Schererville Republicans tap Connelly to fill Town Council seat
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent December 12, 2012 11:16PM
Kevin Connelly of Schererville was elected by a caucus of Republican precint committeemen to complete the Schererville Town Council term of Hal Slager, who was elected in November to the Indiana General Assembly. Dec. 13, 2012. Photo provided~Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 14, 2013 7:24AM
SCHERERVILLE — Former Police Commission President Kevin Connelly is now the town’s Ward 2 councilman.
Connelly, who started in town government in 2005, defeated Schererville businessman Ken Stevenson by a vote of 26-3 during a Republican caucus held Wednesday at the St. John Township Community Center. Connelly will complete the term of newly elected District 15 state Rep. Hal Slager. The Town Council term expires in December 2014.
Slager got Connelly into politics, Connelly said, so he thought it was fitting that Slager swore him in after the vote.
“Hal was my mentor early on,” he said. “I’d made a call and said I wanted to get involved, and shortly after Hal came over. Next thing I know, I was made a vice chairman.
“I still don’t know how that happened.”
Connelly said his business experience makes him qualified for the position. He hasn’t picked an area in which he wants to concentrate but feels the Shops on Main will be an enormous opportunity for the town.
“I have to get my hands around everything,” said Connelly, who took his place at the Town Council meeting after the vote.
Stevenson, who owns a local taxi company, said during his speech to the precinct committeemen prior to the vote that he hopes in the future the town will be better about letting applicants to town board positions know why they weren’t chosen. He also advocates Schererville consolidating its 911 dispatch with the county sooner rather than later, with the town doing everything it could to help find jobs for those who would be laid off in the process.
“Employers let people know why they weren’t chosen for positions, so the town should do that, too,” he said.
