The Chesterton Stormwater Utility is looking to be the owner of a brand-new street sweeper.

At its meeting Monday night, the Stormwater Management Board voted 3-0 to authorize Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg to go out to bid for the sweeper, with the bids to be opened at the board’s next meeting, May 18.

Schnadenberg has estimated the cost of the sweeper at $135,000 and had originally asked the board at its last meeting to consider splitting a five-year lease-purchase agreement with the Street Department, with the Stormwater Utility making the first two annual payments and the Street Department, probably from its Local Roads & Streets budget, making the final three. Schnadenberg noted at the time that the 13-year-old sweeper now in his fleet is unable to sweep more than half the town in the space of a year, and added that street sweeping is an MS4 mandate.

The board took no action at that meeting, but at the Town Council’s last meeting in March the suggestion was strongly made that, in fact, the Stormwater Utility really ought to bear the entire cost of acquiring a new sweeper.

President Thomas Kopko did broach the possibility of paying for the sweeper with cash on the barrel, rather than spending an estimated $13,000 to $17,500 in accumulated interest under a lease-purchase. “The cash is available,” he said, “and I would rather pay up front for the whole thing and save the interest and use those funds for other projects.”

The board agreed to consider Kopko’s suggestion after the bids are opened.

In other business, MS4 Operator Jennifer Gadzalla gave members an update on a number of projects in the works to increase awareness about stormwater quality.

At their last meeting, members voted unanimously to earmark $4,000 to help Gadzalla get the message out that most litter and ground waste end up in our local creeks and rivers and are a significant source of stormwater pollution.

The projects so far:

*A booth has been reserved at no charge to the Stormwater Utility at the Bark in the Park event, sponsored by the Duneland Business Initiative Group, on Saturday, July 11, at Thomas Centennial Park. Staff is working with graphics designers on a logo--suitable for all MS4 projects--to be placed on baggy dispensers to be used for cleaning up after dogs and to be made available to festival attendees.

*A flyer has been created to announce a contest in local schools for the best design for signage to be installed along select roads and bridges alerting residents to the nearby flow of a watershed or water body.

*Staff is working with a local Boy Scout troop to stencil storm drains at select locations in town with a message to the effect that everything entering the drain flows into a receiving water. In May the Stormwater Utility will solicit volunteers to continue the stenciling project throughout the summer.

*The Stormwater Utility and Chesterton Middle School teacher Sam Hayes will begin next week a special water quality unit. That unit will include a field trip on May 21 to the wastewater treatment plant, the Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy, and Coffee Creek Park. On June 1 Gadzalla and Hayes will make a brief presentation to the Duneland School Board. A grant from the Lake Michigan Coastal Program will pay for lab supplies.

*The Adopt-a-Beach Cleanup for Coffee Creek Park has been scheduled for 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, to coincide with International Coast and Beach Cleanup Day. The Alliance for the Great Lakes is supplying all equipment and Gadzalla is hoping that some local eatery will donate snacks and refreshments for the event.

Schnadenberg told the board that the drainage ditch behind the Western Acres subdivision flowing into the Peterson Ditch has been cleaned as far north as the Town of Porter’s corporate boundary. He did say that some lawn restoration remains to be done.

Schnadenberg also said that he will be in contact with the Town of Porter about its doing some cleaning of the ditch in its jurisdiction, as some blockages north of the border could affect flow south of the border.

The Stormwater Utility ran a deficit of $11,436 in March and in the year-to-date is running a deficit of $14,016.

Posted 4/21/2009