Phase II of the
Westchester-Liberty Trail--which will extend the eight-foot sidewalk along
1100N all the way from Rosehill Estates to the Duneland Unit of the Boys and
Girls Club--is expected to be completed sometime in September.
That’s the word
from Chesterton Town Engineer Mark O’Dell, who told the Town Council at its
meeting Monday night that INDOT has scheduled the sidewalk project to be let
in April.
Phase II of the
Westchester-Liberty Trail provides for the continuation of the sidewalk
along the north side of 1100N from Rosehill Estates to 11th Street; and then
on the south side of 1100N from 11th Street to Fifth Street.
The town has
received grants for the project totaling $1,074,394 from the Northwestern
Indiana Regional Planning Commission and a $188,230 engineering contract was
awarded to American StructurePoint Inc. in 2014.
New Dump Truck
In other business,
members voted unanimously to authorize Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg
to prepare specs for a new 1 1/2 ton dump truck, to replace a 16-year-old
Ford F-550 dump.
Schnadenberg said
that the Street Department made the final lease-purchase payment last year
on its front-end loader and noted that, as a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea
to replace fleet vehicles after 12 years of service.
The 1 1/2 tonner--one
size down from the standard dump truck--is useful for work in cul-de-sacs
and other small areas with tighter turning radii.
Thinking Spring
Meanwhile, it looks
as though the Street Department has gotten a jump on spring. “The weather
has been pretty good this year,” Schnadenberg said. “We hope it’ll continue.
Because of that weather, we’ve starting shifting gears a bit.”
Specifically, crews
have begun, or soon will begin, replacing federally non-compliant
street-name signs in some of the subdivisions on the west side of town:
Abercrombie Woods, Westwood Manor, Golfview Estates.
Under a federal
mandate, the lettering on street signs must be “reflecterized” and increased
in size from the old standard four-inches to six inches.
The Street
Department has also replaced some old and fading directional signage at a
number of town gateways. Those signs not only give turn-arrow directions for
important local sites--I-94, U.S. Highway 20, Indiana Dunes State Park, the
Indiana Toll Road, and U.S. Highway 6--but also mileages.
K-9 Kahr Retired
On Police Chief
Dave Cincoski’s recommendation, members voted unanimously to retire K-9 Kahr
into the care of his handler, Officer Erik Herbert, who has resigned from
the CPD, effective March 2, after accepting a position with a PD in Lake
County.
Herbert’s new
employer is not interested in purchasing Kahr and, in any case, Kahr, a
German shepherd, is 7 years old and nearing the end of his effective service
life, Cincoski said. “To the town the dog is property,” noted Member Jim
Ton, R-1st. “But to the dog and the handler it’s much deeper than that. It’s
the humane thing to do. Say good-bye to Kahr for us and give his handler our
best wishes.”
Dogwood Playground
Park Superintendent
Bruce Mathias took a moment to thank Schnadenberg for the Street
Department’s help in stripping the old playground equipment out of Dogwood
Park and disposing of it. A Street Department crew also helped remove the
old mulch from the site and transport it to the compost site in Crocker.
The Park Department
has purchased new playground apparatus for Dogwood Park and is currently
seeking quotes for its installation.
Member Nate Cobbs,
R-4th, also took a moment to thank Mathias’ executive assistant, Hillary
Peterson, for her excellent work in managing the Park Department’s Facebook
page and responding to messages and requests for information from residents.
“People are very
excited about the bond projects,” Cobbs said. “Bruce and (Town Engineer Mark
O’Dell) have been doing a great job facilitating those projects. And I’m
sure I don’t know the half of it.”