TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – As we head into the last few days of 2023, current Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett is spending his last few days in local government.
He was defeated by Mayor-elect Brandon Sakbun in the November election, ending his time as Mayor after 16 years.
“I really love working with local government. I didn’t know that until I got here, I thought I might, but I really do,” Bennett said. “What do you do as an individual? That’s always the part that I didn’t know.”
He was quickly met with the opportunity from Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch to be the new Executive Director of the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, also known as OCRA.
This was something Bennett described as perfect timing.
“You want to do something where you have some impact. I feel like I still have a lot to offer. There [are] some communities that are not doing well. They’re dying. Maybe they’ve had some industry in the past and they’re gone and that was their lifeline. You’ve got to figure out what works, you can’t just throw money at things but you’ve got to be able to do things that have impacts in these communities,” Bennett said.
He said what he has accomplished in his time as Mayor, such as getting finances in order and lowering crime rates, will now help him help multiple cities across Indiana.
“With this new role, it’s dealing with the smaller communities primarily [that are] below Terre Haute’s size. But they have all the same needs and they have [fewer] resources available to them to get things done. They have fewer taxpayers, [fewer] opportunities for grants, they don’t have the internal resources maybe on their staff,” Bennett said.
Bennett said he never imagined himself working in Indianapolis, but now he has an opportunity to take what he’s learned in Terre Haute to a broader scale.
“And be able to share what works and what doesn’t work. We’ve got a lot of experience here and I’ve had a great relationship with all the local mayors around here and things they’ve seen and been able to accomplish and it’s kind of like, I want to carry that message to Indianapolis,” Bennett said.
Although he may be working out of the capital city now, he said he still plans on being involved with Terre Haute and looks forward to continuing to watch it thrive.
“That’s going to be an opportunity for me to be able to continue to do things and serve on some boards here and do some things to help the community continue to be better so I’m going to be fully engaged in Terre Haute,” Bennett said.
Earlier in December, Bennett visited our studios to reflect on his time as Mayor. You can watch the full interview by clicking here.
