When redistricting happens, the following election is always interesting. The new boundary lines often, but not always, can change the political dynamics. Indiana lawmakers enacted new district lines in the 2022 regular session.
One 2022 election that is shaping-up as one to watch is Indiana Senate District 31. Republican Kyle Walker was selected in a party caucus to serve the remainder of Jim Merritt’s Senate term and is seeking election to a full term. Democrat Jocelyn Vare is an at-large Fishers City Council member elected in 2019. Both will be squaring-off in the November general election.
District 31 takes-in all of Fishers, plus parts of Noblesville and Lawrence Township in Marion County.
I will point out a couple of recent developments to note.
First, the Fishers Board of Public Works and Safety passed a resolution August 23rd allowing Fishers Police and other law enforcement agencies to enforce “No Hunting” rules in the Geist Reservoir area. City Attorney Chris Greisl credited Senator Walker with bringing the parties together, making that agreement with Citizens Energy a reality.
Ms. Vare shared a Change Research poll that shows the two Senate candidates in a statistical tie. The Poll shows Vare with 41%, Walker 39% and 19% undecided. The biggest take-aways from the poll are the high number of undecided respondents (19%) and the margin of error (4.7%). This poll shows no clear front-runner at this stage. The pool of respondents consists of 552 likely voters. The Web site fivethirtyeight.com gives Change Research a B- grade as a polling organization.
Campaigns are just getting underway for the general election set for Tuesday, November 8. Expect to see a lot in the news about Indiana Senate District 31 between now and then.
This week, be aware of a temporary closure on the Nickel Plate Trail and lane restrictions on 96th Street.
Below are the details, as provided by the City of Fishers:
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STATE ROAD 37 IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
STATE ROAD 37 AND 146TH STREET All left-turn lanes are currently restricted on SR 37 and on 146th Street with traffic moved to the interior lanes. Thru traffic and right turns on SR 37 and 146th Street will remain open. Drivers are encouraged to seek alternate routes for all left turn access. View an alternate route map here.
STATE ROAD 37 AND 131ST/135TH STREET 135th Street, west of SR 37, is currently closed as work progresses on the project. SR 37 will remain open both northbound and southbound and allow right in/right out access at 131st Street. View the detour map here.
Please drive with caution through this area. To learn more about the State Road 37 Improvement Project and sign up to receive text updates, visit 37Thrives.com.
PROJECTS NORTH OF 116TH STREET
126TH STREET On Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30, lane restrictions will be in place between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on 126th Street between Bellingham Blvd. and Thorpe Creek Pkwy. for path work.
PROJECTS SOUTH OF 116TH STREET
96TH STREET Beginning on Thursday, September 1, daily lane restrictions will be in place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on 96th Street between Allisonville Road and Masters Road for the installation of small cell structures.
NICKEL PLATE TRAIL
On Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30, the Nickel Plate Trail will be temporarily closed between South Street and Fishers Pointe Blvd. to allow Duke Energy to replace transmission poles along the trail. Signs will be placed on the trail.
2022 RESURFACING PROJECT
ADA ramp and curb reconstruction has started taking place in Hamilton Proper as part of the 2022 Resurfacing Project. Homeowners will be notified via door hangers prior to any curb reconstruction near their home. After ADA ramp and curb reconstruction is completed, those areas will be restored with topsoil and seed. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to water the seed for the seed to germinate. Prior to road resurfacing, residents will be notified via street signage for street parking restrictions.
Dan Henke, the Fishers City Judge and former Fishers Town Councilor, will conduct an independent fact-finding investigation into an incident involving a “Defund the Police?” poster in a high school classroom. According to school officials, the brother of Officer Noah Shahnavaz saw the poster in the class and that resulted in an apology from the school board, assuring the community the school district does not believe in defunding the police and the poster was a student project from the previous year.
Officer Noah Shahnavaz, a Fishers resident, died in the line of duty as part of the Elwood Police Department.
Judge Henke is providing his services at no charge to the school corporation. Although serving as a part-time Fishers City Judge, Mr. Henke also has a private law practice.
According to HSE Schools, Superintendent Yvonne Stokes suggested the idea of an independent inquiry while she and other HSE administrators met with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart, Chris Owens of the Fishers Fraternal Order of Police, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter, William Owensby of the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police and Rick Snyder of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police.
Once the fact-finding is complete, Judge Henke will submit a report to Dr. Stokes and the HSE Board of Trustees.
The filing deadline for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board was noon on Friday, and we have one new candidate submitting paperwork on the last day. Edward A. Gedeon is running in District 1.
Three of the four incumbent board members, Janet Pritchett, Julie Chambers and Brad Boyer are all running for another term. The District 3 incumbent, Michelle Fullhart, apparently believed eight years of board service is enough and has not filed as a candidate this time around.
Here is the list of candidates as of the Friday, August 26 deadline:
District 1
Brad Boyer
Jackie Howell
Tiffany Pascoe
Edward A. Gedeon
District 2
Juanita Y. Albright
Janet Pritchett
District 3
Dawn Lang
Carla V. Cork
District 4
Julie A. Chambers
Chad Curtis
Harry Delks
Ben Orr
The Hamilton County Election Office says candidates have until noon, Monday, August 29 to withdraw their candidacy.
In this election, voters cast ballots only for the district where they reside within the HSE school district.
To access the district map, use this link and on the right hand side of the page, click under “Current District Lines.”
When Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness wrapped-up a media briefing on the 2023 city budget proposal, he laid-out a reminder of what is coming in economic development – $1 billion in development.
The city has announced a new Andretti Motorsports headquarters in the southeast section of the airport, near Ritchey Woods. That amounts to a $200 million investment in Fishers.
So, what about the remaining $800 million in developments coming? Fadness teased that those economic development projects will all be brought before the City Council at the next regular session September 19. The mayor brought this up because Fadness’ 2023 budget plan will be presented to the full Council at that regular meeting, but Fadness says the spending plan will likely be overshadowed by the big economic development agreements.
When something like this comes up, my mind harkens back to May of 1991, when I first moved to Fishers. The 1990 census counted about 7,500 people residing in the Town of Fishers. It was a much different place.
Many complain that they miss the Fishers of yesteryear. Many years ago, I asked Mayor Fadness about those arguments. He was clear about one thing – his view is that a city is either going forward or backward – staying in place is not an option because that translates into going backward.
There is no question Fishers has the foot on the floorboard with the accelerator at top speed. If Scott Fadness chooses to run for another term as mayor and wins, I would suspect that accelerator will remain at high speed forward.
But as someone living in Fishers since 1991, it is hard to get my head around a number like $1 billion of investment in this community. We should have more details in the coming weeks.
I have been writing a local news blog in Fishers for over ten years and cannot remember a time when the local police have released audio and video related to a specific incident.
But that’s what happened Thursday morning.
Fishers Police say there have been “inquiries” into what happened near 131st Street and Brooks School Road April 29th. As a result, the department has chosen to release audio and video related to that incident.
The video, including audio of the initial police radio conversations and video from the police from that situation, has been released and posted on YouTube. The video can be accessed at the link below. Be aware, it is just under one hour in duration.
With the deadline for filing as a candidate for a seat on the Hamilton Southeastern School Board looming Friday at noon, we had one more filing Wednesday.
Carla Cork has filed for the District 3 board seat.
Here is the listing of candidates, as of 4:14pm Wednesday:
District 1
Brad Boyer
Jackie Howell
Tiffany Pascoe
District 2
Juanita Y. Albright
Janet Pritchett
District 3
Dawn Lang
Carla V. Cork
District 4
Julie A. Chambers
Chad Curtis
Harry Delks
Ben Orr
In this election, voters cast ballots only for the district where they reside within the HSE school district.
To access the district map, use this link and on the right hand side of the page, click under “Current District Lines.”
Mayor Fadness explains his 2023 budget proposal to the City Council Finance Committee
The proposed 2023 Fishers City budget is $144.4 million, compared to the 2022 spending plan of $121.6 million. However, Mayor Scott Fadness is quick to point out debt service payments will increase next year to $33.9 million, largely due to additional bonding related to road projects and the acquisition of HSE Utilities. The 2023 operating and capital piece of the budget is shown as $110.5 million.
Under the mayor’s proposal, city employees would receive a 4% pay increase and a one-time inflation bonus in January, equal to 3% of their pay. Elected officials will not receive the bonus. City number-crunchers say the average employee bonus computes to $1,365.
The city’s share of the property tax rate will decrease a bit in 2023 under the mayor’s plan, to 0.7115, compared to the 20222 rate of 0.7165 of each $100 of assessed valuation.
Under the mayor’s plan, the city’s cash reserve will grow from the 2022 $30.44 million to $33.1 million in 2023. Fadness says the agreement to share income tax distributions with Carmel will be expiring, losing that revenue source. He wants the extra cash in place for the new City Hall/Arts Center construction project, the new community center to be announced sometime this fall, Geist Waterfront Park and road projects.
The large increase in the cost of fleet vehicles, especially for police and fire, plus a 2-3 year timeline from order to delivery, has complicated the budget picture. The mayor cited inflation in general as a budget challenge.
The city touted its contract with Community Health, providing health insurance and services to municipal employees, limiting any premium increase to 3% with no reduction in coverage or increase in deductibles or copays.
The city is also taking on the salaries of additional firefighters with a new station in place.
The Finance Committee has more meetings scheduled, setting the stage for the September City Council meeting when the mayor and his staff will provide a presentation of his 2023 spending plan.
The mayor provided a comparison of the Fishers City tax rate with other cities in Hamilton County
City’s list of proposed infrastructure projects for 2023
CFO Katy Dowling reviews the three options for Fishers Elementary
The future of Fishers Elementary School was the issue in a Tuesday evening work session with the Hamilton Southeastern School Board and the board will be narrowing down the options as action is expected in the coming weeks.
Superintendent Yvonne Stokes told board members the decision on Fishers Elementary impacts other decisions to come for the school corporation. The board was presented with three options, each with a price tag of roughly $160 million. Stokes reminded the board it had instructed administrators to fashion options that would keep the Fishers Elementary staff together either at the current location on Lantern Road or another location in the area.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Katy Dowling reviewed all three options. One would call for a land exchange and the remaining two would call for the purchase of land for a new site.
Along with keeping the Fishers Elementary staff together, school staff incorporated efforts at equity in program locations, building a new intermediate school for relief at Hamilton Southeaster Intermediate & Junior High. The options also consider a reexamination of the feeder system, minimizing the need for future redistricting, providing families some predictability in their students educational paths.
Another consideration is providing a permanent home for the Focus Day program. (For more on the FOCUS program, use this link)
Board member Brad Boyer said his support of keeping the Fishers Elementary staff together was based on the current number of students, but administrators and other board members voiced safety and efficiency concerns, along with the ability to offer programs to the students at Fishers Elementary.
Board President Julie Chambers ended the work session saying she and Dr. Stokes would confer and the board will take up the issue at a regular board meeting in the coming weeks.
