CROWN POINT | Lake County Surveyor George Van Til called on the County Council Tuesday to let him take over county government's public works department.

Van Til said he could run the public works department, which deals with drainage problems in unincorporated county areas, at half its current budget of $300,000.

Van Til said the Good Government Initiative's 2007 efficiency study of county government endorsed his acquisition of the public works department as a consolidation of local government that would save tax dollars.

The County Council refused a similar suggestion by Van Til last year. The council's financial committee recommended last month that public works be taken over by the highway department instead.