A proposed wellness/recreational center

The main event at the City Council meeting on Monday evening was a presentation by RCSC Superintendent Ned Speicher of a proposed wellness center. It would be a building with 25,000 square feet located at the east end of the high school. The rendering below shows how it would be located.  (Forgive the poor quality of the pictures. They are photos of what was projected onto a screen during the meeting.) Some of the white roofs are recent replacements. The section with the white roof that is nearest the parking lot is the proposed building. The space is presently lawn.

The building would be a steel building. Facing it with bricks would add another $500,000 to the cost.

As for cost, the estimated cost is $4,800,000. It would be funded by $1.8 million in cash taken from various accounts and $3 million in debt. The debt would not be a new issue but would result from refinancing the 2007 debt issue. There would be no need for an increase in taxes or tax rates. The total amount of debt that the school corporation would owe would be $32 million. The school sees no need for additional buildings or major capital projects in the foreseeable future so this debt should be manageable.

The building itself will be a big empty space. The presentation had pictures of similar buildings at North Montgomery and Wheeler. Both of them reminded me of the Recreation Center at Saint Joseph's College. I am not sure how big that building is, but the proposed building looked about as long but perhaps a bit narrower. Below is a photo of the slide showing the floor plan.

The floor would not be wood but a hard surface. It would be used by athletic teams and the marching band for practice and also be open to the public. At present many people get exercise by walking the halls and they could instead walk the track that would be around the outside of the building. Curtains could isolate various areas so a basketball practice could be taking place alongside a softball practice. The area would connect up to the swimming pool, and the proposed building could make the swimming pool more available to public use.

If a project costs less than $2 million, all that is needed is School Board approval. If it will cost more than $10 million, a referendum is required for approval. This project falls in in the area that has a potentially complicated route for approval. As I understood the process, after School Board approval, those who object to the project can oppose the decision by gathering 100 signatures. That sets into motion a campaign of competing petitions, those for and those against, with the side with the most signatures of registered voters living in the school district winning. If the project gets the go-ahead and there is no opposition, the building could be completed in the fall of 2016.

The next step in the process will be a public hearing at the next school board meeting on February 16 at 7:00. The meeting is scheduled for the Board Room at the west end of the Van Rensselaer School. If you are interested in this project and want to learn more or if you want to voice support or opposition to it, you should attend this meeting. (And it will not conflict with the County Council meeting this month because the Council meeting is on the 23rd. However, the Jasper County Historical Society meeting will conflict. It is scheduled for the 16th at 6:30. The agenda for the evening is to construct a timeline of key events, places, and people to Jasper County's History since the 1950's.)

The presentation argued that this center would improve quality of life for Rensselaer residents. Mr Speicher noted that RCSC students received brochures from three area school corporations enticing them to change schools. He also noted that Rensselaer has had a shrinking middle class and that the number of students eligible for free or reduced school lunches keeps increasing. Rensselaer needs to be competitive with other areas in amenities in order to attract residents.

Again, if you are interested in learning more, go to the meeting on February 16. (The other items of interest at the City Council meeting will be in another post.)

Finally, for those of you who like everything presented in map form, here is a final picture of the proposed building and the rest of the high school.

First meetings, Feb 8 2016

The  County Commissioners met for their February meeting on Monday, February 8th. Before looking at some highlights of that meeting, I would like to mention that the draft Unified Development Ordinance that the Planning Commission will discuss at an public hearing later this month is available on-line. You can get a copy here. Warning: it is 332 pages long.

For me the most interesting bit at the meeting came as the result of a question from the public about a proposed wind farm in Barkley Township. He said that a company from Texas has been signing contracts with farmers about installing turbines on their land. This does not mean that a wind farm will be built but rather seems to be the first step in the development. If not enough farmers or the strategically located farmers sign up, the project gets dropped. Only then will the next steps of getting required permits and approval go forward. There is also interest in a wind farm for Carpenter Township. Maybe something will happen and maybe not.

There was also an exchange between the two Commissioners who were at the meeting and members of the public about the frost law. One person, who was on the agenda, runs a business which plows snow for Rensselaer businesses. He said that their pay loader exceeds the 8 tons that must stay off the roads during enforcement of the frost laws but this piece of equipment is needed to clear parking lots. Another citizen said that her farm transports grain to a buyer in Lake or Porter County and that the delivery dates are contracted several years out. She wanted to know how the law affected her and what she could do to comply and yet still make the contracted deliveries. During the discussion Commissioner Maxwell noted that it was not just paved roads that are damaged when ice is melting, but that gravel roads also suffer a lot of damage.

The Sheriff was late to the meeting and because an executive session was scheduled for 10:30, he only delivered a copy of a report. He was delayed because the mist of the morning had frozen on roads in the north part of the county and had caused hazardous driving. One of the accidents caused by the treacherous road conditions had resulted in a fatality.

Other tidbits from the meeting: Animal Control is working on getting the minutes of its Board meetings on the county website. The director of Emergency Management is applying for  a grant that would allow the county to purchase a sand bagging machine. The airport has both a waiting list for hangar space and empty hangar space--the hangars built before WWII do not work well for modern planes. The airport also would like to have the runway lights off when they are not being used rather than dimmed. An approaching plane can turn them on remotely. Two new members were appointed to the Airport Authority Board, one replacing a member who did not want to be re-appointed and the other filling a slot that had not been filled.

Finally, there was a lengthy discussion about the leaning tree of Deer Park (which is an old subdivision in the north part of the county). The tree is threatening a structure on a neighboring property, but it is not clear who owns the property that the base of the tree is on. The neighbor says it is not his land but county land. The county may have an easement for a road that was never put in and will never be put in. 

The Drainage Board meeting in the afternoon talked about tiles and ditches and unless you are an affected landowner, none of it was very interesting.

A post from a few weeks back mentioned a new gas station being constructed in Monon. The station is a Casey’s and it has had its ribbon cutting. 

The tree on the second floor of the Court House is now decorated for Valentine’s Day.

Planning for the future

The test well that has been discussed in a couple of recent City Council meetings is being drilled in the field west of the Banet substation on Sparling Drive. A city employee who had been at the site told me that the drillers hit limestone at about six feet, which is not surprising given that Charles Street, where the bedrock is about two feet below the surface, is just to the east of this. The plan is to go down 300 or 400 feet. If the well can produce enough water, it will eventually become part of the city's water system.

On Thursday morning the Rensselaer Park Board met for a lengthy meeting. Brandon Schreeg, who works for an company that designs parks and other things, was a guest and Board members told him what they plan to do. Highest on the agenda is to make soccer fields in the old Monnett property. The land still has not been transferred--the title work has taken a long time and there are still a few details to work out. The Board wants seven soccer fields in the property, which is what was there last fall. However, they would like to keep fields away from the highway and use some of the land on which the old school building set. The problem with that land is that it was not filled with nice dirt but with fill that has rocks and debris from the old school.

Schreeg suggested that if more parking was needed that the existing lots to the north be widened a bit so that cars could park on both sides of the lots. He seemed to have reservations about adding parking to the west of Jordan's Floral. He was also unsure to what extent the plans were already fixed and to what extent his firm should make suggestions.

There was a short discussion of the old Administration building on the Monnett lot. The city is trying to sell it, but it will require substantial renovation to make it ADA compliant and it also has a mold problem in the basement. My guess is that the building will be demolished in the next five years.

Two people from the Jasper Foundation attended to discuss fund raising. Needed for fundraising are renderings of what is being planned and naming opportunities. A really big donation could name a park or ball field. Smaller ones can name light posts and benches. Smaller yet and a name can go on an inscribed paver.

As the meeting proceeded, a variety of topics came up. There were second thoughts about using Iroquois Park as a dog park. The occasional flooding bothered some people. An alternative was suggested, the city property with the two no-longer-used pump houses on Bunkum Road, which has about 6 acres. The city uses this for storage and for dumping snow in the winter, but the thought was that perhaps the city was not using all of it. A small fountain was suggested for the Monnett property, but then others thought it could be replaced with art work. Very little was said about Brookside.

There will be another public meeting before plans are finalized (or mostly finalized). It will be held when enough progress has been made so there will be new information that was not available at the last public meeting.

(I walked through the Core Building at SJC today and noticed that SJC has embraced naming opportunities. There are now little plaques above the benches in the hall with a donor's name and some of the classrooms also have donor names on them.)

The city has a job posting for the position of Weston Cemetery superintendent. Ron DeMoss will be retiring at the end of the month.

Odds and ends 02/03/2016

Our very warm weather continues. It has been good for construction. The exterior of the Comfort Suites appears to be finished except for signage. The picture was taken on Sunday.

Doors have been installed on the fire station. This is the view of the north side of the building.

The corner of Lincoln and Jefferson has some big trees. They will not be there too much longer. This is where construction will soon begin on the high water treatment plant. We have to kill the trees to protect the environment.

So soon the area will look like the north side of the newest addition to Weston Cemetery. Or is it the south edge of the west section of Brookside Park?

Heritage Office Products is now closed. Below is the sign on their door.

The Rensselaer Branch of the Jasper County Library has a display of Indian artifacts in the lobby display window. Some of the items may have been moved from the display case by the genealogy section of the library. That display case is now empty, probably getting ready for something else.

A recent post mentioned the new Jasper County Guide for Investment. If you would see more of what is in that report, the publication is available here.

It's warm enough for a picnic

The weather over the weekend was warm enough to have a picnic, though the rain would have lessened the enjoyment. It was in the mid 50s on Sunday. On Saturday I saw a flock of robins along Bunkum Road. Perhaps they never left.

The only picnic scheduled was last week's performance of the play Picnic by William Inge by the Columbian Plays of Saint Joseph's College. The actors played their roles very well and provided an entertaining evening.

During the intermission I talked to an alumna who lives in the DeMotte area. She had a role in the play when it was last presented at SJC more than 15 years ago. She said that unlike the current student who played her character, she lit the cigarette that is in the script. Times have changed--the auditorium is now a no-smoking area and it is easier not to light cigarettes. The director said that the student playing Rosemary, shown third from the left in the blue dress, was not the original person cast in the role. The person who was cast did not return to school this term because of sickness and the replacement had only three weeks to prepare. She did an excellent job and showed no evidence that she had not been in the original casting.

The spring play will be the musical, Anything Goes. It will be performed on April 7, 8, & 9.

The Pub will be reopening under new management. First day of business will be Feb 9 with the grand opening Feb 13.