Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Utility board OKs unincorporated tap-on

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By KEVIN NEVERS

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.

 

 

Posted 5/22/2018

 
 
 
 

 

 

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