Porter Public Works
employees will have a paid day off on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The reason: the
Porter fire station will be a polling place, but the parking lot in front of
the station on a typical weekday workday is crowded with Public Works fleet
vehicles and the employees’ own private vehicles.
There’d be no good
place for voters to park. And certainly no safe place for them to park,
Director of Development Michael Barry told the Town Council at its meeting
Tuesday night. His recommendation: to give Public Works employees a paid day
off. “It’s a safety issue,” Barry said. “I don’t want people to get run over
while they’re voting.”
Members agreed and
voted unanimously to approve Barry’s recommendation.
2 Knoelke Drive
In other business,
members also voted, on Barry’s recommendation, to mow at a cost of $200 the
tall grass at 2 Knoelke Drive, at the northwest intersection of Knoelke
Drive and Waverly Road.
Apparently, Barry
said, the property owner is in a dispute with a contractor, and neither one
has responded to Barry’s request to mow the grass. “I sent her a letter and
she ignored it,” Barry said. “I’m getting a lot of calls.”
A lien in the
amount of $200 will be placed on the property owner’s sewer account to cover
the cost of the job, Barry added.
Trail Counters
At the request of
Park Director Brian Bugajski, members voted unanimously to apply for an
80/20 grant from the Northwestern Regional Planning Commission which would
pay most of the cost of four trail counters to be installed at strategic
spots along the Orchard Pedway and the Brickyard Trail.
The counters,
equipped with a 10-year battery life, will collect data on the number of
trail users and their direction of travel. NIRPC will collect that data and
use them for its own grant applications, but also make the data available to
the Town of Porter.
Cost to the town:
just under $3,000, Bugajski said. Total value of the gear: $14,000.
“Our share won’t be
due until February or March 2021, from next year’s budget,” Bugajski noted.
“And we’ll get accurate trail counts.”
Flu Shots/Rapid
C-19 Testing
Bugajski took a
moment to thank everyone involved in the Sept. 23 flu shot/rapid COVID-19
testing event at the Community Building in Hawthorne Park. A total of 98 flu
shots were administered, and 119 C-19 tests conducted.
Bugajski expressed
his gratitude to the Duneland Seniors for organizing the event; Walgreen’s
for offering flu shots; the Residences of Coffee Creek for providing free
lunches; and InHealth Integrated Care of Valparaiso for making the C-19
tests available without charge.
Rebuilding Together
Duneland
Bugajski also
thanked the 20 or so volunteers who converged on Hawthorne Park with paint
brushes in hand, during this year’s Rebuilding Together Duneland event on
Oct. 3. They painted the art barn and picnic tables, among other things, and
did a fabulous job.
“The park looks
that much better thanks to them,” Bugajski said.
Municipal Website
Update
Meanwhile, members
voted unanimously to approve a service agreement with CivicPlus to update
the town’s municipal website.
Barry, for his
part, thanked the council, noting that the website is sorely in need of a
facelift.
Zoom Meetings
Okayed if Needed
Finally, members
agreed by consensus to permit the Advisory Plan Commission to hold virtual
Zoom meetings, if necessary, as it completes its work on an update of the
Porter Comprehensive Plan.
Plan Commission
President Laura Madigan suggested that, given the relative smallness of the
town hall’s meeting room and the continued need to practice
social-distancing, the Plan Commission would be unable to host any sizable
in-person audience.
“We want more
people than can fit in this tiny room,” Madigan told the council. “We need a
large safe space"--a virtual space, not to put too fine a point on it--"if
we’re going to finish the Comprehensive Plan this year.”
The appropriate
links, telephone numbers, meeting IDs, and passwords will be published in
advance of any Zoom meeting, so that the folks can attend in the comfort and
safety of their own homes.