Sarah Donsbach wrapped up her 4 years of service on the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board last December.  She chose not to run for another term.

She discusses her decision not to seek a second term, dealing with COVID as a board member, hiring superintendents redistricting and much more in this podcast interview, available at the link below.

When Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness presented his State of the City address last week, he looked back ten years, when Fishers transformed itself from a town to a city and he assumed the office of mayor in 2015.  As I watched the speech, my thoughts went back even further, to 1991.

That was the year I married Jane Johnson Lannan and moved to a small ranch home in Sunblest.  That was a time when Fishers was a good place to construct a starter home.  Those days are largely gone, as Fishers is a much different place now compared to 34 years ago, and that is not an altogether bad thing.

Fishers was a town 34 years ago, governed by a seven-member town council and the day-to-day operations overseen by a town manager.  The 1990 census counted just over 7,500 souls residing in Fishers at that time, but the area was already beginning to grow.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools were starting a growth in students at that time that is just now starting to level-off.  My wife Jane assured me that Fishers, while a small town in 1991, would grow into something special over time.  It has.

When my twin daughters entered the HSE Schools and started playing sports, that is a time when bonds and friendships blossom in a community, and that happened with me.  Helping out with the Dad’s Club and other activities are special memories.

I have watched as Fishers went from being a bedroom community of Indianapolis to become its own place, with parks, first-class infrastructure, economic development creating local jobs and the efforts to provide a special place for a family to grow.

Scott Fadness saw this when he first joined the Town of Fishers as an intern, then a staff member and eventually the Fishers Town Manager.  When I retired from my civil service job and started this volunteer news blog in 2012, Fishers was beginning one of the most important political campaigns in its history – a referendum on what type of municipality  the citizens of Fishers wanted.

We had a very complex ballot, but it boiled down to three choices – Do we remain a town?  Do we become a “reorganized” city that looks and feels a lot like a town?  Or, do we choose to be a traditional second-class city under Indiana law with a strong mayor’s office?

The vote was not even close.  The people voted for a second-class city with a strong mayor.  Once that was decided, the question was, when do we become a city and who will be the first mayor?

Under the normal political cycle, the election of the new city council, city clerk and mayor would have happened in 2015, and the new city would start in 2016.  But state lawmakers threw Fishers a curve.

The legislators provided for a one-year transition period.  The first city election was in 2014, for one-year terms, then the four-year terms would be decided in the normal 2015 balloting.

That set the stage for our first Fishers city election in 2014.  No Democrats ran for mayor in 2014, so the Republican primary election would elect our first mayor.  There were a total of six candidates.

There were two front-runners.  There was Walt Kelly, the former Fishers Town Council President that had been away from politics for several years, but still had strong ties to the local community.  Then there was Scott Fadness, the Town Manager, the candidate with the support of the local Republican establishment and the most campaign cash.

It was a close election between the top  candidates.  Fadness was the winner, but by only 393 votes out of 9,191 cast.

Scott Fadness wasted no time in getting to work once he was mayor-elect.  He made clear to me in those early months what his plans would be and he went to work.  He has never stopped over the past ten years.  If you don’t believe me, talk to any current or former member of his staff.

Fadness pointed to his many accomplishments when presenting his 2025 State of the City address, and who can blame him?  The venue for the address in itself is an accomplishment.  The Fishers Event Center is a very nice facility.  When I talk to people attending Fuel games from out-of-town, they are all highly complimentary of the Event Center.

The mayor did have a lot of other points to make, such as Fishers having the lowest property tax rate among Indiana’s ten post populous cities.  Then there is the economic development job growth, restaurant and retail expansion, a new west-side AgriPark, Plug & Play development for Launch Fishers, and, of course, the biggest news of the speech, the new Target store coming near Exit 210, next to IU Hospital.

Mayor Fadness says the State of the City is strong.  He makes a compelling case.

Kyle Maksimovich found the perfect spot to score his second goal of the night, in overtime, to provide the Indy Fuel a big 3-2 win over the Kansas City Mavericks, before a Fishers Event Center sellout crowd of 6,564 Saturday night.

The Fuel had a big challenge, taking on one of the best teams in the ECHL.  The Mavericks had the second best record in the Western Conference and had won 8 out of their last 10 games going into Saturday night’s contest.

The Fuel started strong with 2 goals in the first period, by Maksomovich and Kevin Lombardi.  KC’s Cade Borchardt picked up a goal later in the first period, making the score 2-1 at the end of the first stanza.

There was no scoring, but plenty of action in Period 2.

About halfway through Period 3, Luke Loheit picked up the tying goal for the Mavericks and the score was tied at the end of regulation.

The Fuel killed a penalty that went from regulation into overtime.  KC’s Max Andreev picked up a tripping penalty with more than 2 minutes remaining in the extra period, leading to Maksimovich’s winning power play score.

This was an important win for the Fuel, putting their record above .500, with 19 wins and 18 losses.

The Fuel return to the Fishers Event Center Wednesday to face the Florida Everblades at 7pm, the first of 3 home games with the team from Florida.

You may have already noticed potholes are already becoming a problem with the weather we have experienced in recent weeks.  State Road 37 will be seeing lane restrictions as road crews work on areas of that highway.  Also, be aware of lane restrictions coming on Southeastern Parkway in the area of 113th Street.

There area number of other details contained in the weekly road construction report, as provided by the City of Fishers and provided below:

Continue reading Road construction update for the work week starting Monday, February 10 →

When 3 Fuel players were suspended after a penalty-filled contest Sunday at Fort Wayne, Indy knew it would be a tough Friday night.  It was.  Without Cam Hausinger, Nathan Burke, and Lucas Brenton in the lineup, the Fuel lost to the Wheeling Nailers 6-3 at the Fishers Event Center.

The Fuel’s Kyle Maksimovich found the back of the net first with only a half-second remaining in the first period, giving the home team its first and only lead of the night, 1-0.

The second period was all Nailers as they scored 3 goals, two of them short-handed.  Period 3 had Wheeling score two quick goals in the first minute.  To make matters worse, the Fuel had two penalties, giving Wheeling a 5-3 advantage, and providing the Nailers with yet another goal.

Jordan Martin came up with a short-handed Fuel goal halfway through the final period,  Colin Bilek added one more score for the home team nearly 16 minutes into the period.

The Nailers registered 30 shots on goal, the Fuel had 19.

The Fuel now must regroup and prepare to face the Kansas City Mavericks Saturday night at the Fishers Event Center with a 7pm faceoff.

One of the responsibilities assigned to the Fishers Arts & Culture Commission is to evaluate funding requests from local organizations to finance projects related to the arts.  Thursday evening, the commission approved the funding requests for 11 local groups.

A rubric template was established and each commission member judged each request using that measure.  11 of the 13 grant applications were approved, providing the funding requested.  The Commission did not pass out the entire amount in the 2025 budget of $75,000 and will decide later how to handle the money remaining.

Below is a listing.

Continue reading Arts & Culture Commission hands out grants to local groups →

The Indiana General Assembly is tackling the issue of possible changes in the property tax system, and Governor Mike Braun has submitted his proposals on capping how much homeowners must pay.  However, local government entities have pushed back, saying the governor’s plan would impact their funding sources dramatically.

WFYI Radio Education Reporter Rachelle Fradette posted a story Thursday running numbers on how area school districts would fare if the governor’s ideas become law.  According to the WFYI story, Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools would take the biggest financial hit of any area school district under the Braun plan, to the tune of $82 million over three years.

In a statement to reporter Fradette, HSE Schools spokesperson Emily Abbotts said the district is working with lawmakers as the tax measures make their way through the legislative process.

You can read Rachel Fradette’s full story at this link.

Eric Pethtel’s history with the municipality of Fishers goes back a long way, 34 years to be exact.  He has led the Fishers City Department of Public Works (DPW) for entire ten years Scott Fadness has been mayor of this city.

When Mayor Fadness opened his State of the City address Wednesday, the first item on the agenda was the announcement that Eric Pethtel is retiring.  He has battled cancer for the past few years, and spoke openly about it last year in a podcast with the mayor and myself (listen at this link).

Eric was unable to attend the mayor’s speech because of cancer treatments, but Fadness recounted a recent conversation with his DPW Director as Pethtel pondered retirement.  Pethtel’s biggest concern, according to the mayor, was that people would forget his long service to this community once he is out of the spotlight.

Scott Fadness decided to take care of that concern.  The mayor announced that the Fishers City Public Works Complex will be named the Eric B. Pethtel Public Works Complex to honor his long history of service to Fishers.

The announcement drew spirited applause from the crowd attending the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.  It is a deserved honor to Eric Pethtel for his long devotion to creating Fishers as a special place to live.  I wish Eric all the best in his battle with cancer.

As Fishers Mayor Fadness looked out on the One Zone Chamber luncheon crowd, he was clearly pleased to have a venue like the Fishers Event Center capable is hosting such an event.  The mayor had been working for years to put together a deal to build such a facility that has only been open since November but has already seen 172,000 people attend what the facility has to offer.

Fadness was a bit sentimental in looking back over the ten years of his time as the first and only mayor Fishers has ever had.  He went through a long list of accomplishments and laid out numbers.  Of all the data he presented, he was clearly proud of comparing Fishers with the 10 most populous cities in Indiana, and Fishers has the lowest property tax rate in that grouping.

Corey Lewis, Chief Executive Officer and President of INCOG, a Fishers based life science operation, joined Fadness on the stage and discussed how the city has grown the life sciences.  INCOG’s neighbor along Cumberland Road, near 121st Street, the Italian firm Stevanato, was mentioned as a big development for Fishers.

The mayor began looking forward, and announced Target is set to build another store in Fishers.  The Target along 116th Street & I-69 is normally quite busy, so there will soon be a new Target next to IU Health, in the area of I-69 and exit 210.

A new development on the way in the area of the Event Center is the Crossing, with residential, retail and restaurants on the way.

The city will be adding to the current AgriPark, located on the east end of Fishers, with a second AgriPark planned for the city’s west side.  The mayor teased that the city is working with the Indianapolis Zoo on the AgriPark projects, with more to come later.

The mayor once again praised Launch Fishers, a co-working center that started when he was town manager back in 2012.  Many startup businesses have hatched in Launch and have grown & prospered as a result.  Fadness announced the platform Plug and Play will be partnering with Launch, paving the way for startups to make connections with other parts of the economy, such as clients, corporate reverse pitch events, workshops and mentor sessions.

In his final remarks, Mayor Fadness reflected on the good times the past ten years, the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, the press releases on a new development in Fishers, …but tempered those remarks with memories of COVID, political unrest, cultural wars and tragedies that have happened to those in the Fishers community.

“I stand here today, very clear-eyed about what’s before us, but I do believe, to my core, that, collectively, we can seize any opportunity before us, and we can tackle any challenge that confronts us, as long as we do it collectively, together,” Fadness said in his closing remarks.

After two tough home losses to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits Friday and Saturday, the Indy Fuel bounced back, traveling north on I-69 to defeat the Fort Wayne Komets 3-1.  A tense, back-and-forth battle saw the teams enter the third period tied, but Kyle Maksimovich’s game-winner propelled the Fuel to victory.

The opening period featured a series of penalties but no goals as both teams tested each other’s special teams units.

Fort Wayne wasted no time in the second period, striking just 13 seconds in on the power play as Jack Gorniak gave the Komets a 1-0 lead. Indy, however, responded at 5:42 when Nathan Burke netted a power play goal, assisted by Maksimovich and Kevin Lombardi, to tie the game at 1-1.

The Fuel faced more adversity as goaltender Ben Gaudreau was assessed a roughing penalty for an altercation with Kirill Tyutyayev. Despite the penalty, Indy’s defense held firm, and both teams exchanged chances without further scoring.

Indy took control early in the third period when Maksimovich found the net just 1:12 in, assisted by Bilek and Bryan Lemos, to give the Fuel a 2-1 lead. Both teams kept their composure until 12:56, when a slashing call on Justin Taylor gave Indy a crucial power play, though they were unable to extend their lead.

With just under four minutes remaining, Ty Farmer took a cross-checking penalty, giving Fort Wayne a power play opportunity. The Komets were unable to break through Indy’s penalty kill unit. Lemos sealed the win with an empty-net goal, his second point of the night, securing a 3-1 victory for the Fuel.

As the final minute approached, tempers flared, leading to a series of fights and over 50 penalty minutes being assessed between both teams. Once order was restored, Indy closed out the game, finishing with a 33-30 edge in shots.

The Fuel stand in third place among teams of the Western Conference Central Division, with a record of 18 wins, 17 losses, 3 overtime losses of 2 shootout losses, for a total of 41 points.  They trail the 4th place Bloomington Bison by 2 points.

Indy starts a five game homestand Friday against the Wheeling Nailers, 7pm, at the Fishers Events Center.