Votes at a glance: Porter County commissioners, March 11, 2025

Below are the formal actions taken by the Porter County Board of Commissioners during the March 11, 2025 meeting, as recorded on the meeting record.

• Consent agenda: Approved (payroll, claims, minutes removals and brief measures).

• Appointment: Commissioner Ed Morales was nominated and approved as the board’s representative on the administration services committee; an appointment of Debbie Dunne to the ambulance services committee was discussed and delayed to a future meeting to permit an application process.

• Jail project: Approved Correlis roofing pay item (pad) for $522,207.65 (motion and voice vote). Approved award recommendation for phase 2 interior renovations (base bid plus alternates 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8) following bid opening and staff review.

• Facilities and courthouse projects: Approved multiple professional and construction service contracts and purchases including American StructurePoint engineering services ($27,433), purchase of seven LED wall packs ($1,842.05), JLZ architectural services for JDC shower reconstruction (amount on file), Urban Construction loading dock repair at JDC ($34,080), and renovation of fifth-floor victim-assistance offices ($15,833.91).

• Election department incident: Staff reported a catastrophic water incident on Feb. 16 at 155 Franklin that displaced election staff and equipment. Staff requested the board formally declare an emergency to speed mitigation and procurement under statutory emergency procurement provisions; the board discussed the process and statutory requirements (Indiana Code cited in discussion) but did not record a formal emergency declaration in the meeting minutes.

• MOU: Approved memorandum of understanding with Portage Township Assessor for property appraisal and personal property tax audit services; each office will maintain separate statutory responsibilities.

• CivicPlus subscription: Approved a CivicPlus (codification) subscription for county code at $1,500 with a 10% annual increase clause.

• Land rental: Approved Tim Stoner’s request to continue renting approximately 10 acres on State Road 2 for farming in 2025; payment for 2024 was noted.

• Highway pay applications: Approved multiple pay applications presented by Highway Department (detailed pay items recorded in packet).

• Bridge and INDOT projects: Approved change orders and final adjustments on INDOT bridge projects, including Change Order No. 2 (increase $77,005.26) and Bridge No. 168 change order (utility delay settlement and final adjustment; new contract totals recorded in packet). Board approved related consultant task orders and on-call engineering agreements with USI Consultants at reduced task limits for a specific assignment.

• Recycling events: Approved Porter County Recycling District household hazardous-waste and tire-collection events on May 3 and Oct. 11 at the county expo center; events will include household hazardous waste and tire collection.

• Zoning map amendment: Approved on second reading a zoning map amendment requested by Timothy and Ginger Murphy to rezone a lot in Marion Acres from high-intensity commercial/residential lake districts to low-density single-family residential (R-1).

• Equipment purchase: Approved purchase of contractor-grade GPS equipment for county use (amount discussed; roughly $899 recorded in packet).

Most items were approved by motion, second and voice vote with no recorded opposition. For detailed contract amounts, change-order totals and award recommendation letters, see the county packet and official minutes for March 11, 2025.