Children in the care of the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center will finally be transported for doctors’ visits, trips to the Department of Correction, and residential placement in a safe vehicle come the new year after the Porter County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of a new four-wheel drive Ford Explorer. “We’ve just been having a barrage of vehicle issues,” explained JDC Director Alison Cox. An old Chevy Traverse donated years ago by Judge Mary DeBoer has a window that won’t roll up and the 2012 van needs a $3,000 transmission rebuild but is only valued at $4,300. Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon gave the department two vehicles to replace those but one has a broken fuel line and the other broke down on the way back from a transport, Cox reported. “We do not want to unnecessarily burden our sheriff’s department,” she said. “We need officers on the streets, not transporting kids.” She said her department would have preferred to lease a vehicle, but the county’s vendor for leasing, Enterprise, would not approve a lease because her department would be transporting minors. “I do not understand that policy because they do lease squad cars,” replied Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North. In other business, a contract was approved with The Planning Workshop, Inc. to provide training to members of the Porter County Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. “We have to educate our board members on the rules on the Plan Commission and the BZA,” said Mike Jabo, Porter County’s director of development & stormwater management. “I think it’s a really good idea,” added Board of Commissioners Vice President Barb Regnitz, R-Center. “Just because you get appointed to these boards doesn’t mean you understand anything.” Laura Shurr Blaney (Laura Shurr Blaney/provided) Finally, outgoing Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, gave a speech at the end of her last meeting after 12 years in the role. Blaney did not seek reelection and will be replaced in January by Porter Township Trustee Ed Morales, a Republican. She also served six years as a county councilwoman. Blaney said she is particularly proud of her role in the founding of the Porter County Foundation which manages the proceeds of the sale of the hospital and today has a balance of nearly $200 million. “I’m proud to leave knowing that this foundation can provide financial security and resources today and for future generations,” she said. She also ticked off a list of capital improvements such as the construction of a new animal shelter and highway garage in South Haven, as well as the remodeling of the historic courthouse, North County Complex, 157 Franklin and the Expo Center. Blaney reminded the audience that the stormwater management, human resources, and facilities departments didn’t even exist when she joined county government. “I can remember the shock I felt when I realized our planning department had no inspectors,” she said. “We had rules, but no one to inspect.” She recounted that she helped accomplish these things while growing her family. She recalled how her two oldest children would spread out their toys and coloring books on a side table in the meeting chamber while “Roger was in a car seat under the dais. Luckily he was a good baby. And I was pregnant. “You really made all this possible for me,” she told them and her husband Ken. She received a standing ovation and when everyone sat back down, Biggs said he had never before heard of an officeholder reaching out to his or her successor of the opposite party in Porter County to offer assistance in the transition as she did to Morales. “It was clear to me that you have a very endearing love for Porter County,” Biggs said. Regnitz said that while she probably knew Blaney the least of anyone in the room she was grateful to her for both her foresight in setting up the foundation and stepping in to run the Memorial Opera House when it was without a director over the summer. “Just the thoughtfulness and the diligence of setting up the foundation and what that has done to set up the future of Porter County,” were so important, she said. Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.