A member of the public and an elected township official asked the Porter County Board of Commissioners at its meeting Tuesday morning to do more to ensure prompt response times for fire service in West Porter Township, starting by changing its appointments to the West Porter Township Fire Protection District if necessary.
“There is so much chaos on this board,” said Denise Shultman, a Crown Point resident who lives on the Porter County side of Lakes of the Four Seasons, regarding the WPTFPD board. She encouraged the commissioners to attend those quarterly meetings to see what’s transpiring.
Efforts to form a fire protection territory that would have replaced the Lakes of the Four Seasons Volunteer Fire Force, which serves West Porter Township, Winfield Township, and the Town of Winfield, were scuttled on March 20. Joe Wiszowaty, who also serves as the county’s facilities director, voted “present,” while fellow board member Craig Klauer voted no.
Members Rob Rabelhofer and Brad Zupan voted yes, but three yeahs were necessary in addition to unanimous approval by the Winfield Township Board to make a go of a new, joint fire protection district. The town of Winfield had been involved in talks but pulled out of the actual vote.
The approximately 28 volunteer firefighters of the LOFS Volunteer Fire Force, as well as part-time EMTs and paramedics, operate out of two fire stations, one just outside the LOFS back gate in Hebron and the other on Randolph Street in Crown Point. If LOFS is unable to take a call it reverts to the closest mutual aid department, such as Northwest Health or the Crown Point Fire Department, among others.
Shultman was also concerned that a new contract had not been entered into with the LOFS Volunteer Fire Force for 2025. She said one of its stations is less than two minutes from her house. “I don’t want to wait for the one that comes from Hebron. It takes 19 minutes,” she said.
Board of Commissioners Vice President Barb Regnitz, R-Center, explained to Shultman that the contract is in no way behind schedule. She told her contracts for any calendar year are typically not entered into until the preceding fall.
Winfield Township Trustee Cody Reynolds also addressed the board. “This is a 30-year-long issue where we have had deficiencies in funding, where there have been deficiencies in service,” he said about the lack of an increase in the level of emergency services since 1994. “We need a little bit of leadership from here to ensure that we get things done back there.”
Reynolds said funding for the LOFS Volunteer Fire Force is provided for in the following shares: $400,000 from Winfield Township; $230,000 to $270,000 from the town of Winfield; and $130,000 to $165,000 from the WPTFPD. He said despite making the greatest financial contribution, Winfield Township accounts for just 25% of the call volume.
He said the increases to fire protection fees paid by covered residents that would be required if a West Porter Fire Territory were established have been grossly overblown. He said the increase would be more like 40%, not 800%.
“I think the people would give up their cable to know the ambulance is coming,” Shultman said.
Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, told Reynolds the limited efforts to advertise the issue and its attendant vote were insufficient. “You had 60 people in that room,” Biggs said of the March 20 vote. “You have over 6,000 in that territory.”
Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, agreed. “There is this thing called civic responsibility and people need to do their part to become informed,” she said.
“To me, it’s a weak effort,” Biggs said. “When Winfield jumped out it seemed like, ‘Whoa! We need to tap the brakes here.’”
Regnitz said rather than promoting X number of additional personnel, the public should be given their options in terms of what expected response times would be at varying levels of investment.
“This is the cost of having this response time,” she said. “Break it down and let the residents decide what response time they are comfortable with.”
“There is a sense of urgency, but we need to know what our budget is first,” said Wiszowaty after the meeting.
The next meeting of the WPTFPD board is at 7 p.m. on July 9 at the LOFS Fire Station located just outside the back gate at 745 W. County Road 275 South, Hebron.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.