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.