For a third consecutive year, the person holding the clerk-treasurer’s job for the town of Burns Harbor is resigning in the month of May.
Nick Loving, the town’s current clerk-treasurer, announced at Wednesday’s Town Council meeting that he intends for May 15 to be his last day.
Loving, 44, admitted that he has treated the clerk-treasurer job as a part-time position as he still works a full-time job in private industry. The clerk-treasurer’s job, which is considered full-time, annually pays $73,210.80.
In February, Loving told the Post-Tribune, and then the council, that he was willing to forgo half of his full-time salary this year and that he would stop accepting paychecks after June 30.
However, Loving said Wednesday he found under the Indiana Code that he wasn’t allowed to do that. He said he even consulted with State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, who told him the legislature couldn’t address the issue until next year.
“I am going to be out for a significant amount of time in the summer. So it’s inappropriate to continue on in the role,” Loving told the council.
Loving said he still needs to turn in his official resignation letter to Porter County Clerk Jessica Bailey.
Democratic Party Chairman Don Craft will appoint Loving’s replacement. The last time, Craft consulted with the council members before making the appointment.
Loving, who was a council member, had been appointed to replace Nicole Migliorini, who resigned on May 7, 2025, citing a “toxic work environment.” Migliorini had said that the council refused to consider her requests for more help to handle the job.
Jane Jordan, who had been the town’s clerk-treasurer for 20 years, resigned in May 2024 because the council wouldn’t support her in situations with department heads.
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Jordan, a Democrat, had been re-elected with no opposition in November 2023. Whoever is appointed to the clerk-treasurer’s job would fill the remainder of Jordan’s term, as the next election will be November 2027.
In other business, the Redevelopment Commission before the council meeting formally approved the contract for F.H. Paschen Construction Co. to build the last one-mile stretch of the Marquette Greenway Trail in Burns Harbor.
It is a complex and costly project because it is being built on wetlands, and a portion of the structure has to be built in the right-of-way underneath an existing Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge over the Little Calumet River.
The town has received a $5 million grant from the state’s Next Level Trails program, but the town has to come up with the remaining $3.4 million match for the project.
Tina Rongers, the town’s economic development consultant, admitted the cost for the project has risen. She said the town has $1.9 million saved for the project and that more funds would be added from collections this year within the town’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.
Rongers said the town might have to obtain a loan or another grant to make up the funding gap. She said they are consulting with the town’s financial advisor, Baker Tilly, about the best course.
Councilman Jack McGraw, who also serves on the redevelopment commission, was the lone member to vote against awarding the construction contract. Last month, he supported moving forward with the project.
“Once the contract is done, we owe them the money. And we don’t have the money yet. That’s my concern,” McGraw said in explaining his vote.
Rongers said that the state, recognizing the construction challenges presented with the project, has agreed to extend until June 2027 the deadline for the project’s completion. Originally, the project was supposed to be finished by this December.
It is believed that construction of the trail will be finished by April 2027. Construction will start on May 1.
During construction, Rongers said the trail will be blocked off at a bend, about 75 to 100 feet before Stanley Street, where the path now ends.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.