December and winter arrive.

Winter

Winter fully arrived during the week of Thanksgiving. There were a series of days in which the temperature stayed below freezing. One result was that the fountain in Filson Park froze.

The dedication of the park is scheduled for Friday after the Christmas Parade. Will warmer weather on Wednesday bring down some of that ice?

Travels

I spent the weekend of Thanksgiving visiting family south of Indianapolis. The new section of Interstate 69 has been open for several months, and where we exited, we encountered three roundabouts within a couple hundred yards. That area loves roundabouts. I am still uncomfortable with them because I have not driven enough of them (and maybe because it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks).

I also do not like driving some of the roads there because when housing moved out, the county authorities did not realize that they needed to widen roads. So there are many busy roads that have two lanes with no room for shoulders or sidewalks because the utility poles (often on both sides of the road) are about 18 inches from the pavement. Some of the newer developments seem to have learned from past mistakes and are leaving more room for the roads and also putting in sidewalks.

A few family members decided that it would be fun to go to a professional basketball game during our stay. They did not go to a Pacer's game. They went to the other men's professional team in Indianapolis, the Indiana Mad Ants. The team was originally located in Fort Wayne. The G league is a developmental league for the NBA. I had never heard of this team or league. There seem to be plenty of seating available at its games.

In both going and returning I was reminded that I-65 really needs to be three lanes each direction for its whole length.

Commissioners meeting

I could not attend the Commissioners meeting in person on Monday because I was still not back in Rensselaer. I attended via Zoom. The meeting was in the CourtHouse and it would have been fun to attend one more meeting there. (The Sparling meeting room is being renovated, with the column in the middle of the room slated for removal.) I also prefer attending in person because Zoom does not capture everything. Sound from the Commissioners was good, but some of the speakers in the audience were hard or impossible to hear. Some of my audio problems were on my end; my earphones did not work well with my device.

A couple of buried cable requests, both from NIPSCO, were approved. The Sheriff had contracts for 2024 and 2025 approved. He was too far from the microphone for me to hear what he had to say. The contracts also need Council approval. He had some surplus property with little or no value and the Commissioners gave him permission to dispose of it. They also approved filling a vacant dispatcher position.

The Commissioners approved an agreement with Illiana Heating & Air for the north annex They approved a laser light display for the Court House that Main Street Rensselaer is planning. Sharon Colee's snow removal plan for the Fase Center was approved and she was allowed to pursue getting DeMotte water service for the Fase Center. She wants the Commissioners to do a walk through of the Rensselaer Center to show them the maintenance issues. The building is about 35 years old.

Jatin Patel has resigned from the Jasper County Tourism Commission and the Commissioners appointed Randy Rottler from Carpenter Creek Cellars to replace him. (Mr Patel's insights from the hotel industry will be missed.) The Commissioners approved a couple of conference requests and a GUTS agreement that I think was for lock-box services. They appointed Susie Howard to the Wheatfield Plan Commission Board, filling the remainder of a term of someone who retired. This position is for someone from Wheatfield's buffer zone. 

There was a short discussion of progress being made in the new public defender office. There are still details to be worked out. The Commissioners approved changes to the Unified Development Ordinance that had been recommended by the Jasper County Plan Commission. They approved a contract to inventory capital assets, had a discussion about a SAFE grant, trying to decide whether to be part of a multi-county proposal or going alone. The matter should be decided at the December 23 meeting. Snow plow quotes were opened and all were accepted, with Mr DeYoung abstaining.

There were several public comments. A woman who in the past voiced concerns about chemicals eroding from windmill blades gave some updated research. Someone had questions about the County agreement with Remington regarding the Remington EMS building. There were concerns about vandalism with the newly-installed lighted stop signs in the northern part of the County.

I do not know if there was a Drainage Board meeting following the Commissioners meeting. There was a Rensselaer Redevelopment meeting Monday afternoon that I was too tired to attend. The agenda did not look very interesting.

More painted windows

Continuing the showing of windows that the Rensselaer Chamber has been painting, the one below is from Kentland Bank. I wonder if this counts as one window or two. The Chamber says it has painted 90 windows and I would like to find as many as I can.

Two windows from SuperCuts in the College Mall.

Arni's a bit north of Strack.

M&W Insurance.

The law office of Samantha Joslyn.

Jasper County Abstract office.

The dental office of Jordan Balvich

Estel George's State Farm Insurance office.

The next two are windows of the Deerwood Group on North McKinley.

The doors of the Knights of Columbus hall.

Finally

Awaiting sunrise on a winter morning

Budgets

 Some pictures

On Wednesday I noticed construction had begun on the stage area in Filson Park.

On Thursday what was there on Wednesday was gone, replaced with this.

There is now a bench near the pool. I suspect others will soon be joining it.

Light poles were being erected along Van Rensselaer on Thursday. I believe they were finished by the end of the day.

The concrete curbs that will separate bricks from asphalt at the Harrison/Van Rensselaer interesection are finished. The brick laying on Harrison is slowly working its way up from SR 114.

INDOT posted some pictures on Facebook about work on the bridge south of Rensselaer so I went out to check out the progress. They hope to finish before the end of the month.

There is still work being done at the SJC football field but I cannot get close enough to see what they are doing.

Jasper County Council meeting

The Jasper County Council met Tuesday evening at 6:00. President Steve Jordan was delayed so Gary Fritts called the meeting to order. First on the agenda were transfers and additional appropriations, but one of the additional appropriations, from the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District, had been advertised for 7:00, so the meeting was flipped and the beginning of budget hearings started the meeting.

Budget hearings are long and often boring. The Council is looking at numbers in a thick book that is not available to the audience and asking questions about them. First up on Monday was the Coroner. He wants to find funding to hire a deputy coroner and found it by reducing some other numbers in his proposed budget. He noted that costs keep rising, including those for autopsies and body bags. He has had 59 calls so far this year, a level not reached last year until October. He has a new van that will be operational soon and that resulted in some shifts in budget numbers.

Next up was the auditor. She put in the 10% increase in salaries that all the departments are including. I suspect that number will be adjusted to make the final budget fit revenues.

Emergency management presented a budget with only small changes from the 2024 budget. One change will be expenses for a vehicle. The department is getting a vehicle from the Sheriff's Department. The State pays 50% of salaries in this very small department. 

The Sheriff has one of the biggest and most complicated budgets in the County government. He had a number of pay differentials he wanted to establish; that is, when two positions pay the same but one has greater responsibilities, increasing the pay of the person with the greater responsibilities. There was a discussion of the meal budget in the jail, which has had a large increase because of rising food costs and more inmates. Meals cost about $7.50 per prisoner per day. He has budgeted for three new vehicles, two trucks and one car. When the cars are retired by the Sheriff, they usually go to another County department. He noted that his salaries are below those in some of the area law enforcement agencies and that makes recruitment and retention a challenge. He noted that it is difficult to recruit, train, and retain dispatchers.

With the Sheriff's budget discussed, the meeting returned to transfers and additional appropriations, several of which were for the Sheriff. There was a transfer because repairs for a damaged squad car had been paid from the wrong account. There were additional appropriations for several insurance lines because insurance costs have increased. There were several additional appropriations that were Coroner related. One request was for a new budget line, "Indigenous Pauper Burial" that the Commissioners had requested as a result of the burial of a decomposing stranger, who was later identified. The Council decided that it would not be needed this year so voted to not appropriate the money.

Generally pauper burials are the responsibility of the township in which the death occurs. However, Newton Township has no township cemetery so deaths there (and Newton Township includes a long strip of i-65) become the responsibility of the County. There is a cemetery in the Township, Makeever Cemetery, but it is legally owned by the County. The Commissioners want to give it to Newton Township.

One additional appropriation was for consultants. This was to pay for services the County hires to monitor SolarPack, which then reimburses the County. The reimbursement goes into the general fund so the payments have to be re-appropriated.

There was a large additional appropriation for jail meals, explained above. What I found interesting is that the jail uses inmates to help prepare the meals. They get a bit of pay (which I believe they get when they are released) and they get out of their cells.

There was a very large additional appropriation for EMS. It is needed to finish the year. EMS budgeting continues to be a problem.

The last additional appropriation was for the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District and because it did not involve County money, the Council quickly approved it.

The Council had a discussion of the Local Income Tax on the agenda but decided to take that up on Wednesday morning at 8:30 when the budget hearings would continue. I have a high tolerance for long boring meetings, but not enough to want to go to that meeting.

A final note

I am on the planning committee for the Memories Alive Cemetery Walk in Weston Cemetery. We have found some interesting stories to tell and have recruited our cast. Here is the announcement of the event.

Most of the planning is finished but we need three or four able-bodied volunteers to help with set up and tear down. If you are interested, e-mail me at rensselaeradventures at yahoo.com and I will give you details of what is involved.

Pictures and meetings

 Some pictures

I was at the big Remington Park over the weekend and took a picture of the splash pad.

 I am impressed with the Remington Park. It has a sledding hill, nice shelter houses that can be closed with overhead doors, and a long hiking/biking path. Remington has prioritized parks and is seeking public feedback for a five-year master plan.

I wanted to get pictures of Remington's new murals but they were not on the building that had originally been selected for murals. 

A second building is being constructed on the lot in northeastern Rensselaer that once was used by INDOT.

CSX has finished repairing the damage to the Amtrak platform that a train derailment caused in 2017, Concrete had been repaired and new lights installed.

Below you can see the concrete before repair.

City meetings

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works met Monday evening and approved six payments. Four were for Commonwealth Engineering for work on the WasteWater Treatment Project, The Asset Management Project and the Water Tank Project. Two were for Maguire Iron work on the Water Tank Project. The Board also approved a transfer of funds for Commonwealth for additional work on the Asset Management Plan.

When the new water tank goes on-line, the water in Drexel Park tank will be drained and the interior repaired.

Also on Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council met. The person listed to give the invocation did not show up but two other Rensselaer pastors did. They worked out who would give the invocation. 

The Council voted to approve an ordinance that changes the after-hour fees for discontinuation of utility services. With new software and upgraded metering, electrical service can be turned on and off remotely, so there is less need for after-hours servicing. The gas tracker for August reflects about a half cent increase per hundred cubic feet of usage. The Council approved using a new provider for gas-pressure sensors. These record gas pressure at the regulator stations and can send an alarm if there is too much pressure recorded. 

The Council approved $40,000 for gutters on the gas department building. It has seepage after heavy rains on the northwest side. 

The Council approved the submission of a Community-Crossings grant application that will request about $978,164 for road improvements. If the State approved the application, the State funds 74% of the cost and the City 25%. The Council approved the purchase of two new squad cars for the Police Department. The Department will trade in two 2016 squads as part of the deal. Also approved was the hiring of a crossing guard. 

The Eagles requested the closure of part of Harrison and the alley next to their building on September 7 and their request was granted. Noele Weishaar wanted the Planning Commission to change the zoning ordinance so that non-complying residences in business zones do not have to seek a variance every time they are sold. That change will take about three months to get through the various meetings and public hearings, so she also wanted a suspension of enforcement of non-complying uses for 90 days. The Council approved both. Finally, she noted that some of the property owned or formerly owned did not have a zoning classification, so she suggested and the Council approved directing the Plan Commission to zone it.

Special Drainage Board meeting

The Jasper County Drainage Board held a special meeting on Tuesday morning to approve a drainage plan for a proposed solar farm in Walker Township. The applicant has changed its name, but not its ownership, from Solarpack to Zalestra.

It received approval for the proposed farm from the Jasper County BZA in August, 2021 and needed to get its drainage plan approved by the end of the month to keep that approval from lapsing. Because this was a special meeting requested by Zelestra, all the expenses of the meeting will be paid by Zelestra.

The Board heard from the compliance manager hired by the County and from representatives from Zelestra. The compliance manager had spoken at the regular drainage board meeting, but apparently there were some changes since then as Zelastra tries to comply with the various regulations at the State and Federal level. There were no public comments when they were allowed. The Board members then consulted among themselves. At this point a lady in the audience decided she wanted to comment and expressed her disapproval of the project and the Board. The drainage plan was approved with the contingency that the company get all other permits needed.

Fireworks and Cruise Night

July 4 Fireworks

Again this year the Brookside Church provided a fireworks show on the Fourth of July. Before the show they had the band "Warranted" play for several hours. I did not see a lot of publicity for the fireworks, but the crowd at Brookside Park was huge. The picture below was taken from near the playground equipment and the church building can be seen illuminated by the fireworks.

There were kids having so much fun on the playground equipment that I do not think they watched much or any of the fireworks.

This picture was taken from south of the LaRue Pool and the white lines are the fence post for the fence around the pool. The fireworks on the left were from a private citizen living north of the highway. (Three other private fireworks were visible to the east of the church fireworks.)

Most of my attempts to photograph fireworks do not turn out well. Here are a couple of exceptions.

Here is a video of 32 seconds of the display.

Someone had fun on the Fourth.

Car show and Cruise Night

The 2024 JC Cruiser Car Show was the biggest ever. There were cars from the highway to the pool and from the Creek to the parking lot for Blacker Fields.

A lot of cars meant a lot of trophies to give out.

I wandered around and took some pictures. I have to admit, I am not a car person and have little talent in auto or engine mechanics. I suspect my maternal grandfather and my two maternal uncles pitied me for that shortcoming. My grandfather owned a car dealership in Minnesota in the 1930s and 1940s and in the 1950s and 1960s owned a John Deere dealership with one of his sons. Both of those uncles made a living fixing farm equipment. One of them rebuilt old farm steam engines (used for power before tractors.) I suspect my lack of mechanical ability came from my father's side of the family.

A lot of hoods were up so people could admire the motors.

There were a number of vendors at the event, including one selling hub caps.

The oldest car at the show was a 1908 Buick. It did not join Cruise Night, That was probably a good thing because it left the smell of gasoline behind it.

There was a large crowd for Cruise night. Most were on the west side of the highway so they did not have to look at the setting sun. However, that meant it was very difficult to get a good picture of the crowds. 

Trinity United Methodist Church was handing out free hot dogs and chips in front of Fase's. They did not have as many takers as I expected.

The little pink ice cream truck had a line of customers at Milroy Park.

As I continued toward the downtown I heard more ice-cream-truck music and was wondering where it was coming from. There was a second truck working the route. I suspect there was plenty of business for both.

I was getting ready to leave when the cars from the car show arrived and I took the video below of most of them.

A tour of the new EMS building

 A tour of the new EMS building

On Thursday evening last week Jasper County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) had an open house so the community could see its new building. The building is directly north of the main entrance to the Fairgrounds with the County Highway Department to its west, Animal Control to its north, and Community Corrections to its east.

Entering the building at the main entrance, one finds two hallways, one going to the north and the other to the west. On the southeast corner of the building is the office of emergency management that is occupied by Karen Wilson.

To the north of this office is an office for an administrative assistant for EMS. At present there is no one in this position, but the position has been approved and either a search is on or will soon start.

The next room to the north is the office for the EMS director.

When we reach the end of the hallway we find a classroom.

All the rooms above are on the exterior wall. The four hallways surround an interior block that has two restrooms, storage closets, and I assume the utility room for a furnace and similar items.

Going back to the entrance, there is a hallway toward the west and at its end is a door to the area in which the vehicles are kept. Along this hallway are storage rooms.

One of the doors was open so I took a picture. I have no idea what is stored here.

Near the end of this hallway is a hallway that leads north. Along it are four small bedrooms. There are two people who staff the building around the clock, working 24-hour shifts. One is a paramedic and one an EMT. When they sleep depends on when the calls come in.

On the north side of the building is a large room that on one side has a couch and chairs and a large TV screen.

The other end of the room is a kitchen.

The west end of the building has three bays, each with doors on both ends. The Commissioners considered both two and three-bay designs and chose the three bays to provide for the possibility of expansion in the future. 

The Rensselaer location is one of four EMS locations in the County. There is an EMS center in Remington that is part of Jasper County EMS. There are two other EMS providers in the north of the County that are run by townships, the Keener Township EMS and the Wheatfield Township EMS. They may in the future join with the Jasper County EMS but that decision is with those townships. Both are given County funding to help them operate.

There were two vehicles in the bays during the open house, an ambulance and a chase vehicle. There is also a back-up ambulance that is usually here, but it was being repaired. The Southern or Remington station has one ambulance that was parked outside but I did not take a picture of it. I was surprised to see both of these vehicles plugged into an electrical cable. They have equipment such as refrigeration for some medical supplies that runs on electricity so I suspect that they are kept plugged into the electrical supply when they are in the bays.

Below is a look inside the ambulance.

I did not get a good picture of the bay area. It looks a lot like a smaller version of the bay area of the Fire Station. Along the east wall was a washing machine and a dryer. The tables were for the open house.

It is a very nice facility but I hope I do not need their services.

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The final City Council meeting of May was moved from a Monday to a Tuesday because of the Memorial Day holiday. In Citizens' Comments a lady told how a pit bull attacked her dog. It severely injured her dog and she has had $6000 in vet bills as a result. There had been multiple complaints about the dog and it has since been euthanized. She was bringing the incident to the Council's attention to see if the ordinances can be changed to make such attacks less common. The Mayor invited her to discuss the matter with him and the City Attorney to see what can be done.

There were four applicants for the school board position that the Council appoints and the Council interviewed the four in an executive session. Mr Watson nominated George Cover to the four-year position and his motion was approved on a 4 to 1 vote.

There were three ordinances introduced. The first was to establish a redevelopment non-reverting fund that would be a pot of money that the Redevelopment Commission would control instead of having its expenditures coming from the City's general fund. The second would do the same for the Plan Commission. Both of these were introduced at this meeting but will be voted on in the next meeting. The third was a change in zoning that had been recommended by the Plan Commission. It would change the zoning of some land west of I-65 from business to agriculture. The City plans to run water and sewer lines through this property in the future and the owners wanted the zoning change. It was approved.

The City had sought a grant from the Indiana Finance Authority and had been granted $50,000 to use to identify water service lines that are made of lead. The Council approved accepting the grant.

At their last meeting the County Commissioners approved an agreement with the City to extend water and sewer lines to the west side of I-65. The City Council approved the agreement at this meeting. It has an agreement with Commonwealth Engineering to do planning for the extension.

Sara DeYoung from the Jasper County Economic Development Organization said the Jasper County Tourism Commission would like to put a mural on the new water tower by I-65. Rensselaer and Jasper County have received attention for our murals and this placement of a mural would help advertise what we have. The Council members were in agreement that this would be a good idea but one suggested that the matter should not be approved until the public has a chance to give input, so the matter will be on the agenda for the next meeting. JCEDO has hired a new tourism director and a summer intern who will help with publicity.

Tony Baltes the Weston Cemetery Caretaker is resigning as of mid June and Mayor Phillips appointed Joe Effinger as interim Caretaker until a replacement is hired. 

During Superintendents' Reports there was a discussion of going to an elected school board and of putting a flag pole in front of City Hall. One of the tanker trucks of the Fire Department has some problems. 812 feet of the water line for the new training tower are finished and 196 feet are left to finish. Several feet of the sidewalk in front of City Hall have been removed and on Tuesday a company was lining the sewer under Harrison Street.

Odds & ends

 There was a large crowd for the Memorial Day Ceremony at Weston Cemetery on Monday morning.

Below is a picture of the assembled fountain at Filson Park. No water yet.

On Tuesday workers were cutting the sidewalk in front of City Hall. In the late afternoon when the City Council met, the sidewalk the right of the red line closest to the street had been removed. Notice the stone in the street. It covers plastic drain tile that connects the storm sewers along the street.

As the Council met on Tuesday evening, workers from Visu-Sewer of Illinois were installing a lining in the sewer on Harrison between Van Rensselaer and SR 114. You probably cannot see the steam that was coming from the pipe near the left side of the picture.