Decorations

City crews were putting up Christmas street decorations this morning.

Not all the light poles got wreaths. Some got holiday banners.

About two weeks ago I drove to Logansport and noticed a couple towns along the way that already had their street decorations up. I think Remington was one of them.

A larger crew of city workers was busy for much of the day digging near the intersection of Madison and Clark. It looked like a water main problem, but it might have been something else.

While downtown I noticed that the corner office in the Horton Building was empty and for rent. Until recently it was a day care, A Home Away From Home. The space above Unique Finds (the Princess Store) is not longer for rent--Unique Finds is using the space for home decor items.

More meetings, more tidbits

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday night. After voting to transfer some funds, the Council heard a short presentation from two representatives from Commonwealth Engineering about the storm water treatment plant. They met with the mayor about early designs in early October. The final design should be complete at the end of January or the beginning of February and it will then be submitted to IDEM. By April contracts should be bid, with construction beginning in early summer of 2015 and completion early summer of 2016. There was a question on odors from the plant, and they should be minimal. The plan will only operate when there is extremely heavy rain, and any sewage should be quickly discharged and sent to the treatment plant. The remaining water will be storm runoff.

The supply committee recommended Ceres Solutions as the provider for gasoline and diesel fuel and CTS for tire repair. I do not think Ceres was the low bid, but it has been a long time supplier and it has been very reliable. The Council approved these recommendations.
The police chief reported for the committee appointed to investigate replacing a squad car. The recommendation was for a 4-wheel drive vehicle from Thomas Dodge for $23,217 with trade in. The Council approved.
The Council approved spending $350 from the public relations fund for a float for the Christmas parade. The Park Department had expressed interest in a new truck at a previous meeting, but there is no money in the budget for it so it will not be pursued at this time.
The mayor expressed concern about a bill in the state legislature that would change the rules for boundaries for electric utilities. He said it would hurt municipal utilities such as that of Rensselaer.
A motion was approved to allow a police escort for the Bomber football team on their trip to Indianapolis this week.
Utilities reported that electricity has been provided to the construction site of MacAllister Equipment, but sewage and gas hookups have not been completed. In reference to a gas hookup to Blockbuster, mention was made that the owner of Blockbuster wanted to add a Noble Roman's Pizza; apparently other Blockbuster stores have found sales increase with this addition. Thursday trash pickup this week will be moved to Wednesday and Friday pickup will be moved to Monday next week. There will be a wage hearing for the Gasper project, which will extend the road going toward Fountainstone Theater east and then loop it back to the main road. The wood chipper will be attacking the brush pile next week. Remington is planning on extensive annexations which will more than double the area of Remington. Remington has already extended its utilities to the intersection of I 65 and US 24. Finally, Parmele Farms plans to auction off some of its frontage on SR 114.

The meeting was over a bit after 6:30 and there was some time to wander the downtown before the meetings of the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals started. The balloon in front of Landmark Realty is lit at night. Also lit was the inside of the old Hoover House building. The "For Sale" signs are gone, the windows are covered, and there was someone doing some sort of construction inside.

The Board of Zoning Appeals had one item on its agenda, an exception for a property in Barkley Township so that the owner can operate a small business of hydrographics. (Follow the link to find out what that is.) A member of the audience objected not specifically to this item, but rather to say that the rules for the Board are contradictory and that the Board does not follow the procedures that it is supposed to follow, especially those rules regarding findings of fact.. The Board, however, proceeded to act as it always does with the findings of fact. The exception was granted.

The Planning Commission approved a switch from A1 to A2 zoning for a lot in Jordan Township that will be split in two and made into a two lot subdivision. The land in question had never been farmed, and the farmer who owns the adjacent land supported the application.

Before the meeting one of the frequent attendees at these meetings told me that the South Shore Air Show will not be held at Fair Oaks Farms next year. Gary has reclaimed it. (Apparently the decision to move it out of Lake County got the people in Lake County motivated to do the things needed to keep it there.) Here is a link to an article in Times.

Late November tidbits

Landmark Realty has gone beyond painting windows in wishing the Bomber football team well in its final game of the season.

Also downtown, the law offices of Samantha Joslyn have moved from a second story office over the Jasper County Abstract Company to the building on Washington most recently occupied by Sew Many Stitches 2. 

I received a note in my e-mail a day or two ago with links to an announcement that two area buildings that have been added to the National Historic Register, one in Morocco and one in Rensselaer. The Morocco addition is the Seller's Standard Station and Pullman Diner, and the Rensselaer addition is the Oren Parker House.

Where were the people?

The annual photography show at the Fendig Gallery opened today with the awards receptions. There were not many people there. Even many of the regulars at these receptions were missing. Perhaps they were sitting in the cold at the biggest football game the high school has ever hosted, a game from which the winner goes on to play for the state championship.

Congratulations to the Bomber football team for beating an excellent and talented team from Central Catholic, 17 - 14. (I am not huge sports fan, but I did predict this game on October 13. I was not brave enough to pick a winner, though.)

Ribbon Cutting at Demotte Carpet

The Chamber of Commerce recognized the opening of the Rensselaer office of Demotte Carpet with a ribbon cutting today (Friday).

A few years ago it was usual for the November and December months to be very busy for the carpet business. People wanted to get their house in shape for relatives who might be critical of less than perfect houses, so Demotte Carpet has actually been installing carpet on Christmas Eve. In the last few years the Christmas season has been less busy. Perhaps that is because people have lost equity in their homes so home improvement loans are harder to get. In any case, if you have an Aunt Sally coming over for the holidays and you want to impress her, there is still time to give Demotte Carpet a call.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Has the cold weather gotten you into the Christmas spirit yet? The stores want you to be in the Christmas spirit. Strack and Van Til has Christmas trees for sale. Can't people wait until after Thanksgiving? Let's take one holiday at a time.

 The weather has been cold enough for Christmas. There is a fair amount of ice on the river downstream for the Talbert bridge.

Someone pointed out to me on Facebook that the reason the Detour signs had such a sort stay on SR 114 is that the CSX decided to postpone the work on the crossing until the spring. The cold weather apparently does not agree with the type of work they want to do.

There is a ribbon cutting at DeMotte Carpet tomorrow so I may get one more post done this week. It has been a while since the Chamber of Commerce has had a ribbon cutting.

Two Tuesday Meetings

On Tuesday there was a special meeting of the Park Board in the City Council Chamber. The two trustees of the Blacker Trust gave a short presentation of what they were doing and what they wanted. 

They agreed to the Park Board's recommendation that renovation of Brookside Park is where the money should be spent. The highest priority was two ball diamonds where the soccer field is now. The next priority is a multipurpose building by the new ball fields, then renovation of the restrooms. The soccer field will have a temporary location in the northwest part of the park where the JC Cruisers have their annual car show, but the final stage of the project would be to find a permanent location for the field. 

Architectural plans are being prepared and they will be detailed so that construction bids can be made from them. The plans should be available soon and there will probably be a special December Park Board meeting to review and discuss them. Financing for this project will begin with the money currently in the Blacker Trust and some money that Blacker put in another fund at the Jasper Foundation. The Board or the Trust will seek additional funding from the Jasper Foundation and the trustees then suggested that the Park Board needs to conduct a fund-raising drive to get the additional money that will be required to complete the project. This last suggestion was met with some resistance because some members of the Park Board did not think that they could or that they should be fund raisers.

Less interesting was the second meeting of the evening, the monthly County Council meeting. The Animal Control Board wanted approval to buy materials for an Eagle Scout who wants to upgrade the dog kennels at the DeMotte Police Department. Currently they are not fit to house dogs on very cold nights, so Animal Control staff has to make trips to DeMotte to transfer animals in off hours. The Council could not move on this request because it had arrived too late. However, the Council did approve using donation funds to reimburse expenses for a parade float.

There were three requests for transfer of funds. The only one that got any discussion was for the Coroner's Office and that was because the Coroner was there to update the Council on what his office was doing. The new morgue near DeMotte is in operation and 22 cases have used the new facility.

Councilman Price wanted the Council to consider at a future meeting adjustments to the business personal property tax for small businesses. He argued that the cost of complying with the tax often exceeded the amount of the tax and thought there should be a way to reduce that burden on small businesses. Councilman DeFries disagreed, saying that any reduction in business taxes would result in a greater burden on individuals. Jasper County gets about $2 million from the business personal property tax (which is a tax on equipment), but the vast majority of that is from larger businesses.

The Council had a discussion about meeting times for 2015, Usually it meets the third Tuesday of the month, but when there are conflicts, it will meet either earlier or later. 

And in other news, I notice that the detour signs on SR 114 are gone.