Limelight 2016

The annual Limelight exhibit is on display at the Fendig Gallery. It features work done by students served by Cooperative School Services and CDC Resources. (Here is a link to last year's post that has links I am too lazy to make again this year.)

The exhibit seems to be a bit smaller this year. The pictures from the students served by Cooperative School Services share themes. There are a number of the cardinal pictures in the exhibit. These pictures are done in the school art classes.

The ribbons that the Cooperative School Services students have are different from those next to works by people served by CDC Resources in Rensselaer.

The exhibit runs until March 11. The Gallery is open Monday through Friday from noon until 2:00. The annual Limelight exhibit is timed to coincide with Indiana Disability Awareness Month (which is March), though as I write this the event is not listed on the Indiana Disability Awareness website.

In other news, there was an interesting series of comments on a post of the Facebook group Rensselaer Indiana Friends about the opening of the Mount Hood Pizza and Grill. The target date is February 29. You can read the string of comments here if you have not seen it already.

School Board kills wellness center proposal

Here is the short version: After hearing the presentation for the proposed wellness center and comments from about 30 citizens, the Rensselaer Central School Board voted against approving a preliminary project determination resolution. The result is that the proposed wellness center is dead. It can be revived, but the process must restart, meaning that another public hearing would be required.

And now for a longer version if you are interested.

The Rensselaer Central School Board met for its monthly meeting on February 16 with an audience of approximately 80 citizens, almost all there for the public meeting about a proposed wellness center. After the normal start-of-meeting preliminaries, Superintendent Ned Speicher gave a financial report. He announced that the 2016 school budget had been approved by the state. He had a slide showing that assessed valuation in the school district had increased from about $600 million in 2009 to about $750 million in 2015. The property tax rate had remained under the level of 2009, which was .66, bouncing around between .57 and .61. He noted that the general fund, which is the money paying for the routine activities of the school, is completely funded by state taxes and that the state had cut those monies in 2008-2009 from about $12 million to about $10.5 million and that though that amount has gradually increased since, it remains below $12 million.

The Board approved incentive performance for teachers and administrators. This approval had been delayed because of the delay in the state's release of ISTEP results. The primary and elementary schools had scored an "A" and the middle and high schools a "B".

Next was a presentation of the proposed wellness center, which was largely the same as the presentation given at the City Council Meeting, reported here. However, both an architect and a financial advisor were present to add some details. The architect noted that the building would be pre-engineered, essentially a kit that is assembled on site. Apparently there are enough of this type of building being built to have a company or companies specialize in their production. The proposed building would be 125' long and 200' long. The running track around the center courts would be about .1 mile.

The financial consultant said that by refinancing bonds there would be some savings. The effect of the refinancing would be that the costs of the project would not appear until either 2022 or 2023 and then for six years the bond repayments would be higher than they otherwise would be. There was something about financing being done with a lease that I did not understand.

Then it was time for public comments. Most people speaking were in favor, with many pointing out that Rensselaer Schools have limited indoor practice space so that early morning and late evening practices are needed for some teams and that these times may impair school work. Some pointed to benefits to the community at large and said that the building was needed to move the community forward. Also mentioned was the trend for building prices to rise 2 or 3 percent a year and the very low current interest rates, which may not persist.

Those who had reservations focused on the financing. The rise in assessed valuation mentioned at the beginning is almost entirely due to the rising value of farm land and as a result farm land owners would pay a disproportionate share for the facility. A flat tax rate has not meant flat taxes to farmers. Their tax payments have increased because the assessed value of their land has increased. Also, the legislature is changing the way farm land is assessed and with the poor harvest last year and declining crop prices, the value of farm land may decline. If it does, the tax rate may have to exceed the .66 level that the board wants to keep as a maximum.

Then it was time to take up the approval of the preliminary project determination resolution. Koczan moved but there was no second, so president of the board Luddington relinquished the chair to Korniak so he could second. Parrish wanted to table, but Luddington wanted a discussion first so he called on the board members for their comments, ending with Parrish. Parrish moved to table, which Zeider seconded. The vote was four in favor with three against, not meeting the required 2/3 vote needed to pass. A vote was then taken on the main motion. In favor were Koczan, Korniak, and Luddington. Opposed were Parrish, Zeider, Lane, and Cozza. With that vote the proposal died and if it is reintroduced, the process muse begin anew.

The room then emptied and the Board took a short recess before finishing the rest of the agenda. They approved a roofing contract for the high school for $78,400 and had a long discussion about a safety response service that works through a cell phones application. The service has been recommended by the sheriff's office and the Rensselaer Police Department. It would have a one-button push that would give a faster response than calling 911 in case of threat of harm in a school. It would also have a second level push that would alert adminstrators to a stress situation in a classroom. The way the system is configured will be largely determined by the school administration. The cost was $4000 setup and $400 per month maintenance fee. The proposal passed.

The board also approved a number of other items before adjourning. The meeting lasted nearly three hours.

23rd Annual Regional High School Art Exhibit.

The annual high school art exhibit was being set up in the lobby of the Core Building when I was looking for an interesting picture or two of the Science Olympiad. (Last year was the 22nd, so this year must be the 23rd.) I was impressed with how many interesting pictures were on display.

Below is a clever adaptation of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" for Halloween. You can find dozens of adaptations of Munch's painting with a Google search and this one is as good as or better than most that pop up.

The picture below seems appropriate for our area of Indiana. I would have titled it "Corn-fed Beef".

In addition to paintings and drawings, there were some sculptures and pottery.

I have a soft spot for tessellations, though there are some differences in the fish heads so technically tiles are not pure tessellations. I doubt if many tessellation artists would color a print in this way.

I also will notice any art that highlights typefaces. The next two portraits are constructed entirely with letters. The students who did them are from South Newton High School.

The use of letters is a type of pointillism.

The exhibit starts Feb 15. If you are in the area, it is worth taking a look at.

Odds and Ends, Feb 13, 2016

The cold weather has again put ice on slower moving sections of our little river.

The forecast is that it will warm up next week.

SJC hosted the annual regional Science Olympiad today. Some of the students must have gotten up much earlier than normal. They found the stairwell in the Science Building a good place to nap. (It is carpeted.)

Every team had its own special tee shirt.

The teams that come to this regional competition varies from year to year. The Rensselaer Middle School was at SJC again this year and the high school team again chose to go elsewhere.

The well drilling rig is still in the field west of SJC. The ice around shows that they hit water. The question is whether they hit enough to make the well worth developing.

The Pub has reopened and today was its grand opening.

This past week I had to go to West Lafayette to sign a paper. I noticed that there were piles of stone and some kind of construction going on at the US 231 and I-65 intersection. What are they doing?

At the US 231 and I-65 intersection in White County the gas station and the Ludys Restaurant are closed. When I passed by several weeks ago they looked closed, but this time I was on 231 and it was clear that both were closed.

The big building that White County built on the Jasper County line on U.S. 231 is still empty.

Several weeks ago a car knocked down some utility poles near the entrance of Weston Cemetery. One of them had a street light. The street light has been replaced with a LED light. Its light is whiter than the other street lights in the area.

LEDs are the future of home lighting. GE has decided to phase out their production of CFLs by the end of the year. I doubt if many people will be rushing to stock up before they gone.

Some of the street grindings produced when the City resurfaced streets last fall are now in Brookside Park, giving a new surface to the track. (They have been there for months, but I never got around to mentioning that.) I am old enough to remember cinder tracks.

This weekend we have two holidays to celebrate, Valentine's Day and Presidents Day. Government offices including city offices and services will be closed on Monday, as will banks.

More notes from Monday's meetings

I stopped in for the start of the Animal Control Board meeting on Monday night. The meeting got started late and did not have a quorum, so no votes could be taken.

The director reported that in the past three months four injured cats had been euthanized and none in January. Almost all of the animals coming into the shelter have been reclaimed, been adopted, or gone to a rescue service. The volunteer program has begun with 66 hours of contributed service in January. The opening for a part-time person who would work only in the shelter received 52 applications and the director had selected one for a job offer. The board reviewed the applicant.

Then it was off to the City Council meeting. The gas tracker for February will be a reduction of six cents per hundred cubic feet. After the presentation by Ned Speicher (reported here), Trace Bowles, manager of operations and engineering for the electric utility, requested a replacement for a line worker who is retiring. The position will be an entry level position and after one year the person will be expected to take classes for the next four, eventually topping out and becoming a full line worker. This is a skilled position that requires a substantial amount of training. Bowles outlined a long-term plan to staff with trained workers as older workers retire. He or the mayor noted that most of the linemen for REMC had at one time worked for the City.

Bowles also reported a committee's recommendations for new lap tops for the Council members. The recommendation was for a Dell laptop that was midrange in price and features. The iPads that the Council members currently are using will be given to the utilities that can use them.

The mayor presented a plaque to Ron DeMoss for twenty years of service. Mr DeMoss has one more Council meeting to attend--as superintendent of Weston Cemetery he is expected to attend all Council meetings. He will retire at the end of the month. The City has posted a job opening announcement on its web page and if anyone is interested in applying for the position, the application is due the 12th.

Brad Cozza, the Airport Manager, gave a brief report on 2015 airport operations that was much the same as the one he gave to the County Commissioners. He noted the new website for the airport that has two functions, to tell outsiders about the area and to tell locals about what is happening at the airport.

In Administrative reports, Clerk-Treasurer said that Rural Development, the agency of the U.S. Agriculture Department that is lending money to the City for construction of the high water treatment plant, requires her to be bonded for $550,000, the amount equal to one year's bond payment. (Money from the Feds comes with many hoops.) The Council voted to allow her to find the bonding.

The Mayor said that he has continued to investigate a second link of the gas utility to a high pressure line and that there will be a presentation on the topic in the March 28 meeting. The assistant superintendent for streets and sanitation reported that the test well had reached a depth of 260 feet as of 2:00 on Monday.

There have been more comments than usual on yesterday's post. I hope that means that there is enough interest to get people to go to the School Board meeting on Feb 16.

Today's picture is of Weston Cemetery, tended for twenty years by Ron DeMoss. The markers in the foreground are those of a prominent early family, the Halsteads. Micah Halstead came to the county in 1851 but then left for the West Coast. He returned a few years later and married Virginia Harris and several of their children are also buried in Weston Cemetery. On the same plot are two unnamed infants and son Edwin, who was murdered in 1871 while teaching school in Dakota Territory. You can find directories to the cemetery on the City's website and you can also learn about some of the burials from the findagrave website.


It looks like we have a week of real February weather ahead of us. Unlike last year when the Great Lakes almost froze over, this year there is little ice on them. Maybe that will change in the the next week.