The Fishers City Council will likely give final consideration to the cycling ordinance in July, which spells out the rights and responsibilities of cyclists and motorists.

Councilman Pete Peterson said the ordinance is an overreach.  He questioned the need for such a measure.

“It’s going to be virtually impossible to enforce,” Peterson said.  “I don’t really see what the overall problem is in the community, other than a couple of people got honked off at some bike riders because they were going down the road.”

Police Chief Mitch Thompson responded that local bicyclists want a 3-foot passing rule, and that is one reason the ordinance is being proposed.  The Chief says enforcement is not easy now, but new technologies on the horizon will likely change that.

Thompson said the goal was a balance  to spell out the rights and responsibilities of both motorists and cyclists.

The latest revision of the ordinance would not require bicyclists to wear a helmet on residential streets, but would require a helmet on all other city roadways.

The council passed the ordinance on 2nd reading, meaning the full council will make a final decision on the wording at next month’s council session, possibly with more revisions.

Here is the text of the ordinance passed on second reading Monday night, available at this link.

Fishers Police made five arrests in the Berkley Groves Neighborhood, located in the area of 106th Street and Hague Road.  All are accused of stealing property.

Shortly before 5am on Saturday, a Fishers police officer was patrolling in the 10600 block of Tarragon Court. The officer says he found four individuals dressed entirely in black. The four people saw the officer and fled. The officer gave chase. Additional officers quickly established a perimeter and began searching for the suspects.

 Within a few minutes, another officer observed a dark SUV exiting the neighborhood. A traffic stop was initiated. The SUV continued for a short distance before stopping. As the officer approached the driver’s side he could see four passengers laying in the car attempting to hide. All five occupants were ordered to exit the SUV. The suspects complied and were immediately detained.

Police say once Inside the SUV, they located several items belonging to various individuals in Fishers, Edgewood, and Anderson. Fishers police contacted the Anderson and Edgewood Police Departments and confirmed multiple thefts from vehicles had taken place earlier, that evening, in their jurisdictions. The victims were notified, and their property was returned. All five suspects were arrested without incident.

Under arrest are:

Aquille Miles, 18, from Anderson

Are Tez Johnson, 18, from Anderson

Two juvenile males, each 17, both from Anderson

One juvenile female, 17, from Anderson

George Kehl essentially created the Police Department we have in Fishers.  Once he retired as Police Chief, he never missed a step, moving to work on inventory at the Department of Public Works (DPW).  Eric Pethtel, Director of Public Works, joked that Kehl has “a PHD in curmudgeon,” but also praised the former chief for his long service in law enforcement and his work at DPW.

Pethtel awarded George Kehl his 40-year Service Award with the City of Fishers.  Mr. Kehl didn’t say much when it was his turn to speak, just talking about the challenges of moving inventory to the new DPW building in the coming months.

There were other service awards handed out during Monday’s City Council session.  Scott Kehl (George Kehl’s nephew) and Mike Johnson from the Fishers Police Department received 25-year service awards.  Barb Hathaway, a civilian employee of the Fishers Fire Department, received a 20-year service award.

Police Chief Mitch Thompson swore-in new Officer Ryan McKalip.

Eight years ago, Fishers High School Baseball Coach Matthew Cherry had his team measure exactly how many miles it is to travel from their school to Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.  From then on, the goal has been to get into the state championship game and win it.  The team accomplished that goal in 2018, defeating perennial baseball power Cathedral in the state title contest.

Coach Cherry told that story as he stood before the Fishers City Council Monday night as local officials honored his team, to a round of applause from the audience in the council chambers

Fishers firefighters were busy overnight knocking down a garage blaze at 10966 Innisbrooke Lane, south of 106th Street between Mollenkopf Road and Windermere Boulevard.  No one was injured.

25 firefighters responded to the alarm that was reported at 3:13am Tuesday, and the fire was under control by 3:43am.   A family of three made it out safely after their teenage son smelled smoke and alarms sounded shortly thereafter.

The fire was contained to the garage area of the home, but the home did see smoke damage.  The cause and extent of damage are yet to be determined.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness made an important staff announcement at Monday night’s City Council. meeting.  Elliott Huntgren has been appointed as Fishers Deputy Mayor of Administration.

Hultgren has been the fleet director for the city.   He recently served a stint in Africa as a member of the armed forces.

In is new role as a deputy mayor he will head-up the city’s human resources department, information technology, business solutions and the controller’s office.

“All of the departments that don’t always get a lot of air time.” Fadness said, “but are critical for the operations of our internal organization.  We’re excited to have him in a leadership role.”

Office space in Fishers is a very scarce resource, but more is on the way.  The City of Fishers and the Hageman Group have entered into a project agreement an office building, which was approved Monday night by the Fishers City Council.   The plans call for a 31,000 square foot office structure with a total investment of $8.5 million as lease commitments are finalized.

The office building will be multi storied, located at 8939 Technology Way, across from the Meyer-Najem building.  The city hopes this will become a  gateway to the Fishers Certified Tech Park.  The park already houses operations such as Launch Fishers, the IOT Lab and Netfor.

“This will add needed office space to our downtown office inventory,” said Brandon Dickinson, Director of Economic Development at the Monday night city council session.  “We honestly can’t build it fast enough for the demand that we have.”

Fishers officials say the city will provide the land, $2.05 million in bond proceeds through Tax Increment Financing and a waiver of impact fees to assist with development costs only in the event the building is pre-leased and under construction within 30 months with a minimum private investment of $5.6 million.

“Innovation companies are looking for a place to call home in Fishers and this development provides another opportunity for growing companies to join the entrepreneurial economy here in our city,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release.

The downtown area of Fishers has seen $430 million in development over the past three years.

Democrats have not been much of a factor in Hamilton County elections as far back as I can remember.  Hamilton County Reporter columnist Fred Swift recently pointed out that, with only a very few exceptions, Republicans have governed Hamilton County for the past 150 years.

But local Democrats are saying they have a chance to grow and make a difference now.  Sam Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal wrote a story recently about local Democrats and their efforts to become competitive.

County Democratic Chairman Joe Weingarten sent me the picture shown above to send a message that there are Democrats in Hamilton County and they are organizing for the November election.

Weingarten says he will be appointing candidates to several local offices that have no Democrat on the ballot as of now.  That announcement will be coming in late June.

I am often asked when we will know whether Democrats will ever become a factor in Hamilton County elections.  I have a simple answer.  We will know when a Democrat is elected to office, or at the very least, is competitive in a general election.  Then we will know true progress has been made.

Until then, the key elections in our county will be in the Republican primary.

This is an even-numbered year with no presidential election, so it is called an “off-year” election by national pundits.  There is a U.S. Senate race in Indiana receiving national attention and a few other state-wide races.  There are a number of local elections to be decided in November.

But there is one election where you do not see the identification of the candidates as Republicans or Democrats.  In Indiana, school board elections are nonpartisan.  It is possible locally that a candidate may be known as a supporter in a particular political party, but the election itself is not to be partisan.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Corporation takes-in all of the City of Fishers, plus unincorporated areas of Fall Creek & Delaware Townships.  All of Wayne Township is also part of the HSE Schools.

The HSE Schools are governed by a seven-member school board.  The board members are elected to four-year terms.  Elections are staggered and held every two years.

In 2016, HSE had what is called an at-large election.  There are three races, with each candidate required to reside within her/his township (Fall Creek, Delaware or Wayne) but the entire school district votes on all three township races.  Mike Bottorf won the Fall Creek Township seat in 2016, Amanda Shera was the winner in Delaware Township and Sylvia Shepler won re-election in Wayne Township.

In 2018, four board seats are up for grabs, but the election process is a little different.  Each candidate must live within her/his district and only the voters within the district cast a ballot for their school board member.

A map of the four districts is shown above.  There could be as many as three seats open in this upcoming November school board election.

In District 1, Matt Burke is the incumbent but cannot run again in that district because he has moved since the 2014 election.  But Mr. Burke told me days ago that he is leaning heavily toward not running in his new district (District 4).

John Delucia is finishing up his second term in District 2 and has been saying for some time he will not run for a third term.

In District 3, Michelle Fullhart is the only incumbent clearly gearing-up for a re-election campaign.

In District 4, Terry Tolle informed me he will not seek re-election.

Candidates do not officially begin filing for office at the Hamilton County Election Office, located in Noblesville, until Wednesday, July 25th.  The deadline to file your candidacy is noon, Friday, August 24th.

So, why am I writing about this so early?  I am letting everyone in the local community know that there will likely to be at least two open seats, possibly as many as 3 open seats, in this year’s HSE School Board election.

If you have a desire to serve your local community in a nonpartisan but very important way, consider running for the local school board.  After covering school boards off-and-on since the mid-1970s, I won’t sugar coat this challenge…it is a tough job that will demand a lot of you time.  But it is important work that will have a major impact on your local schools.

If you have an inclination to become a candidate, talk to one or more of the current board members, or request a meeting with HSE School Superintendent Allen Bourff.  There are technicalities in becoming a candidate and handling all the reports required, but there are people willing to assist with that.

When you talk with real estate agents locally, and ask them what attracts home buyers to the Fishers area, most of them will tell you it is the solid reputation of the HSE Schools.  Having a school system with prestige impacts not just the students, but has a positive impact on the quality of the community overall.  It also keeps property values high.

So, if you are interested, or know someone that may be a good candidate, consider the Hamilton Southeastern School Board in the 2018 election.  Now is the time to start your campaign.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 7:00am, Monday, June 18th…Terry Tolle contacted me and confirmed he will not seek re-election in District 4.    

I have two sets of emotions every Father’s Day.  First, I reflect on how fortunate I am to have two wonderful daughters, Allison and Mary.  There is no dad anywhere that could be more proud of his daughters than I.

But I also remember that on the first Father’s Day when I was a dad, my father had died the February before.  I was a proud father of my twin girls that day, but I very much missed my own dad.

I don’t think about my dad just on Father’s Day, I think about him every single day.  Time does heal the pain, but I still miss him.

His real name was Martin Bernard Lannan, but everyone he knew called him Bernie. If someone called him Martin, that meant the person calling him by that name did not know him at all.

I cannot summarize in a few words what my dad taught me.  The most important principles he gave me and all my siblings were rooted in telling the truth and doing that right thing.

I learned from him all about volunteering your time for the betterment of your community.  Dad served on the board of directors of what is now Financial Center First Credit Union.  He was never paid for serving on that board most of his adult life, but he found it important to serve people working where he did, which was a group of federal workers served in the early days of that credit union, before the pool of members began to increase with changes in the law.

This blog I write and the podcasts I produce are volunteer activities for me.  My dad taught me how important it is to give something back to your local community.

My dad has been gone for 24 years, but he left so much behind.  He left a legacy for me, Tom, Barbara, Diane, Tony and Tim.  Dad taught us how to be good people.  A lesson none of us will ever forget.