By KEVIN NEVERS

The rising cost of gasoline has prompted the Chesterton Town Council to re-visit the municipal policy on take-home vehicles.

At the council’s meeting Monday night, members agreed by consensus to instruct department heads to compile a list of all take-home vehicles and to provide both a rationale for each of them as well as a rough estimate of the mileage put on those vehicles.

Member Dave Cincoski, R-3rd—who as a serving police officer for the town has a take-home vehicle himself—made it clear that he was abstaining from the discussion.

“I know it’s a touchy subject,” said Member Sharon Darnell, D-4th, but given spiking gas costs “maybe some of those vehicles need to stay at the departments.”

Polakowski observed that the municipal policy on take-home vehicles only provides for their use and does not specify which employees may use them or why.

Floating Holiday

In other business, members agreed by consensus that they have no interest in granting municipal employees a “floating holiday,” in lieu of raises.

Polakowski raised the issue of a floating holiday—which has been listed under Old Business on the council’s agenda for some weeks—after advising members that this year, once again, the town will not receive its 2008 budget from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance until very late in the year. That delay, she said, will make raises for employees impossible. Instead, she suggested, employees would appreciate a single vacation day, the floating holiday, which they could take whenever they wished.

Member Sharon Darnell, D-4th, said in response that the town’s health insurance program is a significant perk which the employees also appreciate, and that last summer at budget the council opted to keep the terms of that program unchanged. Employees are responsible for co-pays and deductible but the town itself does not require them to make contributions to their insurance.

The council asked Polakowski to remove the floating holiday from Old Business.

CPD

Members voted 5-0 to appropriate $2,874.94 in insurance funds to the Chesterton Police Department for repairs of a squad damaged last year when an intoxicated motorist struck it.

Meanwhile, Police Chief George Nelson said, the CPD has responded to 830 calls so far in March and to 2,753 in the year-to-date.

CFD

Members voted 5-0 to authorize Fire Chief Warren “Skip” Highwood to make a draw of $5,120 of the $20,000 earmark in CEDIT funds which the council granted the Chesterton Fire Department this year for repairs, maintenance, and new furniture. Highwood will use the draw to install new lighting in the bay.

Members also voted 5-0 to schedule a special meeting for 6 p.m. April 14 to discuss the CFD’s current and future levels of service.

So far in March, Highwood said, the CFD has responded to 51 calls and in the year-to-date 246.

South Cal Dip?

Member Emerson DeLaney asked Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg and Town Engineer Mark O’Dell to examine what appears to be a dip or shift in South Calumet Road, either on the approach to the bridge by the Barrington Bridge Apartments or in the bridge deck itself. “Something has dipped or shifted,” he said.

“It better not be the bridge deck,” O’Dell replied. “They’re not supposed to move.”

Tag Day Request

Members voted 5-0 to require Lakeshore Elites All Stars, a newly created competitive cheer program, to verify its not-for-profit status, after its director, Tiffany Orange, requested authorization to hold four tag-day events this year. Darnell noted that the not-for-profit status of nearly all the other organizations which hold annual tag days in town are not in doubt but that Lakeshore Elites All Stars is a new group. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask,” DeLaney said.

Pending receipt of that verification, members then voted 5-0 to authorize Lakeshore Elites All Stars to hold just one tag-day event, not four, on June 21-22, on the ground that other organizations may subsequently need the other weekends proposed by Orange. Member Dave Cincoski, R-3rd, emphasized that the council is “not against” Lakeshore Elites All Stars but that the other weekends need to be kept available for other community organizations.

The New Hospital

Cincoski took a moment at the end of the meeting to address the lawsuit filed by the Liberty Landowners Association challenging the Porter County Commissioners’ decision to re-zone the land eyed for a new hospital at the intersection of Ind. 49 and U.S. Highway 6 in Liberty Township. That lawsuit claims that the re-zone of the land to Institutional is not compatible with the zones of adjacent property.

Cincoski said that he is “perplexed” by the lawsuit and argued that a new hospital at that location would serve the common good.” He added that “disgruntled” property owners in the area could always sell their land and would likely find ready buyers.

Posted 3/25/2008