The Porter County Council took a major step forward for Northwest Indiana when it approved, by a 4-3 margin, the county’s participation in and funding of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

For full disclosure purposes, I admit I have been a strong advocate for that very action for quite some time. In fact, I couldn’t resist the urge, as a 25-year resident of Valparaiso, to offer my minute-and-a-half of testimony, encouraging the council to join and fund the RDA. As difficult as the decision was for the council members, they made the right one.

While sitting in the council chambers in Valparaiso, watching and listening to the stream of advocates and opponents of the proposed RDA, I found myself thinking back a few months to a somewhat similar public meeting that took place at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts.

On March 12, a joint meeting was conducted by the town councils of Highland and Munster. The purpose was to receive public comment on a proposal to create a new fire district, in effect, consolidating the two fire departments. No vote was taken until the end of May, when the Highland Town Council voted down the proposed consolidation, 4-1, and the Munster Town Council voted it down 5-0.

In Munster and Valparaiso, elected officials were faced with making decisions loaded with a tremendous amount of emotion, a significant break with history, turf protection and the potential for momentous, long-term effect on the quality of life for Northwest Indiana residents.

It appears the elected officials involved spent considerable time gathering information, deliberating and, ultimately, making their decisions based on facts. Whether one agrees with the outcome in each case, the deliberative political process worked as individuals muddled through the risk-reward implications of their decisions.

In reflection, I realized there was one conspicuous distinction between the public meeting in Munster and the one in Valparaiso; it had to do with the conduct of those who rose to offer their input.

At the Munster meeting, I found it troubling that many persons who gave public comment, rather than discussing the issue before the house — that of creating a new fire district — chose instead to personally attack public officials who had been involved in developing and bringing forward the concept and resulting proposal. Although public safety is always going to be an emotional issue, it was disconcerting to watch as two of the most competent, creative and respected public servants in NWI — Highland Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin and Munster Town Manager Tom DeGiulio — were repeatedly vilified.

Certainly, there was a significant amount of pressure coming to bear on the seven Porter County council members long before the 60 or 70 persons rose to address the RDA issue. Economic development, job creation, quality of life, taxes, corruption in Lake County and too many unanswered questions were common themes running through the parade of individuals hoping to influence the ultimate vote. I was impressed with the manner in which everyone directed their comments to the issue at hand and avoided assailing anyone because of his or her views.