At the risk of
sounding like “a broken record,” Laurie Franke-Polz appeared before the
Porter Town Council at its meeting Tuesday night to put to members the same
question she’s asked on previous occasions: When will the streets in
Duneland Forest--one of the town’s old subdivisions--be re-paved?
As it happens,
Building Commissioner Michael Barry was happy to report, they’ll be
re-surfaced this year.
Except, he added,
for Ash, Birch, and Cedar streets. These three have not yet been listed on
INDOT’s approved road inventory. Once they are, they’ll get a new asphalt
job as well.
Franke-Polz also
wanted to know when the town is going to do something about the stormwater
situation at the corner of Knoelke Drive and Waverly Road, where uncleared
ditches filled with runoff from U.S. Highway 20 are overflowing and flooding
the area.
Barry replied that
the town’s engineer is looking at the stormwater problem at that
intersection.
Finally,
Franke-Polz wondered when action will be taken on the fire-damaged house on
Knoelke Drive.
Barry said that he
expects the homeowner to pull a permit for restoration very soon. “It’s been
a long, painful process,” he acknowledged. “I get three calls about that
every week.”
Fire Engine Change
Order
In other business,
and on Fire Chief Jay Craig’s recommendation, members voted unanimously to
approve Change Order A for the Fire Department’s new fire engine, being
manufactured by Alexis Fire Equipment.
That change order
increases the total contract price of the engine by $11,416. The new
contract price: $549,445, which still falls just short of the $550,000
budgeted for the vehicle, Craig told the council.
The change order
reflects the installation of better lighting technology and mountings for
extrication equipment, among other things, Craig said.
The engine is being
financed through a $500,000 bond, with the balance of $50,000 coming from
the FD’s budget. Craig said that he anticipates only one other expense down
the road, after the FD has taken delivery of the engine, at which time
radios will need to be installed in it. That expense will be paid with FD
funds on hand and the installation done locally.
Quotes on Public
Works Trucks
Meanwhile, the
council authorized Brenda Brueckheimer, Public Works Supervisor to go out
for quotes on two new Ford F-250 crew trucks, to replace two 2011 models in
her fleet.
Brueckheimer noted
that repairs on the 2011 trucks are beginning to get frequent and salty.
Sewer Bill
Earlier in the
evening, Member Bill Lopez assured resident William Donnelly that the town
will work with him in settling a sewer bill artificially inflated earlier
this year by frozen and broken water pipes in his home while he was
wintering in Florida.
Donnelly said that
on returning to Porter, he received an $1,800 sewer bill and on Friday
received a shut-off notice. Clerk-Treasurer Carol Pomeroy immediately told
Donnelly that the shut-off notice had been issued in error and will not take
effect.
And though the bill
has subsequently been reduced to $479, Donnelly suggested that the town was
still benefiting from his broken pipes. “I don’t think I should have to pay
a windfall to Porter over my misfortune,” he said. “I don’t want this thing
hanging over my head any more.”
Member Bill Lopez
promised Donnelly that the town will work with him. “This is the first we’ve
heard of it and we’ll try to resolve it,” he said.
Appreciation Dinner
Member Ross LeBleu
took a moment at the end of the meeting to thank the Porter FD for inviting
him to its appreciation dinner.
Lopez did as well.
“I thank the Fire Department for everything they do for us,” he said.