The Fishers Health Department is about 3 months old and has been conducting a COVID-19 testing program for several weeks. For an update on the department, COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and other health-related issues, I spoke with Chief Medical Director Dr. Indy Lane and Public Health Director Monica Heltz.
You may recall that a tradition was started many years ago to follow Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, normally a big day for the brick-and-mortar retail trade. Small Business Saturday is the day after Black Friday, and Fishers has normally been a part of that event with a Shop Fishers promotion.
This summer, the City of Fishers has announced that August will feature Shop Fishers: Summer Series. This Summer Series plans to offer special discounts and promotions from local businesses and restaurants every Wednesday this August, with the finale scheduled on the 26th.
“During these challenging times, it is more important than ever to support our city’s small businesses,” said Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “We have seen the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our neighbors’, friends’, and family’s businesses, and we must help our local economy recover by supporting our small business owners.”
The final Wednesday in August, the 26th, will feature local and regional artwork and performances as the participating businesses partner with Fishers Arts Council.
Here is the list of participating businesses, totaling 50:
Download the Play Fishers app at this link.
Remember the face mask mandate in Fishers, so plan to adhere to this requirement. Several participating businesses are offering carryout and online shopping for low-contact transactions.
For more details, use this link.
When we think of important elections, we think about the presidential race, governor, congress, the state legislature and a number of other elections. However, one of the most important decisions local voters will be making in November is the school board election.
Our local Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District is the 4th-largest in the state, based on number of students enrolled. The people serving on that school board make important decisions impacting our K-12 students, the staff serving those students and impacts the quality of life for all of us. Ask any real estate agent and that person will tell you the quality of local schools has a major impact on everyone’s property values.
We have three school board seats up for election this year. First, a brief explanation of how local school board elections work.
We have HSE School Board elections every two years. in 2018, 4 seats were on the ballot, but you could only vote for the school board member representing your district. In other words, you voted for the one school board member representing your geographic boundary.
In 2020, there will be an “at-large” election for three seats. All voters in Fall Creek, Delaware and Wayne Townships are allowed to vote in all three races. The only proviso is that the candidate for each township must reside in that township. So, of the current board members, Amanda Shera lives in Delaware Township, Clint Wilson in Fall Creek Township and Sylvia Shepler in Wayne Township.
Wilson was appointed by the board to fill-out the term of Fall Creek Township at-large school board member Mike Bottorff, who resigned during his term of office. In order to receive that appointment, Wilson was required to live in Fall Creek Township.
The period for school board candidates to file their paperwork began Wednesday, July 22nd. The deadline for school board candidate filings is noon, August 21st.
As of close of business Friday, July 24th, the Hamilton County Election Office in Noblesville had received two HSE School Board filings – incumbent Clint Wilson in Fall Creek Township and Sarah E. Parks-Reese in Wayne Township.
Incumbents Amanda Shera in Delaware Township and Sylvia Shepler in Wayne Township are expected to seek re-election, but I have seen no official announcements as of this writing.
Director of Planning and Zoning for the City of Fishers Tony Bagato has been on social media in the past few days announcing he plans to run for HSE School Board in Delaware Township.
I will have a lot more to say about the school board election once we know all the candidates, which will be noon, August 21st. In the meantime, I will try to keep you posted as candidates file their official documents as candidates.
The HSE School Board vote will be one of the most important you will cast in November.
The Fishers city public health order mandating the wearing of masks went into effect Friday. A mandatory Indiana state order from the governor is set to be implemented Monday. But are these orders really mandatory?
It has generally been my understanding that when a legal mandate is ordered, there is some kind of penalty attached. It could be a fine or some jail sentence, but if one willfully and consistently violates the legal mandate, you could, at some point, face some consequences.
Nobody wants a face mask police force or arbitrary enforcement of such a legal order. However, with no specific penalty one would face for willfully violating these orders, it would be more accurate to describe the city and state actions as strong suggestions rather than mandates.
Now, understand, I am no expert in communicable diseases and have no scientific background other than a few high school courses and one science class in college. So, I read and listen to those with all the credentials to advise us on issues like wearing a mask.
Those experts are nearly unanimous in their advice – in most situations where you are around other people, wear a mask. Do that for the sake of the people around you to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
There may be no legal penalty for failure to wear a mask, but it is my view, based on these experts who have spent their lives studying viruses and have the credentials to write and speak authoritatively about the novel coronavirus, we should heed the strong suggestion to wear a mask when around others outside family members living in our households.
I commend Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Governor Eric Holcomb for making strong statements that citizens must be “educated” on the need to wear masks. I still worry about the people in our state not interested in being educated.
Allow me to take up a related issue. Last Monday, the Fishers City Council was set to hear a presentation from the Fishers Health Department about the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I verified with city staff this work session would be live-streamed on video. I am in a high-risk health category and have limited the events I attend in person.
I was assured the work session would be available on live stream. However, there was a major technical malfunction. You could see the video but there was no audio, you could not listen to any of the presentation.
I was very disappointed, but later learned I was not alone. There were other journalists planning to use that live stream. I even received two phone calls later from former local officials asking me if I attended the work session so I could brief them on what was said.
I must be honest, I was very sad to see the city let people down. In more than 8 years of covering Fishers municipal government , I have always found it very competent. Perhaps I just expect too much from our city government. Having worked in the broadcasting industry for over 14 years, I do understand technical glitches will happen, this one just came at a particularly inopportune time.
The city has tried to make up for it by posting the PowerPoint presentation and uploading videos, but anyone in communications will tell you that does not make up for the letdown on Monday night.
I also wrote about the delay in COVID-19 test results. Fishers has been way ahead of the curve on this one. It is my view that one major reason Mayor Scott Fadness chose to establish a city health department, a rare move for a city in the state of Indiana, was to provide free and timely testing for city residents and tests available to business owners for a fee.
Fishers has a contract with a lab to process the testing and provide results. The city health department issued a statement a few days ago saying the normal turnaround time of 2-3 days for COVID-19 test results were now 10 days due to the uptick in cases resulting in more demand for tests.
I wrote that a novel coronavirus test with results 10 days later is not of much use to the individual being tested and does not allow for contact tracing. I realize that was not the city’s fault, just a reality.
I rarely attend any meetings in person anymore, but I did about 10 days ago because I was invited and felt the session was of great importance to my local community. Everyone did their best to adhere to CDC standards, wearing masks and distancing as possible.
I received several messages following that meeting that one member of the group was COVID-19 positive, although some follow-up messages indicated the diagnosis might not have been correct.
To be on the safe side, as a resident of Fishers, I scheduled a test, which took about 3 business days. I received my test results roughly 72 hours later, which is a good sign that the testing results are coming in more quickly than expected.
In case you are curious, my results were negative.
The construction at State Road 7 & 126th Street is in for major changes in coming days. The Facebook page “37 Thrives,” a marketing program for the businesses impacted by the ST 37 project, listed the changes, which include lane restrictions on SR 37 & a switch in the access to 126th to and from SR 37.
From Sunday, July 26th, 7pm…to Monday, July 27th, at 6am, southbound SR 37, from 131st Street to I-69, will be restricted to one lane.
From Monday, July 27th, 6am to 9pm…there will be two Northbound and Southbound lanes on SR 37.
Beginning July 27th, 9pm, through Tuesday, July 28th, 6am…northbound SR 37, from I-69 to 131st Street, will be restricted to one lane. Rolling stops may be required throughout this time for pavement markings.
Here is what is scheduled to happen beginning Tuesday, July 28th, at 6am:
If Wednesday night’s Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board meeting is any barometer, local school officials are facing a divided community in making the tough decisions this coming school year. At the previous board session, approval was given to a proposal to start school in-person with a virtual option for families. Superintendent Allen Bourff emphasized that the plan could change.
Plans did change. An increase in positive COVID-19 tests in Fishers resulted in an announcement last week that the first month or so of school would be virtual, with the next phase possibly after Labor Day, based on the health department numbers.
There was an agenda item for board discussion, but not a vote, on “COVID-19 perparations.” Board policy allows time-limited public comment on any board agenda item. At least 12 people spoke Wednesday night, a clear majority in favor of starting school in-person, opposing the current plans for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
Board President Michelle Fullhart then read a statement (you can listen to her read the statement during the board meeting at this link). Then Superintendent Allen Bourff presented the numbers provided by the Fishers Health Department that led to the decision to start the school year virtually.
Dr. Bourff told the board that on July 17, the health department number showed .63% of the Fishers population had tested positive, and just days later the health department reported .68% positive, with about 1100 tests yet to be processed due to a backlog.
The school corporation held a table-top COVID-19 emergency exercise with city officials which revealed a number of situations the schools had not considered.
Dr. Bourff also pointed out that the sports programs in the district have been functioning, and may provide a glimpse into what reopening school buildings may have in store.
“We have had so many (positive) cases (in the athletic program) that we have had to quarantine entire teams,” Bourff told the board. “We have had to quarantine the coaches. We don’t know but what will be the similar experience when we open schools.”
Bourff was not specific about which sports teams, grade levels or groups of coaches were under quarantine due to positive COVID-19 tests.
Fishers is showing a higher percentage of positive cases by population than the rest of Hamilton County, but Fishers is also conducting more novel coronavirus tests, Dr. Bourff said.
It was also made clear, just as it was in the previous board meeting, that changes will continue to be made. School administrators were scheduled to meet with the teachers association the day after the board meeting, which could spur more changes.
I have lived in Fishers for 29 years and have seen a number of tough issues come before the local school board. This one will be one of those issues because the community is very divided. Many agree with the majority of those speaking at the Wednesday night board meeting. Others are just as adamant that school should not start in-person until students and staff feel safe in the buildings.
I have been hearing from both sides and other views much more nuanced. I have no idea what the majority view is, if there is one, but I know the lines have been drawn.
I interviewed all the school board members currently serving on the board during their election campaigns and I can assure you no one brought up the issue of managing the 4th-largest school district in the state during a one-in-a hundred-year pandemic. There is a school board election coming up in November and I expect those candidates will be focusing on that as a major issue.
We all want what is best for our kids in school. My twin daughters attended HSE Schools grades K-12 and received a top-notch education. It is sad to see the staff and students forced to deal with such an unforeseen circumstance. Whatever decisions are made as school begins soon, whether you agree with the decisions or not, lets support the staff and the students and get through this as best we can.
Lindsey Erdody covers politics and state government for the Indianapolis Business Journal, and with the political campaigns in the state gearing up for the November election, there is plenty to discuss in this podcast.
During the July 20th Fishers City Council meeting, an item on the agenda dealt with financing the next phase of the Geist Waterfront Park. This would be a major park in the city’s system and the only public space on Geist Reservoir.
The agenda item up for a council vote dealt with some technicalities that, bottom line, would lead to a commitment by the city to finance the first phase of park construction in the amount of $16 million.
After the item was explained by City Controller Lisa Bradford, Mayor Fadness went into a more in-depth explanation, which you can listen to at the link below. The mayor addressed how city debt that has been on the books for several years will be paid off soon, and the new debt for the park will simply replace that debt, leading to a tax-neutral situation not requiring any tax increase to finance the park debt.
Once the motion was made and seconded to approve the Geist Park item, Councilwoman Jocelyn Vare began asking questions of the mayor about how the park debt is impacted by reported cost increases on the State Road 37 construction and the possibility of a new fire station on the northeast part of the city, near Britton Falls.
The second part of the sound clip below captures that exchange. The Council voted to approve the item related to the Geist Waterfront Park, with Jocelyn Vare the lone no vote.
The Fishers Health Department issued a Public Health Order July 20th requiring masks to be worn in indoor spaces, other than personal residences, and outdoors when 6-foot distancing is not possible. The Order is effective Friday, July 24th at 8:00am. It contains much more detail and is available to read at this link.
What surprised me about the order is what it does not say. There is no specific provision on enforcement, except to state the local health department “may enforce this Order in accordance with Indiana law.” There is no fine structure contained in the Order.
I realize the aim of the Public Health Order is not to be punitive, but the document is clear that this is a legal mandate. By and large, I expect Fishers residents and visitors will abide by this order. But there will be exceptions. We have all seen the YouTube videos of some people that become aggressive, screaming at the top of their lungs they will not wear a mask and even some cases where people physically attack retail personnel.
Without any specific enforcement provisions I wonder how effective this Order will be. Just referring to enforcement based on state statutes doesn’t say much.
I do salute the city for being one of the few localities in Indiana willing to take this step in the name of public health based on Fishers Public Health Department data. This is a step our state and county governments have refused to take up to now.
Wearing a mask in public is the most important action any of us can take to say we care about those around us. The science is clear – masks mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
I have been covering Fishers news since January 2012, when we had a town council and no mayor. I tried to move away from local news blogging in March, but with the novel coronavirus and racial issues at the forefront, I felt a responsibility to continue, at least for a while, as these large issues are being handled locally.
Now I am asking myself why I even bother. The city is facing major health issues and we are finding that local citizens are not able to follow what is happening in our government. That includes me.
I am a high risk individual. If I contract COVID-19, I am at risk for major health problems. With all these big issues locally, I have limited covering local events in person, although I have attended two outdoor demonstrations centered on racial issues.
Meetings of the school board and city government sessions have been reviewed by me through video live streams. However, the city is stretching my patience.
A recent city council meeting was held at Launch Fishers. I was assured that there would be a video live stream of that meeting. That live stream never happened due to what the city described as “technical difficulties.”
Late Monday afternoon, the Fishers Health Department posted a Facebook message saying COVID-19 test results could take up to 10 days. I had to scratch my head on that one.
One of the major reasons, maybe the most important reason, the city established its own health department a few months ago was to provide novel coronavirus testing available free to local residents and for a fee to local businesses. A COVID-19 test that takes 10 days is of virtually no value – you might as well have no testing program at all.
I wanted to learn what the city officials had to say about all this. I wanted to hear their side of the story so I could understand the situation more completely.
The city council had a work session scheduled Monday night all about the Fishers Health Department and I wanted to listen to it. Once again, the city (or its contractor) was unable to provide the sound to the council work session. I tested my equipment and everything was in working order, YouTube videos and podcast audio were coming through my computer just fine. The city council meeting audio was not.
Since I could not hear the health department presentation or the questions from the council members, I cannot illuminate you on any of this and I wish that I could.
I have not always agreed with Mayor Scott Fadness on everything but we have agreed more than disagreed since he has been town manager, then mayor of Fishers. I had always been complimentary of his ability to do the job of mayor and always felt he had competent staff.
Sadly, that confidence in the city’s competence has been shaken. I wonder why I even try to blog about local news at all anymore.
I hope the city starts to get itself together. I’m just not sure I will be writing about it, except in commentaries like this. I am very sad to write this, but that is the view from here.
I will continue blogging about subjects like entertainment and will write commentaries on a variety of subjects. I also plan to continue podcasting in some form. I made a mistake even trying to cover local news at all. Lesson learned.