CROWN POINT | Dan Gardner is back overseeing water management in Lake County less than four months after his forced departure from the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission.

Lake County Surveyor George Van Til said Tuesday he hired Gardner last week to direct his office's MS4 water quality enforcement program mandated by the federal Clean Water Act.

James Premeske, a member of the Team Hammond tax activists, questioned Tuesday how Gardner's employment slipped through the county's hiring freeze.

Van Til said the job is outside of the freeze because it isn't funded by local property taxes. The position is funded by water quality fees imposed on owners of 28,000 land parcels in unincorporated south county.

Gardner will oversee a nearly $700,000 program to clean county rivers and lakes of eroded soil and other pollutants.

"I'm lucky to get such a qualified person for this job," Van Til said.

Van Til hired Gardner at an annual salary of $33,000.

Gardner resigned from the Calumet River commission Sept. 26 after U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and Gov. Mitch Daniels called for Gardner's ouster for an inability to complete flood control levees along a 22-mile stretch of the Little Calumet that was 10 years behind schedule and $125 million over budget.

The criticism came in the wake of a devastating flood last September that caused millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses.