The Portage Board of Works voted to reimburse the Portage Redevelopment Commission for the purchase of a property on the 5500 block of Central Ave., in an area that will be key to Portage’s planned Central Avenue west reconstruction.
The commission and the city will buy up as many properties as it can in anticipation of the project, Mayor James Snyder told the board Tuesday. The house, at 5504 Central Ave., cost the city about $154,000, but the overall cost of the road reconstruction, stretching from Willowcreek Road west to County Line Road, should cost the city about $8 million of its own money, Snyder said.
The redevelopment commission is a separate governmental entity with a separate board from the official City of Portage, but the two entities are share staff members and work on large city projects together.
“The city (of Portage) can help and expedite and see these (property purchases) through quicker,” Snyder told the board. “We’re trying to get property as it comes up for sale.”
Portage officials are awaiting a study that will lay out the details of the Central Avenue project, but, they also are moving ahead with preliminary plans without turning to the federal government for financial help, Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham said Tuesday.
Typically, when local municipalities get federal help, the towns and cities must come up with 20 percent of the total costs, with the federal government picking up 80 percent, but that comes with rules and regulations that can be burdensome, Stidham said.
“The thing is federal money comes with a lot of federal strings,” he said.
In other business, the board approved a raise for interim Streets Superintendent Steve Nelson, who does not use a city vehicle and does not get any benefits from Portage. Hired earlier this year, Nelson will be paid $6,900 a month, up from $5,750 monthly.
Also, the board approved the purchase of two more trucks for its fleet. For about $114,500, Portage will purchase a gas-powered F-350 truck and a diesel-powered F-550 from Lakeshore Ford in Chesterton.
Earlier this year, the streets department requested bids from 12 truck dealerships, but only Lakeshore Ford responded, said Randy Reeder, a supervisor with the streets department.
The trucks are ready for pickup once the city pays for them, Snyder said. Usually, Portage officials must wait for six to eight months to get the vehicles they purchased, he said.
The purchase will bring the city up to a full fleet of vehicles in the streets department, Reeder said.
Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.