The City of Fishers completed its acquisition of the areas of Fishers previously served by HSE Utilities on December 31, 2021.  If you had been making payments to HSE, particularly automatically online, please be aware of changes you need to make.

For more details, see this Facebook post from the City of Fishers:

Many of you may be aware of Allisonville Road closing Wednesday afternoon for a traffic crash.  The accident claimed one life and sent others to the hospital.

Dead is Brent Jameson, 47, from Anderson.  Hospitalized were:  Peter Monn, 47, from Indianapolis – Sharmarke Jama, 44, from Fishers – Devon Detling, 26, from Muncie – and Abdirizak Hassan, 44, from Fishers.

Police were called to the scene, on Allisonville Road between 126th Street and Orchard Boulevard, at 12:30pm.  Officers found 3 vehicles involved in the crash.

Based on evidence collected at the scene by Fishers Police, and witness statements, officials say it appears a Jeep, driven by Monn, was heading northbound on Allisonville Road when it traveled left of center, striking a Chevrolet vehicle with Jameson the driver, and a Nissan, driven by Jama. Investigators say the crash remains under investigation.

When I wrote the story about the Hamilton Southeastern School Board work session held Wednesday night, I tried to cite the referendum tax rate.  What I found was a bit of complexity that merits some explanation.

When HSE Schools held its first operating referendum in 2009, it was approved and added 10 cents per $100 of valuation to the the local property tax rate.  When the school board decided to ask voters again for an operating referendum in 2016, the board added 12.75 cents to the tax rate in its ask to voters. That referendum was overwhelmingly approved with more than 70% of the vote.  That increased the HSE operating referendum rate to a total of 22.75 cents, where it stands today.

The current operating referendum expires soon, so the HSE Board of School Trustees will determine the rate to be requested.  As reported previously, HSE board members will be deciding whether to place the referendum on the ballot in the May primary or November general election in 2023.

The board could simply ask voters to keep the referendum tax rate where it is, increase the rate or lower the rate.

As to why HSE requires an operating referendum, the state now provides most of the cash funding teachers and other staff.  According to HSE CFO Katy Dowling, HSE receives the 4th lowest per-student support from the state with money for the education fund, providing money for teachers.  Also down on that list with us are other suburban school districts, such as Carmel & Zionsville.

The last operating referendum put before Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District voters was in 2016.  That referendum expires at the end of 2023 and HSE plans to have another referendum vote in 2023.

What is not yet known is whether the referendum will be placed on the May primary or November general election balloting.  Fishers and other localities in Indiana will conduct city & town elections in 2023.

The school board appears to be moving toward hiring a consultant to help run the referendum.  In 2016, a Political Action Committee, Advance HSE, was formed to raise money and conduct the campaign in favor of passing the referendum, with local parent Sneha Shah as a volunteer chair.  HSE administrators and a majority of school board members appear to favor hiring a consultant in 2023.

It will be up to the school board to decide what rate to request and when to place the referendum before voters in 2023 – May or November.

In May of 2016, the HSE Schools operating referendum passed with 71.42% of those casting a ballot voting yes.

The board expects to form a committee with the task of interviewing candidates to be the referendum campaign consultant.  Board President Julie Chambers, when asked why a consultant is needed in 2023 when no consultant was used in 2016, responded that this “is a different time.”  She pointed out the increased importance of social media now compared to 2016.

A recommendation is expected for a board vote in late spring to name the consultant.

HSE Chief Financial Officer Katy Dowling provided a history and background of how the referendum money dovetails with the various funds the state establishes for local school districts and explained the many changes enacted by state lawmakers in the past 7 years.

Dowling also pointed out state law changes in how referendum language shown on the ballot is different under state law.  Dowling described the latest state-mandated ballot as a response for too many local school funding referendums passing.  For example, in the new required ballot language, the word “increased” is used multiple times.

Here is an example of how the 2023 referendum ballot language would be worded, with X as a placeholder for the tax rate, as provided by Dowling:

“Shall the Hamilton Southeastern Schools continue to impose increased property taxes paid to the school corporation by homeowners and businesses for eight (8) years immediately following the holding of the referendum for the purpose of funding daily educational operations, academic, and support programs, including the reduction in class
sizes, and for any other educational needs of the school corporation.  The property tax increase requested in this referendum was originally approved by the voters in 2016 and originally increased the average property tax paid to the school corporation per year on a residence within the Hamilton Southeastern Schools by XX.XX% and originally increased the average property tax paid to the Hamilton Southeastern Schools per year on a business property within the Hamilton Southeastern Schools by XX.XX%.”

In 2016, referendums had a duration of 7 years.  State law changes say school referendums now last 8 years.

No decisions were made at the Tuesday evening board work session.

The good news continues to flow from the Fishers Health Department (FHD).  In his latest video update, Epidemiologist Josh Robinson says, “We continue to see quite a precipitous drop in the number of COVID-19 cases.”

The numbers tell the tale. The most current 7-day reporting period shows a total of 210 Fishers reported COVID cases, compared to a peak of just under 2,000 recorded at the height of the Omicron wave in mid-January.  Overall cases are down 90% since the peak of the Omicron wave last month.  Fishers is now seeing the lowest number of weekly reported cases since the beginning of November, 2021.

Here are more numbers.

–The Hamilton County unique individual testing positivity rate continues a downward trend, from 28.6% to 24.9% as of early Tuesday.

–The Fishers Testing Site positivity rate has gone from 21.3% down to 19.9%

–The 14-day case incidence rate has dropped from from 82.1 to 42.7.

–Hospital availability has continued to increase and FHD anticipates that trend to continue.

Now that the COVID cases have seen a dramatic downward trend the past few weeks, Robinson says the video updates will go from weekly to every-other-week.  The next video update will come in early March.

Below is the February Fishers COVID-19 update from Josh Robinson.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School will have a mask optional policy for students and staff starting Tuesday, February 22.  That announcement was made last Tuesday.

The district cites “a steady decrease in positive cases and quarantines across our district” as the reason for this change.  Masks will still be required on school buses per the federal mandate.

HSE will continue to follow the quarantine requirements as directed by the Indiana State Department of Health until the school district is provided with different guidance.

As for student instruction, the option to Zoom into the classroom during quarantine will no longer be made available. Teachers will continue to provide students with missing work as they do with any other absence. This may include, but is not limited to:

• Posting assignments in Canvas.
• Emailing work to students.
• Leaving instructional materials at the front office for pick-up.

Students with previously written IEP contingency plans may have Zoom as a method of instruction.

Here is a link to the video from HSE Superintendent Yvonne Stokes:

Here is the video version of my podcast with Lindsey Erdody

Education and health are two issues front and center in the central part of Indiana.  Lindsey Erdody is a digital editor for WFYI Public Broadcasting and both subjects keep her reporters busy, particularly at the Statehouse.

Here is my podcast conversation with her, recorded in the late afternoon of Tuesday, February 15.

Fishers has long been known as a city encouraging entrepreneurs, even at an early age.  The Fishers Parks & Recreation Department is once again offering the Biz Kidz program for the younger ones in our city, to setup a booth at the Fishers Farmers Market once again in 2022.

Each week, a select group of Biz Kidz vendors will be given space at the market to sell their hand-made or homegrown items.

Space at the weekly market is limited to just five spots on a first-come, first-served basis for each date. If more than five applications are received for a date, Biz Kidz vendors for any given week will be chosen through a lottery process, and applicants will be notified if they are selected.

Applications are being taken now for this year’s Biz Kidz program.  Register at this link.

The city is always looking for volunteers.  If you have any interest in becoming a volunteer locally, use this link.

When reading the Hamilton County Reporter Sunday, a front page story headline caught my eye – “Hamilton County primary ballots just got more expensive.”   What would cause expenses to increase for this year’s May primary election?

Based on the Reporter story, Greg Purvis, the Democratic Party appointee to the Hamilton County Election Board, cited a section of the Indiana code allowing names of unopposed candidates for election as a precinct committeeman or a delegate to a political party’s state convention to be placed on the primary election ballot at the request of that political party.

Basically, Democrats were asserting the law to list those unopposed candidates on the May primary ballot.  According to the Reporter story, County Clerk Kathy Williams will need to modify the ballots. “There was also discussion on whether the extra cost will add benefit to the election process,” the Reporter story says.

There was no indication how much it would cost the county to make the change, listing those Democratic unopposed candidates.

So, I contacted Greg Purvis to ask about the added expense.

“This (Hamilton County Reporter) headline is misleading,” Purvis told LarryInFishers. “I don’t recall any discussion of cost, and any additional cost should be minor given that most voters use our electronic voting machines.”

The Reporter story does urge all voters with a recent change of address to notify the Hamilton County Elections Office in the Noblesville Courthouse.