1st June 2024 post

 The Welcome Center

I had to drive to Chicago on Saturday for a funeral and on the way back I stopped at the Welcome Center in northern Jasper County to take some pictures. The building has a strange shape.

Outside is an Indiana sign that people can use as a backdrop of a photo.

There is a picnic area to the north of the building that I did not investigate.

There were some funny windmills outside the building.

Inside the building were a number of exhibits, such as these buffalo.

High above there were butterflies.

Don Quixote was in the building

with a windmill.

A sign explained why Quixote was there and gave information on the wind turbines that the traveler would see as he went further south on i-65.

I was in a hurry to get home and did not spend time exploring the grounds, but did see a big mural as I drove off. I do wonder if the way things were presented will do much to increase visits to specific sites in Indiana.

A note on Indiana rest stops: going from Rensselaer to Indianapolis there are two rest stops and both are closed. Going north from Indianapolis to Chicago, there are three rest stops and one is open for trucks and none for cars. 

Traffic on my way into Chicago early on Saturday morning was light but coming home there were two stretches in which it was stop and go. The trip once again told me how lucky I am to not live in Chicago.

Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met Monday morning. After the preliminaries, they heard a request from the County Recorder to lease a plat printer. The old printer is about twenty years old and only does black and white. They then had a public hearing about reducing the speed limit to 35 mph for seven stretches of road in northern Jasper County and reducing the speed limit to 45 mph for three other stretches of County roads, also in northern Jasper County. There was one comment from the public and he was in favor of the reductions. There was also some discussion of stop signs and there may be a public hearing on that as well as some additional speed reductions at the continued meeting that will take place on June 17. The changes were approved.The Commissioners then turned to recommendations from the Plan Commission. First up was an ordinance on geological test wells. This had been recommended by the Plan Commission even though they thought the ordinance needed improvement because at present there is nothing on the books about test wells. Companies drilling them need a State permit but do not have to tell the County that they are drilling them. The thought of the Plan Commission was to at least make the County aware of any drilling and that the ordinance could then be modified. The Commissioners passed the ordinance. The second item was a rezone from residential to agricultural for a lot on the Newton County line that the petitioners want to use for showing animals and animal education. It also passed. The third was an amended solar ordinance that the Plan Commission had sent to the Commissioners with no recommendation but some suggestions for further changes. The Commissioners took this under advisement and may have a revised ordinance on the agenda at the next meeting.

Last year the Commissioners approved a economic-development, road-use, and decommissioning agreement with a company called SolarPak to build a 60 megawatt solar farm in Walker Township. That agreement contained provisions for a tax abatement. However, the County Council refused the abatement. SolarPak was back with a new proposed agreement that would have much smaller economic development payments. The project has already been approved by the BZA. The project will generate about $360,000 in County taxes once it is completed. The Commissioners approved the agreement.

EDP Renewables is planning a wind farm in Carpenter Township and has agreed to pay the County for construction compliance monitoring. Some of what they may build will be in the buffer zone of Remington and Remington would like to piggy-back on the construction compliance monitoring that the County has. The Commissioners approved Remington's request.

Early in the meeting two bids were opened to do the road work that will be done as the result of a Community Crossings grant of $1.5 million that the County received. During the meeting the bids were examined by the County's attorney and engineering consultant. They decided there were no problems with the low bid of $1,839,873 from Town and Country Paving and it was accepted.

There is a bridge in Remington that has been awarded a Federal 80-20 matching grant for repair. The Commissioners approved a contract with BF&S to oversee the project. Construction will probably start in October. The average time between getting a Federal matching grant for bridge repair and the start of construction is five years.

The floor was then open to public comments and Mr Bontreger invited people to read the comments that they had submitted on-line. Few did so. Rather they had new comments and concerns that had not been submitted. Most of what was said has been said at previous meetings. There were two items that struck me. One speaker said that there are developers interested in new or expanding businesses in northern Jasper County but they are worried that the solar farms will discourage the expansion of subdivisions.. He noted that population growth brings in more money but neglected to mention that it also increases the cost of services. I wonder how ever-expanding subdivisions meshes with the oft-stated desire to preserve the rural heritage of the County. Another speaker mentioned that the reason there is so much interest in solar development in our area is that the transmission lines are in place and that interest will continue until the capacity of those lines is filled.

The meeting lasted about two and a half hours. I was thankful that there was no agenda for a Drainage Board meeting.

Park Board meeting

At Monday's Park Board meeting, there was a quorum for the Park Corporation but not for the Park Board. (For an explanation of the difference between the Park Corporation and the Park Board, see here.) A guest was interested in starting travel teams for 11U baseball and 12U softball starting in August and would like to use the Blacker Fields for  practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was no problem seen for that in the fall but if the teams continue into Spring of 2025 there may be conflicts on those days, so the guest was encouraged to use the fields this year but to come back in the Spring to discuss scheduling.

There are people who would like the lights to be restored to the old tennis courts on the northside of Brookside Park. The new tennis courts are heavily used and there is a big demand for pickleball. There was a suggestion that the old courts be redesigned as pickle-ball courts with four or six courts.There was also discussion of the fencing to funnel people into the tournament games and also discussion of parking. The LaRue Pool was filled with water several days ago but it was leaking out, so the water was drawn down until the leak was discovered and repaired. There will be no July meeting unless there are items that arise that need to be discussed and acted on.

Odds & ends

I finally got a picture of the new water tower with its painting finished.

Work has resumed on the fountain in Filson Park. There will be a pool of water at the bottom of the fountain and the forms for creating the wall for that pool are in place.

Not Your Typical Wingz made this announcement on Facebook:

To our valued customers, we have made the difficult decision to close our Rensselaer location permanently. We are excited to announce that we will be moving to a new location and will keep you updated on our progress.

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.

Main Garage

 Work on the exterior of TopLink Business Center (formerly the County Annex and before that the REMC Building) revealed an old sign.

The building was once a garage. The oldest picture the owners have of the building dates from the 1950s when it was the REMC building. What was it before?

I looked for the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and found one for 1921 and the building was a garage then, but no name was on it.

Going back to the picture of the REMC building in the 1950s, I noticed a name on the building: Shafer. A search for that name in the Evening Republican on the Hoosier State Chronicles turned up this article:

Cornelia Street is the former name of Kellner Street. The Maxwell Motor Company was in the early years of the 20th century a major automobile manufacturer. It failed in the 1920s and was absorbed into the Chrysler Company.

The garage was not named the Shafer Garage but rather the Main Garage. It is mentioned in the following article from the Evening Republican from May 29, 1914 (page 3). I have included the entire article in honor of a race that takes place on Memorial Day and also because it is an amusing look at the past.

There is much more you can learn about the Main Garage in the Hoosier State Chronicles, which have a digitized and searchable archive of all preserved Rensselaer papers through 1920. (Some issues and years were lost and are gone forever.) I will close with one last but very important update from the Evening Republican.

Nelson Shafer was the first commander of the American Legion in Rensselaer. He is buried in Knox but his son is buried in Weston Cemetery.

Ribboncuttings, long meetings, and more

Ribbon cuttings

Franciscan WorkingWell had a ribbon cutting Tuesday afternoon to celebrate its move into a larger building, the former Clinic of Family Medicine. Two groups posed by the ribbon. In the first group were those who helped make the move.

The second group included local people and staff of the new clinic. They got to watch the ribbon being cut.

After the ribbon cutting there was a short program and then a blessing of the building. Giving a prayer was Father Buckles who is Director of Spiritual Care at Franciscan Health at Lafayette.

There were snacks for those attending.

People could take a tour of the building. Below is the reception area. Those that work here were very happy for the move because they were extremely cramped in the old building.

The facility does a lot of testing and simple medical care. If someone has a problem that needs attention but is not serious enough for the emergency room, they are an option. They also have contracts with local businesses for services.

On Tuesday morning Ayda's had a ribbon cutting for their new patio dining area. I knew that the lighting would make it difficult to get a good picture of the event.

It is a very attractive space and can seat at least 80. 

Ayda's is not going to continue to use their party room in front of this space but will try to find another use for it.

Commissioners continued meeting

The County Commissioners met in a continued meeting on Monday morning, and although the agenda was very short, the meeting still lasted an hour and 45 minutes.

The first item on the agenda was approval of a wind-farm overlay, which identifies property where placement of wind turbines and the work needed to erect them can take place. The Plan Commission had voted an unfavorable recommendation for this item in its February meeting due to concerns about a variety of issues. and the Commissioners had not acted on the recommendation in their March meeting, but had decided to work through the concerns of the Plan Commission. The Commissioners believed that those issues had been addressed so the item was back on the agenda. In particular, the Commissioners had found a construction compliance monitor that would report to the County but the cost of which would be borne by the contractor. The Commissioners had received about twenty letters supporting the district from people or groups, including the Town of Remington and the Tri-County Schools.

Because the meeting had attracted a substantial number of citizens, Mr. Bontreger let people voice their concerns before the Commissioners voted on the overlay district. He also said that in June the Commissioners would have a pilot program to allow citizens to submit comments and concerns via the Internet so that those who could not attend the meetings could have their voices heard.

One person gave the Commissioners the result of a survey he had conducted. The Commissioners asked how he found people to respond and he said many came from Facebook and others from door-to-door canvassing. There were questions about the CO2 pipeline. At the first meeting of the month someone suggested the County could do more to resist the proposed pipeline. The County is working on an ordinance but it is not clear yet what it can control. A county in Iowa passed a restrictive ordinance but it has been challenged in court and the case is on appeal. The County does not want to pass something that will result in high legal bills and be rejected by Courts. One person suggested that the County establish districts for solar and wind and was told that the wind ordinance does that for wind: they are only allowed in Carpenter Township and a mile strip of Jordan Township. After hearing the comments, the Commissioners approved the wind-farm overlay district.

Next on the agenda was an agreement between the County and the City of Rensselaer to extend water and sewer to the west side of I-65. This project should encourage development west of the Interstate and tax revenues from improvements would go to the County. The County has agreed to help fund this project with surplus ARPA money (the federal stimulus money). However, extending the sewer to Sherwood Forest and Kelley Green would require a sewage plant and this might be funded with a TIF district, something for the future. The Commissioners approved the agreement.

In other business the Commissioners approved purchase of a refrigerator, approved finishing the floors of the first floor of the Courthouse to match those on the second floor, and noted that there was a need for a notary public in the Courthouse for County business. Recently requirements for notaries have increased so there are fewer people becoming notaries. They also approved a gas card for the Coroner's van.

 Then it was time for more public comments. One person gave an update on the Connection Center in DeMotte and the Commissioners recommended to the Council to appropriate $50,000 to help get the recreational part up and running. Somewhere in the comments someone at the table gave a list of payments that the various energy projects will provide the County and I think the total was $18.5 million. Much of that would come from the proposed Carpenter Township wind farm and includes rebuilding the roads used during construction.

One thing I noticed is that some of the people commenting want to solve national problems at the local level. For example, if a person thinks that federal energy policy with its subsidies for solar and wind and increasing regulations on fossil fuel is a bad energy policy, does it follow that one should oppose the County taking advantage of those subsidies as a way of opposing the federal policies? Or are local and federal two separable issues? Even if the federal policy is bad, should the local level take advantage of the dollars the policy makes available to local levels?

After the meeting adjourned, there was a short (five minute) meeting of the Regional Water and Sewer District, which is composed of the three Commissioners. This group has authority over providing water and sewer to all the unincorporated parts of Jasper County. They approved the County-City agreement to extend water and sewer west of I-65 and also transferred the authority to provide sewer and water to that area to Rensselaer.

Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission meetings

The Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met Monday evening. There was one item on the agenda of the BZA and that item contained two parts, a request from Rose Acre Farms for a special exception for a confined feeding operation and requests for variances for setback from neighbors.  In March Rose Acre had  appeared before the Plan Commission requesting their land be rezoned from A1 to A3 and that request had been granted. However, the code requires a special exception be granted for any confined feeding operation. Rose Acre is converting to cage-free flocks and needs to rebuild its buildings on the corner of SR 16 and US 231 to do that. It is replacing three buildings with two that are larger. The new buildings will hold a bit over 200,000 birds each while the previous barns held a total of somewhat over 500,000. The special exception was granted.

The code says that the buildings should be 1320 feet away from residential dwellings. There are three residences near the proposed buildings that are slightly less than that, with the closest at 1200 feet. There were no complaints from neighbors and the variance was granted. Rose Acres also wanted a variance from the requirement that a shelter belt of trees be planted around the buildings. Trees attract birds and those birds may carry disease that can destroy the flock of birds in a barn. This has happened to Rose Acres in one of their Iowa facilities. The Board also gave them a variance on the shelter-belt issue.

The Plan Commission met after the BZA adjourned. Their first item was a rezone from R1 to A1. The property is an 8.66 acre lot in Keener Township adjacent to Newton County. The property is currently used as a horse facility but two people who would like to buy it want it zoned properly so they can continue using it for agricultural purposes with the proper zoning. They want to operate animal educational programs involving farm animals and reptiles. Their request was sent on to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation.

The second items were revisions to the solar ordinance, which were summarized in a previous post. The ordinance was read and then both members of the Commission and the public picked at it with a variety of questions and suggestions for changes. The most hostile comments were directed at the battery storage provisions and concerned safety in case of a fire. Eventually the Commission sent it to the Commissioners with no recommendation in hopes that the Commissioners will make changes and send back an improved revision to the Plan Commission. (The Plan Commission cannot amend what is presented to them as written amendments to ordinances, though they can amend proposed changes to the ordinance maps.) The revisions impose more cost on developers and it will be interesting to see if the additional costs will cause developers to abandon Jasper County for solar farms. Also, someone commented that the County would like any battery storage systems to be confined to the NIPSCO property east of Wheatfield.

The last item on the agenda was an amendment to the UDO that adds requirements for special-purpose (or test) wells. At present there is nothing in the UDO about test wells, wells drilled to examine the underlying geology and rock strata, so if a company obtains a permit from the State to drill, they do not even have to tell the County that they are drilling a well. The proposed amendment establishes a requirement to tell the County about any such well as well as provide setbacks and fencing requirements. There was general consensus that the proposed amendment needed changes but that something needed to be put in place immediately, so the Commission sent it to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation and the hope that there would be further development of the ordinance. 

The next meeting will be on June 24 if there is an agenda. The meeting adjourned at about 10:00, three hours after the BZA meeting started and shortly after the thunderstorms moved in.

Jasper County Coucil meeting

The County Council met Tuesday evening for its May meeting with a list of additional appropriations on its agenda. It approved money for an administrative assistant/evidence based practice coordinator for Community Corrections and funds for Valley Oaks Health. Valley Oaks had not requested a payment last year that it should have so it was paid this year and the funds needed to be appropriated. Some funds that were supposed to be in the budget for the 100th year anniversary for the Fair were not, so they were appropriated. The Sheriff's Department is upgrading computer equipment and an appropriation was made for that. 

After a confusing discussion of moving money from the EMS director to an administrative assistant, the transfer was approved. Then the Council was very happy to make a budget reduction of over $4 million in the Highway budget.

The Council changed its meeting time for future meetings from 7:00 Central to 6:00 Central. They reappointed a member of the Library Board. The State is releasing a large block of money that it had collected for and not previously returned to local governments and the County share is $2.4 million. The Coroner gave the Council plans for a new annex he would like to be built. In some of the discussion among members there was mention that NIPSCO plans to build a gas-fueled peaking plant when it shuts down its coal-fired generators.

Odd and ends

Saint Joseph's College announced the appointment of a new CEO.

Fountain Stone Theaters announced their free summer movie schedule.

Work has started on a water main to the planned fire tower at the Fire Station.

In the field to the west the corn is emerging.

There will soon be a new business on Washington Street. I heard from a good source that it will be a Mexican grocery.

The building that will house the Clinic of Family Medicine is getting new windows.

Weston Pond has dried up leaving behind hundreds of little dead minnows.

On Tuesday morning workers were starting to erect the fountain in Filson Park. The finished fountain will be taller than this. The workers were having problems getting everything level.

Work continues on Harrison Street.

Van Rensselaer was quiet on Tuesday monring.

The goslings at Weston Cemetery are growing up. There are two families there. The other has only two chicks and they are smaller than these.

Strong winds late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning resulted in branches down throughout town. We have had some hot days recently.

AppleTree announced that they received over $8000 in donations from Alliance Bank and White Castle Bakery.