So far this winter—with maybe six weeks until we’re out of the woods—the Chesterton Street Department has used 775 tons of road salt, roughly 40 percent of the usual 2,000 tons spread on the town’s streets over the course of a normal season.

At the Town Council’s meeting Monday night, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg reported that, while there have been no really heavy snows, his crews have been called out a total of 13 times.

“There’ve been a lot of small snow falls so far,” Schnadenberg said. “An inch, half an inch. They add up.”

For a minor fall, he noted, crews will normally use 60 to 70 tons of salt.

Through the middle of February, the 2012-13 season appears—knock on wood—to be shaping up as a repeat of the 2011-12 season, when only 1,600 tons of road salt were spread, Schnadenberg said.

Yet even should the Town of Chesterton have need for less than that amount, it will still have to buy at least 1,600 tons, of the 2,000 tons which it’s ordered through a state purchasing program.

In other business, members voted 5-0 to take under advisement the three bids received for a new dump truck for the Street Department.

Those bids:

•$149,082, from Truck City of Gary Inc.

•$153,425, from Chicago International Trucks of Gary.

•$159,160, from JX Peterbilt of Indianapolis.

The new truck will replace a 1998 model, will be acquired through a lease-purchase agreement, and will be paid for through the Street Department’s Local Roads & Streets fund.

In related news, and on the recommendation of Member Sharon Darnell, D-4th, the council voted 5-0 to earmark the entirety, 100 percent, of the town’s share this year of the riverboat gambling tax for sidewalk replacement and repair and ADA compliance.

In past years the council has earmarked 50 percent of the town’s share for sidewalk replacement. But with the council’s recent finalization of a new federally mandated plan to retrofit municipal facilities to comply with the Americans with Disability Act, members agreed on the need to commit some funds to ADA compliance.

Meanwhile, Fire Chief Mike Orlich reported that Engine 512 is currently out of a service, after the vehicle’s charging system went on the fritz.

The system is being rebuilt, Orlich said.

By consensus, members agreed to declare February Tri Kappa Month in the Town of Chesterton.

Members also agreed to take under advisement an offer by Steve Brady of Heritage Advisory Group for “a complete analysis and thorough review” of the town’s municipal health insurance coverage.

“We would then make recommendations for long-term strategies to reduce costs and advise the town on the implementation of the changes,” Brady said.

Brady emphasized that his firm would not be competing with existing vendors and would use the town’s own historical data, not industry standards, in its review.

Posted 2/12/2013