Burns Harbor building inspector Randall Lopez now will be paid $15 per hour as a part-time code enforcement officer, the Town Council agreed Wednesday.

Lopez also will receive reimbursement for town-related calls he makes/receives on his personal cell phone but only for the minutes he goes over his personal plan.

Building commissioner Bill Arney said he needs someone to help investigate zoning complaints and do other tasks related to code enforcement. Arney is also town fire chief and head of the Sanitation Department. He said Lopez’s additional salary will come from money raised through building-permit fees; he now is paid $35 per inspection as part-time building inspector.

There was extended discussion how to reimburse Lopez for his phone charges. Full-time employees get a flat $60 per month phone allowance and council member Toni Biancardi said she’d lean toward a $30 allowance for Lopez.

Residents Phyllis Constantine and Richard Hummel said Lopez shouldn’t have to donate his free phone minutes to the town. “Just because they’re free doesn’t mean he isn’t paying for them,” Constantine said.

Councilman Mike Perrine, Building Department liaison, said a flat $30 might not be enough and the overage reimbursement could work to Lopez’s benefit. Vote was 3-0 to approve the latter with members Jim McGee and Louis Bain absent. Clerk-treasurer Jane Jordan said Lopez will have to provide documentation the phone calls are town-related.

Wearing his santitation superintendent hat, Arney asked residents not to flush diaper wipes or cleaning wipes down drains into town sanitary sewers. Although sometimes advertised as flushable, he said the wipes are clogging lift-station equipment resulting in a lot of overtime hours for himself and Street Department employees.

Perrine thanked Arney, street superintendent Randy Skalku and employee Pat Melton for moving generators around during a recent power outage to avoid lift-station overflows.

As fire chief Arney reported 19 fire calls in June resulting in almost 23 hours on emergency response. Firefighters spent 161 hours in training and 288 hours in on-call duty at the fire station for a total 449 man-hours devoted to fire service. He noted the department is planning fundraisers and will receive over $8,000 as a Department of Natural Resources grant (the Fire Department will pay a 10 percent match) to fund the purchase of radios and pagers.

The Fire Department will sponsor a team in the upcoming Relay for Life cancer walk and host a meeting next week of the Fire Chiefs Association, added Arney.

Police chief Jerry Price reported there were six vehicle accidents in June, four of them property damage and two resulting in personal injury. There were 13 arrests, 10 for misdemeanors and three felonies. Officers wrote 139 citations and 168 written and verbal warnings. Police vehicles traveled 7,637 miles. He also said new portable radios, a lasar radar unit and money for anti-aggressive-driving enforcement all will be funded with a Substance Abuse Council grant.

During a Park Department report liaison Biancardi said the new Lakeland Park fountain, funded with a grant award, has been installed in Harbor Lake. It will be operational from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and lighted from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. A new entrance sign has been installed at Lakeland as well.

Biancardi also said about 50 to 60 children are attending the summer park day camp, and residents are asked to report any suspicious circumstances following recent vandalism at Lakeland. Surveillance there has been upgraded.

By unanimous vote the council approved donating $100 to the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce for its Party in the Park event.

The council effectively said thanks but no thanks to an offer from American Tower Corp. to purchase outright for $127,000 property behind the town hall now leased by ATC for its cellular communications tower. The town receives approximately $11,000 annually for the lease, the money used to award educational scholarships to eligible residents. Perrine said a lump-sum $127,000 payment might negatively impact the town’s budget.

Jordan said a summer intern is assisting her scan past board minutes for data storage with some minutes like the Board of Zoning Appeals spanning 42 years.

Posted 7/16/2010