Folks have probably noticed that the bandstand in Thomas Centennial Park is currently being painted.

What they may not have seen is a bit of work in the back of the park, where space is being cleared for the new restroom facility, to be built by Chesterton High School teacher Jeff Larson’s Building Trades students.

Work is slated to start on the restroom next month. Park Superintendent Bruce Mathias does not yet have in hand Larson’s estimated pricing of the project but he has said that the cost will probably be significantly less than the $150,000 to $175,000 which the Chesterton Town Council was prepared to pay, in CEDIT funds.

The ADA-compliant facility will be robustly constructed and is based on a design generously made available to the town by the City of Hobart.

Member Jim Ton, R-3rd, did tell Mathias at the council’s meeting Monday night that he wants to see the drawings. “I have no visual concept of what this is going to look like,” Ton said.

Mathias promised to make the plans available to the council.

In other business, members voted 5-0 to authorize an expenditure of $15,000 in CEDIT funds for the purchase of camera surveillance system, to be installed at the Parks and Recreation Department’s compound at Dogwood Park on 23rd Street.

Mathias requested the expenditure, after the recent theft of two all-terrain vehicles from the fenced compound.

Town Engineer Mark O’Dell said that Mathias will likely install the system in-house.

Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th, did wonder whether the CEDIT earmark—coming from a Parks Department account—might be better taken from some other account. “I just don’t want to hurt Parks,” he said.

President Nick Walding, R-3rd, did note, however, that there will almost certainly be a balance left over from the Downtown restroom facility earmark and that any such balance could be made over to Parks.

Meanwhile, members also voted 5-0 to approve Police Chief Dave Cincoski’s request for a $3,778 CEDIT earmark, to cover the cost of a software update for the CPD’s interview room camera system, mandated by federal law.

Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg reported on the Street Department’s new grader, recently purchased at a cost of $4,500, after Schnadenberg decided that the usual $6,500 tab to grade an alley just got too big of a nut to pay.

The grader typically requires no new gravel, instead re-distributing the gravel already there, Schnadenberg noted.

“So we’re in the process of grading all the alleys,” he said.

“In a lot of places alleys are higher than driveways,” Ton added. “This will even them out.”

Posted 9/25/2012