Portage council declines proposed park operations manager, denies salary ordinance after amendments

PORTAGE, Ind. — The Portage City Common Council on Wednesday debated changes to salary ordinance 26-04 that would have restructured park department staffing and created a new operations position before ultimately voting to deny the ordinance.

At a special meeting, council members considered a second reading of Ordinance 26-04, a citywide salary ordinance for appointed employees and officers for 2026. Dan read the ordinance aloud as required; the ordinance references a salary schedule "as presented by Austin Bonta, mayor, to the common council of the City of Portage, Porter County, Indiana." The chair explained the ordinance was intended in part to consolidate vacant park positions and proposed a new non-maintenance role the administration priced initially at $70,000.

The most contested element was the administration's plan to merge an events director and office duties into a single "operations manager" post. "The role itself was proposed as a $70,000 amount," the chair said, adding that the duties might justify higher pay. Councilmember Victoria advocated renaming and clarifying job titles, recommending "maintenance supervisor" for the maintenance role and "operations manager" for the office-and-events role.

Council members moved an amendment on the floor to change titles to harbor master/maintenance supervisor and operations manager. That amendment passed on a voice vote after discussion about duties and salary ranges; Victoria said the maintenance supervisor would be in the $58,000 range while an operations manager would fall between $65,000 and $70,000.

A separate concern then emerged: one councilmember warned that including the new operations manager in the ordinance could impede passage of other salary items tied to previously approved collective bargaining agreements for public works. To avoid delaying wages and CBA-related items already negotiated, the council voted to remove the operations manager line from the ordinance. The chair noted the removal carried after a voice vote with recorded opposition from at least one member.

Following those amendments, a motion to deny Ordinance 26-04 was brought to the floor and seconded. The council conducted a roll-call vote in which the minutes record the following responses: Councilman Alvarez — yes; Councilwoman Weinbach — yes; Councilman Laherst — yes; Councilman Parnell — yes; Councilwoman Vasquez — nay; Councilman Zillie — yes. The motion to deny carried, and the ordinance was not adopted in its current form.

The chair said the park board had been working with staff on a separate search for a permanent superintendent and that titles and pay for a permanent hire would be considered later. Barb Lesko, identified in the ordinance discussion as acting superintendent through her current parks role, will continue in the acting capacity pending that process.

The council moved on to other business after the vote; no additional actions on Ordinance 26-04 were recorded at the meeting.

Notes: The ordinance reading explicitly named Mayor Austin Bonta as having presented the salary schedule to the council. The council discussed a 90-day probationary period and whether health insurance would be offered depending on the hire; these details were noted as contingent on hiring and personnel policy.