Portage EDC collaborates with City of Portage for Mayor Bonta’s State of the City address

Colleagues, friends, and business leaders throughout the Portage community came together to celebrate the annual State of the City event in the Sycamore Room at Woodland Park. The annual meeting was hosted on Wednesday, November 19, and offered some insight into the latest local happenings.

This event is a community staple for its ability to not just bring together an impressive turnout but also to educate and provide information to local residents so they can stay up-to-date.

“It’s really important to have this event, because it embodies what we’re all about,” said Andy Maletta, executive director of the Portage Economic Development Corporation (EDC). “We work with all the various businesses and the City of Portage, so this is an opportunity for us to come together and celebrate all the accomplishments that have happened in Portage. This year is especially cool because the mayor asked us about having the State of the City event here together.”

Historically, the State of the City event in Portage has been held in the first quarter of the new year. With this one coming in the final quarter of 2025, it serves as the perfect recap celebration to look back at some of the biggest successes this year.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in Indiana with recent changes made to the law, especially when it comes to the funding of cities,” said Portage Mayor Austin Bonta. “We felt that it would be really important to present the State of the City ahead of next year to talk about them while they’re in progress.”

Once the 2025 recap was concluded, the energy shifted towards talking about 2026. Residents of Portage can expect continued growth and more new opportunities as soon as the turn of the new year.

“Some of the key things are government consolidations where we can find them,” Bonta said. “That includes bringing the Portage Marina into our parks department, and working towards the merger of our streets and utilities departments into a new public works department. What that means is how we’re able to use that as a way to create more flexibility for manpower, equipment, and for funds.”

Above all, the foundation of success in the Portage community roots in having supportive partners such as the Portage EDC, who have helped shape the events and initiatives in the community over the past year. 

Justin Mount, senior operations manager for Indiana American Water, also serves as president of the Portage EDC. He believes there’s a lot of momentum going on in Portage that residents can be excited about. 

“There’s so much going on every single day,” Mount said. “From an Indiana American Water standpoint, when we provide water, we see residential development going up. We see the business community growing. I think that even with a pipeline of possibilities, there are even more things that are yet to come.”

Some of the biggest events for the Portage EDC this year were the Railcat’s Outing, Meet the Mayor Breakfast, and three installments of the Portage EDC 360 series. This included Construction 360, Healthcare 360, and Manufacturing 360.

“These 360 events are exactly what we need in this age,” Bonta said. “This next generation coming through our school system is blessed. They get the best of both worlds. They know that college is an option, but it’s not the only route for them. For us to have a team of guidance counselors in our high school and a team of school administrators who view each of these students as an individual that we’re preparing for their best life possible, that is an incredible thing that we’ve got here in this city.”

The Portage EDC helps with the evaluation of available sites, along with workforce recruitment and training. Working with the City of Portage is valuable for building relationships and finding sustainable growth.

“It’s great to have that collaboration because our job is to retain, grow, and expand businesses,” Mount said. “Having so many businesses here in the community helps us work together collectively and make things easier for everyone.”

During the program, Maletta rattled off some of the numbers that have played a crucial part in showcasing the growth of Portage. The city’s population of 38,513 makes Portage the third largest city in Northwest Indiana and 24th in the state. There are 1,082 new houses approved and under construction, more than 17,800 employed, and 1,328 businesses in Portage.

While these numbers are impressive and indicate a positive trajectory, Maletta believes it all boils down to one thing: Portage’s energy. With the city under the guidance of Mayor Bonta, he believes this community is in a better place than ever before.

“The numbers don’t mean a thing if you don’t have the leaders to make people want to come here,” Maletta said. “I believe that Portage energy was always there, but it just needed a little bit of a spark. We went and got ourselves a flamethrower, and that’s our Mayor Austin Bonta.”

For more information on the Portage EDC or the City of Portage, you can visit their websites.