At its meeting
Monday night, the Town Council voted 4-0 to pass on first reading an
ordinance which prohibits both the building of new combined sewers and the
extending of old ones, 4-0 to suspend the rules, then 4-0 to pass the
ordinance on final reading. Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th, was not in
attendance.
Combined sanitary
and stormwater sewers, installed years and years ago, are the reason why,
during heavy rains, the Chesterton utility’s wastewater treatment plant is
often forced to dump raw sewage into the Little Calumet River: because the
plant is unable to cope with the sheer volume of runoff which flows into the
plant along with wastewater.
The ordinance came
to the council unanimously endorsed by both the Stormwater Management Board
and the Utility Service Board. Adoption of such an ordinance is a condition
for the renewal of the Utility’s five-year National Pollution Discharge
Elimination Permit,
Assistant Fire
Chief’s Vehicle
In other business,
members voted 4-0 to approve the acquisition of a new vehicle to be used by
the Fire Department’s assistant chief: a 2015 Dodge Durango from Connors
Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Chesterton, at a cost of $28,464.
Fire Chief John
Jarka recommended the outright purchase of the Durango, as opposed to a
lease-purchase contract, after being assured by Clerk-Treasurer Stephanie
Kuziela that sufficient funds are available in Cumulative Capital
Development, a fund with a dedicated property-tax rate used exclusively for
the acquisition of emergency vehicles.
The Durango will
replace the 2003 Chevrolet Suburban currently used by the CFD assistant
chief, after it was removed from emergency response due to corrosion in the
brake, fuel, and transmission lines.
Water Tower Lease
Meanwhile, members
also voted 4-0 to approve a lease agreement between the Utility and
Indiana-American Water Company (IAWC), under which the Utility would pay
IAWC $100 per month for the use of the water tower immediately east of the
CFD station.
The Utility plans
to erect a six-foot antenna at the top of the water tower, to be used to
communicate remotely with a number of high-priority lift stations in town,
including the new one south of the Indiana Toll Road serving the Ind. 49
corridor, as well as the Dickinson Road, KAT, Westwood Manor, and Grant Ave.
stations.
Town Engineer Mark
O’Dell said that the Utility’s SCADA system should be able both to
remote-operate and remote-monitor those lift stations, thanks to the IAWC
lease agreement and antenna.