Merrillville redevelopment commissioners re-elect Sean Pettit president; Leona Uzelak named vice president, Keisha Hardaway remains secretary

The Town of Merrillville Redevelopment Commission on Jan. 28 re-elected Sean Pettit as president, named Leona Uzelak vice president and kept Keisha Hardaway as secretary in a series of roll-call votes following nominations.

The vote to keep Pettit as president passed by a 3-0 roll call after members present voted "aye." The motion to elect Uzelak as vice president similarly passed 3-0 by roll call. Commissioners later voted 3-0 to keep Keisha Hardaway as secretary; Hardaway joined the meeting before some of the later votes, and a subsequent vote to confirm actions showed a 4-0 tally on later items.

The nominations were made during the commission's organizational portion of the meeting. Commissioner Leona Uzelak moved to elect Pettit president; Chandler Felton seconded the motion before a roll-call vote. Uzelak nominated herself for vice president and Pettit cast a vote in that roll call. For secretary, Pettit nominated Keisha Hardaway and the commission approved her by roll call after Hardaway arrived and indicated she was on her way.

There was no substantive debate about the officer slate; chair Pettit asked for roll-call votes at each step. The meeting proceeded to the consent agenda and the commission's scheduled public hearings after the elections were completed.

The elections were procedural actions required at the commission's first meeting of 2025 and do not, by themselves, change commission policy or budgets.

The commission adjourned after completing its agenda.