We should all know more about the 2017 Fishers Freedom Festival by mid-November at the latest, according to Executive Director Jennifer Kehl.  The city is insisting that the festival move from its long-time location at Holland Park to the Nickel Plate District in downtown Fishers, in the area around City Hall.

Kehl says this will be a big adjustment for the festival, since Holland Park provided 33 acres of space, compared to the 3 acres available in downtown Fishers.  With construction going on around the City Hall area, Kehl is concerned about parking for the vendors, who need parking spaces near their concession areas.

There are also concerns about the number of vendors the smaller space will allow. According to Kehl, there will be less space for vendors, meaning there will be fewer of them, resulting in less vendor revenue for the festival.

Electricity will be an issue with a new venue, with generators needed and electricians may be required to setup the new configuration for vendors and other power needs downtown. The Festival Committee will also need to be careful in erecting tents in the Nickel Plate area, so fiber optic lines are not damaged with stakes in the ground.

The popular Disc Dog competition will not have enough room for the 2017 festival downtown, according to Kehl.  Keeping some events at Holland Park will be difficult because the support system from volunteers would not be available there.

“Unfortunately, some of the decision-makers don’t understand the obstacles that we have to go through, and how demanding our vendors are,” said Kehl.

Kehl is also concerned that lower revenue for the Festival Committee could spell the end of support for the school backpack program and the scholarships offered by the committee in the past.

The Festival Committee and city officials have been working on arrangements for the 2017 event.

“I hope we can come to some kind of agreement and move forward positively,” said Kehl. She added that some agreement between the city and the Fishers Freedom Festival Committee (which is a nonprofit organization with its own board of directors) needs to be in place by mid-November at the latest for the 2017 event.

Early voting has never happened in Fishers, so you might say noon on October 19th was an historic day at City Hall.

As the doors opened to welcome early voters, they began to file into the auditorium. Even though the line was long, there were no complaints, with voters happy to be able to early-vote much closer to home.

I talked to Susan Luce as she waited for the polls to open.  She is very happy about voting in Fishers.  “As a mother of 3 children, voting early, having that option, is very convenient because  on polling day, I’m working, so I don’t have a chance to stand in line for a long period of time,” Ms. Luce said.

Barbara Blakley was also happy to have the opportunity to vote in Fishers.  “I wanted to get it over with early and miss the lines,” she told me.

Hamilton County Elections Administrator Kathy Richardson was there to oversee the first day of Fishers voting.  She was not surprised at the large turnout.  Ms. Richardson told LarryInFishers her office sent all the equipment possible to set-up the early voting site at Fishers City Hall.

When the line of voters began to wrap around the first floor staircase, Richardson announced to the crowd the Noblesville early voting site had no line if people wanted to journey northward.  No one left.  They didn’t mind waiting a little longer in order to vote in their own city.

Here is the schedule for early voting at Fishers City Hall:

• October 19 from noon – 5pm
• October 20 from 2pm – 7pm
• October 21 from 10am – 3pm
• October 22 from 10am – 3 pm
• October 26 from noon – 4pm
• October 27 from noon – 5pm
• October 28 from 10am – 3pm
• October 29 from 10am – 3pm
• November 2 from 2pm – 7pm
• November 3 from 2pm – 7pm
• November 4 from 10am – 3pm
• November 5 from 10am – 3pm

When Democrats outnumber Republicans in any part of public life in Hamilton County, it is time to take notice.  That is just what happened Tuesday night when the Hamilton County League of Women Voters sponsored a candidate forum for county office hopefuls at the Noblesville City Hall.

There are two County Commissioner seats up for grabs this election cycle.  Republican incumbents Steve Dillinger from District 2 and Mark Heirbrandt in District 3 were both no-shows at this event.  Their Democrat opponents, Marie DeMore in District 2 and Debra Jarvis in District 3, were both participants in the League Forum.

In the race for 3 at-large County Council seats, only two of the seven candidates on the ballot were on the dais for the forum, both Democrats,  Rosemary Dunkle and Bob Williams.  Democrat Edward Chu and Libertarian Dorn Brenton were missing.

The three council candidates nominated for the Republican Party – Brad Beaver, Jeff Hern and Rick McKinney, were all no-shows.

The only Republicans to participate in the forum were Robin Mills, running for  Auditor, and judge hopeful Jon Brown.  There is no Democrat running for the judgeship, but independent candidate for judge Steve Kincaid participated in the the forum

Other Democrats in the forum were Surveyor candidate Joe Weingarten and Mark Bailey for the office of Treasurer.

Pat Otten, Democrat candidate for Auditor, was not at the forum.

Other Republicans not in attendance included Surveyor Kenton Ward and Treasurer Jennifer Templeton.

The discussion among the candidates was lively and informative.  The Democrats emphasized the fact that voters in Hamilton County will, in this election cycle, for the first time in a very long time, have a choice of candidates in the general election.

Each hopeful talked about their qualifications and how they would handle their offices differently.

But the most telling fact about this forum was not what was said by those that were there….more important is the obvious fact of those choosing not to attend.

The Fishers City Council approved new zoning rules for commercial land in the area around I-69’s Exit 5 in the area of 116th Street, stretching south to 106th Street.  Sunbeam development, owner of the land impacted by this change, objected to the action at the Monday council session.

Ken Kern of Sunbeam told the council much of this land is undeveloped, because Sunbeam has been working slowly over 30 years , trying to do good, high quality development.  The city now has about 250-300 acres of prime development land that is now available.  Kern said Sumbeam has been relying on the zoning provided 30 years ago by the Town of Fishers, and now the City of Fishers is proposing to change those zoning rules, giving the city more control over how the land develops.

“We’re a little shocked, I guess,” Kern said.  “Now all of a sudden you’re coming back and saying , what’s good enough for 30 years is not good enough anymore.”

Council members said the city is just trying to keep reasonable control over the future development of this very valuable tract of land near Interstate 65.

Council members argued that this zoning change will not prevent Sunbeam from doing high quality development on their Exit 5 land.

You can read the Council Action Form on the zoning change at this link

The staff report contains even more detail and may be accessed at this link

The Fishers Police Department has suspended Officer Charles Kingery pending an internal investigation into his arrest in Greenwood Saturday.  According to a news release, there are allegations Kingery punched a man in the face Saturday during an argument.

The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office is now reviewing the case.

Below is the full text of the release from Fishers Police:

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The Fishers Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the arrest of one of its officers on allegations of battery.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday, Chief Thompson was notified that Officer Charles Kingery had been arrested by the Greenwood Police Department (Indiana). The preliminary investigation alleges Kingery and another man began to argue and the altercation turned physical when Kingery punched the man in the face. Kingery was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Johnson County Jail.

Chief Thompson immediately suspended Kingery pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Kingery has been employed with the Fishers Police Department since March of 2014. He is assigned to the Patrol Division.

When IKEA announced late last year that a new Fishers store was on the way, the company put on a first-class announcement event.  The same company has done another first-class job in the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning for the local store, set to open about one year from now.

Officials from IKEA joined Congresswoman Susan Brooks, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and a number of other local dignitaries on hand for the big event.

“Fishers has been transformed in recent years, growing from a small suburban town into a thriving city,” said Congresswoman Brooks.  “A city focused on attracting entrepreneurs.”

Mayor Fadness said he is constantly asked when IKEA will be opening in Fishers, and he assured those assembled for the groundbreaking that all the road and other infrastructure work surrounding the IKEA construction is ahead of schedule and on budget.

“We are just getting warmed up,” the mayor said.  “Stay tuned, more to come, we’re excited to see this break ground.  We will be back in the fall of ’17 to cut a ribbon.”

The Fishers City Council received an update from State Representative Todd Huston on what to expect from the 2017 legislature.  It will be a budget session, where the 2-year state spending plan will be passed.

Huston serves on the Ways and Means Committee and will be part of the team putting the budget together.  He plans to focus on cutting regulations he feels get in the way of entrepreneurship.  He also plans to be involved with the transportation piece of the 2-year budget.  With vehicles more fuel-efficient, gas tax revenue is down, which hurts road maintenance funding.  Allowing local governments to enact a Wheel Tax is an option for cities…Fishers has enacted such a tax which will become effective in 2018.

Mayor Scott Fadness asked about the Venture Tax Credit, and Huston said lawmakers would be looking at all the state tax credits to determine how successful they are in achieving their stated goals.

Huston reiterated his stance that he will not support a commuter tax, an idea championed by many in Indianapolis, including the Indy Chamber of Commerce.

Mental Health will get some attention in the upcoming session, and Huston credited Fishers with being a leader on this issue.  Huston expects one or more pilot programs to be approved to test how they work before being implemented state-wide.

Council members asked about the strange formula for distributing money collected by the state, then shared with local governments, of the County Option Income Tax (COIT) funds. Huston indicated he wold look into that.

The local Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation benefited from a change in the state school funding formula in the current budget.  Huston said he is a big proponent of state funding tied to the number of students.  However, a number of school districts in Indiana are losing student population, which creates a more complex situation for budget-writers. Huston made it clear the funding should “follow the kid.”

The Fishers City Council passed the 2017 budget unanimously Monday night, but a motion aimed at raising the salary of City Clerk Jennifer Kehl failed to get a majority of council votes.

Councilman Brad DeReamer asked that an item be added to the council agenda, amending the salary ordinance approved by the council in September.  He wanted Clerk Kehl’s salary increased to be more in line with city clerk salaries of other second class cities in Indiana. Other than Kokomo, Fishers has the lowest city clerk salary, based on numbers DeReamer presented at the council session.

Per DeReamer’s figures, Fishers pays the city clerk $55,000 a year, compared to Greenwood at $60,000…South Bend at $59,466 and Elkhart at $68,174.

“That’s embarrassing,” said DeReamer.

DeReamer originally offered a motion to raise Kehl’s 2017 salary to $65,000.  However, City Attorney Chris Greisl informed the council that since the 2017 salary ordinance was already approved, and there is no agenda item on the Monday night meeting allowing for such a vote, a majority of councilors must vote to add this item to the meeting agenda before such a motion can be considered.

The motion to add the city clerk salary amendment to the meeting agenda failed by a 6-3 vote, with DeReamer, David George and Cecilia Coble voting to add the item to the council agenda.

Council Member Selina Stoller made a statement before the budget votes, saying she voted against the salary proposal in the City Council Finance Committee meeting, but could not attend the salary ordinance vote last month, claiming she would have voted against it.  However, she did support the budget passed at Monday night’s meeting, which did not include the salary ordinance.

Three people, including one from Fishers, were transported to the hospital after a Sunday night crash on Interstate 69 near 116th Street.

Below is the Fishers Police Department news release:

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At approximately 8:30 last night the Hamilton County Dispatch Center received several 911 calls regarding a serious crash near the northbound exit ramp for 116^th Street. Fishers police and fire responded to the scene.
 
According to evidence at the scene and witness statements, a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan was traveling northbound on I69 and struck the safety brace attached to the concrete barrier wall that separates the interstate from the exit ramps to northbound State Road 37 and 116^th Street. The force of the impact sent the van and its engine block airborne. Before coming to rest, the van struck a northbound 2011 Chevy Malibu and the engine block was struck by a northbound 2007 Ford F250 Truck. The driver of the van and both occupants in the passenger car were treated at the scene and then transported, by ground ambulance, to area hospitals in Indianapolis. This case remains under investigation.
 
Driver #1-      Gary l. Vancanwenberch
                        64 years old
                        Hudson, Indiana
 
Driver #2-      Darryl S. Taulbee
                        48 years old
                        Fishers, Indiana
 
Driver #3-      Richard L. Martin
                        46 years old
                        Indianapolis, Indiana

Sylvia Shepler is the incumbent Hamilton Southeastern School Board candidate from Wayne Township….Larry talked to her about the campaign.