By PAULENE POPARAD

By consensus Tuesday the Porter Town Council approved making application for a state revolving fund (SRF) grant or low-interest loan to secure money needed to upgrade its sanitary sewer collection system, which is the subject of a pending Indiana Department of Environmental Management enforcement action.

IDEM has sent a proposed agreed order, one that would require the town to establish a timetable and financing plan for making mandated sewer improvements. A major project will be rebuilding the Porter Avenue lift station.

According to town attorney Patrick Lyp, “These are things that have to be done. These are public health, safety and welfare.” Added council President Bill Sexton, “Knowing what needs to be done, it will take additional funds we don’t have.”

No dollar amount as yet is tied to the sewer projects, but Sexton said if the town doesn’t make a preliminary SRF application, it will miss this year’s funding cycle. Town financial consultant Karl Cender also has been asked to research ways to pay for the sewer upgrades.

Town engineer Hesham Khalil said not all allegations IDEM is making are true so some negotiation is necessary. Lyp said a settlement conference will be scheduled.

Beverly Shores used SRF funds to install a municipal water supply system after some town wells ran dry and concerns arose over the quality of the groundwater. Khalil said SRF loans are based on demonstrated need and interest rates can be as low as 1.5 to 2 percent.

Porter’s agreement with Chesterton for sewage treatment at the latter’s plant also requires Porter to make sewer improvements.

In late March, Chesterton notified Porter that records indicated it had exceeded on certain days for three consecutive months its allotted 683,000 gallons-per-day sewage capacity; Porter didn’t publicly address the matter until May 22 saying an equipment malfunction, not true exceedences, may be to blame.

Last night, Khalil and Porter Public Works superintendent Karl Bauer said that was the case. Debris was found to be stuck in a line at the Porter Cove lift station that was backing the wastewater up causing the meter to give a false reading. Meters at other lift stations also are being checked and a monitoring system is being tested.

Khalil said he’s calculating a corrective factor for the previous Porter Cove meter error. Sexton noted Porter overpaid Chesterton for treatment that did not take place. For a brief time Porter was under a building-permit moratorium if the permit required a sanitary sewer connection; the Chesterton Utility Board will revisit the matter in three months.

In related sewer news, Khalil said video televising has revealed chunks of concrete found inside a sanitary sewer on Woodlawn Avenue. The section will need to be excavated and he’s waiting for an estimate for the work.

Also Tuesday, the Porter Redevelopment Commission heard Khalil report that bids for relining the Beam Street sanitary sewer all came in higher than the engineer’s $399,832 estimate. Bidding were LGS Plumbing of Crown Point at $554,463; Woodruff & Sons of Michigan City at $483,908; and HRP Construction of South Bend at $496,835.

“We’re back at the drawing board trying to reduce the cost,” said the engineer. One way may be to bid the road paving separately, or eliminating new laterals from the 15-inch sewer line in the street to the right-of-way line.

Road paving OK’d

A list of 2007 paving projects got the green light. Unanimously accepted was the low bid of Reith-Riley Inc. at $192,294. Walsh & Kelly was the only other bidder.

Reith-Riley’s bid includes $31,311 in alternates to seal, pave and/or reconstruct portions of Marquette Street, Mineral Springs Road, Johnson Street and Parc Aux Vaches in Baillytown; the latter also will add road shoulders. The streets to be improved under the $160,983 base bid are all of Wood Street and portions of Wagner Road, Lincoln Street, Porter Avenue and Tremont Road.

The council had budgeted $200,000 for road projects including $30,000 in unused 2006 street funds that will need to be appropriated. But Clerk-treasurer Carol Pomeroy said that can’t be done until the 2007 budget is approved by state tax officials.

On Councilwoman Sandi Snyder’s motion it was agreed to borrow from Porter’s Major Moves road money until the appropriation is allowed. Said Snyder, “We have folks paying their taxes and they need to see something.” Councilwoman Jennifer Granat said if the roads aren’t repaired now, doing so will only get more expensive in the future.

Operating loan OK’d

Pomeroy reported that earlier in the evening the Redevelopment Commission voted 5-0 loaning the Town Council $480,000 to finance operating expenses through September. The money must be repaid by year’s end.

Local government units have been forced to make inter-fund loans or secure tax-anticipation warrants while awaiting Porter County to send out the 2007 property tax bills. Pomeroy said Porter received its final 2006 tax payment in March of this year and it now appears that the spring and fall 2007 distributions will be combined and won’t be received until September at the earliest.

Redevelopment Commission treasurer Paul Childress said with pending projects of its own, that board may not be able to loan the Town Council more funds as the need arises after September.

Despite the overall uncertainty, the council set a 2008 budget workshop for July 11 at 6 p.m. at the town hall. “How are we going to do that when they haven’t approved 2007?” asked Granat.

Posted 6/27/2007