West Porter Ave. between South Calumet Road and Fifth Street will not be ripped up this year to replace the 16-inch force main discovered last year to have prematurely rotted.

Which may come as some relief to Duneland motorists wearied by the detours this summer and fall through and around the construction sites along East Porter Ave. and the South Calumet District.

At its meeting Monday night, the Chesterton Utility Service Board voted 5-0 to re-bid the project early in 2010, with bids to be opened in February and the contract awarded in March.

The Service Board had hoped to prosecute the replacement of the force main this fall, Associate Town Attorney Chuck Parkinson told the Chesterton Tribune after the meeting, but it’s getting late in the year and uncertainties about the weather—and memories of last year’s early November snowfall—prompted members to postpone the project.

For now, O’Dell told members, contractor Woodruff & Son will temporarily link the new 20-inch force main constructed beneath East Porter Ave.—as part of the Dickinson Road lift station upgrade—to a gravity main running from South Calumet Road to Eighth Street.

Last summer the emergence of a sinkhole at Eighth Street and West Porter Ave. led to the discovery that the ductile iron force main running from the Dickinson Road lift station had rusted virtually to shreds from South Calumet Road to Eighth Street. The force main was replaced between Fifth and Eighth streets but not between South Calumet Road and Fifth Street.

Members did voice their happiness with the work Woodruff & Son has done on the Dickinson Road lift station upgrade. “I’m really impressed with the job they did,” Member Andy Michel said. “Everything was kept so clean.”

“Woodruff did do a good job,” Member John Schnadenberg agreed. “They cleaned up everything after they were done for the day and never touched the westbound lane of East Porter Ave.”

Member Jim Raffin did thank the residents of Morgan Park for their patience while traffic was detoured through their neighborhood.

In other business, President Larry Brandt announced that he is scheduled to meet with a professional search organization early in November to discuss the possibility of retaining its services to recruit a new superintendent.

James Chris Shank lasted exactly nine days in the position before resigning for personal reasons on Aug. 25. Town Engineer Mark O’Dell was named—again—interim superintendent.

Meanwhile, the Utility is currently putting to work some of the $5.1 million in proceeds from the sewer revenue bond issued earlier this year, in a number of repairs and upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant.

One notable acquisition, for $50,000: a pair of portable generators to be used to power lift stations in emergencies.

The Service Board voted 5-0 to authorize the purchase of those generators, after O’Dell noted that—had the Aug. 19 tornado left the town juiceless for much longer than it did—“there would have been backups” in basements, as the lift stations dead in the water had become overwhelmed.

The Utility currently has one portable generator capable of running the town’s 31 lift stations.

O’Dell told the Service Board that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently reviewing plans for the re-lining of the 18-inch gravity main along West Porter Ave. That project should go to bid in mid-November, he said.

The project is being funded partially with a $300,000 federal earmark secured by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st. The Utility is matching that amount with $100,000 in additional funding. The Service Board also authorized an expenditure of not more than $54,600 to retain the services of SEH Inc., a consultant, to shepherd the Utility through the Army Corps’ review.

The Utility’s lab has been recognized for its successful evaluation in a recent proficiency testing program.

“Good job again by the lab,” Brandt said.

In September Chesterton used 42.89 percent of its 3,752,000 gallon per day (GPD) allotment at the wastewater treatment plant; Porter, 52.01 percent of its 767,000 gpd allotment; the Indian Boundary Conservancy District, 60.43 percent of its 81,000 gpd allotment; and the plant as a whole, 45.04 percent of its capacity.

In the driest month of the year to date—only .33 inches of rain reported at the plant—the Utility reported no bypasses last month.

In September the Utility ran a surplus of $214,091 and in the year-to-date is running a deficit of $42,531.

Member Scot McCord took a moment at the end of the meeting to express his condolences to the family of Helen Anton of Dunes Acres, who died Monday at the age of 92.

In a note to the Service Board, Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski thanked members for the flowers as she continues to recover from a recent surgery.

Posted 10/21/2009