The Town of Chesterton’s new 15th Street municipal facility opened today.

The official HQ for the Street, Engineering, and Parks and Recreation departments, the Stormwater Utility, and the Town Manager’s Office, it was built at an approximate cost of $2.615 million, funded by a general obligation bond somewhat under $2 million and the balance by state moneys.

An approximate cost, because numerous add-ons—like security, telecommunications, and furniture—were not included in the original specifications precisely to keep the GO bond under $2 million.

Besides the office space, the complex also includes a road-salt storage facility and a cold-storage facility for vehicles and equipment not currently in seasonal use.

The most immediate practical consequence for residents of the building’s opening is this: all sanitary sewer bills should be paid there now, no longer at the town hall. For a time, the Utility will retain the drop-box at the town hall but the best idea going forward is to make payments at the new facility, Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski announced at Monday’s meeting of the Town Council.

In related business, members voted 5-0 to approve the expenditure of $1,058 to upgrade Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg’s computer, so that he can use it to monitor all of the town’s security surveillance cameras.

The move itself was “intense,” Town Manager Bernie Doyle noted. “But we’re already starting to see the benefits of the department’s being able to talk to each other without having to hop in the car.”

A formal dedication of the municipal facility will be scheduled in the not-too-distant future, Doyle added.

Posted 5/10/2011