Mostly about wind farms (Updated)

For years I have found long metal rods on city streets. I had no idea of what they were until I asked my son and for some reason he knew. Have you ever seen these rods on the streets and do you know what thy are? (If no one gives a correct answer in the comments, I will eventually update the post with the answer.)

After the City Council meeting on Monday night, the Jasper County BZA and Planning Commission met. The most interesting bit from these meetings was from the Planning Commission meeting, which was updating the section of Unified Development Ordinance for wind farms. They took out some height restrictions because apparently they are obsolete and replaced them with language that says the turbines must meet FAA height regulations. They also changed some distances in the ordinance from specific numbers to distances based on the height of the turbines, so higher turbines must be further from other structures than shorter turbines. The changes make Jasper County's rules more like those of Benton and White Counties.

Being zoned for wind farms does not change the underlying zoning--it must be A1 or A2. The wind farm zoning is then put on top of that. What was most interesting about the discussion was that representatives of two wind farm companies attended the meeting and were happy to answer questions. They said that Jasper County has good wind and that the various adverse impacts are best treated with proper siting. The leases that they sign with farmers run for 25 years. About one to one and a half acres of farm land are taken out of production for each tower. There were concerns about drainage tiles and damage to roads, and these are covered in the leases and the permits needed to construct a wind farm. If a tower is demolished, the company will remove the pad to four feet below the surface. There are 400 to 500 cubic yards of concrete for each turbine.

Developing a wind farm is a lengthy process that takes years. One of the company representatives said that he has been working on a wind farm in North Dakota for eleven years and it is still not under construction. Other than the regulatory hurdles, the hardest part is getting enough leases signed. Small wind farms have problems marketing their power that larger wind farms do not have and the fixed costs of transmission lines are spread over fewer turbines. If wind farms come to Jasper County, they will not be built for several years.

The Planning Commission moved to send the changes to the Commissioners, who will have the item on their December agenda.

The other meeting was the BZA meeting. Taking up an hour of time was discussion of a sand-mining proposal on a property adjacent to Jasper-Pulaski Preserve. The gentleman making the request would like to dig two ponds and to do so wants to be able to sell the sand to contractors as they need it. DNR and Nature Conservancy have land to the north and east and have no problems with this proposal, but property owners to the west and south had concerns about what it would to to the water levels and whether it would attract geese that might injure crops. The BZA eventually tabled the item until their December 20th meeting (held on a Wednesday, not a Monday).

The other agenda item was for a set-back variance. A gentleman wanted to sell a house and found that because of mistakes in the past, the house had been built seven feet too close to the property line. For some reason the mortgage company of a potential buyer would not issue a mortgage because of the violation. The BZA granted the variance.

Update: The second commenter knew what they were, but did not explain the source for those who do not know that these bits of metal are street sweeper bristles. The brushes used on the City street sweepers have metal bristles that sometimes break off. If you do an Internet search for metal street sweeper bristles, you will find that the most commonly mentioned use of them is to make lock-picking tools.

Rensselaer recently bought a new street sweeper and I have found some plastic bristles recently. I asked about that and was told that one of the brushes on the new sweeper has plastic bristles, but the side brushes still have metal teeth.

And if you doubt my word, here is the question asked and answered in the Chicago Tribune.

Final auction, new police chief, and a few other tidbits

Last Friday and Saturday SJC had the final sale of furnishings that they were getting rid of.  On Friday two auctioneers sold simultaneously and on Saturday only one was needed.

 I was enjoying the holiday so I missed the sale. I did stop in shortly after the end and people were hauling out their purchases. Talking to one buyer, I found that the final sale was for all the stuff that had not been sold. (Sometimes no one will bid on a lot.) The remainders, and I assume there were quite a few, sold for $10. So everything sold.

On Monday evening the Rensselaer City Council met. The big item on the agenda was the announcement of the new chief of police. Jeff Phillips is retiring at the end of the year, hence a new chief is needed. After interviews, the Mayor and Chief Phillips selected Matthew Anderson, whose current rank is Lieutenant and who has been with the department for 19 years. He will assume office on January 1, 2018. The Rensselaer Republican has a full report and there are some other pictures here.

In other business, the Council accepted a recommendation to grant the construction contract for well #8 and the connection of the well to the water treatment plant to LGS, which had the low bid of $1,016,360. Supply bids for unleaded gas and diesel were awarded to Ceres Solution and for tires to Wonderland Tires, formerly known as Cooper Tires. The Council approved the purchase of a new forklift for about $25K by the gas department. The old one has little value and will not start. The Council waived the building permit for the new police station (the old fire house). Some demolition may start soon on the site.  The Watt substation on Bunkum Road still has some minor things that have to be done but it is scheduled to go into service during the week of December 18.

The entire meeting lasted about half an hour.

Have a nice Thanksgiving

The Christmas decorations were going up in downtown Rensselaer on Monday.

Some light poles got wreaths and others banners.

On Tuesday evening the Jasper County Historical Society meeting discussed old county schools. At one time there were dozens of one-room schools scattered throughout the county, and then gradually they were consolidated. A display of things from the Fair Oaks School was striking. It closed in the 1960s.

I only stayed for the beginning of the meeting and then left to go to the County Council meeting. The most interesting thing on the agenda was a presentation from Indian Trails Career Cooperative. I had never heard of this organization. It is headquartered in Monticello and serves ten area school corporations, supporting their career and technical education programs. The schools it aids are in White, Jasper, Carroll, Newton, and Pulaski Counties. The presentation was to inform the Council that Indian Trails wanted to apply for a grant that would have a three-to-one match, that is, for every dollar raised locally, the State would provide three dollars. The head of Indian Trails was approaching the five counties asking for $100,000 from each as seed money, which would provide a grant of $1,500,000. He had talked to area employers about what skills seemed most important in the area and had decided to focus on health care and welding. He noted that though no community had a great deal of manufacturing, the total in the five counties was substantial. In addition, many area businesses have large numbers of baby boomers who will be retiring in the next ten or fifteen years and it is unclear who will replace them. As a result, he said, the idea of offering internships to high school students has become something that they would entertain.

The Councilmen for the north part of the county seemed unimpressed because the KV school system is not in the Indian Trails network, having allied with schools from Lake and Porter. One Council member suggested that it was not just technical skill that was lacking but work ethic--the understanding that showing up was necessary.

The presentation will be repeated for the County Commissioners on Dec 4 and their decision will probably decide whether Jasper County agrees to cooperate.

In other business, the members of the Council personally donated $650 to the Vietnam Wall display that will be coming to Brookside Park next year. They approved an additional appropriation of $5000 to pay for part-time help with Court House security--a variety of things like additional jury trials, security needs at SJC and festivals had used the money in the budget. He also commented that increased health insurance costs will cut the real pay of his employees and may cause some to seek other opportunities.

A discussion of an additional appropriation for legal research made by the Court led to a discussion of the status of the current vacancy in one court. Apparently interviews were conducted in August but the decision of whom to appoint, which will be made in Indianapolis with little or no local input, has still not been made.

The last item on the agenda was an addition to the payment to the building inspector. She has been doing more inspections than anticipated. Apparently house construction is booming in the northern part of the county.

In a related item, I got this letter in an e-mail that Jasper County Airport sent out on Tuesday: "All 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th graders at Jasper, White, Pulaski, Newton, and Carroll counties will take a survey to gauge interest in entering an aviation program through school. If enough interest exists, Jasper County Airport will work with Indian Trails Vocational Cooperative to bring aviation management, maintenance, and flight programs to local high schools within those counties for the 2018-19 school year."

It is open

On Friday the Washington Street bridge opened after a ribbon cutting ceremony. The Rensselaer Republican has the names of the people in the picture.

 A few minutes after the ribbon cutting a truck arrived to pick up the road-closed signs.

 When the County Commissioners allowed the construction company to use the lot next to the post office for equipment staging, they asked the company to tear up the concrete pad when they were finished. The demolition of the pad has begun.

In other construction news, the Salyer apartments on Elza Street are now being rented. Sayler rentals posted video guided tours of a unit that can be found on its facebook page. In Newton County work has begun on water and sewer infrastructure for the Fair Oaks Farms. There was a ceremonial groundbreaking earlier this week. See here and here.

The Fendig Gallery of the Carnegie Center has a new exhibit of two Lafayette watercolorists. The picture below is titled "Connected or Disconnected?".

The one below it called "Small Egrets."

The show runs through December 29.

In addition to the bids mentioned in the last post, the City Council meeting on Monday took up a wide variety of items. It approved a proposal to issue to police officers their duty weapons after serving twenty years. It made some changes in funding sources to pay elected officials; the state auditors did not like the current practice. There was a small decrease in the gas tracker. Discussion of the future of the INDOT property on Maple Street is ongoing. The State wants to sell the property to the City for its assessed valuation. The City is concerned about future pollution issues because the property once had gas tanks that leaked. To insure against any damages would cost $5000 per year.

The Council approved the Cemetery's request to trade in a mower and purchase a new one. The City will have the Christmas holiday on Tuesday after Christmas rather than Friday before. The second December Council meeting will be Wednesday, Dec 27 at 6:00. The City granted $250 to the American Legion for its annual Thanksgiving Dinner that is open to all. The City Attorney noted that opioid litigation that the Council had agreed to join could possibly cost the City. If the settlement were in services or goods, the law firm bringing the case would want compensation based on the value of those goods and services. Finally, the utility office noted that its insertion machine used to send out bills has never functioned well and wanted a committee to explore options.

News from SJC, the bridge, and City Council

Saint Joseph's College is back in the news. The Board of Trustees is being reorganized, with all the lay members quitting and three new lay members being added. Also, an entity called Fulcrum Strategic Group said that it offered the College $27 million for the campus and never got a serious response. See more here, here, and here.

The Washington Street bridge is scheduled to open Friday or perhaps Thursday. On Monday the approaches were paved and most of the railing was put into place. Here is the not-completed east side as of Monday afternoon.

 The west side was finished. It does not have the look that I expected it to have.

I asked one of the workers what still had to be done. He said that the roadway had to be sealed and the traffic lines painted.

The City Council met on Monday evening and much of the agenda was about bids. At the previous meeting bids had been opened for the street program and for a new street sweeper and those bids were given to a committee for a recommendation. The committee recommended accepting the paving bid from Walsh and Kelley for $862,196.23 even though it was about $300 above the low bid. The company did the work on Grace Street earlier this year and the City was very satisfied with their work. Two of the bids for the street sweeper did not meet all the specifications. The committee recommended and the Council accepted a bid from Brown Equipment for $195K.

Then bids were opened for connecting Well #8 (on Sparling Avenue) to the treatment plant. There were four bids ranging from $1,016,363 to $1,438,733.60. They will be evaluated by a committee and a recommendation given at the next meeting. The Electric Utility had two bids for a new bucket truck and their recommendation was to go with the one costing $213,771. The truck will not go into service until next year and financing and how to sell the existing truck are still not determined. (Tree removal companies purchase many of these used trucks.)

Finally supply bids for gasoline, diesel, and tires were opened. One of the bids no one understood. They will be evaluated and a recommendation made at the next meeting.