Mayor Austin Bonta cast tiebreaking votes Tuesday to select the City Council president and vice president.
The votes were along party lines, with Republicans on the council voting to retain Victoria Vasquez as president and Melissa Weidenbach for vice president. Democrats voted for Collin Czilli for president and Ferdinand Alvarez for vice president.
Vasquez, the fourth Republican on the seven-member council, was absent Tuesday.
After city attorney Dan Bartnicki and Czilli did some quick research into the unprecedented situation, Bonta voted for Vasquez and Alvarez.
The council president serves as president pro tem, with the mayor presiding over council meetings and the president pro tem filling in when he’s absent, Bonta said.
“It’s a little bit more important than that,” Czilli said. If the mayor vacates office, the president pro tem becomes acting mayor until a caucus is held to name a replacement.
“We actually had that happen,” Czilli pointed out, with Democrat Sue Lynch, then council president, succeeding Mayor James Snyder as president upon Snyder’s conviction on federal corruption charges.
Czilli pointed Bartnicki to the state statute that said the council has to elect officers at its first meeting of the year, along with a statute that says the mayor casts votes only to break ties.
“My heart will break either way,” Bonta said before voting for Vasquez. “This is the hardest part of the meeting.”
“I will cast my deciding vote for Victoria. Collin, you’re an awesome guy, but I think we’ll go with Victoria on this one,” Bonta said.
In 2025, the council voted along party lines to name Vasquez president and Weidenbach vice president. That year was the first year Czilli, the longest-serving member of the council, could remember two nominations for both those offices.
This year was the first year for tied votes for both offices, requiring the mayor to break the ties.
In other business, the council began considering a request to annex a 47-acre parcel east of Bauer Farms, south of County Road 700 North and west of 625 West. Olthof Homes plans to develop Sweetwater subdivision there.
Plans call for 104 single-family homes and 44 paired cottages with 25.8% open space, attorney Todd Leeth said.
A large area would be set aside for a detention pond in the property’s northeast corner, plus another in the middle with a small pocket park near the center.
The fiscal plan approved by the council estimates the subdivision’s 148 homes would generate $151,000 more in taxes than it would cost the city to provide services.
A vote on the annexation is planned for February.
Leeth said Olthof proposes to commit to the concept plan, lot count, home styles, landscaping plan and development standards, locking in commitments in an agreement that would be enforceable even if Olthof transferred the property to another owner.
Neighbor Don Pavy urged the council not to approve the development. “My neighbors and I have been forced to spend thousands of dollars” to block the view and lights from Bauer Farms, he said.
He spoke against the proposed lot sizes. “An inner-city-style neighborhood is directly inconsistent with this area,” Pavy said.
“This annexation does not benefit the residents living nearby and does not benefit the city of Portage,” he said.
Pavy cited flooding issues in the area, noting that high water recently closed Willowcreek Road.
He also complained of the extra traffic the subdivision would bring to county roads. “I know that traffic studies exist. I know they show what developers want them to show,” he said.
Councilwoman Penny Ambler asked if Pavy and his neighbors, who live in unincorporated Porter County, shoot at targets on their land. “Absolutely,” Pavy said. “I will continue to shoot on that property,”
Ambler said when Bauer Farms was approved, the traffic study said that the subdivision’s extra traffic would mean the city was on the verge of needing a traffic light at 700N and Willowcreek Road. Approving the annexation could tip the scales toward needing the light, she said.
Leeth addressed Pavy’s concerns. “This is not a high-density development,” he said, with 148 homes on 47 acres. Olthof has been in business a long time and knows the market, which is drifting toward smaller homes, he said.
“The reason we’re seeking annexation is that we want your utilities,” Leeth said. “We couldn’t build this in the county on septic systems, and you wouldn’t want us to.”
The city requires new subdivisions to handle stormwater on-site. If the Plan Commission says Sweetwater’s drainage plan doesn’t work, the subdivision wouldn’t be built, he said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
