EDITORIAL: Verbal jabs won't patch pothole in Portage leadership

EDITORIAL: Verbal jabs won't patch pothole in Portage leadership
NWI Times
The Times Editorial Board 
Nov 27, 2018 Updated Dec 3, 2018 
https://www.nwitimes.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-verbal-jabs-won-t-patch-pothole-in-portage-leadership/article_d0ec1f70-f564-5ab6-834a-c137dd56df2b.html

The hits to both municipal reputation and taxpayer trust just keep coming in the city of Portage, and poor leadership is to blame.

As embattled Mayor James Snyder and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham point fingers and exchange jabs, Portage residents and their infrastructure are losing out.

Times reporter Joyce Russell's Sunday article revealed Portage has been disqualified from any 2018 matching funds from the state Community Crossings program, an important means of obtaining Indiana government support for local road infrastructure projects.

It's all because Portage couldn't get its act together and pay a bill for required reimbursement to the state for previous projects.

Adding insult to injury, an incomplete road construction project may be jeopardizing the city's eligibility for the 2019 initial round of funding from the grant program.

Taken together, those follies could mean Portage will miss out on as much as $2 million in road project funds over two years.

A major genesis behind the unacceptable mishap is municipal officials failing to repay in a timely fashion some $130,000 in funds owed to the state for projects that came in under budget related to the 2016 matching grant program.

Mayor Snyder, already reeling from the embarrassment of a federal felony bribery indictment, blames elected Clerk-Treasurer Stidham for not cutting the check on time.

Stidham points the finger at Snyder, noting the city received an invoice from the Indiana Department of Transportation to pay the reimbursement in April.

He also noted reminder emails were sent to Snyder and other city officials in June and July, but the payment ended up being late.

Making matters worse, a city wheel tax charged to residents is supposed to be keeping the matching funds opportunities intact for the city.

In a weekend Facebook post regarding the overall issue, Portage City Councilman Collin Czilli rightly notes that Portage taxpayers are the ultimate losers in this mess.

"Now, because of poor execution, your tax dollars won't be matched. This is unacceptable," Czilli wrote in his post.

Let's hope a federally indicted mayor and other city officials stop verbally targeting one another long enough to sort out a solution to keep this from happening again.

It may be an order too tall for some the city's key officials.

Portage residents deserve better.