As a voter, it’s important to stay up to date on local, state, and national policies that could affect your life. Every year, the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership (LEAP) brings together politicians who have a say in what happens in La Porte County for an informative, interactive session to keep La Porte residents informed.
This year’s session featured City of La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody, La Porte City Council President Tim Franke, La Porte County Council President Randy Novak, State Representative Jim Pressel, and State Senator Mike Bohacek. The group met with community members in the La Porte County Public Library Exchange building, providing a more intimate, close-to-home atmosphere for the event.
The event began with each politician taking time to discuss what they are currently doing for the city followed by a Q&A segment featuring both questions fielded from attendees and LEAP’s online audience.
“It gives me a bit of confidence that people are still willing to have open dialogue back and forth with their elected officials,” said Pressel. “I feel really good that people were there, and we just had great conversations.”
The bipartisan panel touched on topics affecting the city itself, such as work zone safety enforcement, to national issues like artificial intelligence and global relations. Getting to hear from legislators and then respond on such a wide breadth of topics is something Pressel views as an important democratic process.
“I think it's important that, as a legislator, I'm able to hear directly from people and not from the news sources they subscribe to,” said Pressel. “These dialogues give constituents an opportunity to ask questions about what's important to them about potential policy or policy that's moving, and I get a chance to respond. You lose a lot of that when we do it all electronically; speaking face-to-face in a public setting is just so healthy for all of us.”
All attendees saw another important part of the democratic process as well: working through disagreements. While all of the politicians present were committed to the goal of improving life for La Porte residents, each had a different opinion on how to walk the path forward.
“It's great to have the conversation so people can see there are different opinions on everything, but it also shows the collaborative part of the job,” Pressel said. “We're all willing to have a conversation and get to the best policy.”
Novak agreed that the process of working through disagreement was important for people to see.
“I collaborate with our elected officials on the city, state, and even national level,” he said.
At the end of the day, LEAP’s Third House Session is an excellent way for community members to get accurate, firsthand information about the issues affecting them and their city. While they may not agree with all of their elected officials, everyone is looking out for what’s best for La Porte.
“These are great events and a good tool to communicate information to our community members. As elected officials, we are always looking for input, good or bad, on the issues before us,” said Novak. “We are all working to make La Porte County the best it can be for our citizens.”
For more upcoming events from the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership, visit laportepartnership.com.