VALPARAISO | After more than an hour and a half of listening to the candidates answer questions on everything from picking a new basketball coach and a new superintendent to how many School Board meetings they attended in the last year, the council chose lawyer Jim Jorgensen to replace Tom Sanders on the board.

The vote was 5-1 with Councilman Joey Larr opposed and Councilman Bob Taylor absent. Larr said Sanders did a remarkable job during his one term on the board, and he didn't know if it was a good time for a change of membership.

Jorgensen, who also is chairman of the Valparaiso Economic Development Corp. and a member of the city's Redevelopment Commission, said he would resign his position on the latter "but not before I get a chance to ride the firetruck" at the opening of the new Cumberland Drive extension Wednesday. The resignation would be effective at the end of the month and his board appointment takes effect July 1.

This was the second round of questioning of finalists Jorgensen, Sanders and Candace Shaw, who were chosen from the seven applicants for the four-year term. The council appoints one person each year and the Center Township Board appoints the fifth member every four years. Jorgensen is a Times business columnist.

Monday's questions were submitted from the 15 or so people attending the public session and from other submittals by e-mail or other means. Concerning his position on the Redevelopment Commission, Jorgensen said he didn't think it was a conflict of interest to serve on both or that there is a conflict between education and economic development.

He said the concept of a conflict between the two arose over the debate the commission had with the East Porter Schools over expanding the tax increment financing district into Washington Township, which the school district did not think was needed in the case of Porter's Vale shopping center.

Jorgensen played a role in resolving that disagreement and said, "When you are trying to attract industries with quality jobs, a quality education system is a big selling point. I think we are partners."

He said he would remove any restrictions on public input at board meetings and encourage the board to hold several meetings a year at the neighborhood elementary schools to get more parents to attend. He said the board needs to come up with as many venues as possible to engage the public.

"A school board meeting should be instructional," he said. "I will not participate in a meeting that is cut and dried."

Although familiar with the budget process from prior experience, Jorgensen said his first order of business will be to get a lesson in school finance from David White, the schools' administrative officer for finance and operations.

"The most important task for the board over the next couple of years is developing a community vision and deciding how each segment of the community can be a participant and the role they will play. The board has to reach out to develop an understanding of how critical education is."