Some pictures to end the month

The days are getting shorter and last weeks heat has been replaced with more pleasant weather. September starts tomorrow.

Rein Bontreger recently finished the second wall of his mural in Iroquois Park.

 There is a new bench in Milroy Park, the Egan Bench. It is located at the south end and if you sit on the bench and look down Home Avenue, you can see a bit of the house where John Egan lived.

 The corn is ripening in the fields. I think the local farmers will have a decent harvest even though it has been a dry summer.

 The frames are up for the small solar farm east of the jail. It will provide electricity for the jail and should cut the jail's electric bill, which runs about $5000 a month.

 I am not sure what is happening to the building that was once a bottling plant and later a laundry at the corner of Cullen and Clark continues. Most of the original blocks are gone but the wooden framing seems to be new.

 On Friday the Volunteer Fire Department held it annual fish/chicken fry dinner. This year it was drive-through. Cars drove to the back of the station and entered one of two doors. Once inside, people paid and were handed their choice of three pre-packaged meals: all chicken, all fish, or a combo. They then drove out the front of the building. It was quick and easy, made possible by each of the bays in the building having both front and rear doors.

Several people have commented on the Facebook links to these posts about how disappointed they are in the chip and seal job done on US 231 north of John Deere Road. I took a closer look the last time I was out there and noticed that all the old cracks and faults were clearly visible.  They did not get filled in very well.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that YNG's newly open space in the College Mall also sells truck parts, something left over from the owner's previous business, a trucking company called "How About That", or HAT.

I see that Prairie's Edge is closing.

On Sunday the Weston Cemetery Walk had its first rehearsal. This year there will be two performances, with the first in the Hall Shelter at the south edge of Brookside Park. As in the past two years, there will be actors portraying eight people buried in Weston Cemetery. Judging from the rehearsal, it should be an entertaining and informative event. Tickets are now on sale at Jordans, Brown's Garden Shop, and The Willow Switch. When you buy a ticket, you must choose either the morning or afternoon performance—the tickets are not interchangeable. The morning performance will take place in the Hall Shelter and the afternoon performance will walk through the Cemetery. The date of the event is September 19.

 In the background you can see the office of Weston Cemetery, which recently got a new coat of paint.

Can you identify this flower? (Hint: it is not a native wildflower and you might find it in gardens.)

 If you drive on North College Avenue, you may have noticed the statue shown below at the corner of College and Front/Jackson. The house on this strangely shaped lot recently got a new owner.

August odds and ends

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening for its final August meeting. The Council approved minutes of its last meeting and also of a special Council meeting held at the end of July to discuss budget cuts. At that meeting the Council agreed to delay some road work to reduce the projected deficit and to give employees a 1% raise. (For more, see the minutes here.)

County Commissioner Kendell Culp asked the Council to waive the building permit fees for the remodeling of the former Youth Center on Sparling Avenue. The County Health Department will move there once remodeling is finished. The Council approved the waiving of fees. It also approved the closing of Van Renselaer Street in front of City Hall for Oktober Fest scheduled for September 26. There were requests for transfers of funds for three departments that were approved.

The Council then discussed and approved a contract with a firm to sell equipment in the power plant. Rensselaer is no longer providing power to IMPA and therefore has no need for the generating equipment. The contract has a three year term and if equipment is sold, the firm will take a 20% commission, which is low for this type of sale of highly specialized equipment.

The Fire Chief asked the Council to allow him to secure financing for and purchase a new aerial truck. The projected cost is $1.476 million before discounts and that cost will rise if the order is placed after September 30. The current truck operates but leaks hydraulic fluid, so is unreliable and may not be repairable.

MainStreet Rensselaer requested $200 for a sponsorship for Oktober Fest, which was approved, as was a request for flowers for an employee's son. City Attorney Ahler said that IMPA was not open to changing the termination notice because of financing considerations. On the recommendation of the City's Project Manager, clean-up week, which had been postponed from May, was canceled for this year. Largely as a result of the recent storm, 100 truck loads of bush and branches were removed from the City. Work on US 231 may finish this week. And the Fire Department's annual fish fry will take place on Friday from 4:00 to 8:00. It will be carry-out only and the cost is $10 per person.

Oktober Fest is not the only event on the September Calendar. A week earlier, on September 19, the third annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery is scheduled. There will be changes this year. There will be no golf carts for those who are mobility challenged. Instead there will be a morning performance at 11:00 in the Hall Shelter in Brookside Park. Seating is limited because of the need to space out chairs. The afternoon performance will have the same format as in previous years, with groups circulating through the eight stations in the western part of Weston Cemetery. Tickets cost $10 ($5 for children) and are available at Browns, Jordans, and Willow Switch. The afternoon performance also has fixed number of spaces available. More information is available here, including a preliminary program.

I noticed that the paper was no longer in the windows at the former Sears store in the College Mall so I stopped in. YNG (You'll Never Guess) has added it as a second location because they are growing too big for their quarters behind Jordans Floral. On the right you can see some of their upside down printers (video in this post). The video may explain why they invented this, but I did not remember so I asked. The advantage is that when a job is done, gravity can be used to drop the finished item off the plate and then another item can be printed. The printers, once programmed, require minimum human intervention and can run around the clock.

YNG is starting to make its own filament used for printing. You can see three rolls of their filament on the table. Behind are two very large boxes of plastic beads, the raw material for making the filament. They are taking a step out of their supply chain. Most 3-D printer filament is made in China.

The Manpower office in Rensselaer is closed and has been for some time. The Party Time business of renting party equipment is for sale. The new storage building on Melville is scheduled for completion on October 1. It has ten spaces, each 16' wide, 16' tall, and 48' deep. Several are already rented.

The Prairie Arts Council will return to exhibiting in the Fendig Gallery in September with a new show.

On Wednesday afternoon Reith and Riley were paving in downtown Rensselaer.

The Francesville Catholic church, St Francis Solano, has shut its doors as part of the diocesan reorganization of parishes. Some of the parishioners will be joining St. Augustine in Rensselaer.

Budget time

The north parking lot at the high school has been paved but not yet painted.

As I stopped by the asphalt roller was being loaded onto the truck trailer.

Work continues on US 231. The picture below was taken on Tuesday near the roller rink.

There are now a couple of structures in what will be a fireman training facility behind Dollar General.

Speaking of Dollar General, Goodland is excited that it will soon get a Dollar General Store. Apparently some of them carry more food than others and the one planned for Goodland will be the more-food type. Goodland is presently a food desert.

On Tuesday evening the Jasper County Council met at the former youth center on Sparling Avenue for its first budget hearing. Before the budget hearings began, it dealt with a few other other items including several additional appropriations. The County Clerk wanted permission to pursue a grant opportunity for a new microfilm reader/printer and it was granted. Animal Control wanted an additional appropriation to pay salaries. This discussion took quite a while because the Council seemed to think that too much money is being spent taking care of stray animals and they pressed the head of Animal Control to find ways to cut costs, perhaps by reducing hours. They granted him $10,000 at this meeting and will consider an additional appropriation at the a future meeting.

Judge Potter was given an additional $12,600 so he can hire another Court Reporter before a current one retires. The reason for the overlap is to allow training. Emergency management was given additional appropriations to pay for training that will be reimbursed. The rule is that payment has to be made and documented before the reimbursement, so the funds will go back into the general fund.

There was a very brief discussion of technology for the Commissioners Room in the Court House with the suggestion that it might be better to equip the conference room in the former youth center (where this meeting was being held) as it was a better meeting place than the small Commissioners Room.

The evening concluded with budget presentations from the Coroner's Office, Judge Bailey, and the Sheriff. In all the presentations the Council members have a printed budget and discussion often centers on the numbers on those printed pages, so the discussion can be hard to follow for a member of the audience.

The Coroner has had 11 more cases this year than at the same time last year. His request had increases where costs had gone up. Judge Bailey anticipates more jury trials in the future; some were delayed because of the virus. He discussed the need for interpreters. He has had to hire Polish and an interpreter for the deaf in addition to the usual Spanish interpreters.

Sheriff Williamson is in charge of seven budgets that total about $6 million. He would like to purchase four new vehicles next year, up from two this year. He and the deputies have 25 vehicles, ten of which have more than 100,000 miles on them. They range from model years 2012 to 2020. The jail census on Tuesday was 63, up from the 40s when much of government was locked down. With jail bonds going back to normal levels, he expects the population to return to the 80s.

On Wednesday the budget hearings resumed and I attended via Zoom, paying partial attention as I did some other things. Most of departments of county government presented and some were very short. Some of the departments asked for no wage raises and others asked for ten percent, and some were in between. One of the departments explained that ten percent was usually thrown in with no expectation it would be granted. The wage increase seems to be one of the last things the Council decides, when it figures out how much money is available.

The Health Department has a new head and Community Corrections will get a new head next year when the current head retires. The prosecutor mentioned that there is one murder trial starting and three more pending. The Commissioners suggested that the per-meeting stipend for those serving on the various board and commissions be raised from $40 to $50. Judge Potter also mentioned the cost of interpreters and said that a reason that Jasper County needs so many is that it has the Interstate running through it. He mentioned interpreters for Mandarin Chinese and Somali, as well as an interpreter for a person who lost hearing and does not know sign language. This interpreter types everything the judge says so the defendant can read it. Interpreters can cost up to $500 per hour.

Economic Development mentioned that there are two big projects on the horizon. One seems to be the solar farm in the north east part of the County which is having problems finding a buyer for its output. The other should be revealed if it starts trying to get the many permits needed before building can begin.

Has anyone else been getting spam calls saying they are from Social Security and my number has been used for illegal activity on the southwest border? I am also getting a lot of calls that hang up immediately when I pick up.

One more for the alley

I noticed something new in aerial shots that Discover Jasper County posted on Facebook so I took a closer look. There is a new mural on the eMbers building.

Moosy is the signature of Trent Musch. I will have to update my Art Walk pages.

On Monday work continued on US 231 as the side street approaches to the highway were paved.

The Webster Street crossing of the railroad is closed. The railroad is doing something with the switch tracks.

Work continues on a new house in Blacker Village. It is sponsored by the Fuller Center for Housing.

A bit to the north the new storage building now has a back wall but still no roof (at least when the picture was taken last week).

Several churches are changing or have recently changed pastors. Included are the United Methodists, First Presbyterians, the Bridge, and Saint Augustine. The change at Saint Augustine marks the end of an era. Since 1888 priests from the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the order that sponsored Saint Joseph's College, have served the parish. No longer. The new pastor is a diocesan priest. Moreover, he will not just be the pastor of Saint Augustine's but also the Catholic parishes in Remington and Goodland. Until this spring the parishioners of Saint Augustine have had the luxury of three Masses on the weekends. Now they will have only one, on Sunday. The new pastor is currently living in the rectory in Remington's Sacred Heart parish.

On Monday afternoon the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission resumed its meeting from the previous Monday. Last week they had concerns and questions about the contract with the engineering firm that was needed for a grant application. These questions were answered. The City will own the work of the engineering firm when it is finished but not when it is only partially finished. The amounts listed in the contract as payments for engineering services are caps. With those issues resolved, the Commission approved signing the contract and KIRPC will submit the grant proposal. If approved, it will help fund stage one of downtown redevelopment, which will include re-bricking the two blocks of brick streets by the Court House.

On Monday evening both the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met via Zoom. The case in front of the BZA consisted of a special exception for a cell tower and two variances for the tower, one for height and the other for type. The proposed tower will be constructed on a forty acre track on the southwest corner of the SR 110 and US 231 intersection in Walker Township. The tower and its support structure will occupy only a 100-foot by 100-foot area. The tower will be 285 feet tall with and extra five feet for a lightning rod. Verizon will occupy the top slot for its calls and will lease three co-locations to other cell carriers. Cell phone towers are tightly regulated by the FCC and the FAA and the FAA will require warning lights on the tower. The advantage of the tower is that it will increase capacity and coverage in the area. The special exception passed as well as the two variances. The tower will be a lattice tower and will not have guy wires. (See here for types of towers.)

The Plan Commission had a rezone request from Milroy Township. The property is currently A1 and the request was A2. The property in question is weirdly shaped with a lot of acreage but a small frontage and I think the rezone was needed to allow a dwelling to built on it. It passed and will move on to the Commissioners.

Postponed meetings

On Wednesday US 231 from the Iroquois River to McKinley was being milled and paved.

The paving operation had a huge machine between the trucks bringing the asphalt and the paver. I was told that it helps in keeping the road level. It is very heavy and it revealed a soft spot at the Van Rensselaer corner. On Thursday a City crew had dug out the spot, refilled it, and topped it with a concrete slab.

The milling exposed an older Washington Street, one that was paved with bricks. The bricks are still there, but under a few inches of asphalt.

While I was admiring the bricks, the staff of the Jasper County Economic Development Organization came by and invited me to see their new offices, which they are now using. They are in the second floor of what used to be the Roth Building, built in 1909. In the front is a room that will be used as a conference room. It has an advertising sign on a wall. The wall was the outside wall of the adjacent building which was built in about 1895. I suspect that this was once the store of Jay Williams. More on him here and here.

Behind the conference room is a large, open work space that is not completely finished. The black box is the restroom. There will be a small kitchenette next to it. The office still does not have its furniture and is using folding tables to hold computers.

Most of the light is comes from two skylights. There were skylights in the building originally, but they had been covered. The remodel restored them. During the day no electrical lights are needed.

At the back end of the building is the small office for the head of JCEDO. The building can be entered from a hallway that is actually in the Horton Building and runs from the front to the back. There are two ways to reach the hallway, from a front door and up steps, or up steps in the back of the building.

On Wednesday and Thursday truckloads of stone were being spread on the north parking lot at the high school.

Below is the quickly changing solar farm east of the jail. I do not know if I can get to a spot where I can get a better picture.

The car wash behind McDonalds is closed for renovation.

On Thursday afternoon two City meetings that had been postponed because of Monday's power outages convened. The Board of Public Works had a very short meeting that approved an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering for work on the sewer project. The planning is 60% completed and the project may be ready to start early next year.

At the City Council meeting Alice Smith announced that the Safe Halloween event has been canceled for 2020. It was to be held at the Fairgrounds. She expects the event to be back next year.

The gas tracker for August is a ten cent decrease per hundred cubic feet. The Council passed a resolution that Council meetings would start at 6:00 in the evening. The resolution puts the City in compliance with State law. Three transfers of funds, ranging from $50 to $15,000 were approved. An employee in the Clerks office received recognition and a clock for 20 years of service. The photo in the paper should be amusing as the presenter and presentee were both masked.

The IMPA contract extension that had been mentioned at a previous meeting was back on the agenda. It would extend the agreement to purchase power from IMPA for eight more years, from 2042 to 2050. No one had a problem with that, but they did question the clause in the contract of a 30-year notice to terminate. This seems to mean that if the City would do no more extensions, they would not be able to terminate in 2050 but would have to wait until 2080. The Mayor explained that IMPA wants these long contracts because it locks in customers and gives it lower bond rates. The State regulators are pushing renewables and do not even like gas generation. The Council told Mr Ahler to see if he can negotiate a shorter notice of termination.

The request to close a street for OktoberFest was tabled because there no one from MainStreet attended the meeting. OktoberFest is scheduled for September 26.

The Governors order to stop utility disconnects expires on the 14th and the City will begin to start shutting off people who do not pay on Monday. The Utility Office Manager asked the Council if she should start applying penalties for late payment. The Council had waived penalties when the lockdown started. Mr Cover moved and the Council passed a resolution to keep penalties waived until October 1.

The Fire Chief announced that the aerial truck is again having problems and it should not be used except in emergencies. The model is no longer manufactured and parts are difficult to find. The City is considering the purchase of a new truck that will cost in the neighborhood of $1.2 million.

Earlier this year the Council approved the removal of only one half of the trees on the tree-removal list. As a final bit of business, the Council approved removing the remaining 38 trees on the list for $29,350.

Another meeting that was postponed on Monday was the Jasper County Library Board meeting. I rarely go to this meeting because it meets at the same time the City Council meets, but on Thursday the Council met earlier.

The Library is working on a redesign of its webpage. The biggest change will be that it will prioritize the design for mobile devices. The Board voted to advertise its 2021 budget, which will go on the State Gateway site. There will be a hearing on the budget at the September meeting and it will be adopted at the October meeting.

The Board approved a document called "Declaration of Fiscal Body" that State law now requires. The document names the Jasper County Council as the body that will have to take action if some kinds of fiscal events happen. There was an update on the DeMotte parking lot project. At a future meeting the Board will decide whether to go ahead on the project or not. The Director reported ways in which the Library is trying to work with school now that large groups of students cannot come to the Library. She announced that the Library had received a grant for just under $1000 to purchase material dealing with racial and equality topics.

On Friday morning JCEDO's Community Roundtable Zoomed to a small audience. JCEDO and the Jasper-Newton Foundation will be starting a podcast exploring interesting aspects of the County. The first one will drop on September 1 and will highlight arts and the Rensselaer Art Walk.

There were three groups presenting at the roundtable. Phil's Friends distributes care packages and mails cards to cancer patients. The spokeswoman emphasized that this was a cause that provided volunteer opportunities. Next the Northwest Indiana Meals on Wheels explained what it is doing. In Jasper County it currently serves Rensselaer and hopes to expand to DeMotte and Remington. COVID precautions have taken away some of the face-to-face interactions that are important. Finally Crossroads Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) gave an update. They serve Jasper, Newton, and Benton Counties. They are not a non-profit but operate as a government entity. However, they use volunteers to advocate for children who are classified as abused or neglected. They serve 142 kids and have the need for more volunteers.

Curtis Craig, RCSC superintendent, reported that the first day of school went well. Only two children in the Primary School came to school without a mask. About 200 students or about 12% of the student body have chosen the on-line option for education. State Senator Charbonneau was in the meeting and said that he finds these meetings very useful. The next roundtable will be on September 11.