BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com
The first executive director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority is resigning at a time when the authority is preparing to take on key challenges.
Tim Sanders, who has headed the RDA since 2005, will be leaving his $95,000 per year post to take a top job in government relations at Purdue University.
"Tim has laid an important foundation for us as we move forward," RDA Chairman Leigh Morris said Friday.
Sanders' resignation comes as the seven-member RDA board seeks to head off the collapse of region bus systems and faces critical decisions on Gary/Chicago International Airport.
Sanders said he feels the RDA board is fully capable of handling those challenges.
"The board is very busy, and they are very thoughtful. And they care deeply about those issues," Sanders said.
Morris said the RDA board will quickly begin a search for a new executive director. The chairman said he will recommend a widespread but efficient search.
Because of the many challenges facing the board, the search "will not be a long, drawn-out process," Morris said.
Sanders is scheduled Jan. 5 to assume the post of vice president for governmental relations at Purdue University, reporting directly to Purdue President France A. Cordova and serving on her senior cabinet. The post pays $135,000 per year.
When he started at the RDA in 2005, Sander's salary was set at $70,000, which was the same as he had made in his preceding job as regional director for the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Before his post with the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Sanders served as regional director for U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., for more than 20 years.
Sanders has been the RDA's day-to-day director as it evolved from a legislative initiative into a group fully involved in some of the region's most ambitious projects.
The RDA last year faced citizens' criticism regarding plans to extend the South Shore commuter rail line to Valparaiso. There were rumblings that Porter County might withdraw from the RDA, but that never happened.
Even one of its legislative founders, state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, has criticized the RDA's sponsorship of the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority, which is one of the RDA's key projects.
Dobis two months ago called for an audit of the RBA, which soon will be completed.
Dobis also called for a review of a $625,000 regional bus service study that was partly paid for with RDA funds. And he criticized the RDA's sponsorship of RBA regional bus routes operated by Gary Public Transportation Corp.
On Friday, Dobis said he will not get involved in the RDA board's selection of a new executive director.
"We created it," Dobis said. "We let them run it. I don't want any input in that kind of stuff."