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Porter County Commissioners not ready to move forward with Memorial Opera House project

rendering of the Memorial Opera House and sheriff's residence renovation and expansion plans
MemorialOperaHouse.com
rendering of the Memorial Opera House and sheriff's residence renovation and expansion plans

The proposed renovation of Porter County's Memorial Opera House continues to face an uncertain future.

Now that funding has been allocated, Commissioner Laura Blaney was ready to move forward during Tuesday's commissioners meeting. "You know we've spent a lot of time and money on architects," Blaney said. We have money allocated from ARPA funds. We have money committed by the [Memorial Opera House] Foundation. So I'd like to make a motion to put the MOH project, as it stands, out to bid."

But her motion failed to get a second from Jim Biggs, a vocal critic of the proposal, and newly-elected commissioner Barb Regnitz.

The county has allocated $5 million toward the renovation and expansion of the Opera House using federal American Rescue Plan money — even though the project had previously been removed from the ARPA plan, after Biggs and others voiced opposition.

The board of commissioners has new leadership to start the year. Biggs was elected board president, while Blaney lost her seat as vice president to Regnitz.