City officials have decided to have more than one Shop Fishers event throughout the year, and the summer version is set to launch this Friday.  The summer Shop Fishers ends Friday, July 23rd.

There are more than 60 restaurants and other businesses offering deals.

Many of the specials being offered by local businesses will be on social media accounts.

For more details, use this link.

I spoke with Mayor Scott Fadness and Stephanie Perry from the city’s PR department in a podcast recorded about a month ago, and we talked about the July Shop Fishers sale, among other things.  You can listen to the podcast at this link.

As you travel around Fishers, you may have seen signs saying “Defund HSE Schools.”  People objecting to these signs have been contacted by City Councilor at-large Jocelyn Vare, and the city councilor is asking them to use proper procedures in removing the signs.

The reason residents are taking it upon themselves to remove “Defund HSE” signs is that they appear to be within the city’s right-of-way.  The rules are spelled out in the Fishers Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.17.5 (G).

Vare says she has spoken to City Attorney Chris Greisl, who advises residents that believe such a sign violates the city ordinance to contact the city and Fishers code enforcement staff will remove the sign if in violation of the ordinance.

Such a sign can be legally placed on private property outside the city’s right-of-way with the permission of the property owner.

Vare told LarryInFishers she doesn’t understand the messaging behind the signs, but is most concerned about reports about the placement of the signs in violation of the city ordinance.

Vare has been concerned about stories she has learned of private citizens removing the “Defund HSE Schools” signs themselves. “To me, I was kind of worried about that” said Vare.  “That could be a safety issue.”

Vare’s concern about the message the signs are projecting deals with protecting the funding for the local school corporation.

“The message is negative towards HSE Schools,” Vare said.  “I personally feel like funding for HSE Schools needs to be protected, that’s how we keep our schools strong.”

It is not known what person or group is behind the “Defund HSE Schools” signs.  There is a Facebook page and Twitter account named “Defund HSE Schools” but there is no indication on either account what person or persons are posting on those accounts or placing the signs.

There is plenty of road construction in Fishers, some continuing and other smaller projects underway.

Here is the latest rundown, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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Fishers moved to consolidate sewer services within the city limits by announcing its intention to purchase a part of Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Utilities that currently serves the city.  HSE Utilities filed a petition with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) Friday requesting approval of the sale, with the City of Fishers filing a petition in support of the move.

The city says it is paying $90 million for the assets involved, with Fishers expected to issue sewage revenue bonds financing the purchase.  City officials say in a news release it “does not anticipate raising user rates to complete the financing.”

“Through this acquisition, the City can make a strategic investment to provide its community with complete ownership over all sewer assets within Fishers,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in the city news release. “Due to strategic investments in our municipal utility and the expertise of our staff, the City is well prepared to consolidate the utilities and provide consistent service and support for all Fishers residents. To be able to finance this purchase without a single penny of increased rates while maintaining the level of service is a real win.”

Telix Pharmaceuticals, an Australian company with a current presence in the Fishers Nickel Plate District, is expanding, adding 20 executive-level and administrative positions to its US headquarters.  The firm, with its world headquarters in Melbourne, has its U.S. headquarters at 12 Municipal Drive.

Telix has had its operations for American radiopharmaceutical development and manufacturing located in Fishers since early 2020.

Fishers is making its move developing a pharma presence in the city.  On June 16, an Italian operation, the Stevanato Group, another pharma company, announced plans to locate a new facility in Fishers at 126th Street and Cumberland Road that is projected to eventually employ 230 people.

“We are well-positioned to lead on radiopharmaceutical distribution because of our central location and the time-sensitivity around patient access,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “With the recent surge of life science cluster development in Fishers, we are excited to welcome Telix to the Fishers community.”

Telix has a prostate cancer imaging investigational product, Illuccix®, currently under FDA review, with approval anticipated by the end of 2021.

“Establishing our US headquarters in Fishers, Indiana is an important step in our strategy for global expansion. We’re thrilled to be able to find a city that has the manufacturing infrastructure to support our operational expansion in the United States,” said Dr. Bernard Lambert, President Telix Americas. “We are excited for Telix’s future as we advance our pipeline of diagnostic and therapeutic products, and we will continue to implement our strategy that includes growing our team in the United States.”

Telix is currently recruiting for open positions.  Review available job opportunities at this link.

The State of Indiana is offering $500,000 in tax credits based on the company’s job creation plans, on the condition the company meets its promised hiring targets.

“Telix had 49 other options to establish its U.S. headquarters, and we couldn’t be more grateful they chose Indiana to put down new roots,” said Jim Staton, SVP and Chief Business Development Officer for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. “We’re proud to have them join Indiana’s thriving life sciences sector and look forward to supporting their growth as they provide high-quality jobs for Hoosiers.”

A new city ordinance governing vacant “big box” stores has taken another step forward Wednesday night when the Fishers Plan Commission unanimously provided a positive recommendation for the measure.  The Fishers City Council will take up the ordinance at its regular session Monday, July 19.

Under the proposal, a tenant change in a facility 25,000 square feet or greater, for commercial or public & institutional use, would come under the ordinance.  This would not apply to space used for medical, office, or industrial/manufacturing uses.

The 25,000 foot test would apply individually to any subdivided areas of a building.

One structure that would come under this proposed ordinance would be the now-empty Fry’s Electronics building just north of 96th Street near I-69.

The Fishers City Council has already enacted an ordinance requiring council approval of any tenant changes in the former Marsh Grocery locations

In other plan commission business:

–Unanimous final approval was provided for changes in development standards in the local airport property.  The measure has approval from the city council.

–A unanimous positive recommendation was provided for temporary business sign placements, applying to establishments dealing with the State Road 37 construction.

This has been quite a summer holiday season locally.  The Spark Fishers Festival drew a large crowd.  The Carmel and Noblesville 4th of July events saw plenty of people along their respective parade routes and festival locations.  After more than a year in lockdown, we are all ready to gather again and enjoy each other’s company.

Summer is a great season for being outside and taking family vacations.  But something else is going on quietly, behind the scenes here in Fishers.  I am referring to the process of fashioning the 2022 city budget.

Yes, city officials are going through the process of how to handle spending in the next calendar year.  Last year at this time, everyone was worried about how the COVID pandemic would impact the city budget.  You can credit both the Trump and Biden Administrations, along with Congress, for providing financial assistance to local units of government that made the 2021 spending plan a bit easier to fashion.

Fishers was able to provide a 3% pay increase for city workers in 2021, which did not look promising at this time last year.  The city was mostly reimbursed for the Health Department’s testing and vaccine programs.

The economy looks rosy at the moment, with more jobs than takers (although that is not necessarily so in every field of work).  So, why is this budget cycle so important?

There are two reasons – City Hall and a new community center.

When the city council had a retreat in May, there was, for the first time, a public discussion of a new City Hall building.  Mayor Scott Fadness made it clear that constructing a new city office building was never on his agenda, but the current structure is, according to the mayor, sinking and of a “flimsy construction.”

The city is continuing to spend money just to deal with the building’s problems, and is now to the point that demolishing the current City Hall and constructing a new one may be the only viable option to stop the drain on the city budget.

There is also a group headed by City Councilman at-large Todd Zimmerman studying the possibility of a new community center.  This is looking to be a very big project.

Both a new city hall and a community center will take money.  How will the city manage that?

Fadness told the city council he wants to do all this without burdening the taxpaying public.  Will the city be able to keep the city tax rate relatively stable and still build a new city hall as well as a community center?

My conversations with city officials indicate they are confident this can be done.  The city has already built a health department without increasing the tax rate burden on city residents, and even slightly reduced that rate funding the health department.

Two new major construction projects would need to be financed and added to the debt.  Paying back that debt would come from the property tax rate and also local income tax revenue.  Property valuations have been increasing locally, but the state prescribes that system, the city has no control over that part of the tax code.

Some debt may be close to paid-off, which allows the city to borrow without increasing the local tax rate funding the debt.

There are other moves the city may be considering that I do not know at this time.  I do know that our Fishers elected officials are planning all these projects without a hike in the property tax rate.

Can Fishers have a new City Hall and community center without a tax rate increase?  We will watch the budget process this year and see.

I have always enjoyed reading about history and the Declaration of Independence has always been a part of American history that intrigues me.

It is difficult in today’s world to understand what a truly revolutionary document that was in 1776.  The world at that time was largely ruled by monarchies and elites.

The idea that all men are created equal was not a concept universally accepted.  Yes, I know, it did not apply to women or people of color, and I get that.  But put into the context of 1776, it was still an idea not known at that time.

That document was truly revolutionary.  These were people that considered themselves Englishmen but renounced the authority of the king.

It should also be noted that each man affixing his signature to the Declaration of Independence knew that the ruling class in London would consider them traitors, with the penalty for high treason death.  If America lost the Revolutionary War, they would all face the death penalty.

Many of those signing-on to the declaration paid a personal price.  Five were captured by the British and tortured as traitors.  Nine donned the military uniform and fought in the Revolutionary War, and died either from battle wounds or the hardships from fighting.  Two lost sons in the war and two had their sons captured.

This is a reminder that freedom is not free.  Those men signing the Declaration of Independence we celebrate each July 4th knew the risks they were taking.  They signed anyway.

America is 245 years old on this July 4th, 2021.  Let us celebrate those that serve our nation in so many ways – in the military, in health care where so many put themselves at risk to treat COVID patients over the past year and more, and everyone charged with keeping us all safe.

Most of all, enjoy this special holiday.  It is worth celebrating.

I grew up with the music of the 1960s so it has always been one of my favorite musical eras.  Most of us have at least heard of the Woodstock music festival in 1969.  But there was another amazing event that summer featuring some of the best in African American music – the Harlem Cultural Festival.  It was a six-week celebration that drew a crowd as far as one could see, tens of thousands of people for each performance.

A new documentary film, Summer of Soul, shines a light on this festival that has never received the credit it deserved.

Here is my review.

The usual suspects remain under construction and a few areas will see some work and lane restrictions as well.

All the details are contained in this week’s road construction update, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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