Porter Fire Chief Jay Craig warned the community that there may be a scam afoot in Duneland where an organization is soliciting donations under the guise of being a volunteer fire department.

Craig said at Tuesday’s Porter Town Council meeting that a resident contacted him after getting rude phone calls from an organization claiming to support volunteer firefighters.

Craig said he contacted the Indiana Volunteer Firefighters Association to check that the calls weren’t affiliated with them. IVFA said the calls could be a scam. Whoever is behind it, the solicitations are not associated with the Porter Volunteer Firefighters.

“That is not us. We do not solicit through phone calls, emails, or anything like that,” Craig said. “I don’t see any of that money. The Fire Department doesn’t see any of that money.”

Craig said IVFA suggested any residents getting suspicious communications should report it to the Indiana Attorney General’s office.

In other Fire Department news, the Council approved entering a contract with AT&T for the First Net program, where first responders can get special pricing on phones that double as radios and gain access to a priority network to make communication easier in major emergencies.

Craig said the contract doesn’t commit the Town or the Fire Department to buying phones, but enables individual firefighters to take advantage of the special rate for first responders and buy the phones with their own money. In the event of a major emergency, any Town employee who uses AT&T could also be added to the priority network.

The Council also approved an amendment to the 2019 salary ordinance to correct an error.

The Council passed resolution 2019-01, which brings one of the Town’s funds into compliance with a new state bookkeeping directive.

The MVH 203 fund--which was previously a donation line item--will now be a restricted fund. The resolution approved the creation of a new fund, MVH 204, for donations, and approved the transfer of remaining donation funds in MVH 203 to the new fund.