Leah McGrath has served as a Deputy Mayor for the City of Fishers since July of 2015.  She has seen a lot during that four-year period.  We asked Leah about that and a number of projects she is working on around city government.

I also asked Leah about published reports she may be considering a run for Congress.  She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either

David Decker looked over the construction site of the new Hub & Spoke facility, near I-69 on 106th Street, and smiled.  A large crowd had assembled Tuesday at the ground breaking ceremony for the new structure that is scheduled to open in April of 2020.

As co-founder of Hub & Spoke, along with his partner Travis Tucker, Decker is eager to get started constructing the complex, centered around the construction business in Central Indiana.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff was at the ground breaking event, because the local public school system plans to use Hub & Spoke as a gateway for Fishers-area students learning the building trades, which are in desperate need of trained employees.

“Hub & Spoke represents what could be a 21st century iteration of what we have come to realize are career centers within the state of Indiana,” said Dr. Bourff.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness was on hand.  He has strongly supported the Hub & Spoke concept from its inception, calling the path to this ground breaking “a long and winding road.”  The mayor said this project could only have happened as a result of a strong relationship between the city and the local school corporation.

Decker spoke to the assembled crowd, describing Hub & Spoke as “three different components of an ecosystem”

The three include a “Design Center,” a”Community Connect” co-working space and a “Maker Space.”

Decker talked about the Maker Space as “an innovation lab, community work shop, and an art studio, where we will teach hands-on experiential education to develop a skilled work force.”

In December of 2018, Samm Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal and myself talked to David Decker and Travis Tucker about their vision for Hub & Spoke.  You can listen to the podcast at this link.

Monday’s Fishers City Council Meeting featured two recognition ceremonies and new police officers being given the oath of office.

HSE High School head baseball coach Jeremy Sassanella introduced his state chamionship team to the council.

City employee Roger Ryker was honored for his retirement after 23 years of service to Fishers.

Finally, Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart administered the oath of office to 7 new uniformed officers.  The new officers are:

Dominique Smith

Kelsey Farrell

Ben Tate

Chase Edwards

Kyle Griffith

Colin Harruff

Cory Schaulbu

Thompson Thrift began with The Yard development near IKEA, and has expanded plans east with The Stations.  The Fishers City Council approved the project agreement with Thompson Thrift for The Stations development, but three council members voted no.

The vote was 5-3.  Councilman Todd Zimmerman was not at the Monday meeting.  David George, Brad DeReamer and Cecilia Coble voted no on the agreement.

George voiced concern about the drainage and trees, saying those items are driving the need for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars.  There are ways to modify the plans, George said.

A representative of Thompson Thrift replied that the parking is very tight in that development and the plans reflect the underlying economic need for the plans as presented to the council.

The project calls for construction of a mixed-use building with office and retail, a commercial building, a hotel, and approximately 50 town homes on the site.  The project agreement approved by the council Monday means Thompson Thrift will be investing about $90 million in the entire development, including The Yard, the District and The Stations.

2013 was the first year that Fishers, then a town, was assessed an amount of money by Hamilton County to pay for 911 emergency services, as all of the county was consolidated into one 911 dispatch center.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness told the Fishers City Council Monday that the county has informed local officials Fishers will pay $1.7 million in 2020 for 911 service, $1 million more than 2013.

The mayor told council members there is a solution available to lift the financial burden on Fishers and other local units of Hamilton County government.  The County Option Income Tax (COIT) Council may, under state law, enact a .1% (one tenth of one percent) county income tax to pay for this service.

Fadness says this income tax increase would likely bring-in $16 million in 2020 county-wide, while the 911 service bill for the entire county is about $11 million a year.  The extra $5 million could be used to defray costs for electronic equipment installed in police vehicles, which is part of the dispatch system.

When Fishers buys a new police car, the vehicle itself may cost $28,000, but once all the electronic equipment is installed, the cost of the car goes up to about $45,000.  Fadness says once Fishers receives its share of the extra $5 million, that could defray some of those expenses.

In order to enact this tax, governments representing more than 50% of the county’s population most pass this tax increase by the end of October, that would then go into effect throughout Hamilton County in 2020.  Fadness says that if Fishers and Carmel both passed this resolution on the tax increase by the deadline, it would be enough to pass it in the entire county in 2020.

Fadness expects small communities in the northern part of the county to begin enacting this resolution.  Once that happens, the mayor says Fishers must vote on the measure.

Mayor Fadness supports passing a resolution increasing the county income tax.

“This would mean a fairly significant cost savings to the City of Fishers, probably to the tune of about $2 million a year, if this income tax were to be passed,” said Fadness.

The city is beginning to put together the 2020 city spending plan, and the mayor and his fiscal staff need to know whether this income tax resolution will pass, according to Fadness.

“This is very important to know which direction this is going for our budgeting purposes.  That’s a wild swing if that doesn’t come in,” the mayor says.

The Fishers City Council will likely consider the income tax increase resolution in August.  The law requires a public hearing before the measure is voted-on by the City Council.

I always read comments received from the loyal and valued readers of this blog.  I appreciate every comment, even if it is critical of something I have written.

Perhaps it is just a sign of getting older, but lately I have been making more mistakes.  These are mostly errors of spelling and grammar, but they are errors nonetheless.

I have even had two offers from my readership to be editors and proofreaders for me.  That is a very kind offer.  To be honest, in more than 7 1/2 years of writing this blog, it’s the first time I have had someone offer to help me with this volunteer effort.

Mistakes can happen any time of the day or night, but most of mine seem to come when I am under time pressure to post, or writing late at night.  (Note:  I am writing this piece late at night)

My sincere thanks to the offers of help.  Errors happen when you are writing a blog by yourself, but my readers willingness to help will cause me to be much more vigilant and review my writing more carefully in the future.  If the errors continue, I may want to sit down and talk with those making the editing offer.

This is a volunteer effort for me writing this blog and producing the podcasts, but I feel there is a community of people supporting me in the best way possible – by reading the blog, listening to the podcasts and spreading the word to others on social media.

I appreciate every tip I receive.  I try my best to follow-up in some way on all of them.  Some pan out for stories that appear on this blog, others don’t, but every tip, every message is appreciated.

As always, thanks for reading.  I promise to review my work more closely in the future.

It’s not every day that two men from your own community face indictments on charges of attempting to sell firearms to ISIS.  When I posted my story about the charges last Thursday, there was a lot of shock among residents of Fishers.

There is a mosque in Fishers with a number of Muslims residing here.  I wondered what reaction local followers of Islam had after these arrests?

I contacted Muzaffar Ahmad, a man leading a multi-faith organization in Fishers to promote better understanding among the various religious faiths within the Fishers community.  What are his fellow Muslims saying to him about these arrests?  Most of them were not even aware of the indictments, he told me.

Muzaffar initially found out about the allegations through my blog post, then read other news accounts of the allegations against the two Fishers men.  He could find no one in his social circle that knew either of the accused men.

“My guess is they were not really active in the community,” said Mr. Ahmad.

Ahmad did speak to one man that has been active within the Muslim community in Fishers for many years, and described people involved in activities such as providing firearms to ISIS as “lunatics” that “do not represent our religion.”

Through his multi-faith organization, Ahmad is trying to express his view on how people practicing different religious beliefs are more alike than one might realize.

“People think we are way different, we think differently, we feel differently, but that’s not the case,” Ahmad said.  “We all have the same fears, same aspirations.”

After reading the various news accounts of the legal case against the Fishers men, he has an interesting take on the situation.

“My perception was these were just (alleged) crooks who were trying to sell guns.  They were making guns and they were trying to sell them.”

Although he admits there could be some bias in this view, he says Americans on the far right of the political spectrum, such as white supremacists, are just as dangerous as Islamic extremists.

The Pew research Center conducted two national polls in recent years on concern about global extremism in the name of Islam.  Both polls, conducted in 2011 and again in 2017, showed a high level of concern, but the general public in America and the Muslim community in this country had the same level of concern in both polls.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Ahmad told me about those polling results.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

County officials tell me it will be in the year 2022 before the city of Noblesville and Hamilton County can jointly get started on the long-discussed Pleasant Street Bypass and White River bridge designed to relieve downtown traffic congestion. At least three more years is a long time to wait.

Not surprisingly, the problem is money. The city doesn’t have enough to get started now although the administration has been gradually buying property along Pleasant for the additional right of way needed for the new roadway.

The county has money to build the bridge, but does not want to proceed until the city is ready. (Bridges are a county responsibility.)

To get the actual work underway, the city could bond the project. This is something that not everyone finds preferable, but it is a way to get improvements underway more quickly, and pay for them in the future.

This project is only one of several outlined by Noblesville officials in recent months. A new police headquarters, the Nickel Plate Trail, more downtown parking, and the rebuilding of Noblesville’s section of the State Road 37 upgrade are the major and most costly of these.

Already underway is the public-private development named the Levinson, the new pedestrian bridge along Logan Street and the Midland Trail. But, to undertake the most expensive projects such as Pleasant Street, a funding source must be found.

When considering bonding, those in favor of such a funding source point out that not only does bonding raise funds quickly, but the people who will enjoy the benefits in future years will pay their share of retiring the debt and paying the interest costs rather than current residents paying the full amount.

There are, in some cases, a couple of other options for financing public projects. A federal transportation grant involving local matching requirements and a lengthy processing period is one way to fund road projects. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) in some cases can be used to assist in redeveloping blighted areas of a city.

On Jan. 1, a new city administration takes office. Chris Jensen, certain to become mayor, has generally supported the plans offered by the current administration of Mayor John Ditslear. But, neither has yet publicly endorsed a specific funding mechanism for the various needs both say exist.

The city community relations office says studies are ongoing.

Video of Mud Day at Cyntheanne Park

Saturday was a day to wear your most beat-up shoes and clothing – it was Mud Day 2019 at Cyntheanne Park in Fishers.  Youngsters, accompanied by adults, spend part of the day covering themselves in mud.

This year’s Mud Day featured mud volleyball, tug-of-war, live entertainment and even a mud run.

Hamilton County Reporter

Officials cut the ribbon on Cool Creek Park’s new state-of-the-art playground, which features the world’s first SOMAStations, designed to encourage adults to be active. Thirteen slides, a play share swing, two disc swings and multiple auditory elements intended to deepen users’ sensory experiences are a few of the playground’s unique offerings.

In addition to the new playground, the 90-acre park has approximately four miles of woodland trails great for jogging, hiking or bird watching. There is also a paved path within the park for bike riders and rollerbladers.

Also on the Cool Creek Park land is the Cool Creek Nature Center, which focuses on educating the importance of native plants and animals in their natural habitat. Cool Creek is open dawn to dusk 365 days a year.