In his first meeting as a member of the Merrillville Stormwater Management Board in three years, Bud Crist was voted back in the president’s seat and quickly urged fellow board members to begin considering future projects the utility would undertake.
Crist was removed from the board by the Town Council in January 2013, after some members objected to his storing Stormwater Utility equipment on his personal property. He was president of the board at the time.
He was reappointed to the board last week by Council President Richard Hardaway, D-2nd.
Crist asked members Barbara Ghoston and Ralph Simek to review the stormwater ordinances and master plan.
“We’ll start some new projects this year and determine which way we’ll go,” Crist said.
He said the $3.5 million bond issued for the Taft Street drainage project will be paid off in 2027.
“It took us five years to begin Taft, by the time we got permits from the county, Army Corps, state (and others). That puts us close to the time we can do another bond,” Crist said.
The Taft project included the creation of two detention ponds, the replacement of undersized culverts and storm sewers at four locations and construction of two storage areas. The storage areas provide both flood control and a naturalized wetland habitat.
Matt Lake, executive director of Stormwater Utility, said the utility would be looking at doing some small, mid-range cost projects in the interim.
In other matters, Lake said he met with a specialist from Indiana Department of Environmental Management, who requested a minor revision to the Ross Meadow Farms project.
Lake said the project should still begin as soon as the ground thaws, as anticipated.
The $117,565 project will solve drainage problems in the subdivision located around 86th Avenue and Grand Boulevard, where some of the yards are now unusable, Lake said. He said it will include creating some easements for drainage, as well as grass swales and culverts.
The board also approved a $6,300 contract with Aquatic Weed Control to do weed control and take care of the fountains at Bon Aire Lake. The cost is the same as last year.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
