Mayor's Office

Office of the Chief Executive Officer and Mayor of the City of Whiting.

Joseph M. Stahura Mayor 1443 119th Street Whiting, IN 46394 Phone #: (219) 659-7700 Fax #: (219) 473-4452 Email: View Mayor Joe's 2009 State of the City Report - February 16, 2010   View the Mayor's 6-Point Strategy for the City   View the Mayor's Biography   Read Mayor Joe's WRite Stuff Columns

MAYOR'S 6-POINT STRATEGY FOR WHITING:

• Grow and Diversify our tax base
• Improve the condition of residential & commercial property within the City
• Work to improve the City's business corridors (Downtown & Indianapolis Boulevard)
• Continue to enhance the Quality of Life in the community
• Develop & implement a plan to address the City's infrastructure needs
• Implement change to maximize the efficiency of local Government operations
  
  Review this strategy in greater detail by clicking here.

MAYOR'S BIOGRAPHY:

On November 4, 2003, Mayor Joe Stahura became the first former Whiting City Councilman ever to be elected as Mayor of the City of Whiting.  Mayor Joe is now serving his 2nd term as Mayor following five consecutive terms as Councilman.  In January of 2005, Mayor Joe was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash from then Governor Joe Kernan.  In late 2009, his vision of a large scale development of Whiting's lakefront became reality when the City secured over $50 million in financing for the project.  The project which is now underway, will be the largest single public project in the City's history and will be financed totally by grants and industrial tax revenue.  In 2010, Mayor Joe initiated a plan to provide $500,000 in residential facade renovation matching grants to the Whiting Community.  The program's objective was to stimulate investment in the community's housing stock to increase property values across the City.  When the program closed on September 1, 2010, the City issued over $460,000 in grants which resulted in nearly $1.5 million in rehabilitation investment into Whiting residential properties.  During his 20 years as Councilman, he has represented the city as both Councilman-at-Large and as the 1st District Councilman. The Mayor has served as the Council President Pro-Tem, Chairman of both the Police and Fire and the Finance Committees and as a Council Representative to the Plan Commission.  As a Councilman, the Mayor has worked to assist various departments in the city to help computerize their day-to-day operations.

In Mayor Joe's 1st term as mayor, he championed initiatives to increase public access to city documents such as contracts, budgets, and financial information.  Whiting is now widely viewed as the leader in providing such information to its residents.  The Mayor also is driving an aggressive agenda to improve the City through economic development initiatives and through government reform.  Whiting has been a leader in applying the recommendations suggested by the Maximus Good Government Initiative.  In 2006, the BP Whiting Refinery has announced their intentions to invest almost $4 billion to retool and expand their Whiting Refinery.  This project is the largest single economic development project in Indiana state history.  When completed, this project, along with related secondary projects, could triple the gross tax base of the City of Whiting.

Since he was elected, Mayor Joe has been active in many organizations across the state.  He believes that Whiting needs and deserves a seat at the table on both regional and state organizations.  His leadership has been recognized by his elections and appointments to several key state and regional positions.  A brief list of a few key positions is provided below:

• 2011 Vice-President of the Indiana Conference of Mayors (ICOM)
• 2011 Vice-Chair of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) Municipal Finance Policy Committee
• 2011 Eli Lilly Regional Home State Initiative Champion
• 2011 IACT Community & Economic Development Policy Committee
• 2010-2011 Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) Board of Directors
• 2010-2011 Lake County Democratic Central Committee Executive Board
• 2010 Northwestern Indiana Regional Plan Commission (NIRPC) Chairman Local Government Services Committee
• 2006-2011 - IACT Legislative Committee Member
• 2010-2011 - IACT Environmental Policy Committee
• 2009 President of the Northern Mayors Roundtable
• 2009 IACT Kernan-Shepard Task Force Co-Chairman
• 2009 Lake County Democratic Central Committee Executive Board
• 2009 Northwestern Indiana Regional Plan Commission (NIRPC) Executive Board member
• 2008 Chairman of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Plan Commission (NIRPC)
• 2008 Co-Chairman of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) Legislative Committee
• 2007-2010 - IACT Executive Board member
• 2008 Vice-President of the Northern Indiana Mayors Roundtable (NIMR)
• 2007 Secretary-Treasurer of the Northern Indiana Mayors Roundtable (NIMR)

The Mayor has been married to his wife Diane (Babinec) for 34 years and they have two daughters, Sheryl and Eileen. He has been a lifelong resident of Whiting, attended Immaculate Conception grade school and is a 1974 graduate of Whiting High School. He also attended Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The Mayor worked for the BP (Amoco) Whiting refinery for 22+ years. The Mayor and his wife Diane also owned Cheap Seats Sports Cards, a retail sports collectible store in downtown Whiting until 2010. The Mayor is a member of the Whiting-Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce and volunteers his time to help develop and maintain this website.  He also in a member of the Whiting Knights of Columbus, the Roosevelt Club and the American Slovak Club.