The dead of winter is a strange time for infrastructure projects but Indiana-American Water Company (IAWC) will begin one anyway on South Jackson Blvd. in the next two weeks.

As Chesterton Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told the Town Council at its meeting Monday night, IAWC will be replacing a frequently failing 4-inch line with an 8-inch line along South Jackson Blvd. between West Morgan Ave. and West Porter Ave.

The project will not entail road cuts, Schnadenberg said, as the water line is located in an easement off the street.

IAWC will be responsible for notifying residents of the construction schedule.

In other news from the Street Department, Schnadenberg told the council that the Fifth Street sidewalk project should be ready for bidding in February.

That sidewalk will be installed along the west side of Fifth Street between 1100N and Hunters Court at an estimated cost of $75,000 in CEDIT funds.

Meanwhile, Interim Utility Superintendent Mark O’Dell reported that the Utility Service Board now has a short list of five candidates plus one alternate and is working to schedule interviews with them.

Five persons have applied for the seat on the Police Commission vacated earlier this month by Steve Brickner’s resignation, Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski reported.

The council indicated its desire to interview the five as soon as possible and seat a candidate so that a full three-member commission can begin seeking a replacement for Police Chief George Nelson, who will step down from that position as soon as the commission taps a successor.

Members voted 5-0 to approve a contract with the Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute under which LBJI will extend discounts to municipal employees so long as the town pays promptly.

LBJI left the PPO network in November 2009 and as a result the costs incurred by both the town and employees who use it services have increased. As Mike Anton of Anton Insurance Agency explained, employees will now be treated as though they are in network.

LBJI is “very happy to provide this arrangement to the town,” Anton said. “It’s an arrangement they would extend to a public entity only.”

Members also voted 5-0 to authorize department heads to use funds from their budgets to pay the annual dues to the professional organizations to which they belong. Such organizations include the Indiana Street Commissoners Association, the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association, the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, and the American Society of Professional Engineers.

The list of organizations submitted to the council was slimmed considerably compared to that in past years, after Member Jeff Trout, R-2nd, asked department heads at the council’s last meeting to review the list and discontinue their memberships in any organizations for which they were not receiving full value.

Members voted 5-0 as well to authorize Fire Chief Mike Orlich to use $2,585 from the department’s training budget to send three firefighters to a conference in Indianapolis in April.

The annual week-long event, always held in Indianapolis, is the country’s largest fire instructors conference, Orlich said.

In response to a query from the Utility Service Board, Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann said that he would confer with Building Commissioner Dave Novak about the drafting of an ordinance or ordinances under which builders in arrears on sanitary sewer fees would be forced to pay the balance before they may renew their annual contractor’s license or apply for a building permit.

By consensus members authorized the Ladies Auxiliary of Chesterton American Legion Post 170 to hold its annual Poppy Days on May 7-8.

At Town Manager Bernie Doyle’s recommendation, members agreed to table until their next meeting, Feb. 8, his request to put his administrative assistant on full-time status, from her current 31 hours per week to 32. The assistant would not receive a raise but Polakowski has estimated that her full-time status could cost the town between $15,000 and $20,000 in benefits and PERF.

Engine 512 is technically out of service, Orlich reported, but could be used in a pinch.

The Chesterton Police Department has responded to 523 calls so far in January, Nelson reported.