The Porter County Board of Commissioners, split along party lines, is moving ahead with plans to lease out the old sheriff’s house. In a 2-1 vote Tuesday, the board voted to get commercial appraisals, the first step in the leasing process.
Board President Jim Biggs, R-North, and Board Vice President Barb Regnitz, R-Center, voted in favor, while Board Member Laura Blaney, D-South, voted against obtaining bids. “Has this gone before the council?” Blaney asked.
“This doesn’t need to go before the council,” Regnitz replied. County Attorney Scott McClure weighed in, explaining that unless the proposed fair-market profit exceeds $25,000 per year the plan to lease the facility won’t need to go before the council.
Regnitz explained that leaseholder improvements were a good way to achieve needed repairs to the building, which currently stands empty, and that the Porter County Museum would continue to occupy the attached former jail behind the sheriff’s house. She also said a bathroom would need to be put in, but that the plumbing from a former bathroom exists and can be reused.
“It’s frustrating to me,” Blaney said after the meeting. “We’re not on the same page.”
Earlier this year Blaney attempted to move forward with spending $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money appropriated by the Porter County Council for the renovation and expansion of the Memorial Opera House and sheriff’s house. The plan called for significant renovations to the two buildings, including a glass and metal connection between the two.
The Memorial Opera House Foundation had committed to raising another $2 million to make up the formerly-projected total which just keeps rising as inflation affects the market.
Blaney’s motion to put the project out to bid died for lack of a second, but she maintains it’s perfect timing for the county to go through with the plans, particularly with other event venues going out of business in Valparaiso. Blaney cited The Market having closed its doors, and Old Town Banquet Center not taking reservations past this June.
“She had her mind set on an $8.5, $9 million expansion of the Opera House,” said Biggs. “This board disagrees with that.”
Regnitz said the county is facing “insurmountable amounts of dollars” that need to be spent on many of its buildings and that allowing a lessee to take on the cost of repairs at the sheriff’s house in exchange for rent adjustments is a creative way to save money.
“I think the only drawback right now is it doesn’t have air conditioning,” Regnitz said. Biggs said the lessee would likely have to put in window units until the county can upgrade the HVAC system, clearly not intending for the lessee to take on that expense.
Blaney disagrees that’s the only problem. “There’s no parking,” she said. “It’s not all that easy just throw up a bathroom like they were trying to make it seem this morning.”
Biggs and Regnitz plan to move as quickly as possible to get the building leased, but expect that to be at least two months away. Regnitz said one of the two appraisers contracted is four weeks behind in their workload, and once the appraisals are complete, the building must be advertised.
The county is required by law to take the highest leasing offer. “We actually have someone who has expressed an interest in it,” Regnitz said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
