After two years with his hand off the wheel, Porter County Council Member Dan Whitten, D-at Large, is back in the driver’s seat.

The county council voted Whitten in as council president for 2010 after a nomination made by fellow council member Sylvia Graham, D-at large, at the start of Tuesday night’s organizational meeting. The council approved the nomination 5-1, with Whitten abstaining from the vote. Member Karen Conover, R-3rd, was absent.

Whitten, taking the reins from council member Robert Poparad, D-1st, previously served as president in 2006 and 2007. After the meeting, Whitten said his priority as president will be to have “an efficient county government” to serve the citizens the best it can while “staying away from the blame game.” He also mentioned his desire to see the 2010 tax bills go out on time.

The council also voted in Conover as vice-president for the second year in a row. The council typically names a council member from the opposite party as president for its vice-president appointee, and Conover is the council’s only Republican member. The vote was unanimous.

Council Attorney Scott McClure will again serve the council for 2010 for his second year. The council unanimously approved the attorney contract with McClure who has his office at the Rhame & Elwood law firm in Portage. McClure also serves as attorney for the Porter County Plan Commission.

The council welcomed newly appointed member Marylyn Johns, D-4th, who replaced Mike Bucko on Jan 1. Johns said after the meeting she is happy to be on the council and is already at work campaigning for the 2010 county election and the primary election in May. Johns, who lives in Union Township, is the clinical manager at the Visiting Nurses Association Hospice Center.

The first citizen appointment went smoothly, when the council unanimously named Rudy Sutton of Liberty Township as it appointee to the Alcohol Beverage Commission after outgoing member John Tavaras did not seek another term.

The council hit a bump with its appointment to the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission. One of the prospects, current PCCRVC member and Chesterton Tribune managing editor Dave Canright, a Democrat, has been the appointee of Republican North County Commissioner John Evans. When Canright’s name surfaced, Whitten questioned whether the council needed to appoint a Republican or a Democrat based on a rule that the council’s appointment has to be affiliated with the party opposite of the commissioners’ appointee in order to maintain a party balance on the tourism board.

When questioned, Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper, D-Center, told the council that Evans had planned to nominate someone other than Canright (At the commissioners’ meeting that followed, Evans named Republican Jeff Good, who has been Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas’ appointee to the PCCRVC). Harper said he believes the PCCRV is “heavy” on Republican members and that said he saw no reason why the council could not nominate a Democrat.

Graham, in the meantime, nominated Candace Shawn and Donna Werner, both of whom submitted applications. The council was left dangling, after members expressed confidence in each of three applicants. Graham viewed the quandary as a good sign.

“We should be happy to be in this dilemma,” she said. “We have young people involved who want to get more active.”

With little certainty on what to do, council member Laura Blaney, D- at large, made a motion to table the decision until the next meeting. The vote to table was 5-1, with Poparad voting no.

Council members also found themselves debating their appointee for the Porter County Parks Board to replace outgoing park board member James Perkins, who did not seek reappointment. Graham nominated Rebecca Tomerlin, saying that her background would be “a great asset” to the parks. Council Member Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, nominated Richard Maxey, a former park board member who has been active with the parks and the 4-H program. The council voted in Tomerlin, 4-2, with Stevenson and Poparad voting for Maxey.

Barbara Wiggins and Jeff Sederberg were chosen as the council’s appointees to the Porter County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Wiggins was voted in unanimously, with council members noting that she was the only nominee with a Level 2 Assessor certification, which was required of at least one of the two council appointees. Sederberg beat out the third nominee, Matthew Dooley, 5-1, with only Graham backing Dooley.

James McGee was reappointed unanimously to the Burns Harbor Economic Development Commit-tee. The council ended up tabling appointments for the Portage Economic Development Committee and the Valparaiso Economic Development Committee on the basis that no nominations were submitted. The council intends to make those appointments at the next meeting.

In other reorganization matters, the council made its own appointments. Johns will serve on the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, replacing long-time NIRPC appointee Whitten, who gave a few kind words of advice.

“It’s a real hoot,” Whitten told Johns.

Stevenson will be reappointed to the Porter County Plan Commission. Conover will continue to serve on the Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County. Johns and Graham will both fill spots on the Emergency Management Agency board.

The council selected County Clerk Pamela Fish as its appointee to the Porter County Redevelopment Commission. Poparad said this appointment doesn’t necessarily have to be filled by a member of the County Council.

Council members found themselves split on which member should serve on the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board. Graham said she would seek reappointment but Poparad was also interested due to his “love of trains” and the fact that that South Shore commuter service runs through his district.

“It’s just 10 minutes from my office,” said Poparad.

The vote was 3-3 with Poparad, voting for himself along with Blaney and Stevenson. Johns, Graham and Whitten voted to appoint Graham. Conover’s vote would have been the tiebreaker, so the council decided to table the NICTD appointment until the next meeting.

The Council decided not to formally make their liaison appointments on Tuesday. Whitten told the members to “get your wish list” of the groups and offices they wanted to serve and present their picks at the next meeting.

In their closing discussion, the council pondered the appropriate date for its next meeting. Graham suggested meeting soon in order to make decisions on their pending tabled appointments. But other council members favored not holding another meeting in January but to meet next on Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m.

The council also voted unanimously to give McClure approval to start the process of drawing up tax anticipation warrants, borrowing up to $10 million.

In a separate matter, the council approved all transfers and additional appropriations, including a $200,000 request from the county commissioners to use county income tax funds to eradicate debts for the Family and Youth Services Bureau.

Posted 1/6/2010