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PORTER PROCEEDS COMMITTEE
Porter County Council members present were Mike Bucko, Jim, Burge, William Carmichael, Robert Poparad, Rita Stevenson, Chairman Matt Murphy, and Dan Whitten, who was not present at roll call. Also present was Attorney Dave Hollenbeck and Jan Noll Porter County Board of Commissioners present were Com. Robert Harper, and Com. Carole Knoblock. Also present was County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger. Mr. Murphy called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance. OPENING COMMENTS & INTRODUCTIONS
Mr. Murphy, Thank you. I’m going to bring this joint meeting of the Porter County Council and the Porter County Board of Commissioners to order, also known as the Porter Proceeds Committee. We all have our agendas. I’m going to start out with some introductory comments. Back in May--for those of you who are unaware of the timeframe--we had a joint meeting of the County Council, and the Board of Commissioners, and the Board of Trustees of Porter Hospital who voted unanimously to sell the hospital. Shortly thereafter, the President of the County Council, Dan Whitten--who is running a few minutes late tonight--asked me to chair the committee on figuring out what to do with the proceeds from that sale. Mr. Bucko, Thanks, Jim.
Mr. Murphy, Again, stressing the process being very important, we thought that it made sense to ask somebody to assist us in this decision-making, get through these meetings. Again, given the size of the panel, and the complexities of what we are about to tackle, we decided we should, it makes sense to have a facilitator. We chose Dr. Tom Boyt from Valparaiso University. He’s the Dean of the School of Business. And Dr. Boyt was gracious enough as well to volunteer his time and expertise in helping us shepherd through this process. I want to thank Dr. Boyt back there. He’s sitting behind us right now. He’s going to play a small role tonight. But again, the role of a facilitator is contend-neutral, and he’s here to help us formulate consensus, and keep the debate moving forward, and keep the process moving forward. Woman from the audience, There’s two of us that signed up here. Mr. Murphy, Okay, we can consolidate those lists. I’m going to ask or remind you because of the time limits tonight, we want to kind of get out of here, and not make this a marathon meeting. We’re going to ask you to keep your remarks to two minutes, and then we will adjourn. We’ve got some other items to attend to, then we’ll adjourn. UPDATE ON STATUS OF FUNDS - ATTORNEY GWENN RINKENBERGER Mr. Murphy, Next I’d like to ask County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger to give us an update on the status of where the funds currently are. If she could cover that from May to today, that would be great. Thank you, Gwenn.
County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, I have Tim McGeath here with me today from Hall Render. What I have is a summary, the first page is the most important. This is a breakdown of three primary funds that the sale proceeds were currently invested in. It sets forth the interest rate that the funds are currently making, and then some summary information at the bottom of the sheet. Com. Harper, Were you going to discuss the statute? Atty Rinkenberger, Well, as Exhibit C, we do have the statute that governs the sale of the hospital, and it’s I.C.16-22-3-17, and I think everybody will recall when we sold the hospital that we did it pursuant to that statute. And pursuant to that statute, we had three choices we could make with this money. We could, A, deposit it in a non-expendable interesting bearing trust fund, from which claims for indigent care could be paid; we did not do that. We could deposit it in the general fund; we did not do that. We decided to set up a fund that the Porter County Board of Commissioners and the Porter County Council would govern how the money was going to be invested, and what the proceeds--the interest proceeds--would be spent on. So, I mean I think if you go back and look at the fundamentals of the contract, it dictates whose responsible for this money, how it can be invested, and that goes back to the Board of Commissioners and the Porter County Council. Com. Harper, Okay, can I ask a question? Atty Rinkenberger, Sure. Com. Harper, It’s my understanding that after you folks have taken a look at this that because the statute is unlike any other… Atty Rinkenberger, True. Com. Harper, Creating this fund, that a good argument could be made that it’s governed not like any other fund, because it’s sort of a hybrid. Okay? That perhaps we are not bound by the rules of the investing state money. Is that my understanding? Atty Rinkenberger, That’s true. We believe that given the sale of this property under this I.C. Code that is taken out. We don’t think that legally we’re going to have to invest this strictly pursuant to Title 5-13, as conservative as municipal general fund money must be invested. But, obviously, we want to use prudent investment practices, but I don’t think… Com. Harper, Let me ask you the other thing. My understanding that after discussions with Treasurer Murphy, who’s here, so maybe he could tell us one way or the other, that you guys feel that it would probably be best for us to follow those guidelines whether or not we have to or not. Is that, Jim, is that the way you feel? Is that what your suggestion is? Treasurer Jim Murphy, When I distributed the information about the requirements that we have as far as general fund investments, I didn’t know anything about Title 16. I have been made aware of that, and I’ll reserve my judgment because, you know, in tricky situations, my history with the State Board of Accounts, their advice to me, when they can’t make up their mind, is to consult with your county attorney. Com. Harper, My question to you is, irregardless of what we can do, you know, it was my feeling that at least there was some thought that we should follow those guidelines just for safety sake and have them… Atty Rinkenberger, I think if your question is, would it be wise to move the $50,849,714 from the Charles Schwab account to our account that’s already open at Fifth/Third, which is currently making a 4.75%; yes, we think that would be a wise investment, because then it preserves our principal, and our principal is not at risk, and that does fall within those state guidelines. Com. Harper, And then if later this council wants to make other… Atty Rinkenberger, Right. Com. Harper, Determinations we could. But at least right now we wouldn’t be in a high-risk position. Atty Rinkenberger, Yes. Mr. Bucko, That’s true, we’re less volatile. Atty Rinkenberger, Definitely, preserve your principal, and even at preserving your principal, if you get 4.75, you’re still going to make $6,000,000 with no risk at all off the principal of this money. And with it going up $3,000,000 in three weeks, if something happens to the market, the 50,000,000 could become 47,000,000 in four weeks. So whether you’re required by state law to move it or not, it’s probably a prudent idea while this body is together to… Com. Harper, Well each one of us would have to hold a vote. Atty Rinkenberger, Right. At this point, Mr. Whitten joined the meeting. Com. Harper, The Commissioners are prepared to do that tonight. I don’t know if the Council is or not, but we are prepared to take a vote. Do you think we’re in good stead with the public notice? Atty Rinkenberger, I don’t see what you have to have public, I’m not even, I don’t think you have to have public notice to move this money.
Council Atty David Hollenbeck, Yes, the meeting has certainly convened pursuant to public notice, so I don’t, if the County Council wants to consider that tonight, I don’t have a problem with it. Mr. Whitten, Could we take action tonight Dave? I mean have we noticed this up as a County Council meeting or is this a Committee meeting? Atty Hollenbeck, We’ve noticed it up, it was noticed up as a joint meeting of the Commissioners and this Committee enmasse, which is everybody. So I’m comfortable you’ve given sufficient notice if you wanted to take some action tonight, relevant to these funds, and the deliberations over investing them and spending them. I think you’ve given adequate notice. Com. Harper, We’d have to do it ourselves together. Mr. Bucko, Yes, you’d have to do it yourself. Com. Harper, Yes, we’d have to do it ourselves. We are prepared to do it if you guys are prepared to do it. Mr. Whitten, Certainly, I mean if you are comfortable with our notice for tonight’s meeting, we can certainly take action. Atty Hollenbeck, I am. Mr. Whitten, Okay. PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING Com. Harper, I call a meeting of the County Commissioners to order. I ask if there is a motion. Com. Carole Knoblock moved to transfer $50,849,714 from the Charles Schwab account to the Fifth/Third Bank account. Com. Harper seconded, motion carried unanimously.
Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Who’s keeping minutes of this meeting? Mr. Whitten, You’re going to do the minutes for the Commissioners’ meeting too? Ms. Noll, Yes. Mr. Whitten, Okay. Com. Harper, Well wait, I’ll talk a little longer. There being no further discussion, the meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners adjourned. PORTER COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING Mr. Whitten, Okay, then I would call the County Council meeting to order, and entertain any motion. Mr. Bucko moved to transfer the FEG accounts (Charles Schwab) of $50,849,714 to the Fifth/Third account, Account #72331912290. Mr. Poparad seconded.
Mr. Whitten, Discussion? Mr. Whitten, It would appear so. Mr. Carmichael, What’s the current, how many days is it in there now? What is the money market maturity date? Mr. Murphy, Five an a quarter is the rate. Correct? Is that… Mr. Carmichael, Yes, but even the rate… Atty Rinkenberger, It’s 4.75 right now. Mr. Carmichael, Isn’t there a maturity date on it? Atty Rinkenberger, That, I’m not aware of. Mr. Carmichael, It’s just continuous? Atty. Rinkenberger, Murph? Mr. J. Murphy, No, it’s liquid. Atty Hollenbeck, It’s liquid, Bill. You can put it in and take it out any time. Mr. Whitten, It’s not a CD. Mr. Carmichael, It’s not like a CD. Atty Hollenbeck, No. Mr. Carmichael, Did we investigate CD’s? Atty Rinkenberger, We will, but what we’re concerned of is our investigation in the volatility of the market, and the risk of principal in the meantime. I mean you can do whatever you please, but I, you know, to preserve the principal is not…
Atty Hollenbeck, Bill, It’s kind of hard to make those decisions until we decide how much of the 6,000,000 you’re going to spend, and how you are going to spend it, because that money, we may need to have relatively quickly. So in the interim… Atty Hollenbeck, Yes, I recommend, I agree with Gwenn and Com. Harper that independent of the legalities of how you can invest this money, I think our comfort level is all best served if we follow Title 5, which is the way Treasurer Murphy invested our money right now, which would dictate getting out of this fund. And secondly, even if you could stay in it, Gwenn is right. This fund is volatile as much as it can go up a million dollars, it can go down a million dollars, and that’s not where this money should be. Atty Rinkenberger, And we’re doing something that most stockholders don’t do. We’re moving it when we have a profit, instead of moving it when we’re losing, you know. Mr. Carmichael, Okay, end of question. Mr. Whitten, Any other discussion? Let’s have a roll call. Motion carried on a unanimous roll call vote. Atty Rinkenberger, Alright. Well, if you have any other questions from us. Mr. Whitten, We’ll adjourn the regular council meeting, and I will turn it over to Councilman Murphy here to continue with the Committee meeting. There being no further discussion, the meeting of the Porter County Council adjourned. RECONVENE - PORTER PROCEEDS COMMITTEE MEETING Mr. Murphy, I will reconvene the joint committee meeting. Does anybody have any questions for Gwenn or Tim, at this point, for the purposes of this meeting? Atty Rinkenberger, I’m always available. Mr. Murphy, We know where to find you. Thank you. PUBLIC INPUT Mr. Murphy, Okay, we’re going to move into the public input part of this meeting, and I would ask that, if you could please form a line at that podium, to keep it moving, keep the comments moving, and we don’t have to wait for people to get up and scoot down the aisles. If you wouldn’t mind getting in a line, and also to remind you to please keep your remarks as close to two minutes as possible. We do have a timer, and I’m going to ask Mr. Bucko to operate that gizmo for me. Mr. Bucko, It gives me the hammer, huh. Mr. Murphy, At this point too, we thought it would be a good idea, people are going to come up and give us ideas, and maybe if we, we’re going to write down; did you bring paper, Mike, to put down what the ideas were? Oh, there we go. Mr. Bucko, We have it right there. Mr. Murphy, I don’t know how I missed that. Com. Harper, Matt, would you ask them to give their names and addresses, because. Mr. Murphy, I’m sorry. Thank you, Bob. Please give your, please state your name and address, and if you are with an organization. Mr. Burge, Matt, you have a list here, there’s also a partial list on the podium as well. Mr. Murphy, Alright. Can you grab the other list? Com. Harper, Matt, Gwenn’s going to grab that sign-up sheet and make us all copies. Is that okay? Mr. Murphy, Sure. We’re going to have you, you can stand in line there, and just use this microphone. If Mr. Bucko will kindly begin the clock. Mr. Bucko, Go right ahead, start.
Barb Young, Thank you. My name is Barb Young, I live at 79 Braemar, Valparaiso, Indiana. I’m president of the Porter County Community Foundation, and I want to thank the Commissioners and the County Council for holding these public hearings. This is a wonderful opportunity, truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our community, and I think it’s critical that everyone in the community have an opportunity to share their thoughts, so I want to thank you for conducting these public hearings. Mr. Murphy, Thanks a lot. Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
David Lomaka, I’m Dave Lomaka, I’m the President/CEO of Porter-Starke Services. I’ve come before you many a time, at least every year at budget time. We’re here today for a couple of reasons, and one is, one is an issue we’ve been talking to you about for quite some time. We got into the inpatient psychiatric hospital business earlier this year, and, as we give you a handout, and just to kind of skip through some of the handout, the third page of this handout has kind of some startling information we just learned from the County Coroner, just this past week. Mr. Murphy, Okay, thank you. Hi.
Mary Beth Schultz, Hello, my name is Mary Beth Schultz, and I am the Executive Director of the Caring Place here in Valparaiso, but we serve all of Porter County. First of all, I agree with the first two people who talked, Dave and Barb. This is a tremendous opportunity, and I commend all of you. It sounds like the money is in good hands, but it is a lot of money. So what I would like to say is that all non-profits need money. We’re all here probably for the same reason. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
Ralph Bufano, My name is Ralph Bufano. I just represent the youth here, one of the adults that is here to talk. We, I was amazed by the monies you’re talking, the interest that you’re making on the monies, and all the things, the careful planning and all in regards to that, spending your money best so that nothing is wasted. And we’re talking about the youth, over 40,000 youth within the Porter County. There’s youth right here represented. We’re glad we can’t get 40,000 here in this room. But we’re also talking about the need. How could you better put something to facilitate in fields in activities for the youth of our Porter County. Because it’s so needed, because there is nothing, nothing that they have, and they’re doing what they have to say outside of the county to try to exist in, in so many kind of aspects and regards to their. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
Lorrie Wojcik, Hi, my name is Laura Wojcik, and I don’t know a lot about money, but I do know a lot about kids, and I just want you to know that I think this is a wonderful opportunity for all of us, and thank you for that very much. If you look behind me, I don’t know about you, but when I came in this room and saw so many children sitting in here, I thought what a wonderful opportunity for them to learn how government works, and I hope that they remember that always. David Vanderhere, My name is David Vanderhere, I live in Jackson Township. I’ve been playing baseball for about, my whole life, and I’ve been to a lot of fields. And we have like no fields in Porter County, and I would just appreciate it if you would make a field for us so we could play. Thank you. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you.
Laurie Frankie-Polz, Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Laurie Frankie-Polz, and I’m community liaison for Pathway Family Center, which is your newest drug treatment center that is now located in Northwest Indiana. We want to says thank you for your initial guidance and assistance for helping start a new location here in Indiana--Northwest Indiana--and I don’t envy you, the tasks that you have laid out here this evening. I think we’ve got a lot of wonderful foundations. We’ve got a lot of organizations that definitely will need some help, and I admire you for the courage to be able to sit down before us, and have this open discussion. We truly appreciate that. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much. Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
Gus Brown, Good evening, my name is Gus Brown. I’m a parent of three young men that, we’ve been in Porter County for about 18 years. What happened, I want to talk about the subject that Lorrie just spoke to, and specifically, it’s Pathway Family Center. I’m a graduate parent from the program. My wife and children, I believe came to visit with the commission, and I wanted to start off by again acknowledging the support that the communities had to the program. At the same time, like most programs, it takes quite a bit to run these facilities. These young people in the room are recognized, because my children went through the same type of programs. Unfortunately, the slogan, just say no, doesn’t always work, and the best of kids, the best of families sometimes find themselves in these difficult situations. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
Tom Isakson, Good evening, my name is Tom Isakson, 1755 Lawndale in Valparaiso, and I work for Spring Valley Shelter. Thank you for the attention you’re giving to this cause. Each year in Porter County, over 1,000 of our citizens become homeless, and that’s not an estimate. We have the names of over 1,000 Porter Countians who asked for shelter from Spring Valley last year, and this year, it will be over 1,000 again. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much.
Paula Siminski, Hi, my name is Paula Siminski. I live in Portage, Indiana at 6333 Prophet Avenue. I’m the Director of Portage Adult Education, and I’m here tonight to express, to try to inform the County Council, and the people sitting in this room, of the severity of the situation that our organization faces. We’ve been in existence for 45 years, and I don’t think it’s any secret that last May our program almost ended because of funding issues. Mr. Murphy, Yep. Mr. Bucko, No. Ms. Siminski, That didn’t seem like two minutes. Mr. Bucko, It’s not that bad, the other people have been short. Thank you very much, Ms. Siminski, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Your point is definitely made. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mrs. Stevenson, Thank you. Mr. Murphy, Hi. Tyler Ell rich, Hello, I’m Tyler Ell rich, 552 Lake Park Drive. Dear Commissioners, I am ten years old, and I am a fifth grader at Memorial Elementary. I have been playing baseball and football since I was eight years old. When me and my friends can find a field to play on they’re unsafe, and in very bad condition. I cannot understand why East Chicago has better fields than we do. I have asked my dad this question, but he cannot give me an answer. I was hoping you could answer this question for me. Please build a sports complex today so my friends and I have a safe place to practice and play. Thank you. Mr. Murphy, Thanks. Mr. Bucko, Thank you, young man. Mr. Whitten, We may have the next Rex Grossman. Dominic Semis, Hello, my name is Dominic Snemis, and I am ten years old, and I go to Cook’s Corner Elementary School. Mr. Bucko, Would you do me a favor, and help the oldest guy, not the oldest guy, the second oldest guy on this Council. Excuse me, would you pull that microphone down a little bit closer to you? Mr. Snemis, Yeah. Mr. Bucko, Good. I can hear you now. Mr. Snemis, Okay, my name is Dominic Snemis, and I’m ten years old, and I go to Cooks Corner Elementary School. And, whenever we, whenever, once we were ten years, 12 years old, we can’t play baseball anymore. Once we hit middle school, we can’t play baseball. We can play football. We can play basketball, but we can’t play baseball. But once we get baseball fields, we can play till, high school. In high school you can play basketball and baseball and football, so it would be better if we got baseball fields. Thank you. Mr. Murphy, Thanks. Mr. Bucko, Thanks. Mr. Murphy, That’s a tough act to follow. Mr. Bucko, Yeah.
Richard Wheeler, Very tough act to follow. My name is Richard Wheeler, I live at 2410 Primrose Drive in Valparaiso, and this is a particularly difficult act to follow because of what I feel I need to say. People in this position are sort of in the position of Santa Claus right now, getting a list of, I’d like this, I need this, I want this, and all of these things are very worthy enterprises. But, what is the most significant is, as I believe it was Mr. Murphy who said, this is a once-in-a-life amount of money that we’re going to have. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Mr. Murphy, Hi.
Sharon Kish, Good evening. Hi, I’m Sharon Kish. I live at 13 North Kincraig, here in Valpo, and I’m President of the United Way of Porter County. I just want to echo what the other speakers who came. I want to thank you for these opportunities to come before you, and to talk about these dollars. This is a gift to this community, and we appreciate being able to talk to you about the needs of the community, and as you’ve heard tonight, there are many needs. Mr. Murphy, Thanks, Sharon. Mr. Bucko, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much.
Andrew Rooks, Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrew Rooks. I live at 3989 Viceroy Street in Portage. I’m here on behalf of Northshore Health Centers, who is my employer. I think the first place I’d like to start on is, is like so many people who proceed me, thank you for the position that you’re all in to make a very heavy decision on how you’re going to spend your funds. Like everyone else, we need some of those funds, as well. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much.
Dr. Mann Spitler, My name is Mann Spitler, I am currently serving as President of the Community Action Drug Coalition, and I’m also on the local board for Pathway Family Center, here in Porter County. The Community Action Drug Coalition is a small group of volunteer persons all from Porter County, and in the past we have been supportive of the Dawn Network at the hospital. We’ve also encouraged the formation of the drug court, and we have raised money the old fashioned way. Not through grants or not through huge donations, but rather through fundraising events, and we provided the $125,000 to Pathway Family Center to get them started to come here to Porter County. Mr. Whitten, Thank you very much. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mrs. Stevenson, Thank you.
Ivan Bodensteiner, Good evening, my name is Ivan Bodensteiner. I live at 205 North Lafayette in Valparaiso. I’m affiliated with a number of the not-for-profit organizations in the community, but I’m not here to specially ask for funds for any of them. Rather, I would like to address a broader issue, and that is what the theme will be for, for the use of these monies. I would propose that you remove the temptation that you and your, those who follow you will face annually at budget time to dip into that pot of money to deal with some short-term needs, to pay off some debts, and so forth. And, although it’s a lot of money, I think in a few years it could be seriously depleted if we take that approach. Mr. Bucko, Thank you, appreciate that very much. It’s good thing. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, It’s very hard to say stop, appreciate it. Mayor Jon Costas, Good evening. Mr. Murphy, Good evening.
Mayor Costas, My name is Jon Costas, I live at 2402 Spyglass Drive in Valparaiso, and I serve as mayor of the City of Valparaiso. First of all, I want to thank you for successfully negotiating and completing the sale of the hospital. That was a very wise decision. That encompasses a lot more than just the money we’re dealing with here today, and the timing was impeccable. So it took real leadership, and it was the right thing to do, so I appreciate that. Com. Harper, Mayor, that’s the responsibility of the Hospital. They’ve… Mayor Costas, In the contract itself? Com. Harper, Yes. Mayor Costas, To actually demolish it, and haul it away? Com. Harper, Well, what they’re, they’ve got to decide what they’re going to do with it. Mayor Costas, Okay. Com. Harper, It’s their building. It’s not our building anymore. Mayor Costas, Okay. Is it required in the contract that they, that they, that they demolish it? Com. Harper, I’d have to look at the contract to see exactly what it says, but it’s their building. It’s not our building anymore. Atty. Hollenbeck, There’s 3.8 million dollars that has been estimated for the cost of demolition. But Bob’s right, it is their building, and ultimately their decision. I’m sure that the City could have some influence, in terms, if they would let it sit and be empty, and becomes deteriorated, it would be vulnerable as a private building to anything in the City in terms of pursuing them to demolish it if it does become an eyesore or environmental hazard or something. Com. Harper, They have money. Mayor Costas, Apparently. Thank you for your time. Mr. Bucko, Thanks, Mayor. Dave Snemis, Hi, my name is Dave Snemis. I live at 552 Shatz Drive, Valpo. I’m a member of the Board of Directors for Valpo Americans Little League. We’re a non-profit organization. I represent 400, over 400 children in our league. Every year we struggle to maintain the fields, and keep the fields up. We play, we play tournaments throughout the, through the season, through the league. We go through, out the region in general, and it’s, it’s somewhat sad to come back to our fields. It’s a struggle. Our fields are, are, you know, pretty bad shape, and we struggle to keep them in shape, and I just, I guess I’m asking for a seat at the table when you think about investing, invest in the children of Porter County. They really deserve it. The kids in this community deserve it, because in this community the children deserve better from what they’ve been playing with, and, you know, I mean a multi-use facility, I guess primarily baseball, there’s quite a few kids here that are in our league that are interested, they’re all county residents. Many are in the city, many are in the county, but they’re all county residents, in general, and they’re all asking for, you know, your support and input or I guess, thought when you start, you know, suggesting how to spend money. Mr. Murphy, Thank you . Mr. Bucko, Thank you.
Bruce Lindner, Hello, my name is Bruce Lindner. I live at 459 E. 900 N., Valparaiso. I’m the Executive Director of the Porter County Aging & Community Services. As you can hear from, not-for-profits, there’s probably going to be way more need than there will ever be money to take care of that. So I’d like to reiterate Mayor Costas’ options that he put forth, think in terms of investing, not spending. Think in terms what, the people that come behind you ten years down the road are going to look back and say, boy, they chose the wrong way to go with the money, this organization or that organization. Six million dollars is an awful lot, and it leaves you a great opportunity to leverage future money through grants or donations. It gives you a chance to also flow with the needs of the community, and the things that change. We don’t have the foresight to see far ahead.
Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thanks, Bruce.
Mary Russell, My name is Mary Russell. I reside at 725 N., Valparaiso. I have been a teacher with Portage Adult Education since 1974. This is my last year. I’m retiring. I’m not here to protect my job. I’m here to help see that a program is sustained. A program that’s very viable for Porter County. Each year Porter County receives through the Portage Adult Education Program, over a million dollars from the federal and state governments. We do not receive that money, unless we have a local match, a maintenance of effort from the community. That has been paid by Portage Township Schools for the last many, many years. They can no longer afford to do that. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. Mr. Bucko, Thank you. Mr. Whitten, Thank you. Barbara Ongst, My name is Barbara Ongst. I live at 1 Sheffield Drive, Valparaiso. I am the AVE Instructor at the Porter County Jail. I just want to reiterate that education prevents recidivism. You cannot put your money in a better place than something that would help these forgotten part of our society to help better their lives, in the betterment of our communities by not returning to crime, but educating them, and putting them back in society as a well person. So I can’t ask for more support for Portage Adult than you can possibly give, because it does protect your community, and reduces recidivism. Thank you very much. Mr. Bucko, Thank you, Barbara. Mr. Murphy, Thank you. At this time, I’m going to close the public input, being that there is nobody else in line. Oops. Ms. Wojcik, I know I’ve been up here before, but I just wanted to have the entire audience applaud all of you. I have not seen any of you look away or even look tired, and thank you for this wonderful opportunity. At this time, the audience gave a round of applause.
Mr. Murphy, Okay, at this time, I’m going to close public input. We’re going to move down on the agenda. One of the acumens that Mike and I thought we were going to address, we already have, and that was relating to the update on the status of the funds, and moving those funds out of the FEG accounts. So we did that. Mr. Bucko, Tell them about that survey. Mr. Murphy, Yes, there is a website. I think it’s been in the newspaper. If you go to porterco.org, if you didn’t have a chance to speak or didn’t feel like speaking, porterco.org, click on take the survey, and you can send us your thoughts electronically. We get that weekly emailed to us, and we will be reviewing that at our next meeting. OCTOBER MEETING DATE Mr. Murphy, Our next meeting, thank you for bringing that up. The next meeting we had tentatively set it for the 15th. Correct? But, we have a conflict. I think we’re going to go to the 22nd of October for the next meeting, and it’s at this meeting that the hard decisions must begin and be made. We will rely on Dr. Boyt to help us through that process. But again, we wanted to be open minded tonight; take all the public input. We’ll reflect on it, and then begin to make the decisions in a few weeks. Does anybody have any questions or comments that we need to talk about tonight before we move on? Mr. Bucko, What’s the time, 5:00 or 5:30? Mr. Murphy, The meeting will be at 5:30 in this room on October 22nd. Mr. Carmichael, Matt. Mr. Murphy, Yes, sir. Mr. Carmichael, We don’t need a policeman at these meetings, not with overtime being paid. Mr. Murphy, Okay. Mr. Carmichael, It’s a waste of money. Mr. Murphy, Okay. Mr. Carmichael, These aren’t… Mr. Bucko, It’s a wonderful time. Mr. Carmichael, These are our citizens. Mr. Murphy, Okay, thank you, Bill. Mr. Whitten, You don’t anticipate this committee taking votes, do you? I mean I guess I kind of envision this being an information gathering tool to be brought back to the Council and to the Commissioners to take the final vote. Mr. Murphy, Well, yes. If we did vote, I think we’d have to do what we did tonight with the funds, moving the funds. We’d have to call a commissioners’ meeting, and do what Bob and Carole did, then we’d have to call, so you couldn’t just tally up six people on this panel. We’d have to have those two, and then four of us to get the six. Is that correct, Dave? Atty Hollenbeck, Right, Matt, and… Mr. Whitten, Yes, but before we get to that end, I guess what I’m saying is, what I would like to see, at least as President of the Council is that this Committee take all the input, gather up all the information, and then bring the options and the thoughts back to the Council--the seven council members--for an official vote on whatever. Mr. Murphy, Okay.
Mr. Whitten, I think because if we start talking that we just need four councilman, no good, that cuts three out. I don’t want to see that happen. I want us all, I mean I don’t even want to see us make any decisions without unanimous attendance at the meeting. It’s kind of like when we sold the hospital. It’s too important to let it go with other things. That’s just my thoughts. Atty Hollenbeck, If I could add one thing quickly. As County Attorney Rinkenberger reported to you earlier tonight, the whole area of these monies and investment and expenditure is at best a gray area. And because of that in consultation with the county attorney, we’re looking through some options so we can present those options to you as to how your methodology should proceed. Mr. Bucko, That may very well have an impact on this next meeting. I guess the best thing might be, Mr. Chairman, I mean what our attorney said. You can say tentatively the next meeting is the 22nd but there are some options that they will be looking at that may impact that meeting, and we may have to go to an advertised meeting date. So I would say probably, if I may suggest that, watch the newspapers, and I’m sure all of them will let you know if there are changes in that meeting date, and we will do our utmost to keep you informed. We’ll try to maybe even do it on the website. Mr. Murphy, Mr. Poparad. Mr. Poparad, Yes, I have a question. I heard six votes. I was under the impression these were two distinct votes. The Council will vote, and then the Commissioners will vote. It’s not a blended vote. Mr. Murphy, Right, that’s my understanding. Atty Hollenbeck, Certainly on the issue of the funds, that’s what we did tonight, and I would have no reason to think that other actions wouldn’t be taken the same way. Mr. Bucko, That makes sense. Atty Hollenbeck, Again, we’re operating under the same statute that we sold the hospital, and you’ll remember that’s what we did when we sold the hospital. The Commissioners voted, and then the County Council voted. And it would take a majority vote of each, separately, two commissioners and four county council people versus six of ten. Com. Harper, Yes. Mr. Burge, Matt, I think part of our process was identifying the second meeting coming up for October 22nd would be to take all of the ideas, all the input from this evening, and other input that will come forth in the coming weeks, and basically break it into two categories. One, how to invest the money the best way possible, and the other, to look at all the different ideas that have come forth as far as expenditures, and start putting them into categories, and start thinking in terms of parameters we want to put on that, so that, not only this council and this commissioners’ board, but future councils will have some guidelines that will be established from the get-go. So I think that’s the main purpose of the next meeting to create those categories, figure out how to invest, how to… Mr. Bucko, I think there’s so much that we have to address in regards to this, in relationship not only to the investment, but how do we choose how that is being invested. Mr. Burge, Exactly. Mr. Bucko, And all of that, so there’s multiple steps. Mr. Murphy, Right. Mr. Bucko, So I think we all have a learning curve, and we all have some exciting times ahead of us. Mr. Murphy, Do the Commissioners have anything else they would like to add to this? Mr. Whitten, Move to adjourn, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Poparad, Second. Mr. Murphy, Meeting’s adjourned. Thank you. There being no further discussion, meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m.
PORTER COUNTY
Attest: James Kopp, Auditor
Michael Bucko |
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September 24, 2007