The Spark!Fishers Festival will be using up a lot of space and motorists need to be aware of temporary street closures in the downtown area Saturday, June 30th.

All that information, plus updates on a number of other projects throughout the Fishers area, is listed below, as provided by the city:

==================

• 116th Street between Municipal Drive and Lantern Road (reopens at 9 a.m.)
• Entire Municipal Complex (reopens at 11:59 p.m.)
• Maple from North Street to 116th Street (reopens at 11:59 p.m.)
• North Street from Lantern to Municipal (reopens at 11:59 p.m.)

Full street closures beginning at 7 a.m.

• 116th Street between Holland Drive and Municipal Drive (reopens at 9 a.m.)
• Lantern Road between 116th Street and 126th Street (reopens at 9 a.m.)
• 126th Street between Lantern Road and Saksons Blvd (reopens at 9 a.m.)
• Saksons Blvd/Holland Drive between 126th Street and 116th Street (reopens at 9 a.m.)

Lane restrictions beginning at 5 p.m.

• Technology Drive (reopens at 9 p.m.)

Full street closures beginning at 6 p.m.

• Lantern Road between 116th Street and Sunblest Blvd (reopens at 10 p.m.)
• Holland Park Drive to Ellipse Parkway to Sunblest Blvd. (reopens at 10 p.m.)
• 116th Street from Lantern Road to Holland Park Drive (reopens at 10:30 p.m.)

This Week, Adam & Larry review a very different film in the genre of horror and paranormal, Hereditary.  Our guest is Bob Swanay, Director of the Carmel-Clay Library

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Is a new public safety local income tax in our future? It is not certain, but there is talk among political leaders that such a tax might be the answer to funding the very important and expensive 911 communications operation.

Most folks probably don’t pay a great deal of attention to how 911 is funded. Currently the countywide operation, housed at the county sheriff’s department, costs about $9.2 million per year, according to county auditor’s records. About $3.6 million of that comes from a user tax levied on telephone subscribers. The other $5.6 million is paid by the cities of Noblesville, Carmel, Westfield, Fishers and county government.

County officials have been seeking to have the other smaller communities in Adams, Jackson, White River and Wayne townships pay their shares of the expense. For budget year 2019 there has been no agreement reached. For next year only, county commissioners are asking only a token amount of 10 percent of a smaller units’ obligation in 2019.

But, for the following year something new is expected to be implemented. And, the speculation centers around an increase in the countywide Local Income Tax. State law allows one quarter of one percent of individual income to be levied for public safety purposes.

In Hamilton County that would raise about $35 million. That figure is far in excess of the current 911 annual costs, so officials could be expected to reduce the $35 million potential collection to current and then subsequent inevitably rising needs of the 911 communications operation.

All those figures may sound confusing, but we can assume local officials and their advisers will calculate needs and wants in the coming year if the political climate appears to allow proceeding.

At present the Local Income Tax of one percent on individual income is the saving grace for local government, bringing in more than $140 million countywide for the participating units of government. Because average county incomes are high, the income tax now exceeds the property tax in public revenue.

One might think that within all that money, the $5.6 million needed for 911 could somehow be found. We will have to wait and see, but it is a matter that bears watching because it seems all taxes start out small.

There is another candidate for Hamilton Southeastern School Board and his name is Brad Banks.  He plans to file for the District 4 seat now held by Terry Tolle…board member Tolle says he will not seek another term.

Banks grew up in Marion, Indiana, received his Communications degree from Purdue and earned his degree in law from Valparaiso University in 2000.  He worked in the prosecutor’s offices in Hamilton and Marion Counties, then opened a private law practice with partner Adam Brower on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

His campaign issues are shown as an acronym, SAFE.  That stands for Security, Academics, Facilities and Extracurricular.

Candidate Banks says Security means providing a safe and secure place for students and teachers.  Academics means every student should have the best possible learning experience.  In Facilities, Banks pledges to work diligently in maintaining and expanding school facilities in a prudent, financially responsible manner.  In Extracurricular, the candidate says these activities build bonds between local students and their schools.

Brad Banks has been married to his wife, Jenny, for 19 years. They have two children, Trevor, 13, and Sydney, 9. Trevor will be an 8th grader at HIJH and Sydney will be a 4th grader at Thorpe Creek Elementary. Jenny and Brad have called Fishers home since 2003. The Banks family has resided in the 4th school board district of HSE the entire 15 years they have lived in Fishers. The family has had homes in the Royalwood, Avalon, and now Silverton neighborhoods.

HSE School Board District 4 takes-in all of Wayne Township, and a large part of northeast and far eastern Fishers.  Candidates begin their official filings with the Hamilton County Election Office beginning July 25th.  The HSE School Board election will be part of the general election set for November 6th.

Candidates for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board do not start filing their petitions until July 25th, but two people have let it be known they will run for HSE Board seats.

Michell Fullhart, the incumbent school board member in District 3, has announced officially she will be seeking another 4-year term

Frank Whelan, an unsuccessful candidate two years ago, will try again, this time running in District 2, currently represented by John DeLucia.  Board member Delucia has  made it clear he will not be a candidate for re-election.

With Matt Burke leaning toward not running for another term, there could be as many as 3 open seats in this year’s school board balloting.

If you are considering becoming a school board candidate, below is some general information from the Indiana School Boards Association.

Continue reading Two Candidates Announce Early for HSE School Board →

Hereditary is most definitely a horror film…..but is it worth seeing?  Here is my review…

As the Spark!Fishers Festival gears up for its first celebration, June 29 & 30, City Councilman John Weingardt says the city’s financial and in-kind contribution to this festival will be “very minimal.”

During a podcast interview with LarryInFishers on June 20th, Weingardt explained what he means by “very minimal.”

He points to the sponsorship money that, Weingardt says, “…provided substantially all the funding for this event.”

Weingardt told LarryInFishers that the city will provide services to the festival such as  public safety and support from the Department of Public Works.

“I don’t see us (the city)  having to come up with a tremendous  amount of money, nowhere near what we (the city) gave the Freedom Festival,” Weindgardt said.  “That’s from what I understand, I haven’t seen the numbers yet, but I think what you’re going to see is a better value proposition for our taxpayers and an event that’s going to be an event that will stand the test of time and be another tradition that will continue year after year.”

In 2016, The City of Fishers contributed $85,000 in cash to the Freedom Festival, and $45,000 in “in-kind” support.  In 2017, the city made the same in-kind contribution but cut the cash support to $45,000.

During the podcast, Councilman Weingardt told LarryInFishers he plans to run for re-election to his council seat in next year’s local election.

You can listen to the podcast with John Weingardt at this link.

Editor’s Note: Earlier versions of this story reported that the City of Fishers made cash contributions to the Fishers Freedom Festival of $85,000 in 2016 & 2017.  In fact, the city cut the cash support to $45,000 in 2017.  The story was corrected at 1:40pm Friday.   LarryInFishers regrets the error.  

When the historic Morris-Flanagan-Kincaid House was moved to its current location near the Navient complex, I asked the people at Nickel Plate Arts what plans they have for the building and one asked me what I thought.  They wanted to preserve the historic structure, but once it was moved, it has been at its home along I-69 and no one had come up with a plan on what to do with the structure.

According to a story by Samm Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal, the house will become the centerpiece of a new roundabout in the area near Portillo’s.

You can read Samm’s story at this link.

Fishers City Councilman John Weingardt has been a Fishers elected official for many years.  In this podcast, we talk about the Nickel Plate Trail planning, the new Spark!Fishers Festival and how it is being financed, along with a number of other issues in this podcast.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter