Latest news with #PortageCityCouncil
Chicago Tribune
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Porter County Republicans select new chair, turn to young leadership
The Porter County Republicans have ushered in a group of new, young leadership following the retirement of former chair Michael Simpson who stepped down after helming the party for 12 years. 'I think Nate Uldricks will do an exceptional job,' he said of the Pine Township Board chair who will replace him. Uldricks was selected to lead the party March 1. 'This wasn't on my radar,' said Uldricks, who grew up in Portage and now lives in Beverly Shores. 'I've just been active trying to get more people involved. I had some people reach out to me over the summer.' County Councilwoman Michelle Harris, At-large, of Valparaiso, was voted the party's vice president. Charisa Childers, who lost her bid for Portage City Council by a thin margin in 2023, will serve as secretary, and Valparaiso resident Nicole Baker, who also lost a primary bid last year for county council, will serve as treasurer. Porter County Council Vice President Red Stone, R-1st, had praise for both the old and new guard. 'Personally, I think Michael did a great job. He's a good man.' And he thinks it's time for a new generation to step in. 'They're smart and they're classy and they're workhorses, man,' he added. 'All of us are under the age of 50,' Uldricks said. 'We have a Young Republicans chapter. At our meetings, you're seeing more and more young people. In fact, they probably bring the most energy.' He said there are quite a few people in their early '20s getting involved. 'The 2024 election has given the Republican Party a lot of momentum,' he added. 'People want to be involved. People are energized.' Uldricks said the Porter County Republican Party is 'not super-idealogical. It's practical.' That translates to a focus on low taxes, low crime and good schools. 'That's kind of the good life, right?' he asked. 'People are proud of Northwest Indiana, Porter County, America.' Simpson, who was elected for three consecutive four-year terms in 2013, '17, and '21, agrees with Uldricks that the main focus for Porter County Republicans moving forward is growing the volunteer base and participation level among residents. He said that means 'knocking on more doors and getting more people to come out and vote.' He's proud of those who have been doing the work already. 'I think our team of volunteers did a yeoman's job over the last 12 years,' he said. 'We've captured the majority of county offices, township offices, city offices. We've made Porter County pretty red.' Simpson still plans to be involved, 'but I won't have to run lots of meetings,' he said of the four districts that each hold monthly meetings in the county. He's following activity at the State House and reading bills as they trade houses. 'The bills that have died, I'm glad they did,' he said. Uldricks said he hasn't had a lot of conversations with folks about specific bills though, 'Republicans who are especially active care deeply about their communities,' he said. 'This year we're going to do a lot of blocking and tackling, getting people involved.' Porter County Democratic Party Chair Don Craft is maintaining his post for another four-year term. Party chairs are selected the March after a presidential election.
Chicago Tribune
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Portage no longer exploring ‘DORA' idea for outdoor drinking area downtown
The Portage City Council rejected a proposal to create a designated outdoor drinking area downtown. The proposal was tabled last fall. Mayor Austin Bonta pushed for the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area proposal, but it was voted down Tuesday by four of the six council members. Voting against it were Robert 'Bob' Parnell, R-2nd; Ferdinand Alvarez, D-At-large; Melissa Weidenbach, R-At-large; and Victoria Vasquez, R-3rd. Penny Ambler, R-4th, was absent. The ordinance would have allowed bar patrons to leave an establishment with drink in hand to go elsewhere downtown, even to another bar. Bar owners would have had to buy special plastic cups for that purpose. 'Simply put, people are already walking between those bars on a Saturday night. The difference is do they have a cup in their hand or do they not have a cup in their hand,' Bonta said. Council members had plenty of questions about the concept. Vasquez, the council's president, proposed amending the ordinance to not allow alcohol sales at Founders Square events on Sundays and not before 4 p.m. other days. That amendment failed. Arguing in support of the restriction, Vasquez said, 'That way, young mothers with toddlers and families can go to there without feeling intimidated.' Parnell, a pastor and nondrinker, said he was concerned about the legal risk of public intoxication around Founders Square where family and children gather, especially at the park and concert area. Police Chief Michael Candiano offered his take on the proposal. 'My understanding is this is more about alcohol sales than consumption,' he said. 'If you're not aware, the laws in Indiana have changed. Public intoxication is not just being drunk in public; you've got to be creating a problem, you've got to be endangering yourself or somebody else. Just the act of drinking in public is not a crime.' The open container law pertains to having a container in a vehicle, not just sitting on a lawn in public, Candiano added. 'This isn't necessarily encouraging more consumption of alcohol,' Councilman Collin Czilli said. Rather, it allows people to go from one area to another with a drink in their hand. A beer garden would restrict where alcohol could be sold without restricting consumption. 'This just adds another opportunity to not have to drink fast or throw something away,' Bonta said. In Indiana, it's perfectly legal to go outside with a cooler of beer or other alcoholic beverage and consume it in public, he said. Downtown, where the proposed DORA would have been located, the Redevelopment Commission owns the baseball diamonds and other property. The RDC, as a property owner, could prohibit alcohol consumption on its property. That's an unwritten rule already, Bonta said. Likewise, the Park Board could prohibit alcohol consumption in parks, with notable exceptions for special permitted events. Bonta said there are many other places in Indiana, including some in Northwest Indiana, that have created DORA districts. The ordinance was first proposed in November and tabled in December. Bonta brought it back up Tuesday to see if the district could be created before special events at Founders Square start up when the weather improves.
Chicago Tribune
07-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Some Portage employees get raises, others denied
The Portage City Council gave pay raises to some employees but denied others during a marathon meeting Tuesday. Councilman Ferdinand Alvarez said it's unfortunate that pay raises have to be negotiated in public, just a couple of months after the budget was adopted. He was concerned about the timing, with the budget already tight and tightening further. 'We have $300K left to spend beyond what was budgeted for,' Councilman Collin Czilli said. Some of the increases were in the budget but not reflected in the salary ordinance, Mayor Austin Bonta said. Among them was the human resources director, who was hired at $75,000 and raised last year to $85,000 and given a raise to $95,000 on Tuesday, retroactive to Jan. 1. The director leads a department with one part-time staffer in a department that should have 2.5 full-time equivalent staffing instead of 1.5, based on the 330 employees on the city's payroll, Bonta said. The HR director has saved the city money on insurance premiums by establishing a safety committee, identified required federal forms that weren't filled out previously and made other important changes, Bonta said. Democrats Alvarez, Czilli and Gina Giese-Hurst voted against the raise on a party-line vote. The mayor's chief of staff was given a raise to $60,000 along the same party-line vote. 'She's my brain. She's the person who keeps everything running there today. She's the person that frees me up to do things as a mayor,' Bonta said. A comparable job overseeing the different departments elsewhere could command a salary over $100,000, he said. The title for the team management/events coordinator was changed to public relations specialist and the pay for the position set at $55,000, with the same party-line vote. With all she does — from raising money to pay for Fourth of July fireworks and other causes as well as organizing events and handling publicity for the city — her title should be changed to public relations specialist, council President Victoria Vasquez said. Bonta agreed. Czilli, however, objected. 'We're talking about a person's title without talking with them, which is kind of concerning,' he said. Also, there's no job description for this new position, Czilli said. He objected to the long list of raises proposed Tuesday. 'We've got two clerks at the utilities and sanitation departments that are woefully underpaid compared to other clerks in the city, and we're not considering raises for them,' Czilli said. Bonta said a wage study will address those issues. The employees for whom he proposed raises have earned them, based on his evaluation of their performance, he said. Czilli said the city has no history of performance-based evaluations. 'It just seems to me that we're picking and choosing who gets raises at certain times,' he said. 'The salary study is going to show us how behind we are across the board,' he said. The council voted unanimously to deny a raise for a payroll clerk hired late last year. 'She took a pay cut from Valparaiso of $2,000 to come to the city of Portage,' Clerk-treasurer Liz Modesto said. The woman was hired with the understanding that Modesto would seek a raise for her in 2025, Modesto said. 'This position is a very critical position in the clerk-treasurer's office,' she said. The raise is paid for by the utility fees, not by the general fund, she noted. Czilli said it's important to look not jasust at the salary but the full compensation package, and Portage's benefits are more generous than Valparaiso's. The council voted unanimously to give a raise to an accounts receivable clerk being paid $6,000 less than someone else in the clerk-treasurer's doing the same work. An accounts payable clerk got a $5,000 raise, paid for by the Redevelopment Commission, on a 4-3 vote. This time, the dissenters were Vasquez, Melissa Weidenbach and Robert Parnell. The clerk is handling financials for the commission, with an employee in the planning department handling other duties formerly done by a single person who was paid $60,000 per year. The planning department employee got a $3,500 increase last year and $10,000 this year, but not the clerk, Modesto said. The council approved a $65,000 city planner with $5,000 of it from the Redevelopment Commission. Czilli and Alvarez voted against it. The council voted 6-1 to deny raises for police and fire administrative assistants who essentially serve as chiefs of staff for those departments. Weidenbach supported the raises. 'This process is just not making sense to me, one bit. We're just creating a bigger problem,' Czilli said, if the council had given them raises but not counterparts in other departments who are already paid less. Bonta said the wage study will address these issues.
