Merrillville Town Manager Tim Brown has been tapped to head the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority as it prepares a bus service and hunts for a source of permanent funding.

The RBA board approved Brown's selection with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions at its meeting Wednesday night at Methodist Hospitals Southlake Campus in Merrillville.

Brown will have to resign as Merrillville town manager if he takes the RBA post. He has served on the RBA board of directors since 2004 and abstained from Wednesday's vote.

"We need a bulldog working for us," RBA President Dennis Rittenmeyer said to Brown immediately after the vote. "We think you are the right guy and are all standing behind you."

A month ago, the RBA offered the job to Peter Heuer, former chief of the public bus system in Anderson, Ind. But he turned down the offer.

The RBA still has to negotiate an employment contract with Brown, but that should be done quickly and could be approved at the RBA's next meeting in a couple of weeks, Rittenmeyer said.

The grant proposal submitted to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority provides for an annual salary of $90,000 plus benefits for the post.

Brown said his most important job as RBA chief will be to build consensus on permanent funding for the agency. It has a little more than one year of funding left under a $6.5 million grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

A food and beverage tax remains the top option for permanently funding the RBA, Brown said. That tax would have to be passed by county councils in Lake and Porter counties and the RDA would have to designate the RBA as its recipient.

The Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau already has passed a resolution against using the food and beverage tax to fund bus transportation. The bureau contends the tax should be used to support tourism in the region.

If Brown is hired as RBA chief, the town of Merrillville plans to quickly start a search for a new town manager, Town Council President Ron Widing said.

He said Brown leaves the town in solid shape and credited the town manager with keeping town government afloat through recent financial tribulations. Brown has been town manager since November 2004. Previously, he was Cedar Lake's town manager for eight years. He is a Cedar Lake resident.

Rittenmeyer confirmed that former Crown Point Mayor Dan Klein was at one time a candidate for the job. Klein is a former member of the RDA board.

Rittenmeyer said several board members had expressed interest in the job initially. In all, there were about 40 applicants, Rittenmeyer said. That list was whittled down over time and four were granted final job interviews.