The Chesterton Town Council has approved a new road cut near the CHS football stadium for the exclusive use of EMS and maintenance personnel.

At their meeting Monday night, members voted 5-0 to waive the Town Standard limiting the number of road cuts per parcel of property.

The request for the road cut was made by Greg Lindy, director of sports services for the Duneland School Corporation, who told the council that the road cut would be located on the north side of the Chesterton High School football stadium and that it would be fenced. “It would just be used for emergency vehicles and maintenance of the facility,” Lindy said, and not for access to the parking lot.

Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg, for his part, said that the proposed road cut would not present any line-of-sight issues and would be located several hundred feet from the intersection of 11th Street and 1100N.

Town Engineer Mark O’Dell did say that staff wants the road cut to be “nice and clean” and is insisting that the fence be installed on the far side of the sidewalk.

In other business, members voted 5-0 to approve a contract with Gerometta & Kinel for the design of a proposed restroom facility for Thomas Centennial Park in the Downtown.

The total cost of the contract: $15,500. Of that, $3,000 would cover the initial design phase, in which architect Dave Kinel will provide preliminary drawings; $8,500, the actual construction drawings which must be approved by the Indiana Building Commissioner and will be used for bidding purposes; and $4,000 for bidding and construction services.

O’Dell said that it’s unlikely that the town will need to spend anywhere near the $4,000 for the final phase, as the bidding will be done in-house and the construction supervised by staff.

O’Dell did say that a heated concrete floor will be part of the specs, so that the restroom can be used in the winter—during Santa’s House, for instance, or the Twilight Christmas Parade—without having to shut off the water.

At the suggestion of Member Sharon Darnell, D-4th, the council voted 5-0 to reserve 50 percent of the town’s share this year of casino tax revenues for sidewalk repair and replacement.

The council also voted 5-0 to pay department heads’ membership dues to the 42 professional organizations to which they collectively belong.

Those organizations include the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association, the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, the Indiana Park and Recreation Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Indiana Association of Floodplain and Stormwater Management.

Although the council has been paying the membership dues for years—for as long as Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski can remember—at Monday’s meeting Member Jim Ton, R-1st, quibbled a bit, wondering how much the dues total.

Polakowski was unable to give a firm answer, as the dues are due at different times throughout the year. She did promise to provide Ton with an ongoing tally as she receives the claims.

Posted 1/29/2013