With City Hall demolished, making way for the new Arts & City Hall complex, there will be a new venue for the Veterans Day ceremony.  This year’s event will be held at Knowledge Services, 9800 Crosspoint Blvd.  Those living in Fishers for a while may remember that building as the former Marsh grocery chain headquarters.  It all starts at 10:00am on Veterans Day, November 11.

The guest speaker will be MG Richard Chegar, US Army (ret). General Chegar graduated from West Point in 1962. Following Infantry, Airborne and Ranger training, Chegar served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Okinawa and Vietnam. During his career, he was decorated for valor and distinguished service. In retirement, Chegar has served as CEO of the Patton Museum Foundation at Fort Knox and has been inducted into the Indiana Military Veterans Hall of Fame.

A live stream of the ceremony will be provided on the Fishers Magazine Facebook page.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board President Julie Chambers had some comments on the election results at Wednesday night’s board session, in which she did not win re-election in her district.

She thanked voters in the HSE District for “coming out and voting” Tuesday.

“I congratulate the candidates that were successful in the school board election,” said Chambers.  “It’s not easy to put yourself out there and work the community.”

She expressed her hope that when the new board takes office in January, the new members “will continue to support our teachers and our students, to uplift everybody and make sure that HSE is the best district there is.”

Superintendent Yvonne Stokes also thanked for voting public for supporting HSE Schools by voting in the board election.

“Kudos to our board members who have served so well and who will be moving on after January, and then, also, I look forward to being able to work with those new board members who will be coming on board (in) January,” said Dr. Stokes.

The three board members seeking re-election were all defeated in their bids for another term and one board member chose not to run for another term.  That means there will be 4 new board members sworn-in during January of 2023.

For 8 years, Steve Loser has been a fixture at Fishers High School as an Assistant Principal.  Now, Mr. Loser is taking on a new challenge with Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools as Director of K-12 Initiatives.

The HSE School Board officially approved his appointment at Tuesday night’s meeting.  Loser will oversee the implementation of the district’s Portrait of a Graduate program as well as new programming focused on expanding innovative career exploration and engagement opportunities for students.

His position is being funded by a Indiana Department of Education Explore, Engage, and Experience (3E) Grant.

“I have always had a single focus and professional drive to shock the world with what young people can do. I am excited to use my skills to bring the school community together to create a common vision of student learning and achievement,” said Loser.

Loser supported community-based enrichment experiences for students, such as Launch Fishers High School Fellowship and Fishers Mayor’s Youth Academy. He has also been a long-time advocate for providing Career Technical Education (CTE), internships, work-based learning and industry certification opportunities.

We have the local Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board election results with all precincts reporting (numbers are unofficial until certified).  There will be a big change in the board as of January 1, 2023.

Concerning the four district races in this year’s balloting, one incumbent chose not to seek another term (Michelle Fullhart) and the three sitting board members lost their bid for re-election.

That means changes will be coming to our local school district.  As to exactly what those changes will be, time will tell.

I do not know the new board members taking office in 2023 well (Tiffany Pascoe, Juanita Albright, Dawn Lang and Ben Orr).  I have briefly met a couple of them and exchanged some brief messages with others.

As to the three board members unsuccessful in their re-election bid (Brad Boyer, Janet Pritchett and Julie Chambers), my experience with each is that they genuinely cared about the students and families of HSE Schools.  You might not always agree with their views and votes, but my experience is that each decision came from wanting the best for students, parents and the local community.  Michelle Fullhart, who will be leaving the board at the end of the year as well, handled her decisions on the board the same way, in my experience.

The new board has a number of challenges to face, including the renewal of the tax referendum (the current tax rate expires at the end of 2023), redistricting and a number of other issues.

And, just so you know, there is a school board meeting tonight (Wednesday) and I plan to be there, covering it for this blog.  That is not changing.

217 of 217 precincts reporting (all of Hamilton County)

(updated at 6:45am Wednesday)

District 1

Brad Boyer                          836            12.14%

Jackie Howell                  2257            32.78%

Tiffany Pascoe                3611             52.45%

Edward Gedeon                181            2.63%

(Mr. Gedeon did not actively campaign)

District 2

Juanita Albright                5622         58.76%

Janet Pritchett                  3945          41.24%

District 3

Carla Cork                    3687                 38.56%

Dawn Lang                  5874                 61.44%

District 4

Julie Chambers           4033              41.61%

Harry Delks                     258                2.66%

Ben Orr                           5401               55.73%

Fishers, like most cities, pays vendors for a variety of services and materials, and there is usually a delay of weeks, sometimes months, before vendors receive payments from the city.

Tuesday morning, the Board of Public Works and Safety agreed to a contract with Municipal Finance & Services Corporation, a New Jersey based firm, to shorten that payment time and allow discounts.  The city would receive a reimbursement for part of that discount.

City officials say Fishers is the first to enter into a contract with the company locally, but Municipal Finance & Services is talking with a number of other municipalities in the area.  It is now up to the firm to negotiate agreements with the city’s vendors.

“Just trying to squeeze a nickel out of anywhere we can,” Mayor Scott Fadness said.  “Try to save as much money as we can.”

In one other item on the board agenda, the city voted to revoke five right-of-way permits for Verizon 5G towers in Fishers neighborhoods.  The 2-year deadline has passed to begin construction of these towers and none have had work started.  The city says Verizon has been notified and has not responded.  Verizon has not sent a request to Fishers for any new 5G towers in several months.

The towers with right-of-way revoked are at the following locations:

10916 Gatewood Lane in Gatewood

11006 Lake Run Drive in Gatewood

11001 Beech Drive in Gatewood

7555 Meadow Ridge Drive in Berkley Grove

8163 Fawnsbrook Drive in Fawnsbrook Woods

With a lot going on both in the news blog and personally, I was generally aware some changes were underway in plans for a Geist Conservancy District, but had not had the chance to write about it.  Reporter John Tuohy of the Indianapolis Star wrote a story posted online November 3rd, about those changes.  The changes are major.

Geist Lake, a reservoir for Citizens Water Utility, has been around for a long time as a source of water for the area.  As with any body of water used the way Geist is used, there is maintenance needed and expensive work on an ongoing basis to keep the lake healthy.

Keeping the lake healthy costs money.  As a result, a conservancy district was proposed to raise the money needed to keep Geist in shape.  The big question was who would be paying for that expensive work.

The original plan was to have roughly 1,000 homes on the lake and about 3,500 in an adjacent neighborhood pay the costs of maintaining Geist.  That ran into some legal obstacles, requiring those organizing the conservancy district to start from scratch in gathering signatures from 30% of the homeowners.

As Tuohy reports, those working on the conservancy district have faced opposition from residents in the adjoining neighborhood and know any future steps will be opposed by that group of homeowners.

It appears, based on a Facebook page post by those behind the conservancy district, that the 3.500 adjacent homes will no longer be a part of the conservancy district, meaning they will not be required to pay for the maintenance of the lake.

The big question is whether the roughly 1,000 homeowners directly located on Geist Reservoir will be able to raise the annual money needed for this work, which Tuohy reports could be around $1.5 million a year.

The future of Geist is very much tied to Fishers, because the city is constructing a major park facility on the lake, the only public space available on the reservoir.

I will be watching for any further developments on the issue of Geist’s proposed conservancy district.

I write this on the Sunday before election day, which is Tuesday, November 8.  Many have already cast their ballots locally (including Jane & myself) but for those that have not, find your polling place by using this link and accessing “voting location.”

There are many races on this year’s ballot – U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, House and Senate seats in the Indiana General Assembly as well as a number of county offices, some contested, some not.  There are some contested races for township offices.

But here in Fishers, the spotlight is on the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board election.  HSE has school board elections every two years.  In 2020, we had an at-large election, where everyone in the district voted in each township race, but candidates ran within their home township (Fall Creek, Delaware or Wayne).  In this election cycle, voters only choose a candidate within one of four districts, based on where the voter resides.

People have asked me which candidates I support.  My answer has been the same since I started this blog in 2012 – I do not endorse candidates.

If you are undecided about who to vote for in this school board election, I would have a couple of suggestions on how to make that decision.  First, find out which district applies to you based on your residence and find out as much as you can about those running in your district.  Second, spend some time looking at what each candidate stands for.  Remember, those with the loudest voice and/or the most aggressive approach may or may not be best suited to serve on our local school board.

I intend to be in Noblesville when the Hamilton County Election Office begins counting votes election night, focusing on the HSE School Board election.  I will update this blog as often as possible Tuesday night, but with a total of 10 active school board candidates, that may take some time for each update.

Thanks for reading.  If you are registered and have not yet voted, I encourage you to cast your ballot November 8!

The 1930 German film All Quiet on the Western Front, based on a German novel, is considered a classic by most film buffs, me included.  But a new German director has taken on the task of remaking this classic.  How is the new version, now available on Netflix?  Here is my review.

I have written previously about Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in America, which owns the largest newspaper in Indiana, the Indianapolis Star.  Job cuts have been a regular thing with Gannett and the latest round of actions aimed at the company’s staff have resulted in some Gannett newspaper staff members walking out for a day on Friday.

It is not clear whether any Indianapolis Start journalists were part of the one-day action, but the union representing the reporting staff, the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, posted a Twitter message bemoaning the lack of a contract and some staffers at the Star took Friday off from social media in protest.

The Poynter Institute, a respected nonprofit organization that reports on media news, says the Gannett employee headcount fell 6.5% in the last quarter.  400 staff members were laid-off, 400 open positions were not filled, a hiring freeze is in place, company 401(k) contributions have stopped for employees and workers will be required to take unpaid time off in December.

There are newspapers in the Gannett chain that are down to 1 or 2 reporters, according to Poynter.

In Indiana, other than the Star, Gannett owns 10 newspapers, some in towns as small as Spencer and Mooresville.

I know there are other sources of news beyond newspapers, but the print media, and its online presence, often set the stage for other media outlets.  Strong newspapers are in nearly everyone’s interest.

I have no idea whether the one-day protest by journalists at Gannett will make any difference, but I respect their willingness to put their careers on the line to make a statement about how they are being treated.  If the best journalists leave the profession, we all lose.