Mayor Ronald Morrell, Jr. Share

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Mar­i­on made his­to­ry in Novem­ber of 2023 when a young, hard­work­ing home­town cam­paign­er, Ronald Mor­rell, Jr., was elect­ed as the next May­or of Mar­i­on. The news received statewide and even nation­al atten­tion as Mor­rell, Jr. notably became the city’s first Black may­or, and Indi­ana’s first Black Repub­li­can mayor.

As the city begins to cel­e­brate Black His­to­ry Month this Feb­ru­ary, 2024, May­or Mor­rell expressed what it means to be ​“Mak­ing His­to­ry” while achiev­ing his dream. 

“Ful­fill­ing the role of serv­ing the cit­i­zens of Mar­i­on is a real­iza­tion of a long-held aspi­ra­tion. It is a call­ing that I am com­mit­ted to pur­su­ing for as long as God per­mits. The pro­found sig­nif­i­cance of being the inau­gur­al Black may­or to serve in this capac­i­ty is tru­ly beyond words. Hail­ing from the Pet­ti­ford fam­i­ly, with his­tor­i­cal roots deeply embed­ded in this com­mu­ni­ty, I reflect on the past with a sense of grat­i­tude. I wish my ances­tors, who set­tled here many years ago, could glimpse into the future to wit­ness the ful­fill­ment of their lega­cy through their descen­dant assum­ing a lead­er­ship role in the city.”

Since his child­hood, May­or Mor­rell has held inspi­ra­tion and sense of pride and grat­i­tude from his hard­work­ing fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly his grand­fa­ther, who taught him many lessons in life to become what he is today.

“My pro­fes­sion­al suc­cess has been sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­enced by the pro­found impact of my grand­fa­ther, Robert Mor­rell. A key les­son impart­ed by him is the impor­tance of dili­gence. Hav­ing been immersed in the floor cov­er­ing trade from a young age, I gained a deep appre­ci­a­tion for the sig­nif­i­cance of hard work. Fur­ther­more, his stead­fast com­mit­ment to faith and fam­i­ly have been instru­men­tal in shap­ing my core val­ues. Through his guid­ance, I inter­nal­ized the prin­ci­ples of pri­or­i­tiz­ing God, which laid the foun­da­tion for my val­ues of Faith, Fam­i­ly, and Hard work.”

As he embarks on the new chap­ter of lead­er­ship, Mor­rell, one month in office, is begin­ning to ful­fill his mis­sion to make Mar­i­on a bet­ter place.

“The posi­tion of May­or neces­si­tates me to be a vision­ary, con­nec­tor, and cheer­leader for our city and its res­i­dents. I am ful­ly com­mit­ted to ful­fill­ing these roles to the best of my abil­i­ty. My vision for Mar­i­on revolves around trans­form­ing it into a Clean City that not only pro­motes eco­nom­ic growth but also cul­ti­vates a robust work­force while cham­pi­oning the aspi­ra­tions of the next generation.”