05222016 - News Article - Portage, county officials at odds?

Portage, county officials at odds?
NWI Times
May 22, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/portage-county-officials-at-odds/article_40053fc8-9c84-564b-8315-6cc475141046.html

PORTAGE — Porter County officials say they are just as committed to helping Portage residents as any other in the county despite a recent rift with Mayor James Snyder.

However, they added, they may sidestep directly communicating with Snyder, at least for a while, and work with his staff and the City Council instead.

For his part, Snyder, a Republican, admits he needs to do better when communicating with county officials and said he wants to improve dialogue between the two governmental agencies, but feels it needs to go both ways.

"My entire goal has been to have an open dialogue with the county," he said, adding he believes Portage has not been consulted in instances of major decisions, such as the location of the new county animal shelter. "I'm trying to learn how to talk to the county and not be treated like a red-headed stepchild."

The latest friction began at the Portage City Council's April meeting when Snyder made comments regarding the county and why the city was considering a wheel tax.

Those comments prompted all 10 members of the Porter County Council and commissioners, Democrats and Republicans alike, to sign a letter rebuking Snyder's comments and giving their side of the spending issue.

The letter prompted Snyder to hire a Chicago-based law firm, at a cost of nearly $1,600, to research the role of county government and to make a formal request for county records regarding the generation of the letter. Snyder said he hired the outside firm because they are experts in open door laws.

"The mayor made comments that are blatantly incorrect," said Porter County Council President Dan Whitten, a Democrat, adding he brought up the comments at a meeting and wrote a letter to set the record straight. He said he doesn't believe there has been a rift between the two entities nor has there been a problem with communication.

"Newsflash. There has been dialogue between the city and county for years. The mayor made blatantly inaccurate comments," Whitten said.

Snyder said he believes county officials took the comments out of context and he didn't intend to blame the county for the city's adoption of the wheel tax. He said he was surprised to hear about the letter. He said county officials should have contacted him directly if they had an issue or question about what he said at that April meeting.


"I think the mayor is making it worse. He was attacking us on the wheel tax," said Councilman Jeremy Rivas, a Democrat representing Portage. "He just needs to tone it down. We need to focus on the projects we can work on together."

"I've got a relationship with the people in Portage," said Rivas, adding he has met with Director of Administration Joe Calhoun on issues and he and Whitten recently met with City Councilmen Mark Oprisko and Pat Clem and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham on the possibility of locating a county building in the city's downtown.

As for the possibility of the county constructing a downtown building, Snyder said this week he believes a deal can be reached by the end of the year.

County officials said that is just an example of Snyder's sometimes over aggressive manner of doing business.

Republican Commissioner Jeff Good said Snyder "needs to change his tenor, needs to change his tone" when he discusses such issues.

Whitten, Rivas and Good all said they have not made any decision on a downtown county building. All three said they are awaiting a study to be completed on all county facilities, which will determine if the North County Government Complex can be repaired or renovated or should be replaced.

"I've told the mayor 100 times I can't tell you what we are going to do until the feasibility study is done," Whitten said.

"Nothing he is doing is going to have any impact on what I do for the city," said Whitten, a Portage native whose law office is in the city. "Portage is the biggest city. I told the mayor a million times I want to see good things for Portage."

"I'm committed to working with Portage just as I am working with Valparaiso and Kouts," said Good, adding the county approved a stormwater fee and is looking at correcting issues on County Road 700 North and Willowcreek Road, which has been a problem for Portage.

"As far as I'm concerned, it is business as usual. There are no hard feelings," Good said.

05192016 - News Article - Portage mayor defends search of county email

Portage mayor defends search of county email
Chicago Tribune
May 19, 2016
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-legal-fees-st-0519-20160519-story.html

Portage Mayor James Snyder defended hiring a law firm to dig up emails and correspondence between Porter County Council members and commissioners preceding an statement they signed last month criticizing him.

The firm, Bingham Greenbaum Doll, will continue its work until "a real dialogue" happens between his administration and county officials, Snyder said, something he claims may already have begun.

But, one county official and one city leader said the move was a bad idea, adding city and county officials have been talking on a number of key issues.

"I would say I'm having dialogue (with city officials) and continue to have dialogue with officials in the City of Portage," said Porter County Councilman Jeremy Rivas, who represents Portage, pointing to meetings he's held with members of Snyder's administration. "It's difficult when the chief executive of the city want to create conflict and call it dialogue."

As reported in the May 17 Post-Tribune, the city so far has paid almost $1,600 to Bingham Greenbaum Doll, which Snyder said specializes in Open Door law issues, from the city's legal fees budget item. According to its website, Bingham Greenbaum and Doll, offices in Indianapolis, Jasper, Evansville and Vincennes in Indiana, and in Ohio and Kentucky, specializes in a wide range of topics in business and government including Open Door laws.

Snyder contacted the law firm to shed light on why the County Council and Commissioners signed the letter, he said.

Rivas also criticized Snyder for using city funds for the information search. The city recently raised garbage collection and sewer rates and voted in a wheel tax.

Snyder described the payments to the law firm as an appropriate use of city funds "because many times we do different things, but especially if it creates an open dialogue and a better dialogue and gets all of us to operate in a more open and transparent manner."

"We're not done" searching, Snyder said, pointing to a stack of documents on his office table he said were from the county. He declined to share the documents.

Snyder did not get much backing from Portage Councilman Mark Oprisko, D-at large, who said County Council President Dan Whitten already has promised to include Portage on a committee to assess county buildings to determine their best locations and uses.

"I think there is dialogue, and I think James Snyder sometimes is too aggressive and ruffles feathers," Oprisko said. "I think the dialogue is going to be there, so, to me, the (Freedom Of Information Act requests) is like a waste of taxpayer money."

Snyder described years of Porter County officials allegedly overlooking Portage, the largest municipality in the county.

"Portage is not going to be pushed into a corner anymore," Snyder said. "We're not going to be the last people that hear about things. We are a large portion of the county. We are a large portion of the electorate, and my constituents need to be heard from."

The revelation of Portage's use of the firm has already caused some conversation, Snyder said. The mayor said he already has had more conversations with two County Council members since word broke of his document search.

"It's already worked to some degree," he said. "It may not be all positive talk, but, here in Portage, we have learned here how to take negatives and turn them into positives."

05162016 - News Article - Law firm's billing riles Portage pols

Law firm's billing riles Portage pols
Post-Tribune
May 16, 2016
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-legal-fees-billing-st-0517-20160516-story.html
The city of Portage is being asked to cover almost $1,600 in legal fees for the work of a Chicago law firm to access emails and texts between members of the Porter County Council and Board of Commissioners.

"I'm appalled that taxpayer money was used for trying to check the emails of the county commissioners and the council. I was shocked at that. That isn't how we spend tax dollars," said Councilwoman Sue Lynch, D-at large, adding invoices go through the city's Board of Works.

A May 10 invoice from the Chicago office of Bingham Greenebaum Doll and addressed to the office of Mayor James Snyder details legal expenses from April 18 to April 29 totaling $1,562.09. The invoice includes $795 for three hours of work for "research and analysis of powers of County Commissioners and County Council."

Snyder did not respond to requests for comment via email and telephone, but two members of the City Council were not happy that the city was being billed for the legal work.

Lynch called the legal bill "irresponsible spending. There's no basis to be charging the taxpayers to spy on the county commissioners' emails."

She questioned the purpose of the records request, and said she didn't know if the State Board of Accounts, which audits the city's spending, would find the transaction justifiable.

"I think it's kind of immature of the mayor to go to that length. We have other business in the city that's more important than that," she said.

Councilman Collin Czilli, D-5th, hadn't seen the invoice but was familiar with the matter, and said it concerned him.

"To me, it's not a city matter and the city shouldn't be paying for it," he said. "It's not something the city or any city entity should be paying for."

The press release, signed by all 10 members of the county's two elected bodies, came out on April 8 as a response to remarks made by Snyder about the county's finances. The Post-Tribune published the release as a letter to the editor on April 10.

County officials received a public records request from Bingham Greenebaum Doll in late April for any emails and texts between commissioners and council members concerning Portage's wheel tax and the creation of the release put together by the two bodies, said Scott McClure, the county's attorney.

"There's no explanation of why they want it, which is not required," McClure said, adding he didn't think all of the requested information was subject to the state's Access to Public Records Act.

Members of the council and the commissioners discussed putting out the press release during a joint public meeting on April 5 to discuss the county's foundation for handling the proceeds from the sale of the county hospital.