Three bids were received and taken under advisement by the Burns Harbor Town Council Wednesday for the tear down and clean-up of the Standard Oil Plaza on U.S. Hwy. 20.

Town attorney Bob Welsh said he needed time to examine the bids and compare them before the council chooses one.

The bid amounts varied widely.

Environmental Cleansing Co., of Markham Ill., bid an initial bid of $33,638, with two possible alternate additions of $750 and $15,636 for a potential total of $50,024.

Boyd Construction Company of Hobart bid $40,200 and Beckstein Construction Corp., of Tinley Park, Ill. bid $19,350.

Welsh said there was no immediate explanation for the differences. He told council members he would need to examine the bids in detail and check on the non-collusion affidavits and the history of the bidders, as well as have input from the town’s consultants, SEH, to determine the most responsible and responsive bidder.

Welsh said he expects to be able to make a recommendation by next month’s council meeting.

In other business, the council adopted an ordinance providing for employees to donate accrued time off to fellow employees who need extra time for illness or family emergencies. The vote was unanimous with council members Toni Biancardi, president Jim McGee and Cliff Fleming in favor. Mike Perrine and Louis Bain were absent.

The council also unanimously supported a new ordinance requiring any temporary pools of 24 inches deep or more to be registered with the town.

Building Commissioner and Fire Chief Bill Arney said he hopes to have knowledge of the locations of all such pools. “Our goal is safety,” he told the council.

The council debated having a fee, but decided against it. There will however be a fine of $1,000 for non-compliance.

Arney said he simply wants to inspect the sites of pools, provide safety rules and offer advice to keep children safe from the risk of drowning.

Residents will have ten days after the new ordinance was adopted to comply.

The Burns Harbor Police responded to six accidents in June, reported Chief Jerry Price. There were no fatalities. Officers made 11 arrests, all misdemeanor. Forty-eight traffic tickets were issued, along with 84 warning tickets and 34 verbal warnings. The department provided 80 assists and answered 31 complaints. Squad cars traveled a total of 8,305 miles.

The volunteer firefighters responded to 18 calls in June, spending eight hours and 48 minutes on scenes, Arney reported. “We had a quiet holiday weekend,” he said of the Fourth of July.

Firefighters put in 26 hours of duty nights and 74 training hours.

They provided five assists to EMS; responded to the scene of three accidents; were called to one wildfire and two open burns; provided mutual aid to Porter twice and were called for two water rescues. They provided assistance at one vehicle fire and assisted the police department once and Hazmat once.

Street Commissioner Randy Skalku told council members his department is staying busy with mowing, cutting brush and doing maintenance for town departments.

As the head of Sanitation, Arney told council members that Lift Station #2 in town is having trouble and that he plans to replace the pump there this week in hopes of solving the ongoing problem.

As Building Commissioner, Arney told council members he has been ‘pretty busy’ with home improvement permits and has been continuing the pressure on town code violators.

The Park Department’s next day camp will be held from July 20-24, Biancardi announced.

An interfund loan of $250,000 from the town’s Rainy Day Fund to the General Fund was approved unanimously. Clerk-treasurer Jane Jordan said she still has no indication when the rest of Porter County’s tax revenues will be received and distributed. The 2008 distribution is not yet resolved, while taxing units are struggling to get through 2009 and plan for 2010.

Jordan said Burns Harbor is still short 16 percent of its annual budget for 2009.

The current situation has taxing units throughout the county borrowing, either from Rainy Day accounts or directly from banks.

Jordan said she had heard that the state Department of Local Government Finance might allow the county to finalize and distribute tax revenues, but a threatened lawsuit in LaPorte County may jeopardize that, since residents of Pine Township within Porter County attend Michigan City schools and those taxes would be part of the disputed funds.

Biancardi reported that a small committee has been formed to discuss the proposed ‘branding’ of the town to make a recommendation on the county tourism’s effort.

Jordan said the activities around the 2010 census have slowed, since the Chicago region coordinator has been replaced with a new person.

Some discussion centered on the possibility of changing the town’s peddler regulations and fees, but no action was taken.

Council members also discussed proposed changes to the town’s personnel manual.

The council voted unanimously to provide a $100 donation to the Duneland Chamber of Commerce’s annual Party in the Park.

There was discussion but no action taken on developing a fuel savings program for town vehicles. Two main fueling stations are used by the police, fire and street departments.

The council took no action on an animal control contract with the county.

Posted 7/9/2009