A visit to Meadow Springs

The Meadow Springs event center recently opened at the intersection of SR 114 and US 421 (just south of Francesville). Every time I have passed by I have wondered what it looks like inside and this week I was able to see when CDC Resources held its annual dinner there.

The main hall has 8000 square feet of space. It can seat 500 people for a dinner.

One of the people at the dinner said that the opening had been delayed because the facility was required to have a sprinkler system and it had to be added after the building was completed.

The center has a smaller room called the Celebration Room that will hold about 120 people for a meal. It is carpeted, while the main room has a concrete floor. The website says that this room can be used as a bad-weather backup for events that are planned outdoors.

The floor plan can be seen here. It is a nice facility and it also has a bread and breakfast on the site in the form of an old house. It does, however, seem a bit strange to locate it in the middle of nowhere.

Back in Rensselaer, the soybeans have been harvested and preliminary work has begun on the new Sayler Apartments that will be located at the north end of Elza Street. This project was mentioned at the Drainage Board meeting in September. Ultimately there may be four ten-unit apartment buildings on the site.

Addendum: LNG is now selling their 3-D printers. See their announcement on Kickstarter.

City Council 10-24-2016

The City Council had an uneventful meeting on Monday night. It approved the transfer of some funds and ratified a poll taken on October 12 to approve the payment of $493 of closing costs for the Staddon Field property.  It approved the purchase of a lawn mower for the cemetery at a cost of $10,712 and the purchase of a 2016 car for the police department to replace a 2007 car. The net cost of the car after tradein is $23007. In examining the bid, it was noted that there was an extra charge for vinyl back seats—the Police Chief noted that they were easier to clean. The Council gave approval to the City Attorney to negotiate the purchase of a property on Clark that is an insert in Brookside Park. If purchased, the house would be demolished.

There was a discussion of replacing the electric utility manager, who is leaving at the end of the week. The Council approved a salary range for the search. The electric utility is the City’s largest utility with annual revenues of about $11.5 million.

The rest of the meeting was occupied with various reports. The City linemen have cut down 16 trees in Weston Cemetery and are not finished. There will be a celebration/ribbon cutting for the Solar Park on November 1 at 1:15. RSVPs are requested to get a headcount. Several classes of students are expected to attend. The City is looking for land for another solar park. The utility office is gradually making the switch to their new software. The fire department’s rating was improved in its latest evaluation and this should result in lower insurance rates for those living in places like Kelley Green and Curtis Creek. About 60%-65% of street paving is finished. (I keep seeing new paving on streets but have not yet run into the paving crew.) The Redevelopment Committee met earlier in the day and approved letting bids for paving the rest of Drexel Drive and part of Melville. There was an announcement that there will be a ribbon cutting today (Tuesday) at 5:15 for the transfer of Staddon Field but I cannot find anything about the announcement online.

The Chipper is back at work on Matheson Street turning branches into mulch.

Below is what the construction of the new hangar looked like on Sunday.

Tuesday morning more tree removal resumed at Weston Cemetery.

One of the stumps will become another bench.

A mystery solved: The big doors on the building for the high rate treatment plant are there so big chemical tanks can be installed. One arrived Tuesday morning.

The electrical equipment noted a few days ago is now behind the building. It apparently will not be inside the building.

There is a health fair at SJC on Thursday sponsored by SJC and Franciscan Health. I cannot find a link online. It will run from 10:00 am to 2. (I am not impressed with how Franciscan Health publicizes local events.)

The construction on North Melville is by CAC Warehousing. More info is here.

Lend Me A Tenor

Tonight and Saturday night are the two final performances of Lend Me A Tenor by the Columbian Players of Saint Joseph's College.


The play is a comedy that plays with the theme of mistaken identities.

School Board and County Council

On Tuesday the Rensselaer School Board held an early meeting so some members could attend the County Council meeting. There was a presentation on the preschool program that began several years ago. It has gradually grown and now has three classes. There is a fee of $60 per week with a reduced fee for those who qualify for free lunches. There will be more expansion in the future if the state provides funding. I get the impression that the demand for this comes largely from working mothers.

To comply with Indiana law the meeting had a public hearing on the contract for the new superintendent, Mr Craig, who will soon be taking over. There were no comments.

In reviewing some financing challenges caused largely by red tape, the superintendent noted that over the past decade the enrollment has declined by about 200 students though this year it is up by 16. Further, the smallest grades are the lowest grades. Grades one and three have only 100 students, so as that cohort moves through the system, the middle and high school will see drops in their enrollment. The assessed valuation had risen by about 25% from 2010 to 2015 as a result of rising farm land values but has stabilized this past year as rising business and home values offset a decline in the value of farm land.

Two hours later the County Council met for their monthly meeting. They approved budgets of the Airport Authority, The Iroquois Conservancy District, the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District, and the Rensselaer Central School Corporations. There was brief discussion of the school corporation, with a note from the superintendent that Rensselaer imports 47 students from outside the district and exports 18. He also noted that there was a teacher shortage, which an economist might note is a feature of licensing, not a bug.

Additional appropriations were made for the Sheriff and the Surveyor and some small transfers were approved. The Council also approved a property purchase agreement for the strip of land on the west side of the Fairgrounds that the Fairgrounds has leased for many years and used for parking.

Mention was made of the RCHS Soil Judging Team that won a state competition in the past week and will be going on to a national competition.

I finally got out of Rensselaer and snapped a picture of the grain pile at Pleasant Ridge. With many fields still to be harvested, it should be an awesome pile in a couple more weeks.

Also, the old elm across from the Post Office is now gone and also the ash tree that was behind it. The demise of the elm came from efforts to help it. Sometimes in life when we try to make things better, we actually make them worse. It is something to be aware of. Good intentions do not necessarily result in good results, something that economists study all the time.

Parks and trees

On Monday evening the Park Board had a short meeting at an unusually late time of the month. (They usually meet on the first Monday.) A couple Boy Scouts attended; they were working on a merit badge and needed to attend a government meeting.

They heard a discussion of youth soccer. The Park Board is committed to having its own soccer program next year. They have been unhappy with the relationship and lack of communication that they have had with the SJC soccer league. The traveling squad, which has been playing games at Brookside Park, may remain as it is, but the youth soccer that plays at Staddon Field will not be welcomed back next year. There is a possibility of some confusion if there is not a friendly merger.

On Friday the Staddon Field property was finally transferred to the City of Rensselaer. I believe it was two years ago that the Jasper Foundation pledged the money to purchase the land from the school district. It has taken a long time for the transaction to be completed. I am sure there is an interesting story somewhere in there.

The board approved purchasing some additional picnic table frames. If you were at OktoberFest, you might have noticed some new tables with metal frames. They were purchased in the past year and they are much easier to move around than the wooden tables, some of which are falling apart. The park will purchase a few more. The tables in the shelters that are made from recycled plastic are extremely heavy and very difficult to move from event to event.

The very old and very big elm tree across from the Post Office came down today. The tree in the background is an ash tree, so it probably does not have many years left.

The picture above was taken this morning and the picture below this afternoon.

Trees are also being cut down in Weston Cemetery. Almost all of the trees in the western section are ash trees, and they will all eventually be removed.

The Beaver Law building has gotten a final coat that restores its former look.

Stopping by construction on Lincoln, I saw some large electrical equipment being unloaded. 

Finally, the repaving process has begun with milling the streets. You might notice that there are streets with signs telling people not to park and that a lot of sidewalks have been fixed as they meet the street. It is all part of the street repaving project.