The Chesterton
Utility Service Board has agreed to enter a connection agreement with a
Chesterton resident interested in tapping into the sanitary sewer line
serving The Preserve subdivision in unincorporated Liberty Township.
At their meeting
Monday night, members voted unanimously to enter into the agreement with
Marcus Key, who is seeking to purchase a 10-acre parcel at the southwest
corner of C.R. 1050N and Meridian Road.
Key’s attorney,
Greg Babcock, told the Service Board that because “the site is flat and the
ability to get septic system approved has proved to be quite difficult,” Key
is seeking to tap into the sewer line installed to serve The Preserve,
located west of the parcel in question in the area of C.R. 1050N and C.R.
50W.
Typically owners of
unincorporated property seeking a sewer connection must agree to annexation
into the town but in this case the 10-acre parcel is currently not
contiguous--although, Babcock noted, the parcel across the street may very
well be annexed in the future and that currently missing puzzle piece would
make annexation possible.
To that end,
Babcock told the Service Board, Key would be happy to enter into a
connection agreement waiving his right to remonstrate against any future
annexation.
Under the terms of
the agreement, Key would pay The Preserve a recapture fee of $9,095, a
tap-in fee to the Utility of $3,138, and would pay for the actual connection
work, Babcock said.
The Service Board
found those terms acceptable and voted to enter an agreement, pending the
successful drafting of the document.
Salary Bump
Endorsed
In other business,
members voted unanimously on Superintendent Dave Ryan’s recommendation to
endorse a proposed wage hike for the position of Lab Technician, following a
salary study which showed that the Utility currently pays that position
“significantly under the region average.”
Ryan told the
Service Board that he--and all other department heads--undertook a salary
study at the direction of the Town Council.
The proposed raise
would bring the Lab Tech’s wage “to within 95 percent of competitive rates
in the area,” Ryan noted.
When asked whether
the Town Council would be amenable to amending the 2018 Salary Ordinance to
reflect the raise, Member--and Street Commissioner--John Schnadenberg noted
that “the original request came from the council to do this study.”
The proposed wage
hike will now be forwarded to the Town Council for action.
Kudos
Meanwhile, Ryan
reported that Lab Chief Leah Leimbacher has passed her exam and is now
officially a Registered Pretreatment Coordinator.
“Kudos to Leah,”
Ryan said.
April in Review
In April,
Chesterton used 50.21 percent of its 3,668,000 gallon per day (gpd)
allotment of the wastewater treatment plant; Porter, 57.8 percent of its
851,000 gpd allotment; the Indian Boundary Conservancy District, 64.2
percent of its 81,000 gpd allotment; and the plant as a whole, 52.65 percent
of its capacity.
A total of 2.37
inches of precipitation was recorded at the plant last month and there were
no bypasses of wastewater into the Little Calumet River.
The Utility ran a
deficit in April of $180,141.32 and in the year-to-date is running a surplus
of $252,971.42.