After appointing someone who lives outside the district to the Porter County Library Board, the County Council plans to vote again in July.

The board voted 4-3 Tuesday to appoint Michelle Jatkiewicz, who lives in Westchester Township, to the Porter County Public Library System board.

But Westchester Township has its own library district; Porter County Public Library System serves all the other townships in the county.

State law forbids someone who lives outside the library district from serving on the board, Porter County Public Library System Director Jesse Butz said Wednesday. Butz couldn’t attend the meeting in person but watched it afterward online, he said, and pointed out the error.

Jatkiewicz, a Lake County deputy prosecutor, has a strong resume, said Andy Bozak, R-at large, who nominated her. So do the others who applied, including Porter County Museum Executive Director Kevin Pazour, the incumbent.

Pazour remains on the board while the council considers whether to reappoint Pazour or choose another person who applied for the position.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, who nominated Pazour, pointed out that Jatkiewicz has a Chesterton address. However, there was confusion among others about whether the appointee could live anywhere in the county or anywhere except Westchester Township.

The council’s request for applications for the position didn’t spell that out, Butz said.

“I think it’s just a simple misunderstanding that will get addressed pretty quickly,” he said. “I think we’ll navigate this with no problem.”

Council President Andy Vasquez, R-4th, said the other applicants should be encouraged to join the library’s Friends group, which could use additional volunteers.

Bozak suggested Wednesday that Jatkiewicz apply for a position on the Westchester Public Library board when there’s an opening.

The board voted 4-3 to approve paying stipends to Porter County Central Communications employees who do computer-aided design work or are a backup training officer.

Next year’s budget request will include one CAD administrator responsible for dealing with mapping issues. This year, there have been two people handling that work outside their regular dispatch duties, Assistant Director Andrew Barber told the council.

“Every year, there’s going to be more programming,” he said.

Councilman Greg Simms, D-3rd, questioned whether the employees were doing this work during their regular shift or after hours. “So they will get overtime plus their $250 stipend?”

Barber said they’re excellent multitaskers and do this work while waiting for calls.

They’re doing work outside their job description, so they should be compensated for it, he said.

“These are raises after we said we’re not giving raises,” Bozak said. “This is a very large increase, in my opinion.”

In a lot of departments, if you fill in for someone, you don’t get more money, said Councilman Mike Brickner, R-at large.

Councilwoman Michelle Harris, R-at large, said being a CAD administrator requires a lot of training. “There’s a very technical position. There’s a different level of training and expertise,” she said. “My bigger concern is that we have people doing CAD work that weren’t necessarily trained to do CAD work.”

Each underwent three days of Motorola training, Barber said.

“I’m not in favor of giving raises this time of year, in June,” Brickner said.

Vasquez told Barber to make sure this is addressed in the department’s 2026 budget request this summer so the stipends won’t continue next year.

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.