Portage Community Spotlight: Ferdinand Alvarez

Portage Community Spotlight: Ferdinand Alvarez

Each Sunday we will feature a project going on within the city, happenings within a department or someone who works hard to provide services to the community. Today we talk to freshman at-large Councilman Ferdinand Alvarez about the roles and duties of the City Council.

Councilman Ferdinand Alvarez recalled a voice mail he received recently from a resident thanking him for his role in getting certain city streets lined.

Alvarez, while saying he really didn't have that much to do with the project, said the interaction with that resident and others has made his first 10 months on the council "a very rewarding job."

"The job is not only to be in the fiduciary and legislation role in the city, but to be liaisons to members of the community," said Alvarez.

"It has been a pleasant surprise. I love people. I love to interact with people," he said, adding, while he's enjoying helping residents when he can, there is a certain amount of pressure in answering to constituents.

"I try listening to residents while balancing the interests of the city," he said.

Alvarez said 2020 has been a year of "uncertainty, challenge and growth."

A member of the city's budget committee, he said much of his first year has been spent helping getting the city's finances back on track and the knowledge that without a solid budget, the city can't move forward.

He said he's most proud of the administration being able to put the city's finances in order, so that the city can move forward in coming years.

Alvarez, who said he was influenced by his mother, Wilma Vazquez , who sits on the Portage Township School Board, to step into the ring of public service, serves as the council's liaison to the Port Authority. He also holds a seat on the city's Board of Licensing and Registration and chairs the council's Strategic Plan Committee.

He also serves on the Portage Township YMCA board and the Portage Township Parks Board.

A resident of Portage since he was 2, Alvarez graduated from Valparaiso University's law school in 2019, passed his bar exam and is awaiting word on the outcome of Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination to obtain his law license and begin practicing his chosen profession.

"I ran (for City Council) because the city was at a crossroads and I wanted to use my education to help the city," said Alvarez, adding his first 10 months has been a learning experience.

He said he sees nothing but positives for the city and, now that the city's finances have been put in order, he would like to concentrate on economic development issues, including filling vacant retail buildings scattered throughout the city.

"It is time for an upturn and hopefully we will be bouncing back," he said.