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.
That seemed like a reasonable conversation and explanation. Jocelyn Vare at least speaks up. Her other democrat counterpart seems to be awol. Waiting for the bids on SR 37 seemed a reasonable suggestion.
Though I’m sure that this park is going to be an earth-shatteringly incredible facility, I don’t think that a delay in the further expenditures on it are out of line, given the current over-budget status of SR37 and the yet-to-be-discovered overruns on the Nickel Plate Trail. Regardless of how long that delay would need to be, I support waiting until a number can be put on it. Threatening the 12- month delay and mentioning considerable previous investments is purely theater, meant to invoke some sort of sense of urgency or FOMO. Previous investments in this park are a sunk cost, and therefore should have no bearing on moving forward or not during uncertain times. Surely this rudimentary concept of economics isn’t lost on this mayor or the rest of the council.