The referendum tax rate for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools will expire at the end of 2023, so the school board has decisions to make.  Should the board ask taxpayers to keep the rate where it is?  When should the referendum appear on the ballot, in the May or November elections of 2023?

Those and many other questions were before the board in a 90-minute work session held Tuesday morning.

The current referendum rate adds 22.75 cents (per $100 of assed valuation) to the local property tax rate.  There were many questions asked by board members and a number of comments made, but no member indicated publicly they plan to oppose the referendum vote.

HSE Chief Financial Officer Katy Dowling pointed out that HSE, the fourth-largest school corporation in the state, is in the bottom three in state financial support per student, along with Zionsville and Carmel.  Without the referendum funding, Dowling told the board that 15% would need to be cut from the HSE Schools budget, which would amount to $25 million per year.

Assistant Superintendent Matt Kegley reminded the board that 90% of that budget goes to the people employed by the school district.

Dowling also reminded board members that state law requires the language on the referendum ballot to use the word “increase” four times, even if the board asks taxpayers for a renewal of the current referendum rate.

The board must also decide whether to hire an outside firm to help with the referendum campaign.

Board President Julie Chambers said a referendum recommendation for the board should be ready for consideration by the end of August or early September.  There could also be another work session scheduled to further discuss plans for the referendum.

Tom Britt likes to tell the story of how his publishing business started in Geist with a feature magazine.  That operation has grown to include franchising his approach to publishing.  A new franchise for his magazine concept is starting-up in Muncie.

In this podcast, Tom Britt talks about Fishers, Geist, Spark Fishers, his time capsule project for the Fishers Sesquicentennial and much more.

The Fishers City Council honored six Fishers Police Officers for 20 years of service at Monday night’s meeting.  Here are the officers with 20 years in police work:

Major Mike Pedersen

Sergeant Eric Patton

Sergeant Wayne Druelinger

Officer Robert Gaines

Officer Cory Robinson

Officer Robert Thompson

Sergeant Patton was also recognized for his retirement that is scheduled for August 1st.

First Internet Bank is a very different financial institution.  It has no branches.  It has no tellers.  You do your banking online.  That was a very revolutionary idea in 1999 when David Becker founded the First Internet Bank.

Mr. Becker is now an appointee to the Next Level Indiana Fund Investment Board.  This board runs a pool of cash created by the Indiana Legislature in 2017 to make investments in Indiana venture capital funds and Indiana companies using $250 million of allocated state funding.

“The Next Level Indiana Fund is a critical economic development resource to attract more venture capital to Indiana, support the creation of new Indiana venture capital funds and accelerate growth of Indiana-based, innovation-driven companies,” Becker said in a news release. “I look forward to joining the Board and supporting the goals of the Fund to fuel Indiana’s tech and innovation industry.”

First Internet Bank will soon be moving into its new headquarters building in the heart of downtown Fishers.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a nuisance as something causing harm or injury, or “one that is annoying, unpleasant, or obnoxious.”  The City of Fishers is considering an ordinance aimed at addressing “common nuisance.”

Mayor Scott Fadness and City Attorney Chris Greisl explained that the city is using a lot of resources to answer 911 calls placed at a certain group of commercial businesses. They have researched common nuisance ordinances already in place in the cities of Fort Wayne and South Bend.

A “common nuisance ordinance” essentially tracks emergency calls and if they become too numerous, the city would work with the business owner to establish an action plan to reduce the number of emergency runs.

If the business refuses to work out an action plan with the city, or does not adhere to the action plan it establishes with the city, fines would be charged to these businesses.

Several of the offenders were local hotels, but city officials did not reveal the names of the establishments during the Monday night work session.  Council member Brad DeReamer urged the city to name those problem businesses in the future.

Fadness said he will present a proposed common nuisance ordinance to the council in August for further consideration.

In other items on the City Council work session agenda:

–City officials told the council that in new home construction, 90% of the city code inspections fail and 75%-80% of the second inspections fail.  Members of the council were split on how to handle the issue, particularly on whether to charge more for each inspection step.  Mayor Fadness said this is a public policy question and the added charges would simply help reimburse the city for its own expenses of conducting the code inspections.  The mayor promised to bring more than one option next month for council members to consider.

–An area with about 35 homes in the area of 101st Street and Flat Fork Creek may wish to have a voluntary annexation into the city of Fishers due to septic system problems.  Director of Engineering Jason Taylor told the council several homeowners are facing septic systems that are failing.  He has had discussions with homeowners there and it is possible to use funding from the Indiana Finance Authority to provide a 0% interest 20-year loan to bring the area into the city’s water and sewer services.  The key is having enough homeowners sign an annexation remonstration waiver.  The council will be updated on this issue.

The Fishers City Council Nonprofit Committee has voted to recommend distributing $120,000 to 9 local organizations.  25 groups applied for the city grants.

The vote was 2-1, with Cecilia Coble and Jocelyn Vare voting yes and Pete Peterson casting the no vote.  The proposal will be presented to the full council for a final vote in August.  The money is included in the current year city budget.

Here is a listing of the organizations receiving the funds, along with how much they are recommended to receive from the city:

–Conner Prairie Museum – $30,000

–Outside the Box – $26,500

–Cherish Child Advocacy Center – $20,000

–Youth Mentoring Initiative – $15,000

–Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation – $10,000

–Shepherds Center of Hamilton County – $10,000

–Fishers Youth Assistance Program – $5,000-

–Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse & Suicide – $3,000

–Heart and Soul Free Clinic – $500

The start of a new school year is approaching and I asked to sit down with the principals of our two local high schools as they prepare for the first day of classes.

Jason Urban is the seasoned veteran with more than 15 years experience as principal of Fishers High School.  Reggie Simmons is the new principal at HSE High School.

I spoke with both men for this podcast.

Fishers Police credit an alert resident with a tip that led to the arrest of a local man on car theft charges.  Under arrest is Roman Menossi, 20, from Fishers.  He faces misdemeanor charges of theft and unauthorized entry into a vehicle.

Police say one resident in the area of the 13900 Block of Wimbleton Way, near 126th Street and Olio Road, alerted authorities of a “suspicious man” near his home at 3:00am Friday.

Police saw a vehicle leaving that area.  “Officers stopped the vehicle and spoke with the driver,” according to a police department news release. “During the initial conversation officers observed a handgun and a women’s purse in plain sight. Further investigation revealed the suspect had entered multiple vehicles, in the neighborhood, and stolen property from two of those vehicles. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the Hamilton County Jail without incident.”

Authorities were able to return what they described as stolen property to the owners and also say they recovered a handgun in the vehicle.

The police department news release also contained this statement:

“Police would like to thank the resident who immediately reported the suspicious activity as well as remind residents to remove all items of value, especially guns, from unattended vehicles.”

It has been a long time since Americans have seen prices rise this much this fast.  I am old enough to remember some big spikes in inflation during my lifetime.  I am no economist, but those holding advanced degrees in that discipline say we are seeing a number of unprecedented events at one time coming together and resulting in high costs.

Local governments must deal with inflation just as families are forced to adjust.
There are several ways inflation impacts Fishers.

The city must replace City Hall because the building is sinking into the water table underneath and would require so much money to maintain, it makes more fiscal sense to replace it.  The current City Hall will see the wrecking ball later this year.

It will be replaced by what has been labeled an “Arts and Municipal Complex.”  It calls for an arts facility along with space for city offices.

I regularly attend the City Council Finance Committee meetings, and most are fairly routine.  For example, the July session featured a review of routine money-related items for the following City Council meeting and a presentation on how fluctuating interest rates may result in a change of how the city parks its money for investment.

That’s where the routine part of the meeting ended.

There were questions raised about the cost of the Arts & Municipal Complex, and it was revealed there are three rounds of bidding.  The first round is for the steel needed to construct the building –  those bids have been opened and are within budget.  Two more rounds of bidding will happen soon and will provide a better picture of where the project stands.

Then the plans for a new city recreation center were discussed, and city officials said there were problems matching-up what the public says it wants in such a facility and the budget available to pay for it before inflation zoomed up the past few months.  City Council President Todd Zimmerman has been heading-up the group planning the center, and he said no plans will be proposed for the full City Council until all the planning is complete.  Rising costs will obviously have some impact on the Recreation Center.

The city is using some advanced computer programs to monitor fuel usage and Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren said that data is being analyzed and all departments are looking for ways to save money on fuel and still fulfill their missions.

Councilor Jocelyn Vare raised the issue of State Road 37 and 141st Street.  That is the last project renovating the traffic flow along 37 in Fishers.  She wanted to know why she and other council members were not informed of the expected rejection of all the bids for that interchange project, when the media has been reporting on this.

I can only speak for myself.  The first time I realized what was happening was during a podcast I had already scheduled with officials from the city engineering department.  Engineering Director Jason Taylor told me during that May 6th podcast recording session that he planned to recommend rejection of all bids for the project and his department would explore where to go from there.

I asked Mayor Scott Fadness following the June City Council meeting what would happen next and he basically said the costs were too high in those bids so the city and county will wait until conditions improve in the construction business.

More recently, I spoke with Fishers Assistant Director of Engineering, Hatem Mekky, and he assured me his staff was not sitting pat waiting for the cost of doing business to go down.  The city staff had been conducting ongoing meetings with many stakeholders searching for ways to get that interchange at 141st Street and SR 37 done, according to Mekky.

Finance Committee Chair John Weingardt said there are so many road and highway projects happening in our local area, that had an impact on the bids submitted for the 141st & SR 37 work.

As Fishers starts the process of formulating a 2023 city budget in the coming weeks, all city officials I have heard comment on this are in agreement – the mayor, his department heads and members of the City Council must factor-in rising prices as next year’s spending plan is put together.

The cost of doing business is a factor to consider.

In a Saturday night social media post, it appeared clear that Michelle Fullhart would not run for another term on the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board.  However, she has since clarified that she will not be a candidate only if someone steps forward she can support.  If no one does step up, Ms. Fullhart tells LarryInFishers she will run for another term.

Michelle has served nearly 8 years on the HSE board.

“I want to ensure a strong pro-equity candidate would be willing to run, and not one pandering to one group of people in our community who believe our schools are terrible and HSE is indoctrinating students,” Fullhart wrote. “I want to move on and get back into the classroom, which is my passion.”

Ms. Fullhart represents District 3.  There are four districts and in this year’s school board election, voters will only vote for the board member within the district boundary.

“I have enjoyed my time on the board, with the exception of during the pandemic, and if you decide to run you will be supported by equity-minded people, and there are lots of us!,” Fullhart wrote.

Below is a map of the district boundaries for the school board election in November.  Board candidates begin filing July 27 through noon on August 27.