Interim CEO Tiffany Gunter stepping down from Regional Transit Authority of SE Michigan

The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan is losing its leader.

Tiffany Gunter, who has been the interim CEO at the organization since March, is resigning, effective Jan. 2.

Gunter has accepted a position elsewhere. She declined to say where until her new employer is ready for such an announcement, but she said it would in the public sector in Michigan.

Gunter said she has a great working relationship with the RTA board but that this is the right time for her to leave because her next position is a great opportunity and she has a chance to shore up her future.

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She offered some advice for her successor.

"My advice would be that (the individual) continue to tackle the big problems that people believe are impossible to solve," she said.

The RTA functions as an umbrella organization for the Detroit Department of Transportation, Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority and Detroit People Mover, and Gunter's leaving means more uncertainty for regional transit.

The RTA is tasked with creating a regional transit plan, but the organization has been unable so far to put forward a new millage attempt after a 20-year, $4.7-billion plan was rejected by voters last year. That effort has been in limbo as discussions have focused on issues such as whether a future plan should include the entire four-county region of Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

The RTA helped bring together DDOT and SMART to operate a limited-stop and more frequent bus service known as Reflex on Woodward and Gratiot avenues, but that service is expected to end in January as SMART launches its own limited-stop service that will be more expansive but could have implications for regional cooperation.

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Carmine Palombo, deputy director at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, will be on loan to the RTA until a permanent CEO has been hired.

Board Chairman Paul Hillegonds said in a statement that Gunter "has done a stellar job during a very difficult period."

Gunter has been with the RTA since 2014 and has served in a variety of roles. She was elevated to interim CEO after Michael Ford was ousted in March.

Gunter said the leadership, both at the board level and regionally, "needs to set objectives for a future (RTA) leader so that leader knows what's expected of them and so they know they're either meeting the goals or they aren’t."

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.