By KEVIN NEVERS

If motorists think it’s taking longer than it should to complete the paving of Broadway between Eighth Street and 19th Street—longer too to cap the road cut on Porter Ave. between Fifth Street and Eighth Street, where a force main was replaced—they’re right.

As Chesterton Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told the Town Council at its meeting Monday night, Broadway was milled on July 18 and was supposed to be paved on July 23. “But that didn’t happen,” he said, after contractor Walsh & Kelly Inc. of Griffith developed a scheduling conflict.

Walsh & Kelly made three other dates to complete the work, Schnadenberg noted, but was unable to keep them. Finally, on Saturday, a crew applied binder to Broadway as far west as 15th Street and to the Porter Ave. road cut, but large swathes of street remain in the milled stage and it’s anybody’s guess when the whole of the project will be done. “We have no idea when they’re coming back,” Schnadenberg said.

The basic problem for Walsh & Kelly is that it’s mid-summer and the contractor has a lot of jobs on its plate, including INDOT jobs, Schnadenberg said, which if it fails to complete by set deadlines will end up costing it money in penalties.

The basic problem for the town, not to mention the inconvenience to motorists, is that when Walsh & Kelly gives him a date, Schnadenberg has to make arrangements for traffic control and that means mustering extra police officers and that means overtime. “Then it doesn’t happen.”

Walsh & Kelly is generally reliable, Schnadenberg hastened to add. “We’ve typically not had any problem with them,” he said. “The quality of their work is good. I just think that in the future we’re going to have to put into the specs that if a road is milled it has to be re-paved in a certain number of days.”

South Calumet Business District

Meanwhile, Town Engineer Mark O’Dell informed members that work on Phase I of the South Calumet Business District is set to begin this week, with the installation of a stormsewer link to an existing detention basin on Beverly Drive. The crew is only waiting for the delivery of material to begin, he said.

Phase I consists chiefly of that stormsewer link, the construction of a connector road between 100E and South Calumet Road, to be aligned with the entrance to Round the Clock; and the construction of the intersection of 100E and Beverly Drive Extended.

O’Dell told the Chesterton Tribune after the meeting that it will likely be a few weeks before the project requires the temporary closures of any roads in the Business District.

Town Manager

In other business, members voted 5-0 to approve on final reading an ordinance which formally defines the duties and purview of a Chesterton town manager.

Of note, that ordinance grants the town manager the authority to hire and fire municipal employees, consistent with state statute and on the recommendation of the particular department head. In practice, however, Indiana Code governs most of the hiring and firing done by a municipality. Thus the Metropolitan Police Commission is charged with hiring and firing police officers, the Utility with that of its own employees, and so on.

The ordinance also grants the town manager the authority to “supervise and coordinate the operations of all Chesterton town departments. Personnel matters involving department heads are to be determined by the Town Council, with the advice of the town manager.”

This ordinance is a beefed up version of a previous job description drafted by the consensus of the council. That job description specifically did not grant a town manager either hiring and firing authority or supervisory authority.

The ordinance was approved on first reading at the council last meeting by a vote of 3-0. Absent from that meeting were members Dave Cincoski, R-3rd, and Sharon Darnell, D-4th, and it takes the presence of at least four members to suspend the rules and approve an ordinance at the same meeting at which it is introduced.

CPD

So far in July the Chesterton Police Department has responded to 1,118 calls and in the year-to-date to 7,546 calls, Police Chief George Nelson told the council.

CFD

So far in July the Chesterton Fire Department has responded to 94 calls and in the year-to-date to 634 calls, Fire Chief Warren “Skip” Highwood told the council. An engine remains out of service, he added.

Budget Dates

The 2009 budget will be published the first time on Sept. 2 and the second time on Sept. 9. A public hearing on the 2009 budget will be held at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, and it is scheduled for delivery to Porter County on Sept. 15. The council will officially adopt the budget at it regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Sept. 22.

Posted 7/29/2008