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Jim Ton, R-1st challenged by Jeff Trout in town GOP primary

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Interview with GOP town Council candidate Jim Ton

By KEVIN NEVERS

“They said I was a fool for buying an abandoned railroad just for walking on.”

That, Jim Ton recalls, was the response of some when, in his first term some 30 years ago on the Chesterton Town Council, he played a lead role in the town’s acquisition of the old EJ&E right-of-way, which everyone now knows as the eastern terminus and anchor of the hugely popular Prairie Duneland Trail.

A generation later, Ton says that his commitment to the Rails-to-Trails movement--going out on a limb as a newcomer to the council--is just one example, the earliest, of how his “global view of the quality of life” has guided him in office. It’s not that folks don’t care for or about economic development, one of the great preoccupations of any municipality. They do, Ton recognizes. But they care much more about their own neighborhoods, he says, the streets they drive to work, the sidewalks their kids take to school, the health and appearance of the Downtown.

“As we progress toward 2020, Chesterton’s quality-of-life issues must be in the forefront,” Ton says. “Let’s be frank. People want to come to Chesterton because we have a lot to offer. We must never give up what we have cheaply.”

A Bit of History

Ton was first elected to the council in 1985 by caucus to succeed Fritz Dietrich, who died in office. He won the at-large election in 1987 but chose not to run for re-election in 1991, when his father became ill.

Ton didn’t altogether retire from public service. For a decade he sat on the Police Commission while working in the Duneland Schools as an administrator (he since retired after many years as Chesterton Middle School principal).

Then, in 2004, Ton was elected by caucus again to the council, this time to succeed John Kosmatka, who resigned his seat to take a position with the U.S. State Department. Ton completed that term, won two more--in 2007 and 2011--and is now running for what would be his third consecutive complete term.

Quality of Life

And during all those years in office, Ton says, he’s been “boots on the ground,” focusing especially on maintaining, upgrading, or beautifying the amenities and infrastructure which residents already enjoy and rely on. Economic development typically works from the outside in; its benefits begin to percolate only after a company has moved into town and set up shop, he says. Quality of life, as Ton understands it, is a species of economic development which works from the inside out--where people live and work and play right now--by making Chesterton an appealing and dynamic location for new business.

Ton has accordingly adopted a host of issues as his own. He’s championed, as a member of the Redevelopment Commission, the extension of Council Drive south to East Porter Ave.--what used to be called the “Dickinson Road extension”--to create a north/south thoroughfare on the town’s newer east side. That extension would make Ind. 49 at once less congested and safer, by linking Indian Boundary Road to Gateway Blvd. by a continuous surface road.

Ton has also spearheaded--again, from his seat on the Redevelopment Commission--the development of the “Calumet Connection”: that stretch of South Calumet Road roughly from Porter Ave. to the Chesterton Post Office which links the Downtown to the South Cal Business District. “Our Downtown is the heart of our community and must be preserved,” he says. “Chesterton has the largest ‘livable center’ of any town in Porter County, the ‘core” of a town where it’s possible to walk or bike to parks, schools, libraries, and stores. The Calumet Connection will promote the Downtown and improve travel along South Calumet Road by enhancing the aesthetics, sidewalks, lighting, and curbs.”

Serving Chesterton and the Region from NIRPC

It’s as a member, however, of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission’s Executive Board--this year hes serving as NIRPC Vice-Chair--that Ton’s had the chance, he says, to make an immediate impact on the town’s quality of life, as a spirited advocate of Chesterton’s interests at the regional level. Over the last few years, NIRPC has awarded the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to fund a variety of projects::

*Three separate grants, since 2013, totaling $1,074,394, for the engineering and construction of Phase II of the Westchester-Liberty Trail, linking Dogwood Park and Coffee Creek Center via a sidewalk along the north side of 1100N. Phase II is the vital part of the project: from Rosehill Estates to Fifth Street, including that perilous stretch between Rosehill Estates and 11th Street, where school kids are currently forced to walk along the narrow, rough shoulder of the road.

*An 80/20 grant in the amount of $223,578 for the upgrade of the traffic signal at the intersection of Indian Boundary Road and North Calumet Road. The town’s share: $55,895.

*An 80/20 “livable center” grant in the amount of $24,000 for the design of the Calumet Connection corridor. The town’s share: $6,000.

Keeping Busy

Much of his work on the council, Ton says, has been accomplished in an ad hoc kind of way. He took an interest last summer when Vicki Brock urged the council to find some way to get visitors to notice the Indian Boundary Road business strip east of Ind. 49. INDOT, it turns out--not Chesterton--is better positioned to help, with a state signage program, but no one knew that until Ton asked staff to investigate the problem.

Ton also pretty much mother-henned the chicken ordinance onto the books in December.

And he worked behind the scenes in the fall to help two Porter residents whose private wells had gone temporarily dry during a de-watering project at the wastewater treatment plant. “Sometimes you can get more done working behind the scenes,” Ton says. “That’s one way of keeping little problems from becoming big problems.”

Ton has a distinct greenness about him too which has occasionally shaped municipal policy. Thirty years ago he was in on the ground floor of the Prairie Duneland Trail. Today he serves on the Dunes-Kankakee Trail Advisory Committee. He’s also the council’s liaison to the Porter County Park Foundation as it works to establish the Westchester Migratory Bird Sanctuary on a distressed bit of wetland west of 11th Street. And that old yellow recycling bin you probably still have in your garage? Ton was a key player in the development of that program, way back the first time he sat on the council.

“Chesterton is a wonderful place to live and it’s attracting new residents every day.” Ton says. “As the NIRPC Vice-Chair, I’ve been impressed over and over again by the high regard in which others hold Chesterton, its character, values, and quality of life. We have a great deal to be thankful for and, by working together, to look forward to. This is why I want to continue to serve.”

Ton’s campaign website is www.votejimton.com

 

Interview with Town Council candidate Jeff Trout

By KEVIN NEVERS

Jeff Trout says that he’s spent pretty much his entire career as a Chesterton public servant--since first being appointed to the Advisory Plan Commission in 1998--helping to position the town for economic success.

Trout’s eye has always been on the tipping point, the main chance, that one project which, in size and sophistication, would change everything and establish the town as a premier location in the region for cutting-edge industry.

History was finally made in December 2012, when Urschel Laboratories Inc. announced its decision to leave Valparaiso for Chesterton. Trout had a seat at the negotiating table and to him not a little of the credit has gone for closing the deal.

In fact, though, Trout and others had begun paving the way for an Urschel years earlier.

A Head for Business in Municipal Service

In 1998, Trout was serving on the Duneland Economic Development Corporation (DEDC)--the Duneland Chamber of Commerces strategic arm--when he was asked by a prominent member of the business community whether he would serve on the Chesterton Advisory Plan Commission if appointed. The idea was this, Trout recalls: “To get talented people who know how to run a business help run the town.”

Trout, owner then and now (for 32 years) of Trout Glass & Mirror, agreed. He was put on the Plan Commission, which in turn appointed him to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and he served on both until elected to the Town Council in 2007.

“During this time, strategic planning principles and skills were developed, years prior to my running for the council,” Trout says. “At the core of my success on the council in promoting positive economic development has been my knowledge of zoning issues and my understanding of the Comprehensive Plan.”

At the same time, Trout says, he’s brought his head for business into public service. “That business experience has enabled me to bring new perspectives and ideas to town in managing its growth and changes successfully. My experience in the construction industry and land development has been very beneficial when businesses are looking to possibly move to Chesterton. I know what they are looking for and if they will fit into Chesterton’s long-term development plans.”

In 2007, Trout won the 2nd District seat on the Town Council. He was re-elected to that seat in 2011. Then, in December 2014, Trout and his wife, Bonnie, moved out of their 2nd District house and into a 1st District house. Under Indiana Code, Trout was required to resign his seat. Now he’s running against his old colleague on the council, Jim Ton.

Paving the Way with TIF

Urschel’s executives cite a number of reasons for the decision to move to Chesterton: an unwillingness to force employees to move out of county or out of state; the proximity of the Indiana Toll Road; the quality of life in Chesterton.

But what made it possible for the town to incentivize Urschel’s move--the mechanism by which the company will recoup up to $25.86 million of the costs associated with buying the land and building the facility--is tax increment financing. It works this way: over 20 years Urschel will pay all of the taxes which it annually owes to the TIF district as a property owner in the TIF district. The Redevelopment Commission will then make back to Urschel 85 percent of those taxes, up to $25.86 million.

And it was Trout--not actually as a municipal official but as DEDC member--who was one of the instrumental few who got the TIF ball rolling, with a view to the enormous leverage and bonding capacity afforded by a healthy TIF revenue stream. “We began exploring tax increment financing in 1999 and working with stakeholders,” he says. “A TIF district was created a year later.”

Trout played no official role in the establishment of the TIF district but his lobbying efforts were vital. And now and then, he says, a word in the ear makes all the difference. “Sometimes you can get more done in the back of the room.”

Down the Road

As a member of the Redevelop-ment Commission, Trout has been actively involved in two other important projects, one of them now done, the other only starting, and both of them TIF-financed.

The first is the Ind. 49 Utility Corridor, completed in 2014, which in bringing infrastructure to the town’s southernmost corporate limit, on the far side of the Indiana Toll Road, has made that corridor “a world-class ‘shovel ready’ site for future development.”

The second project, still on the drawing board, is the installation in the TIF district of a fiber-optic conduit network. “This new fiber network will create a unique and powerful connection to the rest of the world for local schools, libraries, medical facilities, and businesses,” Trout says. “It will be the fastest, most reliable service in the Midwest and could bring very good high-paying jobs to town without changing the landscape drastically.”

On Quality of Life

Trout’s not so focused on the future as to be unaware of the here and now. Chesterton’s quality of life, he says, is very important to him, as it is to all residents, and a smart program of economic development can go far in improving everyone’s.

Trout recalls talking to a woman who got a job at the Addison Pointe facility--which is the beneficiary of a tax abatement granted by the Town Council--after she’d been commuting to work in Lake County. Suddenly she had hours more every day to spend with her family. “Being able to make that possible for more people in Chesterton is something to shoot for,” he says.

Doing Business in Town

The Chesterton Tribune asked Trout the same question it did when he first ran for Town Council, in 2007: To what extent does Trout Glass & Mirror do business with entities which previously appeared before the Town Council as petitioners?

Trout notes first of all that Trout Glass & Mirror had been a pretty successful firm 15 years before he first took a seat on the Plan Commission.

But, he adds, as a businessman in a small town, he does business with whom he can. “We do get some work from businesses that appear before the town. I can’t put a percentage on it. But we bid for jobs like the other sub-contractors. Some we get. Some we don’t.”

Trout Glass & Mirror didn’t get the Jewel/Osco job, for instance. It did get the Urschel job. But, as Trout notes, it’s really not the Urschel job either. It’s the Tonn & Blank job, because it’s always the general contractor--multiple steps removed from the bureaucratic permitting process--who accepts a bid and awards the contract.

On Running for the 1st District Seat

Trout voluntarily resigned his 2nd District seat. Why is he seeking Jim Ton’s 1st District seat?

“This race is about electing the best person to continue to help bring about good, meaningful development that will create good paying sustainable jobs and a stronger tax base for the town,” Trout says. “Economic development opportunities and activity tend to go in waves that are years apart. If we miss the opportunity to bring meaningful development to Chesterton in the next five years, we may not have another opportunity for many years.”

 

 

 

Posted 4/20/2015

 
 

 

 

 

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