Scheub ready for 2012

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Gerry Scheub. | Photo Provided~Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 25, 2012 9:00AM

CROWN POINT — Lake County County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-2nd, represents the southern part of Lake County.

“I have 2/3 of the geographic area of Lake County and over 90 percent of the unincorporated area of Lake County,” Scheub notes.

The other two commissioners are mostly made up of cities and towns. The people that live there have local government officials to care for their needs. That makes his job a commissioner a lot different than that of districts 1 or 3.

“This district is very demanding of your time,” Scheub. “You put your boots and coat on and go out and meet with people. You can’t just sit in the office. In the second district you have to be out.”

As executive branch of the county government the commissioners implement the decisions on the budget as passed by the council.

“In the last four years we have reduced spending by over $30 million,” Scheub said. “The county has a $104 million a year budget but 80 percent goes to the criminal justice departments.”

One of the biggest jobs as a commissioner that he has is working to help implement state-mandated unified 911 call center.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, Scheub was at the meeting of the area police chiefs who are all equal voting members on the committee to get the call center up and running and then to administer it.

According to Scheub, area fire chiefs regularly attend the meeting, although they are not able to vote, they can and do voice their concerns.

According to Scheub, the engineering firm of RQAW is providing them with estimates on remodeling existing buildings and building a brand new building to house the needed two 911 centers.

One will be needed for the northern part of the county and one for the central and southern parts. Sites being looked at are the vacant land on North Main Street in front of the County Government Complex, and a similar site north of the juvenile center. The sites being looked at for possible remodeling are the Hobart Police Department Communication Complex in the old Hobart Middle School, the St. John municipal building, the Gary Public Safety facility, the Hammond 911 facility, and a site on Rail Road Avenue in East Chicago.