A last post for February 2025

 A new business

Rensselaer has a new business, a drink bar on Vine Street. It opened at the end of January and is called B&B Teas and Sips. It is filling the void left when Sblendid closed.  It is located in a tiny shop that previously housed hair salons. 

Here is their menu. I learned what bobas are.

And here is a look at the interior.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening with a short agenda. After the usual preliminaries, they discussed a fee schedule that had been tabled at the last meeting. No changes had been made and a couple of Council members thought that some fees were too high and there were too many fees. Mr Davis responded that the reason there were so many fees is because the zoning code is very complex. The Council sent it back to the Plan Commission for some simplification.

The Council made a final vote to vacate an alley way north of vine near the Maxwell Ditch. This was the second vote so the result is final. The Council also made second and final approval of new Districts. They also quickly approved a FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) request and approved Shelby Keys signing a USRDA report after the mayor approved the final document. The next item was a contribution of JCEDO but the director of JCEDO was not present so the item was tabled until the next meeting. Finally there was a brief discussion of an accounting issue. The City accounts on a cash basis and the utilities account on an accrual basis..

In comments by the superintendents, the repair of the Melville sewer line is still in the permitting stage. The line seems to have been installed in the 1930. Closure of the Scott Street rail crossing has begun. The water main along US 231 south of town has had multiple problems. There is the possibility that Rose Acre will expand and will need upgraded gas service. Office furniture has been moved into the new Park office in the light plant.

JC BZA meeting

Later on Monday the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met. The first two items on the agenda were variances for lot width, one in Wheatfield and one in Walker Township. In both cases the owners want to divide off a few acres behind the existing residence. Both were approved. The third item on the agenda was a special exception for a cell tower in Union Township. However, the person who should have been explaining the tower was not present, so the matter was tabled until the March 17 meeting.

JC Plan Commission meeting

The Plan Commission had four items on its agenda. The first was from the people who had received a lot-width variance in Wheatfield Township in the BZA meeting. Their request for a two-lot subdivision was granted. The next item was a request for a rezone from A1 to A2 in Walker Township. To build a house on A1 land requires ten acres but only four in A2. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The third request was for a rezone from A2 to A4 so a young man can establish a landscape business. He said he would not do retail, only park trucks and store supplies on the lot. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The final item on the agenda was a request for a two-lot subdivision in Walker Township. It was approved.

There have been rumors that Jasper County may be considered for a data center. They use large amounts of electricity and water. County officials are working on a data-center ordinance that would specify what requirements would be placed on any future center.

More odds and ends

A grandson had a birthday a few days ago. We called his watch to wish him a happy birthday. I do not think that I had ever before called a watch.

I enjoy watching the report of ice cover on the Great Lakes. After being below the average for most of the year, the cold weather last week created a spike that broke through the average. Now with warmer weather we are again below average. You can access some of that data here.

Rensselaerians can now sign up for Rensselaer's alert system.

Finally, congratulations to the Lady Bombers Basketball team who will play for the State Championship in class 2A on Saturday.

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.

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 couple of extra meetings

 Continued Commissioners meeting

The County Commissioners met in a continuation of their June meeting on Monday at 8:30 am. They approved the signing of a letter of commitment for FMLA training for department heads that will be done by outside consultants and will review Federal regulations. It may be scheduled for August. The Commissioners announced that BF&S will be appointed construction compliance monitor for the proposed SolarPac solar farm and they approved a conference request from the County Clerk. Community Corrections had some fee increases that the Commissioners approved. The Commissioners also approved a printer lease agreement that they had discussed early in June but had neglected to vote on the matter.

They then held a public hearing for an ordinance to make the intersection of CR 800N and CR 400W a four-way stop. It currently has stop signs only on CR 800N. On May 22 an accident at this intersection left one young man dead and two others severely injured. About fifteen people spoke, all in favor of adding stop signs on CR 400W. Some had close relatives involved in the accident and were emotional. The intersection is apparently a blind intersection with bushes obscuring the view of those who stop on 800N. Some of the speakers said that there have been numerous accidents at this intersection and many people considered it dangerous. When everyone who wanted to speak had spoken, the Commissioners approved the ordinance. A stop sign will be put up immediately along with stop-ahead signs. When signs with solar-powered lights arrive, they will replace the conventional stop signs. Also, the County will remove obstructing bushes at no cost to the landowners if the landowners are willing to have them removed.

Before the people who had come for the public hearing left, Mr Bontreger told them if residents think there is a dangerous intersection, they should get a petition and have as many people as possible sign it. A petition is much more effective than a solo complaint. Most of the room cleared out but remained outside talking. The hearing and the aftermath seemed to be therapeutic for some of the people who came to the meeting.

The Sheriff was next on the agenda. He said he has a report showing where accidents have happened and will share it with the Commissioners and the Highway Department. He noted that traffic patterns are changing as the north of the County suburbanizes. The County has narrow right-of-ways along some roads that were originally lightly traveled.

The leak in the jail roof was due to the chiller on the roof. It is old and will soon need to be replaced and the Sheriff would like the new chiller to be on the ground where it would not cause roof damage. Trane has sought quotes for the project and it will cost about $725,000. The new chiller should have a life expectancy of 20 years. The best time to install it would be in the winter and the goal is to have it ready for next summer. There was a brief discussion of what fund to tap to make the change. The Commissioners passed a motion to proceed but the project needs the Council to appropriate the funds.

There was a discussion of how best to maintain the x-ray machine at the jail. One option is to pay for maintenance and repairs as needed and the other was to sign a five-year maintenance agreement for $50,000. The Commissioners passed a motion to sign the five-year contract pending Council approval.

To end the meeting the comments were read that had been submitted via the Internet but not read earlier in the month because that meeting had lasted so long. Most of the comments opposed solar and wind projects.

Tourism Commission meeting

The  Tourism Commission held a second June meeting to discuss the proposed mural on the Rensselaer water tower at the SR-114/I-65 intersection. Some of the questions that had been raised at the first meeting were answered in an email that had been sent to members and the members had received a letter of support for the project from the City of Rensselaer. The project will be using special paint that is the same kind of paint used to paint the water tower. It is important to paint the mural while the tank is empty to avoid condensation issues and it is also important to paint it before the paint on the tower ages. The City of Rensselaer will help with funding. The members, most of whom were on Zoom, approved the proposal to spend $40,000 for this project.

Before the meeting adjourned there was a brief discussion of Placer AI. There was uncertainty of how it could be used given that there were legal constraints in the contract that do not allow the data to aid private businesses unless the data is in some kind of report. There were also questions if other companies could provide a similar service.

County Council meeting

The Jasper County Council met for its June meeting on Tuesday evening. They will use the same public comment form that the Commissioners are using for those who cannot attend a meeting but want to comment on some matter.

The Council had several additional appropriations on its agenda. It approved $16,000 to purchase kitchen appliances for Community Corrections and $60,000 for an account used when the State Board of Accounts audits Jasper County government units. Much of the money paid out of this account will be reimbursed. An appropriation of $6,922.15 for equipment for the Surveyor was approved, as was $50,000 for start-up costs for the Convention Connection Center. The Convention Center appropriation raised concerns that it might invite other organizations to be requesting money for similar purposes. The big additional appropriation of the evening was $2,993,421.32 to help the City of Rensselaer extend sewer and water west of I-65. This funding comes from ARP funds that the County received and there is a time limit on when they must be spent. 

The Council amended the Salary Ordinance to include a salary of a recently hired Deputy Sheriff. The next meeting will be on July 16, with a joint Commissioner/Council meeting before the regular Council meeting. Before adjournment there was a discussion of a need to tweak tax rates so that the money goes to funds that need more and away from funds that need less.

Odd and ends

The summer solstice is Thursday.

On Tuesday a concrete floor was being poured in the old light plant. 

Over the weekend it appeared that the Brick Street project was ready to pour the sidewalk on Van Rensselaer next to the Court House.

But the first bit of sidewalk poured was on the other side of the street.

This week the Rensselaer Regional Soccer Club has a camp with out-of-town instructors.

The LaRue Pool is open and is planning its first dollar day on June 19. The Parks are planning a dedication ceremony on June 21 at 11:00 for the HYPER Center.

The Carnegie Players are presenting "An Evening with George Ade" on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:00 pm in the basement of St. Augustine Church. Tickets are $8 and sold at the door.

Four meetings in one day

Notes

The new Mexican Bakery, La Trinidad, opened on Sunday. I stopped by on Monday and took some pictures.

The bakery is renting space from Ayda's Restaurant and is located behind the restaurant on Harrison Street. Its hours are 8 to 8, but once it finds when customers come and when they do not, it will probably adjust the hours. I asked why it opened and was told that this is the only Mexican bakery between Lafayette and Merrillville. 

I do not do food reviews because I do not have a palette (and for health reasons I avoid bakery products-–too much sugar.) Try their offerings yourself and see what you think.

In other downtown news, Gutwein Seeds is relocating into what was the Gutwein-Risner Insurance Building on Washington Street. I am told that their former space in the building with the purple coneflowers will be occupied by Sharon Johnson, a nurse practitioner located in what was the Clinic of Family Medicine across the highway from the hospital.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met Monday with a long agenda and a long meeting. Jeff DeYoung abstained from approving claims because he had a claim for $250 for delivering a load of salt. He said he will take the check, add $750 to it, and donate it to the Park Board. There was one buried cable permit approved, a simple bore under a County road in Union Township to serve a residence. Primary election voting centers were approved. They were the same as in the previous election with one big change. In Rensselaer the Armory replaces the Fire Station.

The Commissioners reappointed Scott Malone to the Airport Authority Board and Holly Eldridge to the Animal Control Board. At a previous meeting there was a question of whether Jacob Misch could serve on the  PTABOA Board after he had been appointed to the County Council, but it was determined that there was no conflict. The Commissions approved the purchase of a used van for the County Coroner.

The Commissioners approved $30,000 for remodeling the kitchen at Community Corrections. The Council will have to re-appropriate the funds because the project was not finished in 2023. The Commissioners approved the annual GUTS Software and Maintenance Agreement. (GUTS = Government Utilities Technology Service, a company based in Lebanon, IN.)

The Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council asked for and received permission to plant a ginkgo tree in the CourtHouse square. It will honor the late James Beaver. Animal Shelter had a request for a strobe-light bar for their vehicles. It was tabled while the Highway Department sees if they have something appropriate in their inventory. The Commissioners approved a software purchase that previously had been funded by the Council. The Commissioners approved spending and estimated $2670 for the Health Department to purchase 90 doses of flu shots for County employees. The full-time food inspector is resigning and the Commissioners approved filling the position. The Health Department needs a new postage machine. There was a brief discussion about other departments that may soon need to renew their machines, but the Health Departments problem was deemed the worse so only its machine replacement was approved at this meeting. The Health Department would like its space to be renovated because its needs have changed since it moved in. There was a discussion of various options and also of the need for new HVAC equipment. The Commissioners approved moving forward with one of the architectural firms that is interested.

The Sheriff received approval to replace three positions, a dispatcher who recently died, a road deputy who is resigning, and a jail correctional officer. He said another road deputy resignation is pending and said these resignations are related to the incentives to retire after 20 years created by the pension system. The Department did not receive a COPS grant it had applied for. The grant had many applications and Jasper County did not have enough crime and was too affluent compared to other applicants. However, he wants to apply again and the Commissioners approved. The grant would fund the addition of one or two new officers for about three years. The jail leaks. The problem is the flat section of roof and he said that flat roofs are prone to leaking. Trane will design a new roof for that section and will also design how to move the HVAC from the roof. Finally, he would like the 911 funds invested. The 911 Board needs to approve this.

The Commissioners approved an agreement with Moolenaar Supreme Professional Lawn Care Services to cut grass at the jail, Courthouse, Health Department, and Surveyor's Office. They approved April 6, 2024 for the next County auction. Sharron Collee from Community Services updated them on various projects and asked for approval to have the Fase Center parking lot striped. It was granted.

The local head of the Jasper County Recovery House gave a short presentation about what the Recovery House does. It has been in operation for eight years and is a first step in a road to recovery for addicts. They spend a first month locally before going to Elkhart to finish the program. The local branch accepts men from all locations but gives preference to locals. The Recovery House would like County support from opioid settlement. The Commissioners were unsure of how much money was in that fund so put the matter on the February agenda. A bit later they heard a similar presentation from the House of Grace, which provides similar services for women, who were invited to the meeting. They currently have a location on the SJC campus and can handle up to four women but usually have only one or two. They have a long list of things they would be able to spend funds on, including moving to a house. They are looking for volunteers. Again, no action was taken at this meeting.

The Commissioners approved a motion to do preliminary work for extending Rensselaer water and sewer west of I-65. March 4 is the date for groundbreaking for the Brick Streets project in downtown Rensselaer. (See update at the end.) The EMS director has resigned as director but will remain as a paramedic. There is an interim director and the leadership positions will be restructured. The Coroner gave a short report and said that a body from Weston Cemetery will be exhumed so that an identification may be found. (See below in notes.) In public comments a woman who has been to previous meetings repeated her concerns about the influence of the World Economic Forum. The Commissioners signed documents needed for work on a bridge over Carpenter Creek that is largely funded by federal dollars. The meeting was adjourned after two and a half hours.

Drainage Board

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting was much shorter, lasting only a bit more than half an hour. Two NIPSCO representatives who sat behind me for the entire Commissioners meeting presented a request to bore under a ditch to serve a subdivision near DeMotte. It was granted. The Board then gave approval for work on the bridge discussed in the Commissioners meeting to work in the County drainage right-of-way. Next it quickly approved a drainage plan from Rensselaer Central Schools, which is building a new concession stand. The drainage will tie into a tile owned by the school corporation and drain into the School House Ditch.There was a discussion about a ditch that has a section with a 48-inch pipe that is failing. The easiest solution seems to be to abandon the pipe and create a ditch on the other side of the road and the landowner is willing to donate the land. There is no maintenance fund for this ditch so the issue is how to finance it. No action was taken at this meeting and the matter will be on next month's agenda.The Board approved the Surveyor's Spray Maintenance Report. The Surveyor'''s office will treat 80 miles of ditch in-house and these are smaller ditches. They only spray one side of the ditch and have to abide by restrictions from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Larger ditches are done by contractors. The meeting adjourned after about half an hour.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met late on Monday afternoon. It began with Mayor Phillips swearing in members. There was one new member, Matt MacAleer (sp?). The Commission then elected officers: Kevin Smith president, Estel George Vice president, and Jeff Webb Secretary. The Commission voted to release $25,000 to the Rensselaer Park Board for various educational programs and camps that the Parks provide. It then accepted a tax increment report from Baker Tilly for 2023. The main item on the agenda was a presentation from Adam Alson for a Appleseed Childcare Educational funding request. For 2023 the Commission had granted Appleseed $130,000. The rationale for giving this money is that child care makes Rensselaer a more attractive place to live and thus encourages workers to locate here, providing local companies with a better workforce. Appleseed has served over 80 families since it opened and currently has about 60 children, aged 6 month to five years, enrolled. Mayor Phillips, who was at the meeting, said he would like to get the funding established through the City budget. The Commission was unsure of how much money they could budget for education (in addition to the Rensselaer Parks that have sought this money, the Rensselaer School Corporation has also asked for funds), so the Commission tabled the request.

The Commission decided that it would hold meetings on the first Monday of the month, as needed.

Rensselaer Park Board

The Rensselaer Park Board also met Monday evening. They heard from a citizen who wanted a special-needs baseball team. Currently DeMotte has such a team and several Rensselaer parents have used this team for their children. Special-needs children cannot compete with normal kids but want to be like other kids and play ball. The team would be open to children from four to 18. The parents behind this request think that they can draw enough kids from the local special-ed classes to fill a roster. They limit games to one hour, which often means one inning. Blacker Fields is the appropriate location because it has the best bathrooms for handicapped accessibility. The only problem foreseen was the problems of scheduling games in an already busy schedule for the fields. The request was approved.The Board also approved an Eagle Scout request to repair the boat launch in Bicentennial Park. The boat launch there was another Eagle Scout project and it had some issues because Bicentennial Parks located above an old garbage dump.

If all goes well, the Blacker Fields will host 13 tournaments this summer. The first girls softball tournament will be on April 20-21.

The Park employees are working on remodeling the restrooms south of Roth Field.

There was a discussion of disc golf and the possibility of finishing the course with concrete tee pads. Someone noted that the course attracted out-of-towners to Rensselaer and someone mentioned that Mount Ayr has a disc golf course and may be the smallest community in the U.S with its own course.

The meeting finished with a discussion of the problem of getting grass to grow in certain places on athletic fields. The biggest example is where the former Monnett School stood. The next meeting will be on the first Monday in March.

From the Cemetery

After hearing about the plans to exhume a body in Weston Cemetery, I checked with the caretaker of the Cemetery. He said that the idea had been around for about nine months but rules have to be followed. The State must approve digging up bodies. He said that the person of interest was buried in the southeast part of the Cemetery where there are many unmarked graves and quite a few that are only identified as "occupied" on the Cemetery's map. He said the person was killed in a train accident.

Below is a picture of the map showing some of the "occupied" graves. This part of the Cemetery has many County burials. Included are burials from those who died at the County Farm, which was located where the new EMS building and Animal Control are now located. One of "unknown from Newton County" buried in one of these lots may be this one.

This second picture shows the grave of the what may be the person of interest. Click the link and read his story. (Should I have put a trigger warning on these? They are kind of gruesome.)

By the way, this mention was tied to an earlier identication of an unknown burial, the John Doe in Old Settlers' Cemetery. It was solved a couple of years ago and here is the story.

Update: The City has now announced that the groundbreaking for the Brick Streets Project will be February 20 at 9:00 in front of City Hall.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

The entire staff of Rensselaer Adventures hopes you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

More Christmas decorations

See here for the first batch.

Samantha Joslyn's Law Office.

One of the empty spaces across from the Court House.

Earth Magic Body Potions.

Balvich Dental building.

The Rensselaer Republican office.

Sorrel and Rye Mercantile.

Gutwein-Risner Insurance.

The Police Department.

The newer State Farm Insurance office.

There are still more windows being decorated.

 The Court House has some lights in its trees.

Notes

A Mexican bakery, La Trinidad Bakery, is planning to open in the Ayda's Restaurant building. It will be a separate business.

A few days ago someone posted a link to a long (almost 2 hours) video that the Jasper County Historical Society produced in the 1990s. The video contains a collection of older videos and pictures. It is a digitization of what was a VCR tape and the quality is often quite poor. Included are a short film produced in 1940 that includes scenes from several Rensselaer businesses, video of the fire that destroyed the Wright's furniture store in 1948, and President Eisenhower's visit to Rensselaer in 1962 for Charlie Halleck Day.

I remember seeing a different video of Rensselaer many years ago. I think it might have been done in the 1930s and it featured many of the businesses operating at the time. Does anyone know if that film still exists?

Congratulations to the RCHS girl's basketball team that won the IU Health Hoops Classic title. The field included the big schools from Lafayette and West Lafayette. The Republican story here.

The Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals met for about five minutes Monday evening and approved a variance for road frontage. The owners of the property want to put in a 50-foot driveway to provide access to the back of the property where a new home will be built. 

Joint Council Commissioners meeting

The County Council and Commissioners met in a joint session on Monday evening at 6:00. There was a full house, with many of the people there because they were interested in the abatement vote in the Council meeting that was to follow. The joint session began with the announcement that Brett Risner had resigned from the Council, with no reason given. His replacement will be appointed by the County Republican caucus.

First on the agenda was a presentation by Kenny Haun, fire chief of the Rensselaer Fire Department. He gave an update on the planned fire tower for the training center. It has been upgraded to a five-story tower and plans are still evolving. In his update on financing, he said that several governmental units have told him to wait until 2024 when they will be in a new budget year. His goal is to raise $250,000 and he is tentatively scheduling training classes to start in May. The new tower will allow live fire training. He would like to receive $75,000 from the County.

Karen Wilson said her office wanted to donate $5,000 to the fire tower and that money was appropriated in the Council meeting that followed. The Sheriff said he was looking for a new correctional officer to replace one that was let go. He was told to get started and approval will be given at the December Commissioners meeting. Rein Bontreger, who was attending via Zoom, said that a committee to write on a new solar ordinance would begin working in January. It will probably also include regulations for battery storage facilities. 

In public comments one person had suggestions for safety regulations for any carbon sequestration project. Another person had a rant on tax abatement that suggested he did not understand how abatements worked. The most interesting comment was by a woman who said that the rail line used to carry coal to the NIPSCO plant was having ties replaced. She asked why there was work on this line if NIPSCO was going to cease using coal in a couple of years and no one had an answer. The meeting lasted until 7:00 and there was a ten-minute break before the County Council meeting started.

County Council meeting

The County Council began with a public hearing on a proposed tax abatement for Solarpack, the company planning a 60 megawatt solar park in Walker township. The hearing began with a lengthy explanation of the proposed tax-abatement agreement. The company was requesting a ten-year 100% abatement, not the usual abatement that declines over time. In return it would give the County four economic development payments in four years totaling $2,267,000, which captures 71% of the abated value. The attraction of these payments to the Council is that these payments give the Council and County more flexibility in using the fund than they have with funds that come through normal tax collection. The increase in the value of land cannot be abated and the land will rise in value according to State rules from its current value of about $2000 per acre to about $13,000. The abatement agreement sets that value higher than the State value, at about $16,000 and the company would make a payment that captures that higher value. If the State value continues at $13,000, the County would gain revenues but if the State value rises in future years above $16,000, the County would lose because it would then have to make a refund to the company. The abatement agreement would also provide a floor value for the project past the ten years of the abatement of about $27 million.

There were a number of public comments, most of which said that they did not want another solar farm. One threatened those who supported the abatement with election defeat. After about two hours of discussion, the matter was put to a vote, the results of which were predictable given the vote at the last meeting for the preliminary resolution, which resulted in a tie, with the tie broken by the president of the Council. Without Brett Risner, who had voted for the preliminary resolution, the vote was three against and two in favor. So the abatement was not granted.

I will be surprised if the denial of the abatement causes the project to be abandoned. The company had made a lot of concessions which greatly reduced the value of the abatement. However, the denial may affect future development if the message received is that the County is not a friendly place to invest.

The Council passed its 2024 calendar and I could not hear some of what was discussed because of the noise from the audience. The Council then passed several additional appropriations and approved a long series of transfers. The Sheriff and the Surveyor each had changes that they wanted in the salary ordinance that will be approved in the December meeting. The meeting finally ended a bit before 10:00.