CROWN POINT |The Lake County surveyor said he is reducing his spending and making amends for lapses in judgment that have made him the target of public outrage in recent weeks.

Surveyor George Van Til said Wednesday he repaid the county for use of county gasoline and a pickup truck, forfeited mileage reimbursements he won't claim and has given up a take-home vehicle he once enjoyed at taxpayer's expense.

He said he also is planning to reduce his office's fleet by three vehicles for a total savings he calculates to be $11,925.

Van Til also has drawn up a proposed county ordinance that would more closely regulate county vehicle and gasoline use.

"When an official creates a problem, they should try to make it right. This is about trying to make things right. I'm taking lemons and making lemonade," Van Til said.

Van Til came under attack in November for lending a new county-owned pickup truck to his son to drive to high school.

He gave up his lease car to calm public opinion, but was back in the public eye in December when one of his employees was caught on a security video pumping gasoline from a county pump into Van Til's personal sport utility vehicle.

Van Til said lending the truck to his son was a mistake. He wrote an $8 mileage check for its use.

Van Til said pumping 38.9 gallons of gas into his private car last month wasn't prohibited by any county ordinance, but to "cover for the misunderstanding" paid the county $125. He said the gas only cost the county $95.

Van Til said he won't claim reimbursement for 670 miles he drove on public business between late November and Dec. 26, saving the county an additional $325.

He said he will claim about $4,000 in mileage in 2008, which is still cheaper than the $5,988 the county would have paid for his former lease car.

The surveyor said that is another $1,948 savings that should be added to $499 he returned to the county when he gave up his lease car a month early last year.

Van Til said he had tried in the past to make the county's vehicle and gasoline use policy more transparent, but without success.

He said he will try again with a four-page draft of an ordinance that would severely restrict, but not eliminate take-home cars. It would outlaw any use of county gas for private vehicles.

He said he will give it to the Lake County Council and the Board of Commissioners this week.