The newly formed drainage committee made its recommendation of engineering firms to head up a long-term comprehensive drainage study to the Porter County Commissioners on Wednesday.

Porter County Drainage Board President Dave Burrus said the drainage plan committee received quotes from 12 firms answering the request. A scoring sheet from the Indiana Department of Transportation allowed the committee to shrink the list of possible firms to three based on qualifications and good standing with the county.

The firms recommended were DLZ, Christopher Burke and SEH.

Burrus said the three firms were all equally qualified and that a project of this size will require more than one firm with each being deployed to different watershed sites throughout the county.

Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper suggested to the other commissioners, John Evans and Carole Knoblock, that they approve of two of the firms instead of all three for the time being. The board unanimously approved DLZ and SEH to work as consultants for the drainage study plan.

The drainage plan committee consists of 14 members, including members of various county departments working with drainage and representatives of the four municipalities of Valparaiso, Chesterton, Portage and Porter.

Harper raised a concern that there could be too much confusion with 14 different bosses and wanted to see the project led by one person. Harper told Burrus he would like to see him step up to the plate. Evans back Harper’s suggestion.

“It would be an honor to see you, Dave, in that position,” said Evans.

Evans also told Burrus the commissioners would be willing to find staffing to help him carry out the planning project.

Burrus said the next step of the project will be to locate places in the county where drainage tends to be a problem such as ditches and rural areas where runoff is often present. This will be done by using satellite aerial mapping in one-foot detail intervals. He said he hopes the mapping will be completed by spring before the trees begin to leaf.

The projected cost for the long-term drainage study and repair plan has not yet been estimated, but Burrus said it will reach far into the millions. The commissioners are proposing to approve a $200,000 expenditure from the County Economic Development Income Tax to initiate the project. The funding will need to be approved first by the Porter County Council.

Porter County Plan Commission Executive Director Robert Thompson said he applied for a grant of up to $100,000 from the Lake Michigan Coastal Program, which would help fund the Lake Michigan watershed component of the drainage study. Part of the grant requires working with cities and towns and Thompson said Beverly Shores is willing to work with him.

This is the first time the county has undertaken a drainage solution program of this size. Burrus said the plan will not completely fix drainage but it will be less of a problem in the future.

The commissioners accepted two bids to initiate repair work recommended for county buildings. Two more bids were accepted for purchasing two pieces of highway equipment.

Stephen Kromkowski, architecture division manager of DLZ Indiana, said he received quotes from five firms to perform emergency building repairs to the Porter County Courthouse. He recommended the commissioners accept a bid of $43,656 from Atlas Building Services. The repairs will patch up those spots affected by water infiltration and loose stone structure.

The North County Complex in Portage will also receive repair work. Maintenance Engineer Mike Willard reviewed three proposals to touch up the hits and ridges in the roof causing leaks and solicited a bid of about $24,000 from Culver to the county commissioners. Culver also performed similar repairs to the complex a few years ago, Willard said.

The Porter County Highway Department opened a bid for a front-end loader and a backhoe loader at the previous commissioners’ meeting. Highway Superintendent Al Hoagland recommended a $118,400 bid from Holt Equipment for the front-end loader and a $69,400 bid for the backhoe loader from McCan Equipment.

All bid recommendations presented were approved unanimously by the commissioners.

Porter County employees and their families will be encouraged to engage in a Healthy Incentives Rewards Program. Mike Anton and Leigh Westergren, representatives from Anton Insurance, told the commissioners the program aims to offset the increase in contributions by encouraging employees to make healthy choices.

Each family covered by the insurance will receive up to $250 per year using the rewards program, which includes a smoking cessation program and a health coach program. Anton said these types of rewards programs have proven effective coast to coast.

The commissioners voted to approve the program along with another amendment to accept the Hoosier Healthcare proposal for Occupational Health and Wellness effective next year.

Posted 11/5/2009