Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Newly hired Chesterton Utility Superintendent Robert Lovell’s first day on the job will by Sunday, Aug. 1, Town Engineer (and Interim Superintendent) Mark O’Dell announced at the Town Council’s meeting Monday night.

Lovell will earn $66,000 per year, with a $2,000 increase on his receiving his Class III certification and another $2,000 increase on receiving his Class IV certification, Utility Service Board President Larry Brandt told the Chesterton Tribune last week.

Lovell is “moving up this weekend,” O’Dell said, and has been getting regular briefings, especially on the ongoing and upcoming bond projects.

Lovell is replacing Pat Geisendorfer, who resigned on May 21, after a tenure of around seven weeks, to take a post in Iowa. Geisendorfer in turn replaced James Chris Shank, who resigned on Aug. 25, 2009, after a tenure of nine days, “for personal reasons.” And Shank replaced Steve Yagelski, who resigned early in 2009.

Member Jim Ton, R-1st, took a moment to thank O’Dell for serving as interim superintendent, on top of his duties as town engineer, not once but three times. “We appreciate your going over and above the call of duty,” he said.

In other business, members voted 4-0 to waive the normal Board of Zoning Appeals filing fee, as WiseWay Foods, the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County (RWRDPC), and Able Disposal prepare to petition the BZA for a variance permitting the location of a new recycling site on the property of WiseWay Foods at 1600 Pioneer Trail.

Member Sharon Darnell, D-4th, was not in attendance.

The site would be located specifically on the east side of WiseWay and on the north side of the parking lot and would not be visible from Ind. 49, said President Jeff Trout, R-2nd. RWRDPC Executive Director Therese Davis added that the site would be concealed behind a vinyl fence, paid for by the RWRDPC.

The recycling containers would be smaller, Davis noted, but would be emptied more frequently.

The RWRDPC has been seeking a new site for the recycling containers after losing their last one near the old location of the Duneland Resale Shop on Broadway.

Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann said that the petition could go before the BZA as early as August, once the required paperwork is filed.

Meanwhile, Town Manager Bernie Doyle described a recent meeting with NIPSCO officials about communication problems as a “fruitful session.”

On the agenda were three principal issues, Doyle said: outages at the wastewater treatment plant during storm events; a downed power line on North Calumet Road, by the Port Drive-Inn, which lay unattended for a day and a half following the June 24 storm; and coordination with the Utility during the Downtown sanitary sewer replacement and separation project.

Doyle noted that NIPSCO came to the town, wanting to know how it could do better, and that the session was not in any way intended to be a blame-game thing. NIPSCO said that the North Calumet power line “should have been red-flagged” but wasn’t, Doyle reported, and provided new contact information for town officials during storm events.

“We’re very, very satisfied with the discussion,” Doyle concluded.

On the subject of NIPSCO, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told members that he was pleased by NIPSCO’s prompt response to his report of non-functioning traffic signals at the intersection of Indian Boundary Road and Council Drive. “They were there in 30 minutes,” he said.

On Schnadenberg’s recommendation, members voted 4-0 to make available $3,000 in CEDIT funds for the installation of a retaining wall—about the size of a curb—to compensate for the high grade of yards along half a block on the west side of Fifth Street, where the new sidewalk is being installed from 1100N to Hunters Court.

Schnadenberg said that the contractor, Chicago Concrete and Construction Company of Orland Park, Ill., is doing a great job, is pouring very quickly, and has completed about 80 percent of the job. The firm low bid the project at $70,843.75.

Schnadenberg also reported that he has contacted the Indiana Department of Transportation about eight non-functioning streetlights in its right-of-way at the intersection of Ind. 49 and Indian Boundary Road. “It’s very dark there” at night, he said. INDOT has said that the lights should be restored within the next 24 to 48 hours.

On Police Chief Dave Cincoski’s request, members voted 4-0 to authorize him to apply for a non-match grant from NiSource for a grant of a couple of thousand dollars for the department’s K-9 program.

　Posted 7/27/2010