Mayor Morrell Announces Traveling Town Hall

In hopes of increasing citizen engagement, Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. will begin traveling around Marion this summer.

Mayor Morrell announced an initiative called “traveling town hall,” where he and other department heads will speak and answer questions at different venues.

“What I wanted to do was give the citizens a unique opportunity to have a voice,” Mayor Morrell said.

Mayor Morrell said he wants transparency to inform the citizens and let them be aware of what is happening in their community. He also said he hopes this will allow residents to come with ideas they may have.

“I want the citizens to come up with ideas and see them actually get accomplished,” Mayor Morrell said. “You have a leader that actually cares about what they have to say.”

Marion has six districts that the mayor and his team will be visiting. The sessions are planned to last about two hours.

“It will be an opening speech by me, then from there, we will go right into the Q&A,” Mayor Morrell said. “This is really going to be an event controlled by the citizens.”

All the department heads will attend the meetings with the mayor.

“I will answer as much as I can, but I want to give my department heads who have expertise in their areas time to answer,” Mayor Morrell said.

Police Chief David Gilbert expressed excitement about the opportunities.

“Over the years, the public has lost some trust in the police departments,” Gilbert said. “We hope to change that narrative showing the police force is trustworthy and cares about the community.”

One of the goals for the meetings is giving back to the community.

“I plan to listen more and talk less,” Gilbert said. “The citizens pay taxes and we want to give them a return on investment.”

The traveling town hall initiative will start this summer with specific dates and venues to come. Social media blasts, newspapers, and radio spots will promote the events to get as many citizens aware and involved.

“We are making an effort to get our citizens informed and involved. And give transparency into
the administration and this is one of the ways we are going about that.” Mayor Morrell said.