Lots of good info

Park news

The first tournament at the Blacker fields was held this past weekend. The teams lucked out with some good weather. There was rain, but it was overnight on late Saturday and the fields were OK for Sunday. There were 30 teams participating.

New this year was an admission charge. Rensselaer had been the only venue used by the organizers of these tournaments that did not charge an admission fee.

There will be more tournaments for the next two or three weekends.

At the Park Board meeting on Monday evening, Mr Effinger explained that without the admission fee the teams had to pay a higher entrance fee, and that deterred some teams from coming to Rensselaer to play. There was concern that locals might complain about the fee if they only wanted to stop by and watch a game or a partial game and the fee might depress concession sales (which is where the Parks make money--the fees to use the fields cover the cost of preparing the fields). But with more teams coming for each tournament, the extra number of parents and players should more than offset the lost sales to those who are deterred by the entrance fee.

The Park Board also approved buying a sprinkler for the ball fields. Brianne Hooker from the Jasper-Newton Foundation said that she had donors who want to replace some of the playground equipment at Foundation Park and the Board encouraged her to support these efforts. The Board reviewed the accountant's report that showed that the Parks have operated in the black for the past four years. Softball should be getting started soon. Younger people seem to be uninterested in the sport. Pickleball has become popular at the new tennis courts.

Last week Brookside Park hosted a large group of students from the Kankakee Valley School system.

When I took the photo above I wondered what the purpose of the fencing was. I figured it out on Saturday when I stopped by to look at the baseball games.

Commissioners meeting

Near the beginning of the Commissioners meeting on Monday morning, Mr Bontreger mentioned the proposed carbon sequestration project. BP is apparently planning a test well to explore the rocks that lie beneath us. Newton County did not have the seismic testing that was done in Jasper County not because of something that their County government did but because there was data from the testing done before the landfill was put in and it apparently showed that the rock structures were too thin for significant CO2 storage. The Commissioners continue talking with BP and think that respectful dialogue is best at this point. All three commissioners oppose the project.

The meeting then proceeded with routine business. Two buried cable permits were approved for Carpenter Township and Remington,. The Commissioners approved lease contracts for postage machines for the Courthouse, Sheriff's Department, and the annex. New employee hours in the Health Department were approved as well as two new vehicles financed from a fund that the State wants the Department to spend down. A request from EMS to hire a full-time administrative assistant was approved. The Director is part-time (he has a full-time job in Valparaiso) and the salary for the Director is budgeted for a full-time director. Most of the money for the administrative assistant will come from unused funds for the director. The new EMS building will have an open house on May 23 from 4:00 until 6:00.

The Commissioners approved some conference requests and a vacation-extension request. The Sheriff received permission to replace two jailers and an officer who is leaving the Department after 20 years to work at Purdue. The leak in the jail roof was found under one of the condensers. There was a discussion of whether it would be better to put the air-conditioning equipment on the ground rather than have it on the roof and the Sheriff was told to proceed with planning for that change. The Commissioners approved a new application for a COPS grant. Last year the application was not funded because other departments were judged to have greater need for the funding. The Corrections Department received permission to replace a correctional officer. 

Two bids for outside contractor services were opened and both accepted. They allow the Highway Department to outsource work when the Department cannot perform it. The Commissioners accepted a bid of $2000 from Rensselaer Monuments to repair damage done by vandals in Makeever Cemetery. The County wants to transfer ownership to Newton Township and paperwork needs to be finished. The Commissioners also accepted proposals from Reliable Exterminators to service Corrections, EMS, and Animal Control.

In other business, it was noted that DeMotte is considering a speed limit for its buffer zone. The County Attorney said that they do not have the authority to do that, but they can make a request to the Commissioners. The Commissioners approved purchase of updated GPS equipment for the Surveyor's Office that will automate updating records. 

Changes to the Solar Ordinance will be discussed in the May Plan Commission meeting. Among the many changes will be the elimination of the requirement to plant trees or bushes for screening. Instead the setbacks will be increased and the land in the setback will be used for crops. There is currently no provision for battery storage facilities; the changes add some.

At a previous meeting the County Coroner expressed concerns about the speed limits on SR-10 as it approaches and goes through Wheatfield He said the State had been unresponsive to his request and Wheatfield's request for change and wanted the Commissioners to add their support for changes. He also gave the Commissioners updated and improved plans for a new building he would like built to house the mortuary. EMA Director Karen Wilson wanted a vehicle for EMA and the Commissioners approved transferring one from the Sheriff;s Department.

A number of citizens sat through a couple of hours of the meeting waiting to make public comments and most were about the proposed carbon sequestration project that BP has proposed. One speaker said that her communication with State officials said that the County had considerable authority to regulate both a CO2 pipeline and wells. Another speaker suggested that the Commissioners draft a resolution stating that the Commissioners were opposed to carbon sequestration. Mr DeYoung then made a motion to have the Attorney Beaver draft to that effect. Mr Bontreger then asked what effect that would have on IBEC, which is currently sequestering CO2. They were apparently told that they had to do this or they would be shut down. Further, IBEC provides a major market for the corn grown in Jasper County, so what happens to them may affect the farmers. The motion was then tabled until May 20 and Mr Beaver was asked to determine exactly what the County can and cannot do with the issue of carbon sequestration. After almost 3 hours, the meeting was continued to May 20 at 8:30.

Other meetings

I was not paying attention to the time on Monday afternoon so arrived at the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting fifteen minutes late. The meeting was over by the time I got there. I learned that the Commission had approved $60,000 for Apple Seed. The cost of running the Appletree Center is a bit over $600,000 and the revenues are a bit under $400,000, so a bit more than $200,000 must be raised each year to keep the Center open. The money from the Redevelopment Commission fills about a quarter of the gap.

The other item on the agenda was the building on the corner of Clark and Cullen that was once a bottling plant. The Commission would like it demolished.

The Drainage Board met after the Commissioners meeting. They decided to reject a request for a variance that would allow a garage to be built on the right-of-way of a ditch. The Surveyor needs the right-of-way if the ditch is cleaned. This issue had been discussed at previous meetings. They approved a request for a culvert placement and approved a fiber-cable request to cross County drains in Remington. A homeowner wanted three 18-inch culverts removed from a neighbor's driveway because she said the runoff was threatening the foundation of her house. After some discussion, Mr DeYoung told her to arrange a meeting with the adjoining property owner or owners and  together with him, the Surveyor, and the Highway Department, a solution would be worked out. A woman had a question about her drainage bill and was told that the overcharge was due to the computer program used by the Auditor and Treasurer. She was told to take the matter to their offices.

Brick street pictures

Work continues on the Brick Street project. Last week the workers were installing a couple of manholes on Harrison Street.

The sidewalks along Harrison Street were removed about a week ago.

This is a view of Van Rensselaer Street taken on Tuesday.

Odds and ends

The first farmers market of the summer took place on May 4. Only one of the booths had garden produce, some asparagus. 

I wonder why there is no rhubarb for sale. Is it because there is no demand for it or is it because no one is growing it?

A tree fell across the Iroquois River along Weston Cemetery. 

Property tax bills are due May 10. 

The primary election held on Tuesday had a number of contested County races on the Republican side. Emily Waddle defeated John Potter 52.61% to 47.39%. Diana Boersma won easily in a three-way race in the County Auditor race with over 50% of the vote. The two Commissioner candidates who will be on the ballot in November are Ryan Hilton (District 1) and Craig Standish (District 2). The race in District 2 was extremely close, with Standish edging Jeff DeYoung by six votes, 1617 to 1611. The three Republican candidates for County Council in November will be Brian Moore, Jacob Misch, and Scott Walstra. Complete results are here.

A short post to start May

 Medical signs

In the previous post I had pictures of a sign for the Clinic of Family Medicine being installed downtown. According to its website, The Clinic of Family Medicine has three medical providers: Dr Robert Darnaby, Family Nurse Practitioner Sharon Johnson, and Nurse Practitioner Debra Drescher. They have not moved yet as the renovation of their downtown office is not finished.

What used to be the Clinic of Family Medicine is now three offices of Franciscan Health: Working Well, Express Care, and HealtheAccess. 

These services have moved from the building to the west, which is now vacant.

It has a sign in one of the windows saying the space is available.

The property tax record from the County says this building has 3142 square feet and the former Clinic of Family Medicine has 5312 square feet.

The Liberty Clinic of Dr. Randy Lehman is now operating out of the Hospital. Dr Lehman posted a video on Facebook that explains what he is doing and why.

The Clinic of Family Medicine is now operating from the building to the south and east of the building Franciscan is using.

It is open four days a week and on the fifth day the building is used by Lafayette Pain Care.

Odds and Ends

The Food Pantry has a sign in front of their building along the highway.

Over the weekend the Chamber of Commerce sponsored Daffodil Days, which featured a scavenger hunt to get people to visit the participating businesses. I picked up the goodie bag but decided I did not want to enter the drawing for the big prizes. (I am too old to want more stuff.) The goodie bag had some pens, some popcorn, a fan that folded up in a funny way, and a coupon for a free cookie at McDonalds. I used the coupon and was surprised that there were no customers inside. I asked the lady who waited on me how much business is through the drive-up and she said over 80%. There always seems to be cars in the drive up.

On Friday the City's Gas Utility hosted an 811-Awareness event with a free lunch.

You can find better pictures here.

I sat by some City officials and some County candidates joined them a bit later. One of the County candidates noted that the issues that concern people in the northern part of the County are completely different from those that concern people in the southern part of the County.

We had a frost on the morning of April 25. Hopefully that will be the last frost of the season. I saw someone on Facebook asking when the peach trees would bloom. Mine bloomed two or three weeks ago and had very few flowers. Apparently the cold snap in January has largely destroyed this year's crop in our area.

We have had a very wet spring and you can see it in the rise and fall of the Iroquois. The graph below is from the gauging station at Laird's Landing.

I do not see much activity in the fields. They are too wet to work. The oak trees are leafing out, which may mean it is time to plant some of the more sensitive plants in the garden.

Work on the Brick Street Project continues. Last week there was a pile of stuff found under the streets. 

The workers keep digging and filling holes.

More large concrete structures are being put in. I believe this is part of a sewer line.

Almost all of the sidewalks on both sides of the brick-streets part of Harrison Street have been removed.

This Saturday we will have the opening of the Farmers Market and the Town-Wide Garage Sale. On Friday is the Fire Department's fish and chicken dinner. Tickets are $14 for adults, which may seem a bit expensive, but it is all you can eat (and some people can eat a lot.)

Next Tuesday is primary election day. If you have not voted early, you can vote at any of the ten voting centers in the County. The two that are most convenient for Rensselaer are at the armory and the Fairgrounds. This week's Rensselaer Republican is devoted to previewing all the contested races.

Lots happening in April

New downtown

A new sign was being installed on Friday.

The Clinic of Family Medicine is no longer on Grace Street across the highway from the hospital but is now in downtown Rensselaer.  There will be a ribbon cutting in May for a new clinic in what was the Clinic of Family Medicine. I do not know the details of what is happening.

Ayda's has finished recoating its Harrison-Street wall. They have also been busy working on outdoor seating to the east of the building. There were a couple of concrete trucks on site last week for a new floor. Their goal is to open this seating for Cinco de Mayo.

There will be a new fountain in the center of Filson Park. This is the base and it seems to have come with the water already in it ;-)

The fountain will go in the middle of this ring. I am not sure what the purpose of the ring is.

The Brick Street project continues with installation of various underground utilities. This picture was taken near the eastern end of the Harrison-Street section.

The workers dig holes, put something in them, cover the hole up, and dig another hole.

The Alliance Bank Blog has an article on what is happening to the former Walter's building on the corner of Harrison and VanRensselaer.

Art show

The Annual PAC Member Show is on exhibit at the Fendig Gallery from April 15 till June 2

This last item is unusual because it is made of paper.

Gallery hours are Tuesdays noon until 4:00 and Thursdays 2:00 until 6:00. The closing reception is on June 2 at 2:00.

Rensselaer Advisory Planning Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Planning Commission held a meeting on the evening of Thursday, April 18. The first item was a public hearing to change the zoning of a lot of land west of the Interstate and north of Burger King from B2 to A1. The land is currently farmed. The City of Rensselaer would like to have an easement through some of this lot to run the proposed water and sewer line and this was discussed at the Plan Commission in March. I am not sure what the advantage of having the zoning A1, but it was passed and will now go to the City Council for approval.

There was a discussion of having the fees that the Building Department collects go into an account that the Planning Commission could access. They currently go into the City's general fund. The City Council would need to approve this change.

Prairie Street is the name of an undeveloped Street north of Merritt Street and partially between Owen and McKinley Streets. The area in which this undeveloped street is located is on the boundary of three additions to Rensselaer, which confuses things. Also, the petitioner was not able to find records of what had been done in the past. Apparently part of the street had been abandoned, but instead of the property being split between adjacent property owners, only the northern neighbor received land. The petitioner would like the rest of the street vacated with all of it going to him. He would like to run semi-trailer trucks on it, but cannot presently because his northern neighbor stores stuff on the property. Nothing was done at this meeting but it will probably resurface at a future meeting.

Rensselaer Board of Public Works meeting.

The Plan Commission meeting ended about a half hour before the scheduled start of the BZA meeting. The first item was old business, a property on South Airport Road that the neighbors have complained about. The home has been under construction for several years and the neighbors say it is an eyesore. The Board gave the owner 90 days to make significant progress and will review the situation in July. (The property is not in City limits but in the City's buffer zone.)

The first item under new business was a request for a variance for a property on North McKinley Avenue. The house is used for two residences but is in an area zoned B2. It recently was sold and now it needs a variance to keep it the use it has always been in. The variance passed.

The second item was a conditional use variance for the Truth Bible Church, which is a new church meeting in the Ritz Theater. Churches can be located in any zoning district, but all need a conditional use variance. The variance was granted with the condition that it waive the right to contest any liquor license being granted within 300 feet.

The third item was a variance of use for Paul's Auto Repair & Towing. It is located in a B2 district that allows auto repair but towing is not on the list of the permitted uses. The towing company keeps towed vehicles behind the buildings where they are not easily visible. One member was hostile, saying he did not want another junk yard in town. The owners responded that 90% of the vehicles they store are abandoned vehicles that the City, County, and State asks them to tow. They cannot dispose of the vehicles until they get title to them, which can take the State up to 6 months to grant. They are then hauled and sold to a junk yard in DeMotte. The variance was approved with conditions that the maximum number of unclaimed vehicles allowed is 75, that no parts be sold, that no unclaimed vehicles be left on the front of the lot, and the part of the lot containing unclaimed vehicles be fenced.

The final item on the agenda was a variance of use for D1 Towing and Recovery. They are located to the west of the Amtrak station in an area zoned residential. Amtrak and the City would like to pave the access road to the station and Amtrak was concerned that the heavy trucks would destroy the road. D1 does not haul heavy trucks to this location; their storage yard is on Walnut Street. They also said that they would like to move to a location closer to the Interstate. Their variance was approved.

While the discussion of the towing was underway, about five people came into the meeting. They were residents of South Airport Road and wanted to comment on the first item in the meeting but had gotten the time wrong. They received a summary of what had happened and expressed their concerns.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met for its second April meeting on Monday night. Barb Michal, representing the Art-in-the-Alley event, requested that the section of Van Rensselaer Street between the alley and Kellner be closed on July 27 if the event is held in Filson Park. If the Park is not finished enough, the alternative site would be Foundation Park. The request was approved.

The next item on the agenda, an apprenticeship graduation, was postponed until the next meeting because the person making the presentation was not able to attend.

Two ordinances involving accounting changes were then passed to allow the Street Department to purchase a new garbage truck for $257,065. One established a Sanitation Depreciation Fund and the second approved a loan from the Water Depreciation Fund to this new Sanitation Depreciation Fund. The new truck should arrive in early May.

The Council approved the acceptance of several roads as City roads. Parts of Daugherty, Schuster, and Sparling were added to the City road map as well as part of Melville. Some of the 2.39 miles were previously SJC roads and others were County roads. I believe that all were being maintained by the City.

The Council approved changing Sanitation accounting from a cash basis to an accrual basis. The change is connected to the change of Sanitation from a City department to a City utility. The Council also approved a public relations request of up to $150 for potting soil and flowers for the front of the Police Station.

The meeting then ended with a series of announcements and reports. The Police Department has begun tagging abandoned vehicles. The annual fish-fry dinner for the Fire Department will be on May 3 from 4:00 until 7:00. The new roof on the Electric Department building has been installed. In the first week of May Amtrak may be working on the depot. On May 7 the City will be zooming with Amtrak to discuss closing some rail crossings. The first tournament at the Blacker fields will be on May 4-5. There is an 811-awareness open house with lunch at the Gas Department on Friday from 11 to 1.

I missed the first April meeting. The official minutes are on the City website here.

Odds and ends

A company from England is testing drones at the Jasper County Airport.

Bazz's Roller Rink is changing owership. It opened in 1953.

The Fendig Summer Theater will be presenting Seussical this July.

Warmer weather

 Spring

We had the first hot days of the year over the weekend, with temperatures into the 80s. The longer days, the trees getting leaves, and the many flowers tell us that spring really is here.

The trees below are on the SJC campus.

Some beautiful tulips, but not mine.

I was surprised last week to see that the geese already have goslings.

On Friday I attended the first of the wellness walks, which are being held on Fridays from 10:40 until noon from April 12 to May 17 at Brookside Park. They replace the old Walk-with-a-Doc Walks and are sponsored by the Extension office. As the very small group of walkers assembled, we watched the City and the Urban Forest Ministry unload trees that will be planted in Rensselaer this spring.

Spring is a good time to flush hydrants. 

It is also a good time to patch streets where utility work has been done. 

(I noticed that there is a new dumpster by the old R&M Store.)

There are frogs croaking in Weston Pond. I saw a turtle on the road on Sunday and helped it over the curb. And not necessarily a sign of spring, but something I had never seen before during 50 years of living in Rensselaer: I saw a motorboat speeding downstream on the Iroquois River. I did not have time to snap a picture.

Not a lot of planting has begun because the fields are still too wet from the recent rains.

AppleTree is one

Appletree celebrated is first birthday on Saturday with an open house.

There were tiny cupcakes available for those who came. Kids could get their faces decorataed or get balloon sculptures.

Below is a bubble machine and if you look carefully you might see some of the bubbles on the right side of the pictures. Some of the kids had fun chasing them.

Inside the building was a cake that was served at the celebration at 1:00, which I did not attend.

Everyone who was there when I stopped by seemed to having a good time.

Brick Streets

Work continues with installing utility lines and pipes beneath where the brick streets were. New water lines crossed the sidewalk last week, so access to the businesses on Van Rensselaer has been difficult. 

There are still lots of pipes and materials left to install.

Continued Commissioners meeting

On Monday morning the Commissioners met in a continuation of their April 1 meeting. I decided to attend via Zoom, which I immediately regretted because the audio did not work at the start of the meeting. About five minutes in the people attending live realized there was a problem and discovered that a wire was not connected properly. Fortunately Mr Bontreger gave a summary of what had happened while there was no audio.

Mr Phillips, presumably acting as head of the Jasper County Republicans, had thanked Mr Walstra and Mrs. Jordan for their years of service to the County. Neither are seeking reelection. The Commissioners had approved contracts for 100 day of housing juvenile offenders in other county jails. Community Corrections will provide people to mow grass at the new EMS building.

With the audio problem fixed, the Commissioners continued with what was probably the most important item. They had met on Thursday in executive session to interview five firms to serve as construction compliance monitor for the proposed wind-farm project in Carpenter Township if the project becomes a reality. They had decided to use BF&S, a company that has done a lot of work for the County in the past. They also said that they appreciated learning about the other companies and may use them in the future if there are projects that fit their expertise. EDS, the company that is proposing the wind farm, has agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that it will pay for the services of construction monitoring. They will provide an initial  deposit of $200,000, from which the County will make payments, and there is a soft cap of $400.000 in the agreement. This MOU should satisfy the concerns that the Advisory Plan Commission had in their February meeting.

The Commissioners formally approved the agreement with BF&S. They also said that they are close to finishing an agreement with the City of Rensselaer to extend water and sewage lines west of I-65.

Jasper County BZA meeting

The Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals met Monday evening with one cause on their agenda, a request for a lot-width variance for a property in Walker Township. The owner wants to split a 4.8 acre lot into two 2.4 acre lots that would be long and thin and not have the road frontage that the zoning code requires. However, it is in the area that is full of lots that are of similar size. The hearing took longer than I expected because the petitioners had not provided enough detail on their application. The variance was granted with the condition that the new lot lines preserved required setbacks for the existing buildings. The purpose of the split was to provide a lot for a new house. This is not the final step the owners must take. They will need to have the Plan Commission approve a two-lot subdivision.

The last bit of the meeting had a discussion of how to get applicants to file better organized and complete forms to streamline the meetings.

Joint Council/Commissioners meeting

There are two joint Council/Commissioners meetings scheduled each year, in July and December. However, the Council and Commissioners decided that two issues were important enough to hold an extra one in April,

The first issue concerned public defenders. Judge Potter had made a case to both Commissioners and Council that the current system needed to be changed. At Tuesday's meeting Todd Sammons and a person from Indianapolis who is part of the State Public Defender Commission explained the case for change and what it might look like. In the years since public defenders were introduced, the County has gone from having an abundance of applicants for the positions to a shortage. Public-defender expenses are reimbursed 40% by the State but it is not clear that the County is getting all the reimbursement that it could get. Many counties have already moved to establishing a chief public defender position and that is what Jasper County is now considering. Some of them have full-time positions and others part-time, and it is unclear which would be better for Jasper County. Many of the details of how the change would happen and what the final result would be were discussed and the discussion took about 50 minutes. The next step is for the local public defender board to set up a plan and to figure out a budget. They can base their plan on existing plans from other counties and the State Commission is available to help them.

The second issue was the request from the Coroner to provide him with more space. The County morgue is located next to the Fase Center east of DeMotte and it shares space with the Sheriff's Department. The Coroner had taken some public officials to Fulton County to view their recently-built morgue and he had a handout showing what he would like in a new building. There is an upcoming meeting with Baker Tilly and perhaps at that meeting questions of how a new building might be financed can be answered.

County Council meeting

The County Council meeting started about a half hour late because the joint meeting had lasted so long. Kristen Louck, head of the Health Department, had had a new nurse position approved by the Commissioners and now needed the salary approved by the Council. The Council approved it but it needs to be advertised so they will need to approve it again at the next meeting. She also requested a pay of $40 per hour for the part-time director of EMS services.

The meeting then moved on to a list of additional appropriations. The Sheriff had a request for a jailer and overtime. The overtime budget had been approved for $2,000 rather than the $20,000 intended, so the $18,000 was added back. The Court needed more for translators. That is an expense that is increasing in most counties and a recent decision by the Supreme Court raised the qualifications for translators, so they have become more expensive. The Animal Shelter needed $3,000 for a new tranquilizer gun. $100,000 was needed for a second payment for new voting machines. They were purchased with the payments spread over three years. Some expenses for the Health Department did not get paid in 2023 so there was an additional appropriation to pay them. Community Corrections is installing new security cameras and there was an additional appropriation of $30,000 to pay for them.

The last item on the agenda was a report about the Connection Center. I believe this was purely an informational report and I left shortly after it started because I could see lightning through the windows and I did not want to get caught in a thunderstorm.

Notes

I got my property tax bill last week and went to the Courthouse to pay it. While there I voted. Voting is on the second floor where the buffalo usually is. Hours are 8:00 till noon and 1:00 till 4:00 with extended hours on Mondays and Wednesdays until 8:00. If you wait until election day, the two places in Rensselaer to vote will be the Fairgrounds and the Armory.