The department
heads will stay the same, but expect to see some new faces on Town of Porter
boards and commissions this year.
After
unanimously electing Elka Nelson president and Jeannine Virtue
vice-president, council members named James Spanier chief of police, Brenda
Brueckheimer superintendent of Public Works, and Lewis Craig Sr. fire chief.
Two vacant seats
on the Park Board were filled. Member Nikki Crist had resigned, and member
Jessie Campaniello’s four-year term expired. They were replaced with Jeff
Bailey, a Republican appointment, and Ross LeBleu as a Democratic member.
Vote was 5-0.
Councilman Greg
Stinson’s previous nomination of Charles Kaufman to the Park Board did not
receive a second.
After the vote
Park Board president Rondi Wightman questioned whether the seats are correct
as to needed party affiliation. Nelson said the council will double-check
but town attorney Gregg Sobkowski said the appointments are effective now.
Earlier this
year the Town Council decided to expand the four-person Park Board to five
members. State law requires the Duneland School Board make the appointment;
Nelson said the council is awaiting that decision and will forward the
remaining names of Porter residents who had applied for the park seats.
Joe Wagner was
unanimously reappointed to the Metropolitan Police Commission, and Stinson
to the Porter Stormwater Management Board and as Porter’s representative to
NIRPC. Nelson agreed to continue as representative to the Duneland Economic
Development Company and she was elected to serve on the Porter Plan
Commission.
Bill Stronks was
Nelson’s presidential appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Stinson and
Nelson were elected 5-0 to serve on the Redevelopment Commission, and Nelson
named council member Jeannine Virtue and residents Erik Wagner and Joe
Simanski to the commission. All but Wagner are returning members, and all
serve for one year.
Tapped as
council liaisons to various town departments were Stinson, Public Works;
Virtue, Park Board; David Wodrich, Police; Rob Pomeroy, Fire; and Nelson,
town hall.
After being
elected president, Nelson thanked Stinson for his leadership in 2012, the
first year of the council’s four-year term.
Town consultants
will be chosen at the Jan. 22 meeting, and the Park Board hopes to fill the
newly created position of park director Jan. 15.
In other
business, the council voted 5-0 allowing clerk-treasurer Carol Pomeroy up to
$12,000 from the CEDIT fund to purchase three new computers and a server.
She said problems have been occuring and the town can’t risk losing data or
not being able to retrieve it.
The clerk
announced Porter Beach parking permits will go on sale at the town hall
March 1. She reminded that both a resident’s vehicle registration and
driver’s license must list Porter as the place of residence.
Brueckheimer
reported the Stormwater Board awarded a $64,272 contract to R.V. Sutton for
planned drainage improvements along Waverly Road. She also noted periodic
lane and road closures will occur in the downtown as construction on the
Porter Avenue lift station and force main continues.
Wightman for the
Park Board thanked Brueckheimer and Spanier for helping secure two new
bicycles for needy children through the Duneland Seniors group; she also
said the Park Department stands ready to flood an area for ice skating at
Hawthorne Park should temperatures cooperate. Last winter it was too warm
for the rink to stay frozen.
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