The Fishers City Council will vote on a resolution Monday night to re-establish the Cumulative Capital Development Fund and city officials are trying to get the word out that this action will not impact the current city tax rate.

City Controller Lisa Bradford told the City Council Finance Committee Wednesday night that this fund was established by the town council in 1984 and was effective in 1985.  The Indiana legal code requires local units of government to re-establish this fund each year.

The resolution refers to a maximum property tax rate of 5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation.  If that resolution is not re-established each year, by law the 5 cent figure goes down.

“As long as you re-establish, you have the opportunity to be at the max rate,” Bradford said to the committee.  “You don’t necessarily have to be at the max rate, but you have the opportunity to be at the max rate.”

Bradford described this resolution as a “budgeting mechanism” to put the Cumulative Capital Development Fund at the max rate if the city chooses to do so in the future.

This money is designed to fund large capital projects, such as HVAC systems for fire stations, electrical repairs, building roofs and fleet lease payments. Bradford cited a recent example of a new roof at the Holland Park shelter house paid for by utilizing this fund.

“It’s not a new tax, it’s always been around, it’s just (that) Indiana, a couple of years ago, changed the law, so that you have to re-establish it every year, and it is more of an opportunity, under the budgeting process, to go to the max rate.”

Bottom line, Bradford says this resolution is required by Indiana law and does not increase the city’s tax rate.

The United States Senate Youth Program takes only a few students into its fold.  In Indiana, just two high schoolers make the cut.  Ishaan Modi of HSE High School was recognized Wednesday night by the Hamilton Southeastern School Board for his selection to the elite program.

Ishaan told board members what a thrill it was to meet national leaders in Washington DC.  He was very impressed with his opportunity to meet and talk with the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts.

His honor brings with it a $10,000 scholarship from the Hearst Foundation.  Ishaan has a scholarship offer from Michigan State University but is still looking at all college opportunities.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board dealt with a number of issues at Wednesday night’s meeting, but most of the time was spent on building and facility issues throughout the district.

The board took action on several of those building proposals:

–First, $500,000 was approved to demolish the bleachers at HSE High School and replace them.  Seating capacity will be reduced from 3,355 to 2,852 to accommodate current code requirements.  Handicap seating positions and center rails will be added as part of the improvements.

–Next, $375,000 was authorized to replace a skylight at New Britton Elementary.

–More than $500,000 was approved to buy new furniture for New Britton Elementary.

–The school corporation will spend $922,000 to replace part of the roof at Riverside Intermediate School.

The board received information on projects set to come before the board in the future.  They include:

— Fishers Junior High School renovations are planned for the Media Center and Academic Corridor.  The projected price tag of this project is $1.7 million.

— Auditorium renovations at both high school were explained.  At Fishers High School, the upgrades are expected to cost $1.16 million.  At HSE, the projected price tag is just over $1 million.  Most of the funds would be used to replace outdated sound and lighting systems.

–LED lighting upgrades are planned for Sand Creek Elementary, Sand Creek Intermediate, HSE Intermediate/Jr. High and HSE High School.  The anticipated cost for this project is $1.8 million

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff was cautious, but hopeful that a Chinese language program would be established at one of the high schools, but available to students at both schools.

In the past, the biggest barrier to establishing a Chinese program was the difficulty in finding a committed Chinese instructor.

“We’ve been able to find them from year-to-year, but its been difficult to get them for more than a year at a time,” said Bourff at the Wednesday night board meeting.

According to Bourff, the school district “may” have a Chinese instructor willing to commit to multiple years of teaching the subject and build a curriculum.

“We’re hopeful we can do that,” Bourff told the board.  “I don’t know that we’ll be able to, we’re still in the negotiations stage.”

The program, if implemented, would be housed at Fishers High School but would be available to HSE students as well.  The program could go down to the Junior High School level.

Bourff told the board he is “hopeful” he will be able to present a Chinese program proposal at the next board meeting.

Road Construction is beginning to ramp up as spring approaches.  There is a 5K Sunday that will require some traffic awareness.  Also, work on 116th Street and 96th Street are on the list.

Below is the list of road project for the coming week, as posted by the City of Fishers: Fishers.

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FIRKIN 5K THIS WEEKEND
Road closures will be effect on Sunday, March 17 for the Four Day Ray Brewing Firkin 5K. Closures will be in effect on North Street between Lantern Road and Municipal Drive, on the east side of Municipal Drive, along Lantern Road from North Street to 126th Street, and on Saksons Boulevard, Sunblest Boulevard, and Ellipse Parkway. Closures will begin around 8:15 a.m. and end around 9:30 a.m., except for North Street, which will remain closed for the Four Day Ray St. Patrick’s Day party. View the course map here.

116TH STREET
There will be lane restrictions on 116th Street between Municipal Drive and Lantern Road beginning at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20 until 5 a.m. on Thursday, March 21 for utility work. If necessary, this lane restriction will take place again beginning at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 21 until 5 a.m. on Friday, March 22. One lane in each direction will be maintained in this area. Please drive with caution.

96TH STREET
There will be periodic lane restrictions on 96th Street between Lantern Road and Cumberland Road throughout the month of March. These restrictions will be short term in order to drop trees for the road widening project. Flaggers will be in place to help direct traffic.

For more information about the 96th Street road widening project, view the Fact Sheet.

ALLISONVILLE ROAD 
Southbound and northbound traffic on Allisonville Road has moved onto the newly constructed pavement as part of Phase 3 of the project.This will be the traffic configuration moving into the spring of 2019. The posted speed limit will remain 30 mph.

For more information on this project, view the Fact Sheet.

STATE ROAD 37
Drainage work for SR37 is in progress. Construction vehicles will be using the construction entrance on Lantern Road, between 126th Street and 131st Street, and may cause some short delays. There are no scheduled lane restrictions or closures along SR37 at this time.

Believe it or not, summer will soon be here and the Fishers Summer Concert Series will start on June 4th and conclude with the Blues Fest in late August.  You can find more detailed information about the summer concerts online at this link.

Note that we referred to a service club in this podcast that directs traffic and cleans up after the summer concerts….that would be the Fishers Rotary Club.  The Fishers Parks and Recreation Department thanks the Rotary CIub for all their work every summer.

I talked with Bob McCutcheon and Marissa Deckert about this summer’s concert series in this podcast.

Pete Peterson went from an activist fighting the annexation of the Geist area by the then-Town of Fishers, to being elected to the town council in 2011, and now serves on the Fishers City Council.  He is seeking re-election to his seat representing the Southeast District.  Here is my conversation with Pete Peterson about his campaign for re-election.

Paula Hughel is challenging incumbent City Councilman Pete Peterson in this year’s Republican Party primary election.  Here is my talk with her.

The Fishers GOP Club is a group that gathers once a month and does things Republicans do, like socialize and hear from speakers talking about Republican things.  The Club was kind enough to invite this reporter to attend the March meeting Thursday night.

The reason I wanted to attend this party relates to the May 7th primary election.  As of this writing, the March 14th Fishers GOP Club meeting is the only time the two GOP candidates for Mayor of Fishers, challenger Logan Day and incumbent Scott Fadness, are scheduled to appear together.

In answering a question from the audience, both candidates indicated they would be open to a joint appearance or debate format if the proper forum is made available.  But, as of now, this was the only joint appearance by the two people on the ballot for Fishers mayor on the May 7th Republican primary ballot.

There were some other candidates on hand Thursday night.  City Judge Dan Henke, unopposed in the May primary, talked about what he does.  City Clerk candidates Jennifer Kehl and Jackie Bowen also addressed the crowd.  But the big turnout of Republicans were there to see Scott Fadness and Logan Day.

Candidate Day was first with opening remarks making just one quick remark about his 2-year involvement with the Save The Nickel Plate organization, saying that experience gave him the impression more involvement by the public is needed in city government.  Mr. Day also provided what he called the 3 Ts – Transparency (related to public involvement)…Taxes (how much to tax and how tax money is used)…..and Transportation (appropriate focus on areas such as I-69 & 116th Street)

Mayor Fadness began talking about the honor of the “amazing journey” he has experienced in Fishers, starting as an intern for the town, then becoming town manager and later being elected as mayor.  He pointed to 2008 as a key year….the great recession hit us all, property tax caps were enacted by state government and it was becoming clear millennials wanted to live in cities.  He pointed to job growth, the new Geist Park, the Nickel Plate Trail and the city’s comprehensive approach to maintain long-term viability.

The Mayoral candidates then took questions from the audience, covering issues such as affordable housing, the possible changes in County Option Income Tax (COIT) distribution and the condition of some roads in the northeast area of the city.

The candidates for mayor had a good and healthy exchange of ideas.  Let’s hope this is  not the last time they appear together before May 7th.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board will begin live-streaming most board meetings and making video recordings of those meetings available for at least four years, but the board split 4-3 in approving the policy.  Board members Sylvia Shepler, Amanda Shera and Brad Boyer voted no.

Boyer said the Indiana School Boards Association was advising local boards not to live-stream and make available videos of board meetings.

The video live-streaming is expected to begin at the next regular board meeting, scheduled for March 27th.  Only regular board meetings held in the board room at the administration building will be live-streamed and recorded.  Work sessions and meetings held at other locations will not be live-streamed or recorded.