A restructuring of the Lake Ridge Fire Protection District board by the Lake County Council reduced the panel’s size and left the current board president out.
The Lake County Council last week agreed to reduce the size of the seven-member board by two and eliminate those two positions through attrition. On Wednesday, Lake County commissioners confirmed that action. Prior to the reduction in size, there were four seats with terms expiring in January that were up for appointment by the council.
Those seats were held by Anthony Jones, Louise Neese, Sandra Heston and Roger Jackson. Neese, the board’s president, Heston and Jackson were appointed in January 2014 and are finishing their first terms, according to county documents. All three submitted letters seeking to be reappointed for another four years. Jones was appointed in August 2015 to fill a vacated seat whose term also expired in January, but he did not submit a letter seeking reappointment.
The three remaining board positions are held by James Ashlock, Dan Nieto and Samuel Roberts. Nieto’s term will be the first to expire in December. Ashlock’s term ends February 2019 and Roberts term ends August 2019.
Council members also received letters of interest in the open positions from Bobbie J. Crowder Jr., and Debra Lugar.
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Lake Ridge Fire Department Chief Michael Redd submitted six names for consideration to the fire protection district board: Tim Kuiper, Christopher Schneider, PJ Wiltjer, Mel Scheeringa, Waldon McBride and Don Fisher.
Councilwoman Elsie Franklin, D-Gary, in seeking the reorganization of the fire protection district, said some boards can be top heavy. The relationship between the fire protection district board and members of the volunteer fire department has been acrimonious in recent months. Franklin, the council’s liaison to the district, has been working on a resolution.
“There is some discord. We need to do something with them having a cohesive working relationship,” Franklin said.
Franklin threw her support behind current district board president Neese for one of the two open spots, along with Kuiper. Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, nominated Crowder.
Neese received 4 votes against her appointment and three in favor, while Kuiper received six in favor of his appointment and one against and Crowder received five votes in favor and two against.
Franklin said by removing Neese the council had “stripped any type of leadership” from the district.
“You need somebody with knowledge of the workings of this board,” Washington said.
Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said not all board members are new. There are still has three veteran members sitting. Since the appointments were approved by the council, it cannot remove the members until their term expires unless there is just cause.
If the new configuration does not work, the council can replace the existing members when their terms expire later this year and next, he said.
“That was not the intent to restructure this board. I know the workings of who does what on the board,” Washington said.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.