Indiana Attorney General's Office says Porter County must stay in NWI RDA

The Office of Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has issued an opinion that Porter County's April exit from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and a County Council vote to withhold its yearly payments of $3.5 million per year are illegal.

In a blunt opinion issued on Thursday, the Attorney General's Office said Porter County never had any option when it came to joining the RDA, because it is required to do so by the 2005 statute that formed the regional development group.

The RDA requested the attorney general's opinion just days after the Porter County Council's 4-3 vote to exit.

"The opinion indicates the legislature put in place a very strong and important structure for Northwest Indiana to undertake transformational projects and efforts that require a regional approach," said RDA Chairman Leigh Morris, just hours after receiving the opinion.

RDA opponents in Porter County saw the ruling differently.

"They are just trying to rewrite history," said Porter County Council member Dan Whitten, one of those who voted to exit the RDA.

"Everyone always said Porter County opted into the RDA, including Tom McDermott (Hammond Mayor)," Whitten said. "Now the attorney general is saying we never had an option."

Four years before the vote to exit the RDA, the Porter County Council had voted 4-3 to join the RDA. Or so they thought.

Whitten said the county will go ahead with its lawsuit seeking approval of its April move to exit the RDA and to block county Auditor James Kopp and Treasurer James Murphy from transferring county funds to the RDA.

It was not clear Thursday afternoon if Gus Olympidis, Porter County's appointment to the RDA, would retake his seat on the board in response to the attorney general's opinion. Olympidis has not attended an RDA meeting since April in deference to the council's vote.

Olympidis did not immediately return calls made Thursday afternoon.