Meetings

The Commissioners met Tuesday morning for their monthly meeting. First on the agenda was a public hearing for vacating Kersey streets but the person who was presenting the issue was absent so the item was skipped.

The Commissioners had questions about a request from Animal Control for training and also about the role of Animal Control--how much it should be concerned with abuse and neglect cases. The discussion took more than the allotted time. Then Jateen Patel, who owns the new Comfort Suites hotel, was appointed to the Tourism Board. The surveyor had digitized old records and now wanted to digitize more recent documents. The Commissioners wanted to know the cost before they approved the contract. Community Corrections was granted permission to fill a vacancy and also had a proposal to move a part-time employee to full time to cover a temporary absence when another employee leaves for several months for National Guard duty.

Prompt Ambulance gave a short presentation. They will be partnering with several other agencies to encourage people, especially older people, to have basic medical information readily available for EMTs and other ambulance personnel in case of an emergency. Pat Donnelly, the Veterans' Service Officer, said that he would like to go to part-time next year and proposed switching positions with his assistant. The next item, a request from Ellas Construction to use a County lot for staging for bridge replacement, was discussed in the previous post.

Sheriff Risner received permission to replace a full-time communications officer. The contract with Havel for maintaining equipment at the jail is expiring at the end of September and the Sheriff presented two bids to continue that maintenance. The County has not been completely happy with the service they have gotten from Havel, but the other bid from Precision Control was significantly higher. A decision will be made at the October 2 meeting. The last item before the break was approving use of the northwest corner of the Court House lot for the Christmas Santa's House. The Christmas parade will be on December 2 but the route will depend on whether the Washington Street bridge is open.

After the break the Commissioners approved an appointment to the Animal Control Board, approved training and vacation requests, passed an ordinance raising fees for the Health Department, discussed the project to put the County ordinances online, discussed the Department of Justice mandate on risk management policies and procedures, passed an ordinance pertaining to risk management but also put the item on the October agenda. They decided that the employee handbook will not be included in the on-line version of county ordinances but will be available on-line to county employees.

The Drainage Board meeting Monday afternoon was much shorter than the Commissioners morning meeting. There was a bid opening for reconstructing the Price tile, which is 100 years old. There was only one bid, for $234,482, which was below estimates. There are 544 acres in the watershed, so the cost per acre is about $500. There were two people who were very much against it, one because he was at the bottom of the tile and had spent money to solve his problems and the other who did not think she would live long enough to reap the benefits given the high cost. Kendall Culp recused himself and was replaced by someone else on the Board for this decision. After hearing from the those who wished to speak, the project and the bid were approved. The rest of the meeting approved several much smaller bids and projects.

In the evening the Rensselaer Park Board met. The first item they discussed was pickle ball. The tennis courts at Brookside Park now have pickle ball markings on them so they can be used for either tennis or pickle ball. Pickle ball has less movement than tennis, so is popular with older people. It is sort of a cross between tennis and ping pong. For more, see here. There will be a ribbon cutting for the courts on September 11 and on September 30 a call out for people interested in learning the game. The Board approved spending up to $300 to purchase equipment to help get the sport up and running.

(The blue lines are for pickle ball, the white for tennis.)

The Board then reviewed plans for a dog park on Bunkum. Titan Construction had drawn up preliminary plans with two yards, one for small dogs and another for large dogs. The cost of the fencing will depend on what kind of fence is selected. In the discussion the overall cost was estimated in the $80K range.

There was a long discussion about trails, especially a trail in Bicentennial Park.

The Board has a vacancy and three people have expressed interest in filling it, which means the Board will have to choose, something they have not had to do before. The next meeting will be October 2.

Finally, here are some pictures from SJC and the ongoing sale.

 A week or two ago there were only a few of these trays and they were priced at either $2 or $3.

 There are many chairs for sale.

 These are not quite as expensive as those above.

 Still more chairs.

As Hilco sells items, they haul in more stuff.

Changes

The Jasper County Historical Society posts a weekly picture that viewers are asked to identify. If I did that, the picture below would be my picture for this week. Where is it? (The answer will be given later in this post.)

Rexall was not a chain in the way that CVS and Walgreens are chains. Rather independent stores used the name and sold products produced by Rexall. I believe my father had a Rexall Drug store in the 1950s.

 There are a lot of changes downtown. A sign in the window of the Pub reads, "Opening Soon." I do not know who is planning to open it. Across the alley, a new business is planning to open before the Little Cousin Jasper Festival. The Facebook page is Reflections Gifts, Fine Arts & Workshops.

The business that was previously in that location, Healthy Glow Spray Tanning, is now on the second floor above Unique Finds with a window overlooking Washington Street. The former business in that space was Très Belle Boudoir, a photography studio. It has moved across the hall to a larger space. New upstairs over Unique Finds is Strictly Prickly, which specializes in body piercings and henna tattoos. She is in a back office, one that used to be the office of a lady who did painting classes. (The third floor is again vacant--the dance studio seems to be gone.)

The owners of the building that was home to Stunt Dawg Studio were cleaning it out on Tuesday and had a pile of stuff in front of the store that was free for the taking. No one has yet rented the space.

At the Commissioners meeting on Tuesday a spokesman for Ellas Construction, which has the contract to rebuild the Washington Street Bridge, requested permission to use the County property between the Post Office and the Court House as a staging area. The attraction of the lot, which was once covered by the Johnny Rusk Building, is that it has a concrete pad. The Commissioners granted permission with the provision that when they are finished with the bridge, they remove the concrete pad of the staging lot.

Construction may begin on or shortly after September 12 or it may not. The timeline for construction is only 60 days if there are no problems. However, as the picture below indicates, the bridge is currently on a detour route. If INDOT cannot find an alternative detour for SR 16, construction may be delayed until the spring. We will have to wait until next week to see if the bridge is closed or not.

 I spent some of last weekend in Bloomington, IL and visited a JC Penney's store that was going out of business. I noticed the Hilco name on some of the price tags and asked about it. It is the same company that is selling things at SJC.

 The Journal and Courier had an article last week looking at how people have adjusted to the closing of SJC. Included in the people profiled was a Hilco employee. He noted that the SJC sale was the first one that the company had done for a college. “What we’re finding, as we get into this project, is there are a fair number of colleges in similar situations,” Schaye said. “I had no idea. But we’re hearing about it now that we’re into it at St. Joseph’s. … We might have stumbled onto a new piece of our business.”

The picture at start of the post is from the remodeling done to the two buildings that are next to Lafayette Bank and Trust. The south building will be occupied by  Northwest Indiana Community Action Corporation, which manages WIC. The WIC offices will be in the front and the other offices of Northwest Indiana Community Action Corporation will be in the rear. WIC is presently in the Town Mall and the other part of Northwest Indiana Community Action Corporation is in the building next to the bowstring arch bridge, that is, in the building that until July was home to the Birthright offices.

The northern building is not leased as the sign in front makes clear. There is also an apartment over the south building that is being remodeled. At one time there was a dentist and a photo developing business there.

 One other change that may be coming soon is a new business is the little space between Gutwein Seeds and CI insurance.

Franciscan Health Rensselaer is sponsoring a wellness event called Walk with a Doc. It meets on Thursdays at noon in Brookside Park. The first walk was on September 1 and they will continue until October 5. You can register on-line or at the event. Be prepared to answer the question of what your goal is. (I could not think of a good answer.)

White County may finally have found a business for their building on US 24 just east of the Jasper County line.

City Council, Aug 28, 2017

The City Council meeting had a short agenda on Monday, but the meeting lasted almost an hour. After the usual preliminaries, the Council agreed to close a block of Van Rensselaer Street for Oktoberfest on Sept 30 and a block of Susan Street for St. Augustine's Fall Frolic on September 23. The airport manager reported that there will be another Aviation Career Day in May, 2018 and that fuel sales have been at record levels for July and August, largely because of crop dusting. On September 8 there will be first responder training at the airport and, as reported in the previous post, on September 16 the airport will host an event called Tunes on the Tarmac.

The first item on the agenda, an ordinance for using City issued credit cards, was tabled to the next meeting because changes need to be made to it. The Council approved the Cemetery's purchase of a mini-excavator (it will also be used by other City departments) for a bit less than $54K. City workers tested John Deere and Caterpillar models and preferred the Caterpillar model, so it was purchased though it cost a bit more.

On August 17 the Council had met to discuss salaries for the upcoming year and had approved a 3% increase. There were a couple of items they had not resolved, and they were picked up and resolved. One of the Council members observed that the City pays well compared to the private sector.

At the previous meeting the Council had heard a presentation on lease-buy. The committee formed to examine that option recommended that it be an option that the City could consider in the future. Council approved that recommendation.

The Mayor noted that there were problems with the restrooms in City Hall--they have sometimes flooded. The project coordinator promised to look into the matter. The Police Chief thanked other City workers for help in moving the items that he purchased at the SJC sale. He noted that the items were considerably cheaper than what he would otherwise have had to pay. The Park Board will meet Tuesday at 6:00 in the Council Chambers. The roads in the North addition to Weston Cemetery have been seal-coated. Work on the storm sewers on Elm Street is about half finished. There will be work on street patching and some sidewalk repairs this week. Work is progressing on the Watt substation on Bunkum Road.

Below is a picture taken Wednesday of the Watt station site.

 New utility poles are being installed along CR 850W and REMC is doing the work.

 A small parking lot is taking shape in Weston Cemetery. On Wednesday stone was put down.

 A bit to the north, an new pad for bleachers by the soccer field was being constructed.

Rensselaer's Main Street group has a survey about downtown Rensselaer that is connected to a planning grant that the City of Rensselaer recently received. You can take the survey here and give the planners some input.

I enjoy seeing what new things are for sale at the SJC sale. Earlier this week I noticed some serious weight lifting equipment.

 You can buy all the hangers you will ever need.

 I had not seen lamps previously.

 There were a lot of janitorial items displayed.

Have a nice Labor Day weekend.

Odds and ends as August ends

I drove to Monticello on Thursday via SR 114. It was under construction, with new paving on the westbound lanes. I did not come back that way because there were several miles of milled pavement.

I noticed a crew putting in a new monitoring well next to the river just below the Washington Street bridge. I am not sure why they want to monitor there other than the long-time presence of the gas station.

In September the Washington Street Bridge will be closed so it can be rebuilt. The closure will mess up traffic flow in Rensselaer. Get ready for it.

On August 19 a group called the Shine Festival had an event at the Jasper County Fairgrounds. I did not realize what it was  until after it was over. It seemed to attract lots of people, just not those from out area. Here is a video.

Apparently the WIC (Women, Infant, Children) office will be moving into the remodeled building next to Lafayette Bank and Trust. It appears that a new entrance is being constructed. I have heard that one other social welfare office will also be moving there. Currently WIC is in the town mall.

The farmers market is thriving with lots of vendors and lots of vegetables and fruits.

I am always sad to see the pool drained at the end of summer.

The Jasper County BZA met Monday evening to discuss again the proposal to build storage lockers on SR 10 between DeMotte and Wheatfield. The owner had made a number of changes but neighbors still were worried about a variety of things, such as garbage and loss of property value. The Board members were worried about drainage and told him to run his proposal by the Drainage Board and come back on November 27.

I noticed a new house being constructed in the Sunset Ridge Subdivision west of Sparling Ave.

The Jasper County Airport will be hosting a concert on September 16 called Tunes on the Tarmac. It will have two bands, one bluegrass the other easy listening. The concert is free but has a suggested donation of $10 with proceeds going to Mercy Flight of Indiana, which provides free air transportation for those with limited needs who need to travel to distant medical facilities for treatment.

Finally, about two weeks ago I wondered what had happened to the wooden desks that used to be in most of the classrooms in the SJC Science Building. Someone commented and the comment may be the comment of the year:

LOL the old desks were placed into a dumpster, and then crushed by a backhoe to make more room. It was excruciating to watch, but a GREAT totem for the abject lack of responsibility of the administration.

Eclipse week

The much hyped eclipse came and went exactly on schedule. I took a picture of the shadows near peak coverage.

 Here is another view of the eclipse from the weather station at City Hall. You can see the effect on solar radiation and Ultraviolet rays.

There will be another total eclipse in 2024 and Indianapolis and Fort Wayne will be in the path of totality.

The new walking path in Milroy Park has been paved.

 It is not quite finished--the ends of the trail are still incomplete.

 There was only one meeting this week that I noticed. The Benton-Jasper Drainage Board met on Tuesday in a follow-up meeting of their meeting in June and mostly they rehashed what had been discussed at the previous meeting.

Work continues on remodeling the building next to the Lafayette Bank and Trust and I still have not heard what will be there. D-Tech Wireless has closed their Rensselaer office. They opened in 2016 with an entrance to the parking lot of the Town Mall. The shuttle service between Morocco and Rensselaer is on hold. They got a private contract so will not be doing the runs for at least 90 days.

I stopped by the big sale at SJC on Wednesday afternoon. I noticed a weed growing in the tennis court--nature is relentless.

 There was a lot of new stuff on display. These benches were priced at $250 each. I do not recognize them.

 There were a lot of pictures ad small refrigerators.

 There is still lots of furniture, and I think much of it was not there a week ago.

 I wondered where the bikes came from. Were they left by students or did the College own them?

 Fancy desks from some administration office was for sale. All colleges have lots of administrators these days, so there should be lots of office desks for sale.