MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — The Michigan City Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a resolution backing United Steelworkers Local 12775's petition to strengthen NIPSCO staffing, reliability and storm response across Northern Indiana, according to a City of Michigan City release published by WIMS Radio.
Key facts
- The resolution was authored by Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch and introduced by council members Tim Bietry and Don Przybylinski, per the City of Michigan City release via WIMS Radio.
- The union petition, titled "Keep Utility Jobs Local," calls for a permanent local utility workforce, expanded training and apprenticeships, stronger emergency preparedness and greater transparency, per WIMS Radio.
- The resolution cites the widespread outages from the Aug. 11 storm across LaPorte, Lake and Porter counties, per WIMS Radio.
- NIPSCO recorded more than 350,000 outages after the Aug. 11 storm, and about 10,000 customers were still without power two weeks later, per the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
- Gov. Mike Braun directed the state's utility consumer counselor in August to seek a regulatory investigation into NIPSCO's vegetation management and reliability spending, per the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
What the city is asking for
The resolution calls on the governor, the Indiana General Assembly, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor to assess current utility staffing needs in Northern Indiana and develop workforce growth targets. It also asks state officials to support expanded utility apprenticeship programs and encourage local hiring and training.
The specific ask aimed at regulators is reporting. The council wants public reporting on frontline staffing levels, vacancy rates, storm restoration performance, contractor use and workforce development investments. It also asks the commission to consider workforce adequacy and emergency response readiness in proceedings affecting NIPSCO customers.
Certified copies of the resolution will go to Gov. Mike Braun, State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., State Rep. Randy Novak, legislative leaders, the commission, the consumer counselor and USW Local 12775, District 7, the city said.
Why the storm still drives this
The storm knocked out power across Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties, and restoration stretched for days. Two weeks later, NIPSCO still counted about 10,000 customers without power, including roughly 3,900 whose outages traced to the Aug. 11 storm and later severe weather, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
Mayor Nelson Deuitch tied the resolution directly to that week. "The Aug. 11 derecho showed us how much our community depends on trained crews who can respond when disaster strikes," she said in the release. The resolution acknowledges mutual aid crews as a valued resource during major emergencies, while arguing that a permanent local workforce knows the region's communities and infrastructure and is available year-round.
State pressure is already running on a separate track. In August, Braun directed the consumer counselor to petition the utility commission for an investigation into NIPSCO's vegetation management and whether regulator-approved reliability money was spent as promised. A proposed class action filed in Porter County makes similar allegations about tree trimming; the case has not been certified, and NIPSCO disputes the claims, saying its vegetation management spending has more than doubled since 2016, according to the Chronicle.
The workforce piece
Michigan City framed the vote as part of its own workforce work. The city has hosted and funded two Indiana Plan classes to help residents pursue skilled trades careers, runs an internship program that has served more than 40 interns over two and a half years, and partners with Goodwill Industries on a re-entry program, the release said. Several members of the first internship cohort have been hired as full-time city employees.
The resolution does not require NIPSCO or the commission to act.
Photo credit
- Hero: The LaPorte County Courthouse in La Porte, Indiana, photographed in spring 2007, by MrHarman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
- Inline 1: Franklin Street in downtown Michigan City, Indiana, in 2013, by Nyttend, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
- Inline 2: The Michigan City East Pierhead Lighthouse on Lake Michigan in 2012, by Matt Morse, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.