It was evident Tuesday that the Porter County Council’s pledge last year to hold off raises still stands. At last night’s meeting the council voted to either deny or table several salary requests.

Whether the council will change its tune for next year is yet to be determined.

What are determined are the tentative dates for the 2010 County Council Budget Hearings. The council decided the first hearing will be set for Monday, Sept. 13 followed by a second on Thursday, Sept. 16. Four more meetings will follow over the course of three weeks following the Monday / Thursday pattern, with one week being skipped over: Sept. 20, Sept. 23, Oct. 4 and Oct. 7. If the final reading cannot be made at the Oct. 7 hearing, the council may hold further meetings on Oct. 18 and Oct. 21.

Also on Tuesday, the council enacted the Porter County Economic Development Commis-sion that will be used by the county to receive federal funds.

Council Attorney Scott McClure told the council members the county EDC would be “a vessel to garner funds from the Federal Recovery Act” and that he did not foresee any issues with the resolution.

Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, said he reviewed the proposal presented by Porter County Redevelopment Advisory Commis-sion Director John Shepherd and saw that the commission which would be made up of a member from the county board of commissioners, a county council member, and a city mayor, would only meet once a year or less.

The EDC would aid prospective developers in the private sector to acquire funds at very low interest rates. Council member Sylvia Graham, D-at large, pointed out the unit would also benefit county projects, which would come though public works bonds. The Porter County Commissioners passed their recommendation unanimously for the resolution last week to the council who has the power of ultimately creating a county EDC.

The council too unanimously passed the resolution with a 6-0 vote. Not voting was council member Laura Blaney, D-at large, who was absent Tuesday.

Coursing through a list of transfers and additionals, the council approved a $200,000 additional request from the County Economic Development Income Tax fund by the commissioners to complete the remaining telephone upgrades to county buildings. Buildings and services to receive the upgrades are the Porter County Portage complex, the Juvenile Services Center, the Porter County Animal Shelter, the Highway Department, and the Emergency Management Agency.

The council voted to deny a $1,042 increase in salaries for the county clerk’s office with a split vote of 3-2 and one abstaining. County Clerk Pamela Mishler Fish said that she had to move one of her Portage workers to Valparaiso without adjusting the salary to match workers performing the same tasks.

Fish expressed concern that the differences in salaries could be considered discriminatory. She also said the money would come from clerk record perpetuation fund instead of the general fund.

Whitten said he felt, even with the money coming from a special fund, that he would prefer not to grant raises as it might set an “unfortunate precedent.”

“I think that our practice of giving raises in the middle of the year is going to open the floodgates,” said Whitten.

Whitten voted against the request along with council members Bob Poparad, D-1st, and Karen Conover, R-3rd. Those who voted in favor were Graham and fellow councilwoman Marylyn Johns, D-4th. Abstaining from the vote was council member Rita Stevenson, D-2nd.

In other actions:

• The council yet again tabled Porter County Auditor Jim Kopp’s request for an additional $30,661 to create a Budget & Finance Assistant Director position to help his bookkeeping staff.

• Kopp also presented audit forms from the Internal Revenue Service to the council. He said the IRS wants to do an audit for 2008 and 2009 to check for irregularities for county employees who have received a 1099 Tax Form.

• Tabled from the last meeting was a $45,000 payment to Child Support Director Bruce Dumas. The proposal would pay Dumas as a part-time employee of the county instead of a contractual consultant. Not sure if they had the authority over contracts, the council voted 6-0 to refer the matter to the county commissioners.

• A request of $150,000 was granted to the county tourism commission for a matching grant with the Department of Natural Resources that was secured in 2009. Executive Director Lorelei Weimer said the grant, which would expire at the end of the year, is for developing the proposed Beyond the Beach Discovery Trail which is to direct visitors to various points of interest throughout Porter County.

• The commissioners complemented county treasurer Mike Bucko on managing the lines for property tax bill payments. Johns said people have been letting her know how much they appreciate the shorter lines.

The Porter County Highway Department may step in to repair roads and various infrastructures in the Falling Waters and Prairie Landing subdivisions in Porter Township located near the Lakes of the Four Seasons. The council accepted performance bonds of $343,000 from Falling Waters and $50,000 from Prairie Landing to be put in escrow until the many lawsuits filed over both subdivisions can be resolved.

“The bonds are there to guarantee the work gets done,” said Porter County Highway Superintendent Al Hoagland.

First Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings earlier this year on the developers who have defaulted on construction loans.

In a separate action, Hoagland requested transfers totaling $110,000 to replace box culverts for the bridge and railroad crossings at 450 E. CR 1200N in Jackson Twp. Hoagland said the current culverts are half an inch shorter than the 20-inch requirement for county bridges.

Posted 4/28/2010