By MARGARET L. WILLIS

In what was a long wait for little change, Burns Harbor Town Council finally approved the transfer of ownership of the town’s water system to Indiana American Water Company.

The company, with frequent staff turnover and a hesitancy to approve the contract with changes the town sought, has delayed the turnover for more than a year, sometimes with months going by between responses to town inquiries.

“Ta da,” said town attorney Robert Welsh, producing the contract.

The town’s position doesn’t change considerably, Welsh said, since the original agreement had IAWC making repairs and doing maintenance on water lines.

But the ownership of the lines, now that the town’s bond issue for construction of the lines is paid off, will now officially be by IAWC.

Council members voted unanimously in favor of the transfer, with Mike Perrine, Bernie Poparad and Richard Bolinger voting yes. President Jim McGee was absent, as was Louis Bain, who is serving active duty with the Marine Reserves in Iraq.

An agreement on shutting off water for non-payment of sewer bills is next, said Welsh.

“I don’t think it will be controversial,” he said, since other municipalities already have such agreements in place with IAWC.

In other major business, the council approved a $45,000 contract with the volunteer fire department for a year’s service.

Last month the council discussed the topic, but took no action due to budget concerns and questions about how many firefighters the contract would authorize.

With the growth in the town and four new firefighter applications on his desk, Fire Chief Bill Arney said in February he hoped for an agreement allowing anywhere from $41,000 to $45,000, or language in the contract that allows for renegotiating the funds.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Arney said of the new contract after Wednesday’s meeting.

The council also unanimously approved a Zero Tolerance Drug Policy for the fire department, something Arney has said he needed to have in place to qualify for some grants.

TIF Questions continue

Porter County’s new auditor, Jim Kopp, hopes to meet with town officials regarding previous unpaid Tax Increment Finance district taxes.

The town has hired Umbaugh and Associates to review the TIF situation and they are not yet ready with a report, Welsh told council members.

“We’ll be happy to meet with them,” once the information is gathered, said Welsh. “We need our report to compare with the county’s figures.”

Kopp is to meet with the Umbaugh representative, Welsh said.

Porter and Chesterton are “basically in the same boat,” Poparad added.

Department Reports

The recent ice storm caused problems for the Burns Harbor Street Department, as it did for all affected communities.

Superintendent Doug Wentz reported the department worked hard and ‘stayed on it,’ to keep the roads clear.

A power outage in town was caused by a tree falling across an electrical line, he said.

“We’re going around for brush now,” he added.

The Police Department handled 13 traffic accidents in February, none with personal injury. Six arrests were made, none felony. Officers issued 24 citations, along with 64 written and verbal warnings and answered 313 calls. Squad cars traveled 8,306 miles.

Arney reported that firefighters responded to 15 emergency calls and spent 174 man hours on scenes. Firefighters spent a total of 144 man hours in training and the trucks traveled 280 miles.

Building inspector Randall Lopez reported he issued five building permits, two certificates of occupancy and made nine inspections.

The council members present unanimously adopted the Park Department Salary Ordinance, setting the Park Director’s pay at $11,605 annually and the assistant director’s pay at $9 per hour. Maintenance workers will receive $9/hr; lifeguards, $8/hr.; gatekeepers, $6.50/hr. and teen help $5.25/hr.

Repairs after flooding in the town hall will cost over $2,000. The council agreed by consensus Police Chief Jerry Price and liaison Mike Perrine should work with whichever contractor they felt most comfortable with to replace drywall and carpeting damaged when an ice flow and snow leaked into the police department. Estimates ranged from $2,200 to $2,500.

Able Disposal, initially seeking an increase in the contract cost with the town, faced a possible decrease after it was learned that the number of residences stated under the contract inadvertently included businesses, which provide for their own trash pick-up.

Able has agreed to no contract increase until the town’s number of residences has exceeded the contract number for the same length of time for which the incorrect number was used.

The council adopted a Capital Assets Policy and approved an ordinance on first reading establishing a five percent franchise fee on gross revenues for Comcast Cable, to be paid to the town. The ordinance will be up for second reading at next month’s meeting.

Also under discussion next month will be a change of zoning for a 278 acre parcel adjacent to Praxair, which is up for sale. The land is north of Praxair and fronts on Boo Rd. Bolinger said he feels the land should be rezoned to residential.

Posted 3/8/2007