In a last minute special meeting held February 16th at 10am, the Porter County Commissioners revised the 33.3 million dollar budget spending. Changes made were mainly the result of violations of the Open Door Complaint that was filed and the resulting conclusion. (See Link from the Times Article Below)
Despite a last minute meeting, several ordinary citizens from the County showed up and spoke during public comment. There was quite a heated exchange when Susie Talevski spoke, who was the person that filed the Open Door Complaint last December 20th 2021. Susie was there with the Times Article that stated the Commissioners “likely” violated the Open Door Law.
Commissioner Laura Blaney stated an outline to proceed with public input and recommended Stu Summers to be the head of the Steering Committee. Commissioner Jim Biggs strongly objected to the choice of Stu Summers because he is the Director for the Valparaiso Redevelopment and also past contractor for Porter County government projects and will have a conflict of interest.
The outline proposed will have four subcommittees with two residents as voting members and all meetings to be held in public. Also included as voting members will be 1 commissioner, 2 council members, and 2 non-voting expert advisors. 2 selected Township trustees will be involved with the the Behavioral Health committee. The Steering Committee will make the total 5 committees.
Applications for Resident Committee members can apply online and the deadline for decision will be March 8th. Deadline for public input is tentatively held at March 31st, but may change. The four subcommittees planned are: Behavioral Health, Non-profits, Infrastructure, and Covid Health Response. Industries, businesses and entities effected will be under the Infrastructure committee.
Another local resident attending, Dawn Miller, has been coming to the meetings ever since the School Boards required kids to wear masks at school. Dawn is now attending all the meetings, taking notes and also recording the meetings.
The commissioners, without a vote, recommended that four of the 9 Line items be recommended which are: the Premium Pay for essential employees, The Township Trustees money, the Marquette Trail money and the Behavioral Health study.
Elizabeth Grenchich, a VU Ethics Professor, asked if the County even has established ethics policies and are their ethics policies posted on their website. She encouraged the commissioners to get the existing ethics policy to be posted before the next meeting to be held February 22d.
The public is encouraged to attend the next County Council meeting Tuesday, Feb. 22nd at 5:30pm.
Feb 10th Times Open Door Article, Click here “State Official Urges Public ARPA Meetings”
Public Input Link, Click here.
More Stories We Think You’ll Be Interested in . .
Valparaiso Schools Referendum Is Not a Tax Decrease
Have you noticed these green signs all over Valpo asking you to Vote Yes and wondered why? It’s been eight years since the Valparaiso School Corporation passed a referendum to increase the tax rate above the standard Indiana Property Tax Cap. Because it’s been eight Years, the School Corporation is required to go back to…
Valparaiso Indiana City Hall Passes ARPA monies Draft of 7.65 Million Dollars
The City of Valparaiso Released their decisions on where they are spending $7,653,012 of the Covid Relief Funds given to them from the Federal Government on Friday, March 25, 2022. This Resolution was voted on Monday, March 28th at 6pm and passed. The City of Valparaiso plans to respond to the negative economic…
Porter County Auditor Talks About
Spending 33.3 Million in ARPA Monies
On February 8th, 2022, Porter County’s Auditor Vicki Urbanik discussed the County’s 33.3 million dollars that is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act passed by President Biden on March 11, 2021. Biden signed 1.9 Trillion into law to be spent. The room was filled with local City Councilmen, local Trustees, and County Council members…
David Reynolds Running For Porter County Sheriff
Discover more about David Reynolds, who is running for Porter County Sheriff from our Radio Interview on Wvlp.org. David was born and raised in Porter County and grew up in Portage and has a lot of close Family living in Portage. That’s one of the reasons why he quit his DEA Special Agent job in…
Ron Meer, past Michigan City Mayor Running for Indiana State Senator
We sat down with past mayor Ron Meer for a candid interview, who is now running for State Senator of the 4th District. Ron likes to refer to himself as the “blue collar guy.” Having worked his way up from the bottom as an employee in the Michigan City Storm Water Department to becoming the…
Plans are underway for a great informational year in 2022! PanoramaNOW at Noon on WVLP, 103.1 FM, wvlp.org will also be on Facebook live and Pod casted! Plus we are out with “boots on the ground” talking directly with folks, like a TV show, and one of you lucky participants will also be featured, besides…
Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
