I am in my 11th year of writing this news blog which focuses on the community where I have resided for more than 30 years – Fishers.  As a one-man-band blogger, it is difficult to keep up with the news in my own city.

However, Fishers is part of Hamilton County so one cannot ignore developments there.  I was speaking with someone the other day with lots of experience watching Hamilton County elections.  It is his view that the results of two Republican primary races will tell us a lot about where our county stands politically.

The first race is for prosecutor.  Lee Buckingham is seeking another term in office.  Greg Garrison, the prosecutor that handled the Mike Tyson case resulting in his conviction, is challenging in the May 2nd primary election.  Garrison has also made a name for himself in recent years as a radio talk show host.

Will Hamilton County GOP voters stay with Lee Buckingham, or go with Garrison?  The result will say a lot.

The second race of interest is for County Council, District 3. Incumbent Steve Schwartz will once again face challenger Mark Hall.  Both candidates have been campaigning heavily.  Only voters residing in District 3 will decide this GOP primary race.

There is one other item I will be watching on this 2022 primary election night.  There are several school referendum votes up, one in Perry Township (Marion County).  Voters have been tending to approve increases in their local property taxes to support their local school districts.

Some in the General Assembly think too many have been approved, leading to new language on the ballot for a school referendum.  For example, the language on the ballot now uses the word “increase” four times in the ballot language.  Will that have an impact on how voters choose to vote?

The reason I am interested, even though no school referendum vote is happening in Hamilton County this time around, our local Hamilton Southeastern School District will hold a referendum next year to continue an operating referendum.  Even if the school board chooses to continue the current referendum tax rate, the ballot will state the word “increase” four times, even though the rate remains the same, because the tax rate is higher compared to no referendum rate.

A few things to watch as the 2022 primary election results roll in Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

It was the mid-1970s and I was hosting a late-night radio talk show that ran from 11pm to 3am the following day, 5 days a week.  It was aired on a 50,000 watt station adjacent to Marion County.  The program had a much larger audience for that time period that one would imagine.

I had a variety of regular callers to the program, many of them characters that kept the show lively at times.  One person that regularly called and seemed to have his head on straight called to ask a question.

How could anyone ever be in favor of a pay raise for elected officials?  He could not, in his own mind, justify any pay increase for any elected person under any circumstance.

I then posed a question to him.  Understanding that everything must be justified and within reason, do you want a set of elected decision-makers consisting only of those that can afford to serve?  Would that not result in only the wealthier class among us making our major government decisions?

He paused for a moment and then said, yes, he could see some circumstances where elected officials’ pay raises might be justified.

That exchange came to mind while reading the latest piece written by IndyStar Columnist James Briggs.  I read Briggs regularly.  Sometimes I agree with his stances, other times I do not.  But you can always count on a well-thought-out argument from him.

His most recent missive makes the case that a pay increase for members of the Indianapolis City-County Council might be justified.  You can read his commentary at this link.  (NOTE:  You must be an IndyStar subscriber to access this story.  One again, please support you local media!  Online IndyStar subscriptions are not expensive.)

When reading Briggs, I recalled an issue that came before the decision-makers of Fishers in 2016.   Fishers had converted itself from a town to a city.  A 2012 referendum from the voters created the city form of government.  The first city election was held in 2014 and the City of Fishers stood up on January 1, 2015.

The town council had established the council member pay as $12,000 per year around the year 2000.  The town council kept that rate of pay for about 16 years.

It was in 2016 that a study was conducted to compare Fishers council member compensation to similar cities in our geographic area.  That study found our council members compensation far behind every municipality in that report.

So, when the Fishers City Council set council member salaries for 2017, they each received a $7,000 increase in their annual salary.  The idea was to include elected officials in the annual pay raise so a large one-year hike in compensation would not be needed in the future.

In having covered Fishers for nearly 10 years on this news blog, I know the amount of time and effort that each council member devotes to city duties.  It is not a small time commitment.

Most council members either have full-time jobs or are retired.  The council salary is not what they count on to make a living.  But they should be reasonably compensated for the work they do.

As Indianapolis considers what compensation is best for their councilors, yes, they will get criticism for raising their pay, as Fishers did in 2016.  But consider all the factors when making a decision like this.

“Paying City-County Council members like the professionals they are (or, at least, closer to it) will lead to better candidates, better elected officials and better government,” James Briggs wrote on his IndyStar commentary. “The field shouldn’t be limited to people who either can afford to work for almost nothing or who are willing to sacrifice financial security for the call to public service.”

This time, I do agree with Mr. Briggs.

If you are reading this before 7pm on April 30, 2022, I would recommend you listen to this review of the play Provenance, written by HSE High School teacher Ethan Mathias and performed by HSE students.

The Fifty Club of Fishers has a very simple goal – to financially support police and fire personnel, and their families, when injured in the line of duty.  There are benefits available when something like this happens, but it doesn’t always pay all the bills or support the families involved.

That’s where the Fifty Club comes in.  In the nonprofit group’s mission statement, it “is fully committed to supporting the men and women of service in our community. Fifty Club of Fishers was founded so that our local heroes and their families can worry less about financial concerns should something unfortunate happen to them while serving our community.”

The Fifty Club receives financial support through memberships and donations.  The club had a fund-raising event Thursday evening at Launch Fishers on Technology Drive.

If you would like to donate, use this link.

Indiana State Police are investigating a crash on I-69 Thursday afternoon.  It happened just after 2:30pm in the northbound lanes, roughly 2 miles north of 116th Street.  The victim,  described only as an adult male, was pronounced dead at the scene.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a heavily damaged vehicle located in the ditch along the right side of the highway. Troopers say their investigation shows the driver of the vehicle apparently drove off the roadway to the right for unknown reasons, the vehicle then struck the end of a guardrail and overturned. It does not appear the driver was wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.   The right two lanes of I-69 were closed until 5:45 p.m., resulting in significant traffic delays. No one else was in the vehicle.

Fishers is planning to form an “Allisonville Road Committee” to study development of the roadway between 106th Street and 126th Street.  Planning and Zoning Director Megan Vukusich says this study is aimed at establishing an identity for the corridor.  The Board of Public Works & Safety approved a contract with HWC Engineering to conduct the study.

“This study will provide us some insights on the best way to redevelop, identify strategic investments to support the corridor redevelopment and then improve walkability between this district and the surrounding neighborhoods, Nickel Plate Trail and the White River,” Vukusich told the board.

The committee meetings and community engagement that the study requires are expected to take about 6 months to complete.

In another item Thursday morning, the board voted for an amendment to a contract with Urban Planners.  The firm recently completed a housing study for the city and the amendment calls for a report on accessible housing, in conjunction with the the city’s committee on disabilities.  Mayor Fadness indicated that there may be at least on more amendment coming to this contract.

The Board of Public Works and Safety consists of Mayor Scott Fadness and his two appointees, Jeff Lantz and Jason Meyer.  Meyer was unable to attend Thursday’s session.

After heading-up Launch Fishers for nearly ten years, local entrepreneur John Wechsler is preparing to move away from that role and start-up a brand new enterprise.  Wechsler, who was also instrumental in creating the state IOT Lab in Fishers, worked closely with Mayor Scott Fadness on those and other projects aimed at economically developing the city.

I spoke with John Wechsler and Scott Fadness on their collaboration which spans many years in this podcast.

After much discussion, and plenty of e-mails filling up the inboxes of school officials, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board voted unanimously to approve calendars for the next three school years.

Board member talked about the two options for school year 2023-2024 and opted for students to report for the first day of school on Wednesday, August 9th.  The school year would end after Memorial Day in 2024, with the last day of classes Wednesday, May 29th.  The only way to end the school year prior to Memorial Day would be to start classes a week earlier, August 3rd.  The board looked at removing two flex days in the calendar, but without flex days, snow days would require class days after Memorial Day anyway.

Here are links to the three calendars approved by the board Wednesday night:

—2022-2023

–2023-2024

–2024-2025

In other school board meeting news:

–The board approved a general obligation bond for building maintenance on several facilities totalling about $26 million.  HSE CFO Katy Downing told the board no tax rate increase will be required to fund this work.

–A three year building lease was approved for the high school academy.

–School bus driver trainees will now be paid $19.50 per hour.

–Director of Educational Technology Jeff Harrison briefed the board on plans to switch from Skylert to a new system already utilized by several school districts in our area, ParentSquare.

–Juneteenth is now a paid holiday for HSE workers.  Even though school is not in session on the date of Juneteenth, it will be a holiday for school district employees, including custodians, maintenance, mechanics, building techs, high school treasurers, and full-time central office staff.  As of today, this would include 147 HSE Schools staff members.

–There was some discussion about when to approve textbook and resource changes, giving parents an opportunity to review the resources.  The board is looking at having a vote in May, at a special meeting or part of already scheduled work sessions, providing time for ordering the resources for the coming school year.

–A school choral group , Fishers Sound,  has won every competition it has entered in 2022.  The choir is led by Therese Tazioli, and was honored by the board as part of the Snapshots of Success series.

I had my first opportunity to have a one-on-one podcast discussion with Dr. Yvonne Stokes, Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Wednesday morning, April 27th.  We covered a wide variety of issues, including the upcoming operating referendum, the options available in deciding the future of Fishers Elementary School and much more.

Here is the podcast, at the link below.

For members of the Fishers High School Marching Band, Tuesday started out as a normal school day.  Little did they know a big announcement awaited them.

Wesley Whatley, creative director of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade^® and head of the Parade’s Band selection committee, was there to make the special announcement inviting Fishers High School Marching Tiger Band to the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Macy’s Parade staff, working secretly with school officials, including band director Chad Kohler, surprised members of the marching band with the news Tuesday morning that they have been selected out of hundreds of nationwide applicants to be one of nine selected marching bands in the 97^th edition of the annual holiday tradition.