Local Government Academy

Published Spring 2006

Striving to Break the Stigma of Politics as Usual

RDA board members absent of baggage as they get aboard plans to improve Northwest Indiana's future

By Edward Charbonneau
Executive Director, Northwest Indiana Local Government Academy

Published in BusINess

I can’t remember legislative action ever generating a stir similar to that being generated by the creation of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.  While described by some as the most significant thing to happen to Northwest Indiana since the steel industry, others still remain skeptical.  That skepticism was clearly on display the night Porter County opted to join the RDA by a single vote.

Despite understandable doubts, early signs indicate that this time it’s going to work.  That non-cooperation stuff is history.  Northwest Indiana has finally gotten the message that in order to compete in a flat world, we have to think, and we have to function, regionally.

From the beginning, the appointing authorities made it clear that this was in fact something special and that the RDA was going to be atypical.  One by one, the appointments were made, and each time the reaction seemed to be the same – “That’s a good choice.”  They aren’t your normal political appointments.  Each of the seven appointees came to the RDA with no apparent baggage.

Operating as if it is in fact something unique and special, the seven members of the RDA took extraordinary measures at the outset.  One of their first orders of business was to develop a set of values and an ethics policy to govern their actions.  Transparency and openness have been paramount in conducting the organization’s business.

Great care is being taken to avoid even the appearance of politics as usual.  Everyone seems appropriately sensitized to a history of failing to think and act in the best interest of the region as opposed to political self-interests.  

With that as background, a question arises as to whose interests an appointee to the RDA is representing; is it the best interests of the elected official or officials who appointed him or the combined regional interests of Lake and Porter Counties?  How will the seven appointees balance the local interests of their appointing body and the regional interests of the RDA?

What if there is a proposal to spend all available money the first year, or even the first two years, on projects only in Lake County?  Does this create an ethical dilemma for those appointees from Porter County?  If transportation is not funded does this create a problem for those members of the RDA who were appointed by the mayors of Hammond, East Chicago and Gary since the citizens of those three cities rely heavily on buses for transportation?

In a nutshell the issue is whether the appointees to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority are representing the interests of their appointing authority on a regional board or the interests of the region first?

The need to ask the question became even more compelling after a recent op-ed piece that appeared in a LaPorte County newspaper regarding whether or not LaPorte should join the RDA.  The editorial attempted to make the point that the only thing existing participants in the RDA wanted out of LaPorte County was its money.  Were that claim to be true, there can be little doubt that the RDA is destined to be a complete failure.

The question posed is a difficult one, and there is probably no single right answer.  Having said that, I believe there are at least two reasons why the interests of the region should prevail.

First, the reason the RDA was created was to provide an organization that had the ability to take a regional approach to funding of transportation and other economic development projects.  Its decision making horizons stretch way beyond any single town, city or county.  By its creation, the good of the two county region was made paramount to the individual interests of local appointing bodies.  Unless this approach is taken, a regional body such as the RDA can not be effective.

It is important that the seven members of the RDA have the ability and the willingness to see the big picture.  It is that ability, that willingness to act regionally, that will be needed to make the RDA a valuable tool for improvement in our quality of life.  When making decisions regarding funding for buses or projects in Lake as opposed to Porter County the determining factor must be doing the greatest good for the region.

Second, the seven members of the RDA are not public officials who already hold political office.  The seven RDA members were appointed solely for the big picture thinking they bring to the organization.

It is possible different conclusion might be reached if we were discussing a regional agency created where each member agency has a representative on the governing board, something akin to the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission.  In that instance there are conflicting values; the value of loyalty to an individual commissioner’s appointing agency and the responsibility as a decision maker on the NIRPC board.  Under those circumstances, it might be reasonable to expect that each commissioner will bring more of a local perspective to the discussion and decision making process. 

I believe the RDA will be successful.  That opinion is bolstered by the transparent manner in which its business has been conducted thus far.

The foundation has been established, now it’s simply a matter of staying the course.