When Portage Parks Superintendent Jenny Orsburn was interviewed by PortageLife.com last month, she aptly dubbed Portage Director of Public Works A.J. Monroe as “Mr. Portage.” Monroe, a PHS graduate and longtime resident of the city, oversees the departments of planning, building, code enforcement and engineering for Portage. He also receives reports from the park, street and utility service superintendents.
In addition, Monroe is a husband, a father of three, the head coach of the PHS boys varsity soccer team and a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County Board of Directors.
“There’s a lot going on,” he said.
According to Monroe, a 1.25 mile trail project north of 94 is about 90 percent complete and will be finished in April. Another major project that Monroe has helped bring to fruition during his tenure working for the city is the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.
“Knowing the time that I put into the project from start to finish, I would have to say it would be up there,” he said. “The opportunity to be part of that, work with the National Park, congressmen, the army corps and all of the other people who are a part of it, was great.”
Monroe, who was brought in for his second stint as the Director of Public Works when Mayor Jim Snyder took office in 2012, has helped bring projects that they took over from the previous administration across the finish line. The largest of those projects is Stone Avenue, which is going to end up costing over $10 million.
Over the last year, Monroe has worked with Meijer, which purchased the building previously occupied by Super K-Mart, to help set the stage for the store’s opening. Monroe expects the store to be ready to open in April.
Additional projects that Monroe is currently working on include the completion of Founder’s Square Park, the extension of Vivian and the completion of the parking lot in the Portage Mall. The University Center was completed in 2012 and is beginning to fill up with various college and universities offering courses in the Portage building.
The city is in the process of delivering new trash cans, which will modernize the trash collection system.
“A lot of our employees in the Street Department were hurt because of throwing garbage,” Monroe said. “Knowing that we could do a better job in terms of collecting, we made that decision to automate the system. We bought the opportunity to save us money, recycle more and send less waste to the landfill.”
Monroe stressed the importance of the community taking advantage of the opportunity to recycle provided by the new trash collection system.
Monroe’s long and winding career path has brought him back to his hometown. After graduating from PHS in 1991, he studied geography and political science as an undergraduate at Valparaiso University. During a course taught by Ron Janke, Ball State’s Francis Parker came in to talk about urban planning, which peaked Monroe’s interest. He eventually completed his graduate work at Ball State before returning to Portage to intern for former city planner Janet Barkowski.
He worked at a small engineering firm called Great Lakes Engineering until Barcowski resigned in January 1999. Portage Mayor Sammie Maletta named Monroe the new city planner, a role he held for the duration of Maletta’s term. He worked under Doug Olson as the City Planner/Director of Community Development for eight years, left to work in Chicago at a firm called JJR and then came back to the Region for a stint at a firm called SEH.
When Jim Snyder’s mayoral campaign was successful, Snyder offered Monroe the Director of Public Works position. With little hesitation, he accepted.
“Being a Portage guy and knowing what his vision was, I thought it would be a great opportunity to come back,” Monroe said.
Monroe holds the unusual distinction of working at City Hall and coaching a high school sport. After his soccer career was derailed by injuries, he began coaching the sport that he loves. He broke into soccer coaching at Boone Grove High School, became an assistant at Valparaiso University for five years, took the helm as the head boys soccer coach at PHS for four years beginning in 2003. He return to that position in 2012 after Todd Strom was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director.
“They asked me to come back and help [assistant coaches] Will Fortenberry and Brett Gordon move along,” Monroe said.
Monroe coached Fortenberry and Gordon during their PHS soccer careers.
“To see them go off and get a college degree and come back and want to coach high school is great,” he said. “They’re a lot of fun to work with, but it’s also a lot of fun to see how they’ve matured.”
When asked for his advice to Portage residents, Monroe strongly encouraged citizens to express their ideas to City Hall.
“Folks should continue to bring their ideas to the forefront,” he said. “If they have an idea, it’s an open door. Come on in, share your idea. We need to hear it.”