Chesterton Tribune

Porter to repair 500 sidewalk trip hazards next month

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By PAULENE POPARAD

The Porter Town Council approved a contract Tuesday that will remove sidewalk tripping hazards in both the downtown and Porter Cove subdivision.

Precision Concrete Cutting was awarded the nearly $20,000 project as part of Porter’s Americans With Disabilities Act compliance plan. Town Public Works supervisor Brenda Brueckheimer said Precision Concrete will begin in mid-June and it’s hoped the work can be completed by the July 4 holiday.

About 145 areas of downtown sidewalk will be fixed to eliminate uneven spots; 367 areas in Porter Cove will be upgraded and six new ADA-approved curb cuts with raised dots installed to warn that an intersection is approaching.

The project is being funded with a portion of the Public Works CEDIT money, the town’s share of revenue raised through Porter County’s income tax.

Brueckheimer also won council permission on a 4-0 vote with member Elka Nelson absent to purchase an $85,000 reconditioned 2006 street sweeper from Brown Equipment. Funding is $40,000 out of Public Works CEDIT, $20,000 from the MVH road fund and $25,000 from the Porter Stormwater Management Board.

The motion was contingent on the Stormwater Board participating, but board and Town Council member Bill Cantrell said he didn’t believe that would be a problem.

In other business, Brueckheimer thanked Chesterton Utilities staff for excellent cooperation on a joint sanitary-sewer project near the State Park Little League complex, assured that disturbed lawn areas in downtown Porter will be filled and seeded by the sewer contractor, and urged Porter residents not to put grass clippings into ditches because her department will pick up the clippings when notified to do so.

Safety Fest donations jump

Porter’s June 15 Safety Fest at Hawthorne Park just keeps getting bigger, and its youthful co-chairs continue to offer new ideas for a fun event, according to Porter Park Board president Rondi Wightman.

She announced TSL Refrigeration of Chesterton donated $500 and DJ Gilbert Lewis has donated his music services. The Town Council voted to donate up to $500, also from CEDIT, on president Greg Stinson’s recommendation because all town departments will be participating.

After the meeting Wightman said 9 year-old Sophia Keating, co-chair of the Safety Fest with Eric Ailes, also 9, thinks pull pinatas for different age groups will be a good activity; Keating also wants to allow guests to decorate their own donuts for a special snack.

Eagle Scout kudos

Troop 928 member Scott Beard has attained the rank of Eagle Scout, and the Town Council agreed to send a letter of congratulations on what Stinson described as a wonderful accomplishment. Beard’s Eagle service project at Hawthorne Park was building bat houses to help diminish the mosquito population.

Also Tuesday, Cantrell thanked everyone who’s offered good wishes during his recent illness.

Stinson reminded the public of a special Porter Plan Commission meeting June 6 at 7:30 p.m. to solicit comment on proposed rezonings for, and in the area of, Splash Down Dunes waterpark at Waverly Road and U.S. 20.

 

 

 

Posted 5/24/2012

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

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