Porter County Highway Department crews have yanked out dead trees from a ditch and cleaned a catch basin, but still have more work to do to resolve a severe flooding problem in the Pines Estates subdivision north of the Pines Ski Lodge in Liberty Township.

On Tuesday, the Porter County Commissioners and those attending their meeting watched a video of a drive-through of the subdivision’s roads following a recent rain that dumped more than six inches of water.

The first part of the video showed little more than large puddles, but farther south, large tracts of thick mud blanketed Slalom Lane and Aspen Drive.

Commissioner President Robert Harper said he wanted to show the video because Pines Estates is just one of a number of developments in unincorporated Porter County that have been experiencing severe flooding. He said the problems have occurred largely because of the lack of proper county standards and oversight in the past, a situation that the current county plan commission has been trying to change with new regulations.

He also noted that many of the subdivisions experiencing flooding do not have regulated drains, so that there is no established funding source for the ditch maintenance.

County Highway Supervisor Al Hoagland said his department dispatched two excavators to Pines Estates and removed 17 dead trees clogging up the ditches. Work still to come will involve re-digging a drainage ditch.

In a separate matter, the commissioners gave second and final reading approval to new tree preservation standards, which will apply to certain residential areas in the unincorporated parts of the county.

The new standards will require developers of new residential or commercial sites to prepare a tree inventory and to replace native trees that are removed or destroyed as part of the construction. Instead of tree replacement, the developers could opt to make a contribution to a new county tree fund.

The new standards do not apply to areas where there are very few residences, and they do not regulate tree nurseries, projects of the county drainage board, or trees that are not considered worthy of protection.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners heard a presentation from the County Information Technologies Department for a proposal to switch the county government’s phones to the internet-based IP phone system.

The IP system would involve some hefty initial start-up costs, but the yearly maintenance fees would be considerably less. Projections show that the county could save $300,000 to $500,000 for making the switch.

North Porter County Commissioner John Evans said the County Administration Center is currently wired for the technology and that the phone switch would be phased in first with the main building, which would become the “guinea pig” for the rest of the county buildings. The initial equipment costs for the administration building are estimated at $153,000, with a yearly maintenance cost of $14,000.

The commissioners agreed that if the county does proceed with the new system, a new fund should be established through the county economic development income tax revenues to pay for the project.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with the city of Portage that would allow the county to take over the city’s 911 dispatching functions if the city opts out. A similar memorandum was approved with Valparaiso.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners authorized the DLZ consulting firm to prepare bid documents for repairs to the County Courthouse to correct a water penetration problem. The DLZ firm has concluded that the leakage is not coming from the roof, but from open joints and from loose masonry. The repairs are to be completed by Oct. 15.

Harper took issue with the fact that in 1995, the commissioners spent $4.3 million for courthouse repairs, and it’s now been determined that not all the required tuck pointing was done with that project. “It’s beyond my comprehension how that happens,” he said.

But Evans defended that project, saying that the courthouse has had some ongoing building maintenance issues, such as dampness in the building, that the 1995 project addressed. “It’s not like that money was wasted,” he said.

Posted 6/18/2009