After a dramatic interplay between himself and the Porter County Council Tuesday night Mitch Peters, president of the Indiana Dunes Tourism Board, managed to hold onto his post – for now.
Council President Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, Vice President Red Stone, R-1st, and member Andy Vasquez, R-4th, voted to remove him, while members Greg Simms, D-3rd, Sylvia Graham, D-At-Large, and Andy Bozak, R-At-Large, voted to retain him resulting in a tie because member Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, was absent.
Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, said by phone Wednesday that he will call for a restructuring of that board, removing Peters by default, at the next commissioners meeting on May 14. He said an analysis of the state statute dictating the makeup of county tourism boards reveals those serving must be employed in tourism.
Peters is a defense attorney involved with facilities for men coming out of addiction.
Peters, flanked by new Dunes Tourism CEO Christine Livingston and five members of that board’s executive committee, addressed the council at the end of its meeting, offering up apologies for the handling of the departure of former IDT CEO Lorelei Weimer, who left the post in January with a $225,000 severance package.
“We weren’t as accountable as we should have been,” he said. “We appreciate that each of you are accountable to the voters of Porter County. This isn’t going to happen again.”
Peters and Livingston gave a brief rundown of the changes they are making to IDT to make it more community-focused with an emphasis on partnerships with sister organizations such as the Porter County Expo Center and Memorial Opera House.
While he remained polite and complimentary of the “wisdom” represented by the IDT board members in attendance, Brickner, after speaking at length following an absence in recent months for medical reasons, called for a vote to remove Peters, who was reappointed by the council to the 11-member board in January. Peters has been on the board for 14 years and president for 13.
“Our responsibility as a council is to the taxpayers. I consider our appointments as an extension of the council,” Brickner said. “I am disappointed. This is not personal, but when we appoint someone, I expect transparency.”
Stone said he spoke to Weimer for four hours on the eve of her non-disclosure agreement taking effect. “She didn’t lie. She didn’t cheat. And she didn’t steal. That’s what you said,” he said to Peters. “I believe we were misled to pass the $225,000.”
Vasquez said his vote to approve the settlement would have been different if he had had more information. “I think I was misled,” he said.
Bozak, who pointed out that he voted against the settlement, also argued against removing Peters. “I also think if we remove Mitch at this time that causes a lot of turmoil,” he said.
Graham agreed. “Am I happy how it turned out? No, but we have to go on,” she said. “To say that he has to go after all his years of expertise . . . He screwed up, but haven’t we all?”
IDT board member Don Ensign, who would be one of the board members removed for lack of a tourism background, according to Biggs, defended Peters, saying the driver behind all the board’s choices during the settlement negotiation with Weimer was making sure “Lorelei was given a great deal of dignity and respect.”
He said the board was “absolutely wrong” in not apprising the council of that process while it was happening.
“I didn’t know I was going to be called in here and called a liar. You’ve called me a liar,” Peters said, adding that he was not going to get into details about Weimer because there is a non-disclosure agreement regarding her departure.
“Now,” Stone replied. “Now there is.”
Simms wanted to table the vote until Rivas could be present.
“Well, we have a quorum,” Vasquez responded.
Weimer, who sat at the back of the room throughout the meeting, was invited to come to the microphone. IDT board member Richard Riley spoke up to say the vote on Peters needed to happen first.
The council looked to their attorney Harold Harper for clarification on the rules of order. He said it was at the discretion of the council president whether Weimer was allowed to speak before or after the vote.
She was invited up. She told the council she was told by the IDT board and its attorney David Hollenbeck that she could either retire or be fired. She added that while it was clearly a violation of the Open Door Law, she was told the IDT board had the votes lined up to fire her.
“I said I could not take this risk and Dave said, ‘That’s probably a good decision,’” Weimer said. “Nobody has any idea what this man has done to me since August.”
“Are you talking about me?” Peters asked her.
“Yes,” she replied.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
