Voice of the People

Two weeks ago, I ran across an Associated Press story announcing that Indiana Toll Road Concessions – the official Lease holder for the Indiana Toll Road – awarded a $250 million contract for toll way work to “a partnership formed by Ferrovial Agroman Indiana of Portage and Rieth-Riley” of Goshen.

I work in Portage. I go there daily. I have spent the past couple of weeks searching Portage for Ferrovial Agroman Indiana. I have found no telephone number; no registration with the city or county; no billboard; no storefront and no name recognition by anyone when asked.

So, I called the Secretary of State to further investigate. That office found a one-page filing “Articles of Organization” that established an LLC, filed and dated July 20, 2006. There is no name attached to this filing except that of an attorney from Fort Wayne who signed the papers and gave his law firm’s address as the official location of the Ferrovial Agroman Indiana.

The now infamous lease of the toll road, Section 11.7, requires that the work performed should be done by an Indiana company. To the unknown “owners” of Ferrovial Agroman Indiana: we would like to know whether you are, in fact, an Indiana company, as defined in Indiana Code 5-22-15-20.5.

We would like to ask you, but we can’t find you.

Karen Tallian

State Senator, District 4

Posted 10/25/2006