Hopefuls differ on housing, schools

Valparaiso City Council candidates discuss wide range of topics at forum

From roundabouts to the makeup of the school board, the four at-large candidates for the Valparaiso City Council tackled myriad topics during a forum Thursday sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Porter County and the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce.

A large crowd filled the seats of the Memorial Opera House for the event, one in a series being sponsored by the league before the November municipal election. The next one for Valparaiso, for the mayor’s race, takes place at 7 p.m. Oct. 9, also at the opera house.

The candidates represent a mix of backgrounds and political experience. Republican Evan Costas, son of Mayor Jon Costas, owns restaurants with his father and is a young father. Fellow Republican George Douglas is the District 5 representative on the council now, selected to finish the last two years of John Bowker’s term, and is a senior vice president at Indiana Beverage.

Democrat Todd Etzler is in his first year on the Center Township Advisory Board and is attorney for Horizon Bank while Elizabeth Wuerfell, also a Democrat, is an art professor at Valparaiso University.

None of the candidates were against Valparaiso’s seemingly ubiquitous roundabouts, and noted they move traffic along and that, with enough education, drivers can learn to navigate them properly.

They agreed that while the city’s focus on downtown has created a thriving district, that energy should now go toward improving the infrastructure and other

amenities in aging neighborhoods.

They did differ somewhat on the role of the City Council with the Valparaiso Community School Corp. board. The council selects four of the board members and the township advisory board selects the fifth one, though there has been some discussion in past years about moving to an elected board.

“It’s the most important thing we do,” Costas said, adding the appointment process allows for an open, public conversation with prospective candidates. “If there was strong sentiment to change that, we could consider that.”

The process allows for a diverse representation of parents, community members and educators, Etzler said, adding, “I really don’t think it’s an appointment and done.”

The township board has a continuing dialogue with its appointee and the school administration, he said.

Douglas said taking part in the process for the first time opened his eyes, and finding candidates can be difficult.

“We have a good process that’s open and transparent to the public,” he said.

Wuerffel said the city’s schools are strong and the appointment process works well and has to be transparent but because the schools are publicly funded, if taxpayers want an elected school board, they should get one.

She is interested in learning more about hybrid elected/appointed boards. “I would be curious to see how it works.”

They also had distinct views on how the council could address affordable housing in the community.

Costas, who owns a restaurant in Carmel, said he has difficulty finding servers and cooks because the cost of living there is so high but hasn’t had the same problem here, and noted he was able to find a reasonably priced home. A study of the city’s housing stock and future needs will be complete by the end of the year, he added, and “we should make decisions based on that and not on speculation.”

Etzler said the city needs a mix of single- and multifamily housing, with a change in zoning to allow for that diversity. Contractors also should seek ways to provide affordable housing, he added.

Noting that a house in her neighborhood was sold, renovated and sold again for more than twice the original selling price, Wuerffel said homes that are affordable now are going to be out of reach for many people going forward. “I think that’s going to be a major issue we face in the next decade,” she said.

The city has an array of housing now, Douglas said, including subsidized housing and transitional housing for those coming out of homelessness. He also noted the coming housing study. “It’s a national challenge. This is not unique to Valparaiso,” he added.