By VICKI URBANIK

In a brief post-election meeting this week, the Porter County Commissioners dealt with a little bit of history.

The commissioners discussed a problem at the Porter County Highway Department’s Valparaiso garage, where, in the basement, is an assortment of boxes containing old records. Some of the paperwork dates back to the turn of the century and includes hunting licenses and old receipts.

The basement has been flooded, which has damaged the old records. County Highway Supervisor Al Hoagland said many of the documents are so wet that the individual pieces of paper can’t be separated.

The commissioners directed County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger to review the documents to see if the county legally needs to keep them. If not, they agreed that the documents should be destroyed. Rinkenberger, however, said she wants to see if any of the records have historical significance and should be preserved.

Commissioner President Robert Harper said Hoagland has been trying to move out the soggy boxes of documents for a long time. “Everyone’s been giving him the runaround for years” as to what to do with the paperwork, he said.

In another matter Tuesday, the commissioners gave the Vale of Paradise Garden Club permission to install a Blue Star Memorial Marker on the northeast corner of the County Courthouse.

Faye Polarek of the garden club said the 41 by 45-inch marker is a memorial for the Armed Forces and will be one of many other Blue Star markers placed on the nation’s highways. The location of the Porter County marker was selected not only because Lincolnway in downtown Valparaiso is a state highway, but also because of the amount of foot traffic near the Courthouse.

The marker will be paid for and maintained by the garden club, which would like to dedicate the marker on May 16, which is Armed Forces Day, Polarek said.

A number of garden club members attended the commissioners’ meeting and applauded after the commissioners gave their approval for the marker.

In other matters:

•The commissioners approved a contract change, which was earlier agreed to by the Porter County Council, for medical services at the Porter County Jail. Under the new agreement with Advanced Health Care, the county will no longer employ a medical director. Instead, Advanced Health Care’s own staff will provide the primary care.

•The commissioners approved a request from the Porter County Park Department’s wellness coordinator Kelly Burns to offer a before-work stretching program for county employees from Nov. 19 to Dec. 17.

•The commissioners approved a 2009 schedule of meetings and holidays. As he has done before, North Porter County Commissioner John Evans put in a plug to hold the commissioner meetings earlier in the day instead of at 6 p.m. But, as he has done before, Harper said the evening meetings are more conducive for the public to attend. The  6 p.m. meeting time was approved.

Evans also requested a review of the number of days that county government is closed. He said it is his understanding that the county government gives its employees more days off than cities and towns.

 

 

Posted 11/7/2008