Mayor Brian Snedecor is all about teamwork.

It's an approach he takes by including his department heads, then giving them most of the credit, when meeting last week to reflect on his first 100 days in office.

"We truly are a team. Being mayor doesn't make you qualified to know all the answers all the time. ... Everybody pulls together to get things done," he said.

His department heads include a combination of those who served under former Mayor Linda Buzinec and his own picks.

That combination of old and new faces is one he said he also has used when setting up several new committees to address issues or making appointments to existing boards.

He prides himself on being a mayor who listens before taking action.

"Over and over when I was running for office I heard from constituents that they felt that they didn't have a voice. ... Their voice does count with me," he said.

One of the committees he set up early on was to address Robinson Lake issues, which surfaced after hundreds of residents protested putting billboards inside the park and turning it over to Lake County.

The committee has continued to meet and is working toward the idea of returning the park at 53rd Avenue and Liverpool Road to a semblance of what it had been.

"I feel the park should stay city owned and maintained," Snedecor said.

As new mayor, the tightening of city finances outside his control has been one of the most taxing issues he's had to tackle.

"That's really been tough. We're making do and we're getting through it," he said.

Last month, Snedecor hosted a financial workshop presented by Umbaugh and Associates to help enlighten officials throughout the county about challenges brought on by changes in the tax system.

And as he heads into the rest of his first year, Snedecor said he plans on continuing to reach out to officials in other communities in addressing other issues such as mutual drainage problems in Hobart and Lake Station.

Snedecor said he has no plans to stop communicating with his constituents.

"The attitude of the community as a whole has been a pleasant surprise as well as how well the community is about getting involved. We have a community that is eager to work together to make decisions," he said.

Lake Station

Mayor Keith Soderquist's plan to put his city on the map started with simply printing a new, accurate document that includes contact information.

"Our map hadn't been updated for at least 12 to 15 years," he said.

Once ready, the 5,000 freshly printed maps will be hand-delivered to the homes of residents by him and other officials, he said.

It's a hands-on approach, evident a little more than a week into office, when Soderquist made frequent trips to the city's southwest side to keep an eye on rising flood waters.

He and other officials met with affected residents and in the early morning hours handed out fliers, in English and Spanish, informing them about an emergency shelter.

"I didn't want residents to leave for work and then come home to a house that was flooded," he said at the time.

Soderquist says his first 100 days as mayor have been a whirlwind of activities and meetings with the evidence scattered throughout his spacious City Hall office.

There are a stack of copies of the grant proposals he has been working on and prototypes of plans for a new municipal complex and a new sports complex called Field of Dreams.

His meetings have included ones with county, state and federal officials with hope of getting financial help for the city, he said.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., with whom he met early on, has promised assistance in addressing flooding issues in Lake Station.

He also has met with Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub and has received, with his help, $153,000 in financial assistance to revamp the city's radio communication for safety services.

Communication between city department heads and constituents will be easier with a revamped computer system to replace an aging one.

"We went from the 19th century, skipped the 20th century and are going into the 21st century," he said.

One of the projects Soderquist is proudest of is the Field of Dreams, which will entail moving the present compost facility and developing sports fields 200 feet east of the Four Winds Park.

There'll be room for Little League, softball, traveling teams, soccer and football.

"Right now the Lake Station Little League plays in Hobart. This will mean having our own city pride," he said.