Discovery Charter School will have a Porter Police officer assigned full-time as a school resource officer.
The agreement between the school in Porter and the town was unanimously approved by the Town Council on Tuesday.
Discovery Charter School, with 500 students in grades K through 8, will pay the officer’s salary, estimated around $95,000.
Discovery Superintendent Kevin Zeck said that his school’s arrangement with Porter mirrors that of the Chesterton Police Department, which assigns six school resource police officers to the Duneland School Corporation.
Duneland Schools pays the officers’ salaries while the town of Chesterton absorbs the cost of equipping their officers.
Zeck said the school was able to obtain a grant from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, which helps defray a portion of the cost.
Porter Police Chief Dan Dickey credited Deputy Police Chief Tom Blythe for his years of work with the Discovery Charter School in making the situation a reality.
Dickey said that Sgt. Tawni Komisarcik will start her new assignment at the school on Nov. 2.
In other business, the town will receive some financial help from the state for its portion of the cost for cleanup from the Aug. 11 derecho.
An estimated 11,000 to 13,700 cubic yards of downed tree limbs and brush have been piled up at the site of the abandoned Porter Brickyard.
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Public Works Superintendent James Spanier said that the cost of disposing of the waste could be reduced considerably if it can be chipped on site.
The town has contracted with SDR LLC to dispose of the debris
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will pay 75% of the disposal costs. Clerk-Treasurer Corinne Peffers said the state government recently announced that it will pick up an additional 18.75% of the costs.
Peffers said from various estimates — depending on whether the debris can be hauled or chipped on site — the town would end up only paying around $41,000 for a job that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The town is also working on FEMA reimbursement for overtime costs paid to employees,
Michael Barry, the town’s development director and building superintendent, said he has applied for a Community Crossing Matching Grant for $487,664.
If the town is successful, Barry said that Michigami Trail and Pottowattamie Trail off of Woodlawn Avenue would be resurfaced and drainage issues would also be corrected. Barry said the town would supply a match of $121,916.
At the Redevelopment Commission meeting before council, Barry stated that Porter’s 1.04-mile section of the Marquette Greenway Trail is near completion.
The trail starts at the Little Calumet River trailhead off Howe Road and traverses the Mnoke Prairie to Babcock Road. The project costs around $2.1 million, with the state grant picking up around $1.6 million of the cost.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.