Less than a year after the departure of former executive director Scot MacDonald, the Memorial Opera House is yet again without a director. Megan Stoner, who held the position since September, resigned on Friday.
The Porter County Board of Commissioners at its Tuesday meeting unanimously approved a consulting services proposal with MacDonald, who will help Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, run the MOH during its summer renovation.
“It was brought to our attention that Scot MacDonald could make himself available,” Blaney said.
“I would assume by summer’s end we should be there,” Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, said of the fresh search for a director.
“We better be,” Blaney replied.
Commissioners declined further comment about Stoner’s resignation after the meeting.
MacDonald resigned in August to accept a job in Charlotte, North Carolina. MacDonald started volunteering at the opera house in 2006, moved on to a part-time job as box officer manager in 2012, and was later named artistic director. He became interim director and then director in 2016.
The MOH has suspended performances while it undergoes a nearly $5 million renovation. Just over $400,000 of the $5 million budget was saved. Savings of $104,000 will go to lost revenue, while the remainder of the savings will pay for an unrelated audio upgrade at the courthouse required by the state in an unfunded mandate.
Scott Rogers of Skillman Corporation gave an update on the renovation progress. All existing pumps and boilers have been removed from the basement, and sanitary drains there completed.
On the main floor, the bathrooms have been gutted, piping roughed in and subfloors prepared. In the main lounge subfloor and ceiling joists have been exposed while upstairs light fixtures have been replaced and painting begun.
The main auditorium already received fresh paint, but Rogers and the board agreed that a color other than white may be necessary. Blaney said she didn’t have a problem with how it looked, but that lighting challenges in the space may not work with white surfaces.
Skillman said design consultants were coming up with alternate colors and agreed that at least two commissioners would sign off on any final paint color approvals.
In other business, Porter County Park Board Attorney Dave Hollenbeck received approval of a resolution authorizing the sale of a 65-acre parcel of land the Parks Department owns at the intersection of 1500 N and County Line Road in Pine Township. The undeveloped parcel had been purchased in 2006 from the Indiana Department of Correction and was formerly used to grow produce for prison inmates.
Hollenbeck said the decision was made for him to oversee the sale of the parcel rather than pay 7% to a real estate agent or 10% to an auction house. “So we’re going to clear virtually every dime of this bid,” he said of the $446,000 selling price, which was over the appraised value.
The park board has a plan for $400,000 in proceeds, which it will amend to account for the higher profit, Hollenbeck said. The proposed Aukiki Park just north of Kouts will receive $100,000; new land purchases will be made with $100,000; a new sign for Sunset Hill County Farm Park will cost $75,000; development at Sunset Hill will use $50,000; development at Brookdale Park will get $40,000; Porter County Parks signage will get $20,000; and upgrades to the Sunset Hill Campground will get $15,000.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
