The information in this post has never been reported publicly… until now.
On June 1st, 2021, real estate broker Randy Novak listed a property for a friend, a friend who also happened to be a county vendor.
On July 21, LaPorte County Council president Randy Novak showed up uninvited to a County Commission meeting. The Commissioners were considering awarding a no-bid contract to his friend, but were concerned because the state had said that such contracts were illegal. Novak spoke up on behalf of his friend. He suggested that they use a special statute that would allow the no-bid contract if they claimed that his friend was the only one who could do the job: “as being the fire chief of Michigan City, we used this statute several times”.
On August 20, Novak closed the sale on his friend’s $600,000 property, and put approximately $15,000 in commissions in his pocket.1
On August 23, just three days later, Novak, as president of the Council, pushed through the no-bid contract, despite again being told the contract was illegal. Novak took great offense that anyone would suggest that he was doing something illegal.
When the auditor refused to back down, Novak belittled the duly-elected auditor by saying that he had “only been in office eight months”, and asked the sheriff to remove him from the room. The sheriff refused.
During the discussion on the contract, no one in the room knew that Novak had taken a payment from his friend the contractor only three days earlier.
Over the following years, Novak did it six more times, pocketing approximately $100,000. His friend made millions.
Nobody knew.
Here are the facts:
The Contractor
Novak’s friend is Andy Skwiat, owner of Marquiss Electric.
Marquiss is known as an expensive vendor. Marquiss’ bids, when they submit them, are typically 20% to 25% higher than other vendors.
Over a period of 10 years, Marquiss and affiliated companies did an estimated $28 million in business with the county.2
Most of the contracts were no-bid, totaling many millions of dollars.3
In 2022, the owner of Marquiss Electric formed an additional company, LaPorte County Project Management (LPCM). Previously, Marquiss had technically been an electrical contractor, not a general contractor. The creation of this entity made it easier for the owner to be the general contractor and subcontract work to himself4.
One contract, to perform work following a flood at the county complex, was characterized as an emergency, justifying an initial no-bid expenditure of $1.4 million. While the initial work was for a genuine emergency, Marquiss was the only company that received a call, and assigned most of the work to itself. Later, the county gave the work of soliciting bids to LPCM, which, unsurprisingly, again gave much, but not all, work to itself. The total cost is unclear, but the NWI Times estimated it to be $15 million.
This work has been lucrative. Skwiat owns almost 800 acres of land in LaPorte County across 20 parcels, and lives on a $1.9 million estate (for which Novak was the buyer’s broker).
The Votes
From 2017 to 2025, Novak voted at least5 40 times to send money to Marquiss and affiliated companies, including appropriations, permissions to spend, and motions of support for projects.
Novak voted yes on all requests to send money to Marquiss, and never once voted against a request.
Time and again, he defended Marquiss, despite objections from other members. He often expressed contempt for members who disagreed. He asserted that the no-bid contracts awarded to Skwiat were unreviewable by the council.6
Of those 40 votes, almost all were for no-bid contracts.
In at least nine cases, the votes were for “emergencies”. Every one of them removed the requirement to competitively bid work that went to Andy Skwiat’s companies. On one of the votes, when the county attorneys determined that the work did not qualify for an emergency determination, they used a legal dodge — the special purchase statute — to do a no-bid contract anyway.7
Separately, on August 23, 2021, there was one vote to fund an independent investigation of whether awarding a no-bid contract on the bridge was legal. Novak voted no.
On April 24, 2023, there was a vote to refer a Marquiss no-bid contract on sirens to committee to study it, on the grounds that it was too expensive. Novak and one other member voted no, lost the vote, and 10 seconds later Novak volunteered to serve on the committee — presumably to protect Marquiss.
The State Board of Accounts
Prior to the August 2021 meeting, the State Board of Accounts, which is Indiana’s government audit agency, ruled that the pending no-bid contract for the Franklin Street bridge could not legally be granted without a bidding process.
In a subsequent audit report, the SBOA confirmed that the contract was, in fact, illegal:
Internal controls were not in place to ensure compliance with procurement methods allowed by state statute. On July 20, 2021, the Board of County Commissioners awarded a $1,500,000 contract for repairs to the Michigan City Franklin St. Bridge. The contract was awarded without bidding the project to document and ensure the contract was awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The Board of County Commissioner’s attorney advised they would be approving the contract under Indiana Special Purchase provisions of Indiana Code 5-22-10-1 without competitive bidding, due to the fact the bridge is a specialized historic bridge, and it plays a critical role in economic activity in the City of Michigan City, and the vendor selected has previous expertise with this particular bridge.
As the aforementioned project is the alteration of a bridge paid for out of public funds, the appropriate procurement method governing this transaction is Indiana Code 36-1-12-1, public works projects. The County did not comply with any of the required provisions of this statute as required.
Of course, this wasn’t the most serious violation of the law. The more serious matter was that Novak was doing business on the side with the prime contractor for the bridge.
The Real Estate
While Novak was voting to appropriate money for Marquiss, he was also buying and selling real estate for Marquiss’ owner and his family on the side.
In all, there were at least seven transactions between 2021 and 2025, totaling $3.9 million. (“At least”, because the broker for a real estate transaction isn’t always public information.) Novak is listed as the broker for each of these transactions.
Five of the transactions were for home sales and two were for home purchases. Five of the transactions were for Skwiat personally, and two were for his mother.8
Assuming standard broker’s commissions of between 2.5% and 3%, Novak would have received payments of between $97,500 and $117,000. This assumes that these seven transactions were the only ones that Novak did with Skwiat and his family.
The Timeline
The real estate transactions were interleaved in time with the votes and the no-bid contracts. In most cases, the votes to send money to Marquiss were in close proximity to a commission payment.
Corruption
Given the volume of transactions, the money involved, and the timing, it is not remotely possible that the transactions were unconnected. The president of the Council sent money to the contractor, and the contractor sent money to the president of the Council. That’s the definition of corruption.
The dollar value of a property sale is public, but the commissions paid to the brokers aren’t. Typical commissions for a real estate broker are between 2.5% and 3%. 2.5% of $600,000 (the more conservative estimate) is $15,000.
The county has not released actual invoices or transactions. This estimate comes from a remark by council member Justin Kiel during a council meeting on May 28, 2025. It includes payments to both Marquiss and LaPorte County Project Management, both owned by Skwiat.
See the table in the Timeline section.
LPCM did this multiple times, including a sewer line, fairgrounds work, Franklin Street bridge work, and a variety of work at the County Complex. The record is full of such instances.
“At least”, because council transcripts don’t always name the contractor on a project. Many appropriations are made for ongoing projects without identifying the contractor. “Send money”, in this context, mean appropriate funds or otherwise move projects forward.
In an angry back-and-forth with another council member, Novak said “…we are not violating anything if we approve payment on something that they did not bid properly. There is no legal obligation on us….” The other member pointed out that “the whole point of separation of powers in government is that one body checks another body. And so if we believe that the commissioners were improperly bidding it, it’s our duty…” Novak interrupted, and in an astounding display of ignorance, insisted that it was entirely a Commission matter. See the video here.
Nine emergency declarations over eight years. Every one of them removed the requirement to competitively bid work that went to Andy Skwiat’s companies.
1. AUG 2017 Franklin Street Bridge. Emergency declared, plus $326,000 emergency appropriation. Garner objected that the previous meeting had already determined it was NOT an emergency. Novak aye.
2. APR 2018 Franklin Street Bridge. Retroactive emergency declaration, $134,000 already in the fund. Novak, as Council President, presented it.
3. FEB 2019 Franklin Street Bridge. Motion to declare an emergency. Novak supplied the justification -- while also saying the bridge was “safe to use.”
4. APR 2019 Franklin Street Bridge. $1,367,038 for “emergency repairs.” Novak thanked Marquiss Electric at the vote.
5. JAN 2021 Franklin Street Bridge. $489,294. Novak moved it, then changed his own wording from “emergency” to “urgent” after the Auditor warned of statutory consequences.
6. APR 2022 Fairgrounds grandstand. Retroactive emergency declaration, SIGNED BY NOVAK as Council President together with Commission President Matias.
7. OCT 2022 Franklin Street Bridge -- THE ONE THAT FAILED. Both county attorneys concluded the work did NOT qualify for an emergency declaration. The county used the special purchase statute instead.
8. DEC 2022 County Complex flood. Title 10 emergency declaration SIGNED BY NOVAK together with Commission. President Matias. Nine days later the Commission named La Porte County Project Management the restoration lead contractor with no competitive process.
9. JUL 2023 County Complex flood -- THE SECOND BITE. With the insurance money spent and public funds now in play, the Commission declared a NEW emergency under a different statute (IC 36-1-12-9) to permit inviting two bids instead of open bidding. It then delegated to LCPM -- the incumbent contractor -- the choice of which firms would be invited to bid against it.
10. NOV 2024 County jail heat line. Council voted to have the Council President seek an emergency declaration so LCPM could begin work.
These documents show Randy Novak as the broker and Andy Skwiat (or his mother, Stephanie Skwiat) as the owner in each of the seven listed transactions.