May’s second Valparaiso City Council meeting usually held on the fourth Monday of the month was held on Tuesday May 26th , 2026 this month because of the observance of Memorial Day. There was only one ordinance on the agenda for the evening and the meeting went for just about an hour. Citizen attendance was lower than usual but the nicer weather is here.
Ordinance No. 12, 2026 was up for first reading and council discussion. This ordinance concerns waterworks revenue bonds of 10 million and 4 million cash on hand for new city wells and water transmission lines from them. The ordinance was presented to council by Matt Zubriggen, the new head of City Utilities. A municipal advisor contracted with the city spoke about the bond financials and how it would not raise the city’s utility rates for water or sewer. They spoke for twenty minutes and then the council discussed and asked questions for another twenty minutes. The ordinance itself is a 30 page document and there was a twenty two page packet they had copies of for everyone attending showing all the presentation slides and planned well and water line construction sites.
The wells that supply Valparaiso with water have around a fifty year life so there is always a need to invest in new well infrastructure. Matt Zubriggen mentioned that there is work being done to connect Valparaiso to Lake Michigan water, but this is to supplement our supply, not completely replace it. Phase 1 of the work outlined in the slide presentation and in the handout deals with three new wells also outlined in the City’s new Eastside Master Plan. These wells will be on the land owned by the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission that was initially acquired to be a sports complex, then a proposed data center, and now with the public’s input, the Eastside Master Plan, a mix of park/green space, residential, and mixed commercial.
The council voted 7 to 0 to carry Ordinance No. 12 to the next council meeting where it will have public comment, council debate again, and final vote. The thirty pages of the Ordinance No. 12 deal with the legal aspects of the bonds and the slide presentation made available as a handout covered the new well construction as well as an overview of past well projects and city water usage. The 2025 peak of water usage for a single day was 5,797,339 gallons for a day in July last summer. This information was on a graph showing our capacity at ten million gallons a day.
With no other business before the council it was onto liaison reports. The Valparaiso Police released their annual report, major crime is down 24% over the last few years with theft following a similar trend. The Valparaiso Police had more than 31,000 calls for service in 2025, which is on the increase. Bids for the 2026 paving season are open so construction season is in full swing. The final version of the Eastside Master plan is available for viewing on the city’s website. Kaye Frataccia-Seibert was reappointed to the Valpo School Board, the search for the school superintendent continues with the candidate pool down to 3 or 4 unknown individuals as it is a confidential process. The school board website has two different policies for review concerning recent legislation on schools and cell phones. One policy bans them during school hours with exceptions while the other policy bans them from school property completely. The school has asked for parents’ feedback on the two options. There is a survey on Valparaiso’s ValparaisoNow FaceBook page concerning the interest in starting a city grant program for low or moderate income homeowners to help with home repairs.
There was one public comment concerning the recent e-bike ordinance and not wanting to restrict them too much downtown as to discourage non-gasoline means of transportation. He ended by saying “Burn fat, not fuel.” The next Valparaiso City Council meeting will be June 8, 2026 Valparaiso City Hall 6:00.
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