Park has been prepared for the ScareCrow Trail.

The County Clerk has posted the candidates for the general election on Facebook but I cannot find the list on the County website.

Maybe next week the Fire Tower at the Fire Station will be put together.

Big plans

Chamber lunch and plans for a new Show Arena


The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its monthly luncheon at Filson Park. The main speaker was from Express Employment Professionals, who talked about how the labor market has changed.  Employers looking for new locations are very concerned about supply of labor and water. The days in which employers and employees had loyalty to each other are mostly gone. Employees jump from job to job to take advantage of better wages and conditions. A lot of people use Indeed.com to upload resumes and search for applicants, but often a personal touch, such as that Express provides, produces better results.


For me, totally out of the labor market, the more interesting presentation was from the Fair Board about their plans for a new show arena. The plan is to demolish the old arena and build a much bigger building where it sits. The proposed arena will be about double the size. It will have retractable bleachers that can seat up to 1200 and if chairs are put on the arena floor, seating could be 3000.

The arena will be open all year for rental. Potential renters would include livestock shows, trade shows, and machinery shows. Currently there are potential exhibitors who do not use the Fairgrounds because there is no building big enough for their needs. The estimated cost is currently $3 million to $3.5 million. The rentals are not expected to be enough to pay for the arena but should be enough to pay the operating expenses (mostly utilities and labor).

The Fair Board is looking for grants and donations. The first step will be to hire design services to get engineering designs. The expectation is this will be a five-year project because it will take that long to raise enough money. The first regulatory step will probably be an appearance before the Drainage Board in October. Donations to the project can be made to a Show Arena fund at Alliance Bank.

Above is the view from the east and the front of the building. Below is the view from the west and the back of the building.

While the lunch was finishing up, a worker was tilling the grounds of Filson Park getting it ready for a new seeding of grass. Workers have also been working on the bases of the future light fixtures.


More pictures

The permeable pavers have been installed along both sides of Harrison Street and one side of Van Rensselaer. It takes only about a day to do one side of a street. The big task still ahead is to finish the intersection of Harrison and Van Rensselaer.

On Tuesday workers were pressure washing the outside of the Drexel water tower. There will be work done inside the tank in the upcoming days.

Below is a picture of the foundation for the first house to be constructed by the Building Trades program at SJC.

I mentioned the Winter SJC newsletter in the previous post. The newsletter tells about the new SJC logo, gives an update on the CDL program,  reports on the groundbreaking ceremony for the Building Trades program, gives the schedule for the 2024 homecoming, highlights a recent graduate of their certificate program who now works for WorkOne, discusses the partnership with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter School, and announces the hiring of a senior administrative assistant. 

SJC is seeking partnerships that will allow it to continue to develop and expand as a trade school. The number of high school graduates has been dropping year by year and will continue to drop because the Country's fertility rate has dropped below replacement level. Those who do go to college increasingly go to on-line schools or large public universities, so the brunt of the decline in students is felt in smaller schools, especially private schools. These demographics alone are a reason that SJC can never be what it once was.

A positive note for SJC: it has cleared its debt. 

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Board met Monday. They approved their July minutes; the August meeting did not have a quorum so there were no minutes to approve. First on the agenda was a request from the Rensselaer Chamber for $3500 to help pay for a mailing to advertise the Holiday Shop and Stroll on November 14-16. This is the first year that the Chamber is running the event. It is continuing with the past practice of mailing out about 17,000 postcards to area communities. Those who attend the event and visit all the participating shops are entered into a drawing for a grand prize. The cost of the mailing is about $300 per retailer and Chamber argues that the event brings in people from outside the County who then spend money not only at the participating shops but at other stores as well.


A big concern from Board members was the lack of data to show how many people respond and thus to show the effectiveness of the mailing. Last year 146 people entered the drawing, showing that they had visited all the shops, but there is no way to know how many other people visited only some of the shops. There were various suggestions on how to get more data on turnout. There were also questions of whether there were most cost effective ways to publicize the event, such as using social media. After discussion, the Board approved a grant of $1500.

Next was a request from Remington MainStreet for $30,000 for seven new signs highlighting points of interest in town. The Board wanted additions to the signs mentioning Discover Jasper County and the Tourism logo. The request was approved with the contingency that a brand mark agreement be reached. Remington has plans for an inclusive playground and will make a formal presentation for that project next year.


 The Board adopted a strategic plan that the Tourism office and Ball State have developed. Revenues from the inn-keeper tax were down in July and August and are expected to below 2023 levels for the rest of the year.

Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting


I attended the Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday evening via Zoom. Work continues on their master plan. A property owner to the west of the Airport has agreed to a land swap. The Airport wants the land for an east-west runway expansion and does not need some land it owns along SR 114. Nothing will be done on this until after harvest. There was a long discussion of the rental plane, which will be getting a new engine this fall. The Board adopted a policy for renters of the plane to acknowledge that they may be liable for a deductible if the plane is damaged while they use it. The Airport is finalizing grant papers that will result in $151,899 that will be used to finance the preparation of the master plan. The Airport tentatively plans to do another Scareport event on October 19. The Board accepted a new salary ordinance.

Odds and ends


This week's Rensselaer Republican has the complete list and description of the people who will be featured in this year's Weston Cemetery Walk. It is the front page article. 

Another walk starts Friday. The first of a series of Wellness Walks sponsored by Franciscan Health and Purdue Extension will take place on Friday, September 13 at 10:30 in the Hall Shelter of Brookside Park. After a short talk, the walk will take place in Weston Cemetery. The series will continue on Fridays until October 18. There is no admission charge and is open to all.

The start of Little Cousin Jasper Festival

 Pictures from downtown

On the way to Wednesday's Redevelopment Commission meeting, I noticed that there were trees ready to be planted at Filson Park.

By Friday they were planted.

Also, the last of the sidewalk around and in the park was finished.

On Friday early afternoon the bricks on Harrison had almost reached the intersection.

Finally I noticed that there were tables and chairs inside what will be Brick Street Ice Cream. Maybe it will open soon.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Wednesday evening. The Commission would like to buy the property with the vacant building on the corner of Clark and Cullen, tear down the building, and then sell the land so it can be developed. The building there once served as a laundry and apparently before that as a gas station, two uses that can leave polluted soil behind. The Commission considered doing a phase 2 environmental survey that would involve test wells, borings, and ground samples for $13,800. For an added $2,800 they could do ground penetrating radar in hopes of locating underground gas tanks. After discussion, they opted to do the survey without the radar study.

Next on the agenda was a short discussion of a proposed 7th Street Rensselaer TIF area. There will be a public hearing on this proposal on September 30. Finally there was a discussion of upgrades needed for the Rensselaer sewer system. In 2010 IDEM took Rensselaer to court over its combined sewer system that allows sewage to be dumped into the Iroquois River when there are heavy rains. Since then the City has done a number of projects to reduce the problem, but not enough to eliminate it. The waste-water treatment plant needs to be expanded and the estimated cost of that is at least $13 million. The median income in Rensselaer is now too high for the City to be eligible for grants, though it can get loans at zero percent interest. The next City Council meeting will discuss financing options.

Odds and ends

From Facebook I found a link to a page about the proposed Heritage Christian Academy. This is a school that plans to open in August 2025 in one wing of the SJC Core building.  The plan is to initially start with three grades and then add grades until the school has K-12. For more info, search the internet for Heritage Christian Academy Rensselaer.

We are two weeks away from the 7th annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery, aka The Weston Cemetery Walk. The walk is a program of the Jasper County Historical Society and it is meant to inform people about history in an entertaining and enjoyable way. Each year it has focused on eight people or families and had actors portray these eight. Some have made a difference locally, some on the State level, and a few have had national significance. Others have been part of some important or interesting historical even. Some just have interesting life or death stories. This year we will be in the eastern part of the Cemetery where some very early settlers are buried. This year two people who will be portrayed or discussed left Rensselaer and made a mark on the wider world. 

Anyone who has worked on an event like this knows how much work goes into the planning and execution. Also, most of these events are dependent on sponsors and the Cemetery Walk is no different. The ticket sales do not cover the costs of the event. The organizers are very thankful for our sponsors, four of whom are highlighted below. (The other four will be shown in a future post.)

My wild sunflowers have started to bloom. They tell me it almost time for the asters to bloom, and the asters are the last flowers of the autumn.

Little Cousin Jasper Festival starts

The LCJF started on Friday. The City parking lot next to the bowstring arch bridge is the food court. Food booths and food trucks are on the edges of the lot and tables are in the center.

A look at the festival from near the bridge.

There are a lot of booths. They line the sidewalks on both sides.

In the middle of Potawatomi Park are attractions for kids, including these bubbles in a pool.

Crossing the bridge one gets a good view of the Eagle mural.

On Friday evening the Hickory Huskers school bus was in the food court. It is a 1939 Chevy and was the bus used in the movie Hoosiers.

Below is the steering wheel and dashboard of the bus. I wonder how many people today could drive it. (Notice the stick shift.)

The food court was a lot busier in the evening than at noon.

The first act on the stage was getting ready to perform as I left.

Saturday will be a busy day with a parade at noon.