No one has stepped forward yet to apply for the vacant Burns Harbor clerk-treasurer’s job.
Nick Loving, the last person to hold the job, resigned on May 15. Madeline Parker, who is the assistant clerk-treasurer, has been handling the job with the help of two part-time assistants and a consulting firm.
The Burns Harbor Town Council has the power to appoint a successor, since more than 30 days passed for Porter County Democratic Party Chairman Don Craft to make the appointment. Council President Toni Biancardi said they are still accepting applications.
Biancardi said they are going to wait until the August council meeting to see if a qualified applicant emerges.
“We could keep managing as we are because next year is an election year,” Biancardi said.
Biancardi said under the Indiana state code, the council can appoint one of its members in a non-paying, ex officio capacity to oversee the clerk-treasurer’s office. Biancardi said she, as council president, has been meeting weekly with Parker and that she and the other employees are doing a “fabulous job”.
Town Attorney Clay Patton said that under the state code, the council would also have the option to hire an accounting firm to help. The clerk-treasurer’s salary could be used to cover the cost.
Jane Jordan, who was clerk-treasurer for 20 years, was the last elected person to hold the job. She resigned in May 2024 because she believed the Town Council didn’t support her in situations with the town department heads.
Nicole Migliorini left in May 2025, citing a toxic work environment and the council’s failure to consider hiring more help for her.
Loving, who was on the council before becoming clerk-treasurer, treated the job as part-time, though it is a full-time paid position. He offered to forgo half his salary until he found that the state code doesn’t permit it. He decided to resign because he will be out of the area for much of this summer.
In other business, the council approved the first reading of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) agreement for Lennar Homes to develop 86 single-family houses on 27 acres at Haglund Road and Ind. 149.
Council has set a special meeting for next Wednesday evening for a final vote on the PUD. The town’s Planning Commission has recommended approval of the PUD agreement.
Todd Kleven, a vice president in the Lennar Homes Chicago office, said the plan calls for the houses to range between 1,200 and 2,100 square feet in size and style. He said the houses are expected to cost around $350,000.
Kleven said that part of the reason for the PUD is it includes a variance that allows for a dead-end street to be more than 500 feet long. The subdivision, to be called Harbor Crest, will have one dead-end street that is around 800 feet long.
Before the council meeting, the town’s Redevelopment Commission gave Town Engineer Hesham Khalil permission to seek quotes for the repair of the Marquette Greenway trail as it passes near Coan Street.
Michael Frey, who lives in the 1200 block of Coan Street, said that since the trail was built, water ponds in his yard whenever a heavy rainfall occurs.
The fix would involve installing a new drain, regrading the land and replacing the asphalt, Khalil said.
Redevelopment Commission members Brad Enslen and Councilman Jack McGraw noted that the area was known to be prone to being wet even before construction of the trail.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
