The Chesterton Town Council voted unanimously—and unhesitatingly—at its meeting Monday night to make the same contribution this year that it made last year to the annual fireworks extravaganza at Indiana Dunes State Park: $5,000.

At the request of Heather Ennis, executive director of the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce, members voted 5-0 to contribute $2,500 in cash and $2,500 in in-kind services, the latter consisting chiefly of a police presence at the event, scheduled for Tuesday, July 3.

Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakow-ski told the Chesterton Tribune after the meeting that, at the moment, she is unsure from what account the cash donation will be made.

Monday’s easy vote contrasts somewhat with the more vexed one at the council’s April 9 meeting, when members split 3-2 to contribute $300 to the Duneland Business Initiative Group’s Independence Day festival in Hawthorne Park in Porter. Members Jeff Trout, R-2nd, and Sharon Darnell, D-4th, voted against that motion.

All five members, however, voted on April 9 to authorize the Town of Chesterton Gift Fund to accept donations to DBIG earmarked for the festival. As of Monday, $200 in donations have been made to the Gift Fund for the DBIG event, in addition to the $300 voted by the council. Those donations, and any others, will be forwarded on.

In other business, members voted 5-0 to authorize the expenditure of up to $250,000 this year for paving, in a combination of CEDIT, Major Moves, and possibly Rainy Day moneys.

Earlier this month, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg submitted a list of paving projects whose total price tag he estimated at $403,850, with the understanding that it’s unlikely there will be anything like enough funds to complete the whole list this year.

Schnadenberg said after Monday’s meeting that he will submit a revised project list to the council at its next meeting, May 14, in light of the $250,000 earmark.

The project list as previously submitted:

•Fifth Street between 1050N and 1100N, $98,000; Fifth Street between 1050N and Bittersweet Court, $60,000.

•South Jackson Blvd. south of West Porter Ave. to Portage Ave. If funding for the entire stretch is unavailable, the 400 feet of South Jackson Blvd. immediately south of West Porter Ave., $35,000.

•East Porter Ave., milled and paved from the water tower to C.R. 250E, $125,000.

•100E off Tremont Road, $15,000.

•Sandcreek Drive South, starting at 1100N, milled and surfaced, $65,000.

•Wren Court, Read Drive, and Jones Court in the Duneland Cove subdivision, $41,850.

•Miscellaneous sections of roadway in dire need of spot paving, $12,000.

•Crack sealing and preventive maintenance, $12,000.

Meanwhile, members voted 5-0 to take under advisement three quotes for a new leaf vacuum:

•$38,500 from Brown Equipment Company Inc. of Fort Wayne.

•$39,993 from Woody’s Municipal Supply Company of Edwardville, Ill.

•$40,055 from W.A. Jones Truck Bodies of Columbia City, Ind.

The leaf vac will be purchased under a four-year lease-purchase agreement, the cost covered by the $1 monthly sanitation fee which residents pay. This year the fee rose from 47 cents to $1.

Members also voted 5-0 to approve this year’s fire protection contract with Westchester Township, under which the Chesterton Fire Department provides protection to a designated area of the unincorporated township.

This year the town is receiving $32,508 from Westchester Township, a 6-percent increase over last year’s contract price of $30,694.

At Fire Chief Mike Orlich’s request, members voted 5-0 to declare the following items surplus: radio equipment no longer compliant with FCC regulations and incapable of being upgraded; the nozzles replaced last year under a federal grant; and two Hurst hydraulic pumps used to run the Jaws of Life, “weak but still usable,” Orlich noted of the latter.

Posted 4/24/2012