Here we are, on January 2nd, the first business day of 2020.  As we enter this new year, what can we expect in terms of news in and around Fishers?

The most honest answer is, we don’t know.  Some of the biggest news stories come up unexpectedly.  My number one story for 2019 was the city election, largely because two Democrats won city council seats, which is something I never would have predicted at the start of 2019..

The number 2 story on my 2019 list was the nondiscrimination policy debate and decision by the Hamilton Southeastern School Board.  Again, I would not have foreseen that as a major story of the year at the beginning of the year.

So, is there anything we know for sure about 2020?  Yes, a few items.

First, we will have elections. The primary is set for May 5th.  Several offices in Hamilton County will be up for election, including two seats on the three-member board of County Commissioners.  Seats currently held by Steve Dillinger and Mark Heirbrandt will be up for election this year.  There will also be Hamilton County Council seats on the ballot.

County Government impacts us in cities as well, so this is worth watching.

Indiana State Representative Todd Huston’s seat will be up for re-election.  Several state senate districts will be on the ballot, with many senate districts touching the City of Fishers.

Another wild card will be the presidential primary.  Incumbent Republican President Donald Trump is not expected to see a serious challenge when the Indiana primary comes around.  But with the large number of candidates at this stage, one wonders whether the Democrats will have a contested presidential primary May 5th.

Those winning nomination in the primary will be listed on the general election ballot with voting set for November 5th, but early voting and absentee ballot opportunities will be available prior to election day.  Since this is a presidential election year, look for the vote turnout to be higher than other elections.

The biggest election impacting Fishers will be the at-large Hamilton Southeastern School Board.  This will be part of the November 5th general election  There will be three seats up for grabs.  Those three seats are currently held by Amanda Shera (Delaware Township), Sylvia Shepler (Wayne Township) and Clint Wilson (Fall Creek Township). No official announcements have been made, but early indications point to all three incumbents seeking re-election.

The at-large school board election works like this….candidates must reside within their township, but the entire school district votes in all three elections.

I would expect the biggest Fishers news story of 2020 will be the one we don’t know yet.  But the school board election is very likely to be at or near the top of 2020 Fishers news stories.

Allow me to wish each and every reader of LarryInFishers.com a happy and healthy 2020.  I will be entering my 10th year of writing this blog.  Thanks for reading.

I know many Fishers residents have been away for the holiday break and are filtering back home.  This is just a reminder that I have several podcasts posted near the end of the year that may interest you.  Here is a listing:

Mayor Scott Fadness recorded a podcast discussion with me on December 23rd.  We talked about a few items from 2019, but concentrated on what to expect in 2020.  Listen to that podcast at this link.

State Representative Todd Huston recorded an interview with me on the same day I talked with Mayor Fadness.  Huston is now Speaker-Elect after a recent vote by the Republican caucus in the House.  We talked about a number of subjects, including teacher pay and the allocation of Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) funds between Fishers and Carmel.  You can listen to that podcast using this link.

High School Principals Jason Urban and Chad Cripe With Winter Break, things are quiet at most schools in the Hamilton Southeastern District.  I used that quiet time to arrange a podcast interview with Chad Cripe, in his first year as HSE High School Principal, and long-time Fishers HIgh School Principal Jason Urban.  They had a lot to say about the issues facing suburban high school principals in this day and age.  You can listen to that discussion utilizing this link.

If you are a film fan, I have two recent podcasts to recommend.

Christopher Lloyd is a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association, and joined Adam Aasen and myself for an episode of Hamilton County Goes To The Movies.  We talked about the Association’s choices for best film of the 2019 and other items.  That podcast is available at this link.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had its long-awaited release during December, and I posted a podcast review.  Listen to that review at this link.

On October 29th, HSE S.P.O.R.T.S. Executive Director Scott Spillman told members of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board his organization’s name would be changing on January 1, 2020.  In checking the organization’s Web site on January 1, 2020, it appears the local youth sports group is on schedule with that name change.

The new name is “Mudsock Youth Athletics.”  The new Web address is myathletics.com

The e-mail address for the organization has also changed to info@myathletics.com

In reviewing the Web site, it appears all the programs and staff at the non-profit organization are the same, only the name has changed.

At the October 29th meeting, HSE School Superintendent Allen Bourff said the name change would lessen confusion centered on the two organizations.  HSE Schools is a public school district, and HSE S.P.O.R.T.S. is an independent tax exempt organization.  The two entities often partner with each other but have both been separate entities.

There should be no confusion now, with the sports group now calling itself Mudsock Youth Athletics.

Being a high school principal has changed a lot through the years.  Factor-in having two large high schools in the Hamilton Southeastern School District and the complications multiply.  I invited Fishers High School Principal Jason Urban and HSE Principal Chad Cripe on this podcast to talk about a number of issues they face in running their respective high school buildings.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness sat down for a podcast interview with me on December 23rd.  We discussed a number of subjects. The mayor described expectations that 2020 will be “a year of building.”  The many building projects include State Road 37, the 116th Street development downtown where the new headquarters for First Internet Bank and a new hotel will begin construction – and a complete reconstruction of 96th Street will be underway.

Here are some of the items the mayor talked about as the city enters 2020.

New downtown development along 116th Street This massive undertaking will begin in earnest during 2020, but will take about 24 months to complete, so it will not be finished in 2020.  Fadness says this will change the landscape of downtown and the City of Fishers.  Once complete, all this will profoundly change the look and feel of downtown, including  the Nickel Plate Trail, a new high-end hotel and the six-story First Internet Bank Headquarters.

“It will feel like an urban center in the sense of – you will feel like you’re in a downtown area,” Fadness said.  “We’ll have world-class amenities that nobody else in Central Indiana really has.  I think it will be really a crown jewel for the city of Fishers and this area.  We’ll definitely demonstrate that we’re a dynamic and very vibrant city.”

Sense of community The mayor is planning to spend the first six months of the new year building a sense of community and culture among the population of Fishers.  He wants local residents to  feel connected to the overall community.  He looks at this as another critical piece of infrastructure, this one a human infrastructure.

As the mayor sees it, people seeking a suburban home look for housing, its affordability, as well as how close the home is to a job and good schools.  The precise geographic location is not the point for these people.  The mayor sees his job as, once here, how do you fall in love with the city where you happen to reside?  People tend to retreat back to their cul-de- sacs.  Fadness plans to explore ways to get people out of their neighborhoods and give them pride and ownership for the city they call home.

Geist – Waterfront Park and Conservancy District – The Geist Waterfront Park is still in the design stage.  A number of permits will be needed in order to move forward,  Do not look for construction to start in 2020, but Fadness wants to move forward as quickly as possible.

Legal moves have begun to establish a Geist Conservancy District, with the power to tax and be responsible for maintenance of the lake.  The mayor says the Indiana General Assembly must act to keep this moving forward.  Fadness says he supports “some sort of conservancy district.”

The mayor acknowledges the rub will be the issue of which homeowners must pay for the lake maintenance costs.

“This is an asset that so many different homes derive value from the fact that they’re in this area and that it is a wonderful natural amenity,” Fadness said. “I also recognize the fact that Citizens (water utility) doesn’t necessarily view their job as making sure you can water ski on the lake.”

Citizens owns the lake and is only focused on the water supply from the lake, according to the mayor.

“You have this scenario where you have this wonderful natural amenity that does require management, it does require maintenance,” the mayor told me during the podcast.  “It just depends on which stakeholder you are talking about…what kind of maintenance needs to be done.  There’s going to be a lot of conversations about this going forward.  I do believe this is an asset that needs to be managed and I do believe there are costs that come with it and I do believe the people that benefit directly and indirectly from the lake should pay that.”

116th Street & Allisonville Road When Kroger opted to remodel their current store in the area and not build a new grocery, that left a large commercial hole in the area.  Fadness says he is “cautiously optimistic” that progress will be made in 2020.

He recently spoke with the developer and says the property owner is actively searching for a tenant to fill that area.

The mayor also pointed to a major step taken in partnership with the Hageman
Company to buy the large old brown building on the southeast corner of 116th & Allisonville Road.  “Our plan is to tear that building down and look to redevelop it,” said Fadness.

“For the folks that live along 116th & Allisonville, we are definitely trying to be as aggressive as we can to redevelop that area,” added the mayor.

New Democrats taking office on the city council  Fadness has held meetings with Jocelyn Vare and Sam DeLong, the two new Democrats taking office on the city council in 2020.  “I hope everyone is well intentioned,” Fadness said.

“We’re going to openly communicate with all nine council members.  We’re going to treat everyone the same, unless, for some reason, we’re given a reason why we have to act otherwise,” the mayor said.

I reminded the mayor there are many cities throughout Indiana that do not operate that way.  “I think our residents would demand that we operate professionally and transparently with all nine (council members),” the mayor responded.

You can listen to my entire podcast interview with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness at this link.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern finished with a 2-0 record at the North Central Classic after beating Springsboro (Ohio) 62-51 on Saturday.

The Class 4A No. 6 Royals led 16-12 after the first quarter, but Springsboro came back to take a 32-31 lead by halftime. Southeastern took the lead back in the third period, then pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring Springsboro 18-10.

Sydney Parrish scored 35 points for Southeastern. Parrish set a new HSE scoring record during the game; she now has 1,679 points, breaking the old record of 1,657 set by Zach Gunn. Parrish made five 3-pointers and also had eight rebounds.

Ryan Viele added 11 points; she and Lydia Self both collected four rebounds.

Lauren Morris dished out seven assists. Southeastern is 12-2 and will play
at New Castle on Friday afternoon in a make-up game.

Hamilton County Reporter

It was an all Hamilton County final at the Bedford North Lawrence Tournament Saturday and the Class 4A No. 7 Fishers Tigers came away with a 47-37 win over the University Trailblazers.

Fishers remained perfect on the season at 11-0, while University sits at 8-3 after a 3-1 weekend in Bedford.

Jeffrey Simmons led the Tigers with 19 points. The 6-6 sophomore made 8 of 11 foul shots, including a 7 of 9 fourth-quarter performance at the charity stripe.

Max Greenamoyer led University with 15 points, including four 3-pointers. The 6-0 senior had 16 three pointers during the tournament.

The first quarter was a defensive slugfest, with a Bryce Williams 3-pointer at the buzzer giving Fishers a 7-5 lead. Tigers coach Matt Moore thought the low score was due to both teams guarding at a high level. He praised University, saying the ‘Blazers were “one of the better teams” on the Fishers schedule.

The Tigers jumped out to a 11-5 lead early in the second quarter before a Camden Brown basket and a pair of Greenamoyer 3-pointers gave University a 13-11 lead with 4:40 remaining in the half. That would turn out to be the last Trailblazers lead of the game. The Tigers scored the last seven points of the half and another buzzer beating 3-pointer, this one by Dominic Castellani gave Fishers a 22-15 halftime advantage. Simmons had six
points in the quarter and Charlie Smith had four for the Tigers.

“We hit a shot at the end of the first quarter, hit a shot at the end of the half,” said Moore. “Both were 3s that gave us some separation.”

The third quarter again featured strong defensive efforts, with each team scoring only seven points. Joe Martin hit an early three pointer for University to cut the lead to 22-18 and Greenamoyer’s late three pulled the Blazers within 27-22, but five points from Simmons provided the offense for the Tigers 29-22 lead after three quarters.

Fishers looked poised to blow the game open early in the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points for a 37-22 lead. University fought back with baskets from Greenamoyer, Martin and Sam Mervis and a three pointer from Brown to get within 39-31 with 90 seconds
left. The Tigers made their foul shots down the stretch to hold off the Trailblazers.

In addition to Simmons’ 7 of 9 at the line, Smith and Justin Long were each two for two on foul shots as the Tigers made 11 of 13 fourth-quarter free throws.

Moore said that in the second half, his team did a great job of “locking down and guarding one possession at a time.”

Simmons and Greenamoyer were named to the All-Tournament team selected by Bedford radio station WBIW.

Completing the six-player All-Tournament team were Brayton Bailey of Bedford North Lawrence, Isaac Vencel of Bloomington North, Maximus Gizzi of New Palestine and Peyton Wert of Milan.

University coach Brandon Lafferman was excited with his team’s play at the tournament. “Congrats to Fishers and Coach Moore on a great tourney run and championship. They are really solid on both ends of the floor and made it tough on us all night.”

“I’m really proud of our boys and how they played in Bedford from the minute we arrived to the final second in the championship game against Fishers. We got great production from everyone who stepped on the floor and our team energy was outstanding. These Christmas tourney trips are priceless opportunities for team bonding and improvement and I’m thankful we got the invitation to play in Bedford this year. “

The Holiday tournament championship game appearance was the fourth in five seasons for University. The Trailblazers were champions in the Vincennes tournament in 2015 and 2018 and runner-up at Vincennes in 2017. Fishers is next in action Friday, Jan. 3 when it travels to Columbus East. University is off until Jan. 7 when it travels to Traders Point Christian Academy.

EARLIER GAMES

Fishers reached the championship game with a 58-44 victory over Scottsburg. The Tigers led 18-5 after the first quarter, with Castellani scoring eight of those points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Scottsburg cut Fishers’ lead to 27-18 by halftime, but the Tigers stayed in front 44-35 at the end of three. Simmons had seven points in that period.

Four Fishers players landed in double figures, with Simmons and Isaac Farah each scoring 12 points. Castellani and Smith both had 10 points.

University earned its way to the championship game with a 45-39 win over the host Bedford North Lawrence Stars.

Joe Martin and Max Greenamoyer again led the Trailblazers with 15 points each as University broke away from a 30-30 tie after three quarters to take top honors in Pool A.

Greenamoyer scored in the lane then fed Jacob Sager for a lay-in to put University in front to stay, before Trey Mollett’s 3-pointer pulled the Stars within 34-33.

Martin scored two quick baskets for a 38-33 lead with 2:18 left. Korey Ash-Simpson had consecutive baskets for a 42-35 lead with 1:09 left.

The ‘Blazers missed the front end of three consecutive one-and-ones, but Ash-Simpson rebounded the third miss, leading to a pair of made free throws by Sam Mervis to put the game away. The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with University holding a 12-7
lead on two 3-pointers from Greenamoyer, four points from Martin and a pair of Mervis foul shots, before the Stars scored the last seven points on the quarter to lead 14-12 after the first.

Two more Martin free throws and 3-pointers by Mervis and Greenamoyer got University to a 20-20 tie before baskets by Mervis and Martin put University up 24-20 at the half.

The Trailblazers threatened to blow the game open early in the third with 3-pointers from Martin and Greenamoyer put University up 30-22 at the 6:03 mark, however University did not score again in the period.

Mervis finished with nine points, Ash-Simpson had four points and Sager
two to round out University’s scoring.

Christopher Lloyd joins Adam & Larry, looking back at the best films of 2019.  Adam lists his ten favorite films of the decade.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern’s defense took over in the third quarter, and that led the Royals to a 53-44 win over Henderson County (Ky.) Friday at the North Central Classic.

The Class 4A No. 6 Royals trailed 10-8 after the first quarter and 25-22 at halftime. But Southeastern held Henderson County to only two points in the third period, then poured in 21 points in the fourth to seal the victory.

Sydney Parrish scored 25 points and collected nine rebounds. Lauren Morris had a solid game, adding 10 points and making four steals.

The Royals are 11-2 and return to the North Central Classic this afternoon to play Springboro (Ohio).

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers went 2-0 in pool play Friday at the Bedford North Lawrence Tournament.

In their first game, the Class 4A No. 7 Tigers beat New Palestine 74-55. Fishers outscored the Dragons in each quarter, leading 13-6 after one period and 32-19 at halftime. Justin Long scored seven points in the first, then Jeffrey Simmons added nine points in the second quarter.

Simmons finished the game with 15 points, while Long scored 14. Two other Tigers players reached double figures: Bryce Williams added 13 points and Charlie Smith scored 10. Long and Isaac Farah both made two 3-pointers.

Fishers beat a good Bloomington North team 46-35 in its second game. The Tigers led 12-8 after the first quarter, then went up 20-16 at halftime. After a close third quarter, Fishers pulled away in the fourth period, with six players scoring at least one point.
Simmons again led the way, with 17 points.

The Tigers are still perfect for the season at 9-0 and finish up play in Pool B by taking on Scottsburg at 11:45 a.m. today. Fishers, already the winner of Pool B, will then play either University or the tournament host Stars later that evening for the championship. The Trailblazers and BNL will play each other at 11:45 a.m. to determine the Pool A winner.