The Porter County Council Tuesday evening approved a pay hike for the vacant hazmat commander position that will bring the future commander’s $84,770 salary to the middle of the pack for the highly specialized position across the northern half of the state.
“Being that we’re the second-largest area for industry in the state I thought that that was appropriate,” said Porter County Emergency Management Agency Director Lance Bella. “I was not going for the top salary, just the average.” This is in a region that holds significant industry beyond the steel mills, rail lines and the intersection of three east/west interstate highways.
Porter County has been without a hazmat commander since the Aug. 24 cancer death of Commander Greg Eckhardt, who made $59,494 per year. A hazmat commander responds to a hazardous materials spill, mitigates the disaster and leads the cleanup. If evacuation is necessary the commander determines the radius.
The commander also trains area first responders on how to minimize the damage of a hazmat spill as it can take 45 minutes to an hour for the hazmat team to arrive on scene once it is called out. Pre-planning, environmental background checks and investigating hazardous materials complaints from residents are also part of the job.
Bella has had no luck filling the position at the previous rate. He said he had one qualified candidate who wanted $90,000 per year, but said he would consider $84,000 when Bella countered with that figure. Nasdaq.com lists $93,544 per year as a living wage for a family of four in Indiana. “And then this took so long that he started feeling uneasy about it and pulled out,” Bella said.
“It is an extremely specialized position,” said Councilman Mike Brickner, R-At-Large. “Yeah, it’s a big jump, but I think we were fortunate for so many years to be paying as little as we did.”
Councilman Andy Bozak, R-At-Large, said he was concerned the new salary is too close to Bella’s higher salary and so much higher than the deputy EMA director’s lower salary. His fellow council members said that was a fact that would just have to be accepted.
“At the end of the day, if we want to get hazmat, this is what it’s going to cost,” said Council Vice President Red Stone, R-1st. “What I won’t do is hire somebody who’s not qualified,” Bella added. “I’ve been on those teams. You’ll get somebody killed.”
The salary was approved 6-to-1, with Councilman Greg Simms, D-3rd, voting against the increase.
In other business, the Juvenile Detention Center was approved to hire a part-time LPN to work nights and weekends. Amy Beier, executive director of Porter County Juvenile Justice Services, said an RN is on duty full-time during the business week and has been on-call for emergencies on nights and weekends. This position will allow better medical care to the juveniles in custody and eliminate the on-call need.
The council tabled two sizeable requests passing through the auditor’s office on behalf of the Porter County Redevelopment Commission. The first was $530,000 for consultants and the second was $571,188 for economic development. “I don’t know what we’re doing there,” said Stone. “That’s a lot of money for a consultant.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting them in front of us,” Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, added after motioning to table the second item.
Finally, Stone passed on high praise for the auditor’s office he had heard from the Department of Local Government Finance regarding the county’s annual audit conducted by Forvis Mazars, the independent party hired by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. “This is the first time in 11 years that DLGF had found zero deficiencies with the auditor’s office,” he said.
“It’s pretty exciting,” agreed Porter County Auditor Karen Martin who said the only advisement they received was the seven months of council meeting transcripts that have yet to be published.
“They said a lot of good things about you guys and I appreciate that,” Stone added. “I’m sure the council appreciates that.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
