Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Tourism board tables Dunes Pavilion discussion; special meeting to be set

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

The Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission board canceled a discussion of the Indiana Dunes Pavilion rehabilitation and proposed conference center Thursday and will schedule a special meeting on the topic sometime in the near future.

The PCCRVC prepared for a crowd Thursday, as staff and board members reported receiving an abundance of phone calls and emails after it was printed on the front page of the Chesterton Tribune on Wednesday that the agenda for the meeting included a board discussion about the projects.

PCCRVC Executive Director Lorelei Weimer said she had expected to see a turnout similar to Wednesday night’s public input session, at Chesterton Middle School auditorium, hosted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resource, where about 300 people showed up. In response, the board moved its meeting from the meeting room at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center to the 102-seat theater auditorium.

“We were told by callers that there were going to be a ton of people here,” Weimer told the Tribune.

It appeared the PCCRVC overestimated a bit as only six members of the public came to the meeting.

Audience members included “Dunes Action!” activist Desi Robertson and longtime conservationists Herb and Charlotte Read.

Public Comment / Public Notice

Prior to the meeting, PCCRVC board president Mitch Peters announced that the board would take no action, have a discussion or take comments regarding the Pavilion rehab project and adjoining conference center Thursday.

Instead, the board will hold a special meeting, on a date to be determined, that will feature a presentation by the organization undertaking the project -- Pavilion Partners LLC -- which will be followed by a discussion by the board. The public will be welcome to attend but there will be limitations placed on comments from the audience, Peters said.

“I don’t know when that will be. I want to put this thing behind us as quickly as possible,” said Peters. “I understand through the newspapers and emails that this is a hotly contested issue.”

Peters said he preferred that questions and concerns be addressed through emails so the board can prepare responses at the special meeting. Weimer said residents can write to her email and she would pass the messages on to the board.

Board member Jesse Harper asked that the questions “be of substance, concrete and specific” complaining that “there is a lot of hyperbole out there.”

Charlotte Read said that there has been a lack of public notice recently about meetings and asked that the PCCRVC announce the meeting at least seven days ahead of time.

PCCRVC board attorney Dave Hollenbeck said the legal requirement is to give notice at least 48 hours prior to a meeting, which the media then decides how to publicize. The public can sign up to receive meeting notices if they’d like to, he said.

No stake in the game

Peters also made it clear that the PCCRVC has “no authority whatsoever” over the project, as it is completely in the hands of the DNR through a private-public partnership with Pavilion Partners.

When asked by Robertson what action the board could take, Peters said he wasn’t sure if there was any, but if the project goes through it would be the charge of the PCCRVC to promote the business in an effort to attract visitors to Porter County.

“We want to make Porter County and Northwest Indiana the best possible attraction. That’s all we are doing,” said Peters.

Pavilion Partners investor on the PCCRVC board

One board member, who was absent from the meeting, is Chuck Williams, a principal in the Pavilion Partners and a businessman in Valparaiso. Williams is also a prominent regional Republican leader who has held the positions of Porter County GOP chairman and GOP chair of the 1st Congressional District.

County Council member Sylvia Graham earlier this week told the Chesterton Tribune she was concerned about Williams being involved in both the tourism board and the Pavilion Partners group. Graham is a former member of the tourism board.

Hollenbeck told the Tribune after Thursday’s meeting that Williams’ presence on the PCCRVC board does not present a conflict of interest because, as Peters said, the board does not have any role in the work being done in the Pavilion Partners projects. In fact, Hollenbeck said, Williams’ involvement with Pavilion Partners would “actually make him even more qualified” according to the state law forming county tourism boards.

Indiana Code 6-9-18-5 states that a simple majority of tourism commission members must be “engaged in a visitor, convention or tourism business,” and at least two members must be hoteliers. There cannot be two members from the same business entity and members must reside within the county.

The nine PCCRVC members are appointed by the County Commissioners (3 appointments), County Council, the Mayors of Portage (two appointments) and Valparaiso, and town councils in the north and south parts of the county.

Williams was appointed to the PCCRVC by the County Commissioners in 2013, along with former County Clerk and Portage Mayor Doug Olson, to help lead the newly established sports cabinet.

The only time a conflict of interest situation would arise, Hollenbeck said, would be if a business entity that a member was involved with applied for a grant through the tourism bureau. The member would be expected to recuse themselves from voting on the grants, he said.

Board members do not receive any kind of financial stipend or salary for their service.

 

 

Posted 4/17/2015

 
 

 

 

 

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