Talks aimed at forming a West Porter Township Fire Protection Territory have broken down for the second time in nine months after the West Porter Township Fire Protection District and Winfield Township pulled out of talks with the town of Winfield citing trust and control issues.
Four of five members of the WPTFPD Board met Friday, Dec. 20 and all voted unanimously to suspend talks. A news release put out by the board that same date reads in part: “The majority opinion was that the composition of the proposed fire territory board and the providership were not fair and equitable. The proposals included the town of Winfield having a controlling interest in the proposed fire territory board and assuming the providership. This concept did not seem to offer fair representation to the West Porter Township residents. Overall, the negotiations did not seem to occur in good faith and did not protect the interests of all residents equally and fairly.”
Absent from the meeting was Board President Joe Wiszowaty, who also serves as facilities director for Porter County. “Had I been there I would have voted no,” he said. “I think discussion should have continued because, at our last iteration, we didn’t pull out until January.”
Members of the Winfield Town Board serving on the negotiating committee did not return calls for comment. Winfield Town Board Member Amy Blaker, D-At-Large, who was not involved in the negotiations, said she’s very disappointed talks have broken down.
“I think our No. 1 priority should be to provide public safety,” said Blaker, who has been in office for one year. “I’m disappointed in the lack of transparency and that we couldn’t bring this to fruition.”
Wiszowaty’s fellow board member Rob Rabelhofer, a career firefighter, and Winfield Township Trustee Cody Reynolds say Wiszowaty is holding talks back, citing the township’s attempts to purchase an ambulance from Burns Harbor as an example of why they don’t trust him. They say Wiszowaty was privy to the knowledge that an offer of $30,000 was made by the township to purchase the ambulance and that four days later the fire district doubled the offer.
In the end, neither entity purchased the ambulance, but Rabelhofer said he was mystified by the higher offer, as all the parties are supposed to be working together to provide services. Wiszowaty said he disagrees that he’s the main detriment to the talks. “That’s just political,” he said. “This wasn’t a decision that I made unilaterally,” he added of the ambulance issue, “and I’m not going to comment on that.”
Porter County Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, who originally nominated Wiszowaty for the board post and who voted Tuesday for his reappointment, said Wiszowaty has his complete support. “He already asked me, ‘Hey, I want to come off the first of the year.’ I told him, ‘I’d rather you not,’” Biggs said.
“Joe understands what they don’t understand because he has an administrator’s background,” Biggs added. Wiszowaty formerly served as Town Manager in St. John and was involved in talks there to form a fire territory with neighboring entities that ultimately didn’t materialize.
“I’ve never seen the likes of certain people like that down there,” Biggs said of folks who have been agitating for a territory in West Porter. “I don’t trust what the firefighters are telling us.”
Those firefighters, such as Rabelhofer, say the budget put together for the proposed territory was grossly insufficient. For example, he said the projections had only budgeted for one air pack and mask. “You’re going to need around 20 just to get it started,” he said.
He said only five pieces of 50- to 100-foot hose were budgeted for when a truck would need more like 7,700 feet. “They’re short at least $2 million in equipment that they’re not telling you about,” he added. “This is why I wanted to be in the room. At no point did they say, ‘Hey Rob, what do you think?’”
Wiszowaty said consultant Cender Dalton Municipal Advisors, which has considerable experience putting fire territory budgets together, drafted the latest version. A draft of the budget dated Sept. 23 shows an operating budget of $2.3 million, $3 million, and $3.6 million, respectively, for the years 2026, ‘27 and ‘28.
The total estimated tax rate per $100,000 of assessed valuation for the proposed territory was listed at $0.167, $0.2205 and $0.2537 for those three years. The primary tax impact for a home assessed at $300,000 would see no change for homes in the town of Winfield or Winfield Township in those three years, according to the draft, while the West Porter Fire District would see increases of $124.79 the first year, $73.11 the second year, and $45.33 the third year.
A vote to form a fire territory failed in March 2023 and talks between the WPTFPD, the township, the town, and the Lakes of the Four Seasons Volunteer Fire Department started back up in July. Biggs said he doesn’t blame the town of Winfield for wanting to hold the providership on a proposed territory. “If I were them I would too,” he said. “They’re going to have the largest number of payors and the largest number of calls.”
But Reynolds, the Winfield Township Trustee, disagrees. “In reality, we represent the most people of the three entities,” he said. He also pointed out that the township owns one of the two fire stations now in use. He said he could understand the town’s push for providership a bit more if it at least owned a fire station.
Rabelhofer is open to another go. “If the entities all want to go back to the table, clean the slate and negotiate in good faith, I’m good,” he said. “I think we need to have some different voices in the room.”
Wiszowaty said he won’t stand in the way. “We’ll see where they want to go,” he said of his fellow board members. “I’m going to basically follow their lead on this going into next year.”
Biggs is keeping a pessimistic tone. “I’ve absolutely lost confidence in all of them,” he said. “I’ve tried being the bad guy. I’ve tried being the good guy. I’ve taken people off (the WPTFPD Board), I’ve put people on. If I don’t have the authority to go in and change anything, I’m not going to engage my office when it doesn’t give me the authority to make meaningful change.”
The next WPTFPD Board meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday at the Lakes of the Four Seasons Volunteer Fire Force Station, 745 West 275 South, Hebron.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
