Although Chester Inc.’s design for a Town of Chesterton municipal building was rejected when the firm submitted it as a proposal for the future of the former United Tractor facility at 116 N. 15th St., that doesn’t mean the design was a bad one.

In fact Town of Chesterton department heads rather liked the design a lot.

Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann has accordingly been authorized to approach Chester about the possibility of the firm’s providing the architectural design only for a brand-new building, now that the decision has been made to raze the old one to the ground and start fresh.

Once a design has been provided, it will be bid out.

Lukmann did discuss the possibility of a design-build option, under which the same firm would design and construct the new building, but department heads agreed that the statutory bureaucracy involved would be “mind-boggling,” as Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg put it at Monday night’s Town Council meeting.

Town Engineer Mark O’Dell and Building Commissioner Dave Novak both expressed their satisfaction with Chester’s design.

It was decided to construct an entirely new building at the 2.95-acre site after it became clear that the cost to build a new facility would be less than that to re-model the old one.

The building will become the home for the town’s engineering, stormwater management, and economic development functions and will also be used for the storage of equipment and vehicles belonging to the Utility and Street Department not currently in season use.

Right now the Utility’s laboratory is occupying the building.

In other business, Schnadenberg floated the idea of acquiring, for the 2010-11 winter season, a salt-brine machine and additional equipment.

Salt-brine, when spread over streets and bridges in advance of a forecast snow, actually prevents roadways from icing up; while, when spread just prior to the application of salt over ice, accelerates the melting process.

When, a couple of years ago, the representative of a salt-brine manufacturer made his pitch to the Street Department, he quoted a price of $41,495 for the machine itself and another $15,000 to $18,000 for the ancillary equipment like tanks and pumps. Now, however, the whole package can be purchased for under $40,000, with more manufacturers of salt-brine technology entering the market, Schnadenberg said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Dave Cincoski of the Chesterton Police Department took a moment to express his gratitude to the Porter County Drug Task Force for its recent operations in the Town of Chesterton.

On Nov. 2, following a Drug Task Force undercover and surveillance operation, Joseph Draus, 32, of 1512 Westchester Ave. was arrested on charges of dealing heroin to a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor; manufacturing/cultivating marijuana; and possession of paraphernalia.

Then, on Nov. 5, Aaron Lee Smith, 37, of Michigan City, was arrested on a two-count charge of dealing cocaine. Lt. Jeff Biggs of the Drug Task Force said that Smith had been observed visiting Draus during the surveillance of Draus’ residence.

Cincoski noted that the CPD receives “a lot of complaints” but that there are only so many officers and so many hours in the day and never enough manpower or time to investigate every tip. Of the Drug Task Force’s undercover agents, he added, “You never know who’s out there, whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy.”

So far in November the CPD has responded to 258 calls and in the year-to-date to 10,024 calls, Police Chief George Nelson reported.

The Chesterton Fire Department has essentially completed its fire prevention and safety education program begun in November, Fire Chief Mike Orlich reported.

A total of 538 children and 166 adults participated in 20 programs and the Saturday morning open house and a total of 240 man-hours were devoted to fire prevention, Orlich said.

For his part O’Dell reported his participation in a recent job fair at Chesterton Middle School, where he explained to seventh-graders what a municipal engineer does all day.

“It was a lot of fun,” O’Dell said.