\By KEVIN NEVERS

The Town of Porter has no emergency warming and cooling station, for times when a widespread blackout in the winter or summer leaves residents in the cold or the steaming heat.

Porter doesn’t have a warming and cooling station because it doesn’t have a reliable generator at its municipal complex on Beam Street, Fire Chief Lewis Craig told the Redevelopment Commission at its meeting Tuesday night.

The current diesel generator has a tendency to fail, he noted, and when it does firefighters—two of them—are forced to manually raise the bay doors to get the engines out.

The larger issue, however, Craig said, is that residents would have no where to go in the event of an emergency.

A natural-gas fired, 25,000 watt generator would fix the problem, Craig noted, then asked the commission to consider an investment in the safety of the town. According to a handful of quotes which he obtained, the least expensive would cost around $19,000.

For her part Public Works Director Brenda Brueckheimer—who shares space in the complex with the PFD—was fully in support of the idea. A natural-gas fired model is state of the art, it requires little maintenance and is cheaper to run than the diesel variety, and it’s “very reliable,” unlike the diesel variety.

Members agreed that the idea is a good one but asked Craig to obtain more information on the manufacturer, the specific specs, and any maintenance agreement. They will discuss the matter further at a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. May 13 and called to open bids for the Orchard Pedestrian Bridge.

The TIF District

In other business, members voted 5-0 to approve a resolution which removes seven parcels of property from the tax increment financing district, on the ground that, because their current assessed valuation is less than it was in the base year of 1989—due to trending and other factors—they have become a “decrement.”

In other words, the town’s contracted financial consultant, Karl Cender, said, those seven parcels are losing money for the TIF district. He added that the commission can reinsert them in the TIF district at such a time as they are no longer decrements. Those seven parcels include the First State Bank of Porter.

At a public hearing prior to the vote, no one spoke in favor of the resolution and no one in opposition to it.

Later in the meeting members voted 5-0 to hold a public hearing at their next regularly scheduled meeting, May 27, on a proposed expansion of the TIF district by 117.59 acres or 14.5 percent. At present the TIF district encompasses a total of 811.33 acres.

Among the properties proposed for inclusion in the TIF district are the following: the southwest and northeast corners of Beam Street and U.S. Highway 20; the southeast corner of Mineral Springs Road and U.S. 20; the southeast corner of Wagner Road and U.S. 20; and the southwest corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. 20.

Johnson Street Drainage

The commission took no action on the request of William Cantrell, a member of the Stormwater Management Board, for a loan of TIF moneys to fund the Johnson Street drainage improvements project.

Cantrell had originally hoped that the project would fall within the TIF district. But it does not, and Cender noted that under new legislation taking effect on July 1 all capital improvement projects to be funded with TIF projects must be within the TIF district proper. Under the old legislation, it was enough for a project to “benefit” or “serve” the TIF district.

Cantrell estimated the cost of the project at $80,000 and said that the Stormwater Management Board presently has enough to cover half of the expense. But, he added, it would likely be unable to repay the loan by the statutory deadline of Dec. 31.

Town Attorney Patrick Lyp said that the commission could still make the loan with the understanding that the Stormwater Management Board would, on Jan. 1, enter a technical state of emergency giving it an additional six months to produce the funds.

The commission agreed to discuss this matter further at the May 13 special meeting.

Jackson Blvd. Sidewalks

President Bill Sexton announced that the Chesterton Town Council has given its permission for Porter to build, as part of the Brickyard Trail project, a pair of five-foot sidewalks on either side of Jackson Blvd. from the railroad at-grade crossing to the Prairie Duneland Trail.

Those sidewalks, however, are a separate component of the Brickyard Trail, and their construction will in no way affect the current time table for that project, Sexton said.

Members then voted 5-0 to approve the normal schedule of fees for the Duneland Group to do the engineering of those sidewalks.

Claims

Members also voted 5-0 to approve the claims: $4,500 to Lumberjack Tree Service; a total of $59.01 for legal ads; a total of $23,517.17 to the Duneland Group for the Brickyard Trail project; a total of $6,952.36 to Haas & Associates for the Orchard Pedestrian Way and Bridge; and $40,406 for the chassis of a rescue truck for the Porter Fire Department.

Posted 4/23/2008