12132013 - News Article - FBI investigation includes Porter County highway bids

FBI investigation includes Porter County highway bids

NWI Times
December 13, 2013

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/duneland/fbi-investigation-includes-porter-county-highway-bids/article_2c99e92e-ff5b-50b6-8a0a-b7b16a5a8369.html

VALPARAISO | The FBI's investigation into Porter County government continues to widen with agents taking possession of bidding records from the Highway Department.

County Highway Department Supervisor Al Hoagland said the federal investigators requested copies of competitive bids received by the Porter County Board of Commissioners for various materials purchases in 2010 and 2011.

Hoagland did not want to elaborate on the exact information sought, but minutes from the Nov. 16, 2010, commissioner meeting lists various road materials and diesel fuel as the items put out for bid.

Hoagland said he was not subpoenaed to testify in a grand jury proceeding.

Porter County Clerk Karen Martin said earlier this week she was presented with a subpoena seeking records from her office that makes reference to a grand jury hearing on a criminal case to be held Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Hammond.

Martin said it was her understanding she could be called in to testify.

An increasing number of reports are surfacing about FBI agents showing up at various county government offices over the last couple of months seeking records and interviewing officials and staff.

Martin said the agent who showed up at her office wanted copies of conflict of interest disclosure forms designed to reveal a public servant's financial interest in contracts or purchases involving their government offices. The agent also obtained a copy of the general index listing that officials filed these forms over the past years, she said.

The FBI also took possession last month of records related to the Porter County Board of Commissioners' decision Dec. 18, 2012, to switch the provider of wellness and clinic service for county employees from HealtheACCESS to Porter Regional Hospital's CareEXPRESS, said Mike Anton, who serves as the servicing agent for the county's health plan.

12122013 - News Article - FBI takes more records from Porter County Clerk and highway department

FBI takes more records from Porter County Clerk and highway department

Chesterton Tribune

December 12, 2013

http://chestertontribune.com/Porter%20County/fbi_takes_more_records_from_port.htm

The FBI continues to investigate records of Porter County Government and has reportedly seized more documents, this time from both the County Clerk’s office and the County Highway Department.

County Clerk Karen M. Martin told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that an FBI agent came to her office December 3 and asked for “books containing miscellaneous records” that held Indiana Form 236s, or conflict of interest disclosure statements for all types of local government units in Porter County, from 2007 to 2013.

Indiana Code requires public officials to file disclosure statements within 15 days prior to final action of a contract or purchase to the County Clerk’s office and the Indiana State Board of Accounts, Martin said. The forms ask officials to disclose descriptions of the contract or purchase and their financial interest as well if it is a single transaction or an annual disclosure statement.

Martin, who did not identify any public officials who had filed a disclosure form, said the FBI did not indicate what the interest of the investigation was but did tell her “the clerk’s office had done nothing wrong.”

The FBI also subpoenaed Martin to appear before a grand jury in U.S. Federal Court’s Northern District of Indiana, located in Hammond, on Wednesday, Dec. 18 pertaining to the investigation and to bring with her certified copies of the disclosure statements.

Martin said she did not know what she would be questioned on since this is her first time before a grand jury. “This is all new to me,” she said.

Porter County Highway Superintendent Al Hoagland also told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that the FBI had come to his department on Nov. 14 and took copies of “various bid proposals on projects from 2010 and 2011.”

Hoagland, for his part, said that all of the information seized was public information and also on record at the county auditor’s office.

The FBI did not tell Hoagland why they were searching his records.

The Chesterton Tribune reported on Nov. 26 that the FBI subpoenaed records from Anton Insurance relating to the Porter County Commissioner’s contract with Porter Regional Hospital for clinical services provided to the county employee health plan, which was signed in December 2012.

Both Mike Anton of Anton Insurance and County Commissioner President John Evans, R-North, told the Tribune that the contract process and proposals collected were done in a transparent and open manner and they were unsure why the FBI was investigating.

12112013 - News Article - FBI takes more records from Porter County government

FBI takes more records from Porter County government

NWI Times
December 11, 2013

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/duneland/fbi-takes-more-records-from-porter-county-government/article_f83a386a-bc4d-5439-ac33-f8818e902975.html

VALPARAISO | The FBI has made another surprise visit to Porter County government in search of records.

The target this time were conflict of interest disclosure forms designed to reveal a public servant's financial interest in contracts or purchases involving their government offices.

Porter County Clerk Karen Martin, whose office maintains the disclosure forms for public servants of county, municipal and other units of local government, said the FBI agent served her with a subpoena for the records Dec. 3.

Martin said the agent made it clear her office had done nothing wrong, yet she did not know the target of the investigation. The agent, she said, had interest in specific disclosure forms and the general index listing everyone, who had filed.

The FBI had taken possession last month of records related to the Porter County Board of Commissioners' decision Dec. 18, 2012, to switch the provider of wellness and clinic service for county employees from HealtheACCESS to Porter Regional Hospital's CareEXPRESS, said Mike Anton, who serves as the servicing agent for the county's health plan.

The subpoena served to Martin calls on her to testify before a grand jury in a criminal case Dec. 18 at the federal courthouse in Hammond.

The conflict of interest disclosure form in question begins with a paragraph explaining it is a Class D felony for a public servant to knowingly have a financial interest in or derive a profit from a contract or purchase carried out by the government entity they serve.

The public servant filling out the form is then asked whether the disclosure of financial interest applies to a single transaction or a yearlong event. Details of the contract or purchase in question is called for, as is information about the public servant's financial interest.

An attorney with the Indiana State Board of Accounts, which is to receive a copy of the disclosures along with the county clerk within 15 days of the event in question, declined comment on the purpose and role of the forms.

It appears five county officials filed conflict of interest disclosure forms in 2013.

12022013 - News Article - Disability-rights group drags NIRPC back to court

Disability-rights group drags NIRPC back to court
NWI Times
Dec 2, 2013
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/merrillville/disability-rights-group-drags-nirpc-back-tocourt/article_7353de3a-fa3b-5602-9434-70100e91db80.html
The disability-rights group Everybody Counts is going back to federal court to compel the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission to comply with the terms of a 2006 consent decree.

Months of back-and-forth negotiations between the two organizations has led to police calls and sometimes bitter public debates over the consent decree, which forced area transit agencies to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"Over the past six months, we have made repeated requests of NIRPC’s chairperson, Mayor David Uran, and other commissioners, for progressive cooperation,” said Everybody Counts board member and former Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez. “Instead, they called armed police officers to place us under surveillance and implemented new rules to suppress public comment."

At a Sept. 19 NIRPC meeting, Uran declared the use of Roberts Rules of Order at all future meetings he chairs, saying those rules allow public comments only on points on the agenda for the meeting. That ruling came after people with disabilities spoke about their issues during the public comment section of NIRPC meetings.

On Monday, Uran said he had always broadly interpreted those rules and never prevented anyone from speaking at a NIRPC meeting. He also noted he did not make the decision to call police.

Portage Mayor James Snyder at the time took responsibility for calling the police, saying as head of the municipality where the meetings are held he had that duty.

Contacted Monday, NIRPC Executive Director Tyson Warner said he had not yet seen Everybody Count's court filing and could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, in Hammond, specifically accuses NIRPC of failing in its obligations to work with Everybody Counts to revise its public participation plan and in regards to an annual meeting the two organizations must hold under the consent decree.

The issue of the consent decree is almost sure to come up Tuesday at a meeting of NIRPC's Transportation Policy Committee, which is set to consider a new public participation plan that has at times drawn outrage from Everybody Counts.

Everybody Counts is represented by lawyer Steven Siros, of the law firm Jenner & Block.

“Unfortunately, NIRPC failed to engage in meaningful discussions to resolve the issues that we identified,” Siros said. “They didn’t even respond to our requests.”

Everybody Counts took care on Monday to praise three other transit agencies, two that were defendants in their original lawsuit first filed in federal court in 1998. The organization pointed out former defendants Gary Public Transportation Corp. and East Chicago Transit, as well as North Township Dial-A-Ride, have all endeavored to meet the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act.

“They have come to recognize the mutual benefits of collaboration with our agency, and have been actively engaged in meaningful dialog with their riders,” said Everybody Counts Executive Director Teresa Torres.