by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

With Home Place now annexed by Carmel effective Jan. 1, Carmel will move to merge city and township government since the entire township will comprise city territory.

The merger will eliminate the township as a political entity. It will require approval by voters in a citywide referendum. That referendum could come as early as November of 2018, although Township Trustee Doug Callahan says it is more likely in 2020.

Placing a referendum on the ballot will require a joint resolution by the Carmel City Council and the Clay Township Board asking the county election board to make arrangements for the balloting.

If voters approve, the administration of Mayor Jim Brainard will achieve what has been sought for several years; a township-wide city comprised of just over 50 square miles with a population of around 95,000.

Whether Carmel will inherit all of the township’s assets and liabilities remains a question. The township has several million dollars in reserve plus various fire department properties and equipment. But, the township also sold bonds of more than $50 million several years ago to finance the award-winning Central Park and Monon Center.

With a merger, the city will take complete control of the park system, now a joint operation, as well as the fire department, and become responsible for poor relief and cemetery maintenance.

Although allowed by state law, there have been very few mergers of city and township governments. Marion County still retains township governments despite the fact that Unigov spreads through all nine townships.

Home Place, whose residents decided last week to not continue a 12-year legal fight against annexation, was the last portion of Clay Township not incorporated by Carmel. Home Place, centered at 106th Street and College Avenue, has just under 5,000 residents living in a two-square-mile area.

Students in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District will report for classes in the 2018-2019 school year on Wednesday, August 8th, following a vote by the board at a special meeting held Wednesday night.  The board voted 6-1 to reverse a school calendar decision made at a regular meeting last week.  Sylvia Shepler was the lone no vote.

The board voted 4-3 last week to start school two days earlier in August and add two days to the Thanksgiving week break to provide a full week of vacation.  After a social media deluge of comments from the public, and a change.org online petition, board President Matt Burke called the special meeting to reconsider the decision after consulting with Superintendent Allen Bourff and other members of the board.

To review the 2018-2019 school calendar approved by the board,  use this link.

To review the 2019-2020 calendar, use this link.

The calendars for the coming two school years approved by the board Wednesday night are the calendar recommendations from Dr. Bourff, made in consultation with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association.  The calendars approved are similar to the calendar for the current school year.

There were 14 public comments made at the special board session about the calendar issue.  One person said his company uses high school interns, and even two fewer days in the summer would limit what those interns could learn in that experience.

Another parent said the extra days off for students would not necessarily mean more family time because parents are not always able to take time away from their jobs to spend time with their school-age children.

There were some comments about the number of snow make-up days set aside at the end of May, and whether they are needed with the recent mild winters in the Fishers area.

Janet Chandler, President of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association, told the board 95% of teachers want to start the school year in August on a Wednesday, not a Monday.  94% of teachers favor a full two weeks off for winter break.  She also expressed the need for each semester to be as equal in the number of days as possible.  Teachers also feel e-learning should be utilized when there are snow days.

Superintendent Bourff complimented board members, saying in his 27 years in school administration, he has never seen a local school board reconsider a major decision as this board was willing to do.

(EDITOR’S NOTE:  A special thanks to my wife Jane Lannan for her help in putting this story together) 

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

The Carmel School Board met Monday night in regular session, but took no action on Superintendent Nick Wahl’s future with the school district. He was placed on administrative leave several weeks ago for what the board called a performance review. Apparently still under review, Wahl continues to draw his $195,000 annual salary. No date has been set by school officials on when he will either return to work or leave his position. The board meets again on Dec. 11.

* * *

The Noblesville Preservation Alliance will hold its exclusive Homes for the Holidays Tour on Saturday, Dec. 9. Four of the city’s historic private residences will be featured on the tour from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets, which are limited in number, may be reserved online at noblesvillepreservation.org. Besides seeing the homes, tour-goers will “enjoy hors d’oeurves, drinks and sounds of the holidays,” according to sponsors of the event.

* * *

Ice skating has become popular in Hamilton County with the opening of public ice rinks at Noblesville’s Federal Hill Commons and Carmel’s City Center. The Noblesville rink was very crowded over the past weekend, according to some observers. Carmel will keep their popular rink all winter. But, the Noblesville rink will close Jan. 8 unless current plans change.

* * *

Home Place residents opposed to annexation by Carmel have given up their court fight waged over the past 12 years. Annexation opponents had until this week to appeal to the state Supreme Court if they wanted to continue the fight. Now the unincorporated area will become part of Carmel on Jan. 1. Residents will receive city police protection and city street maintenance which have been provided by county sheriff and highway departments.

* * *

The Hamilton County Council and County Commissioners will meet in joint session at noon Thursday at the highway department. It will be an important meeting likely deciding the size and extent of jail and judicial center expansions. Both projects, recommended by Commissioners, await funding by the Council. The meeting will be held around one table to foster togetherness among the participants who sometimes hold divergent opinions.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Fishers boys basketball team picked up its first win of the season Tuesday, taking
care of Indianapolis Manual 64-50 in the Tiger Den.

Fishers led 30-27 at halftime, then slowly added to its lead throughout the
second half. It also marked the first victory for new head coach Matt Moore, as well as
his 100th overall win.

“The biggest thing is just, you put in all this work and then you try to do your best
at getting your guys to believe in the process,” said Moore.

Moore said his team “got kicked pretty good” after last week’s opening loss to
Lawrence Central, so the coach was happy that Fishers was able to bounce back over
Manual.

“They’re averaging 95 points a game through their first two games, and to hold
them to 50 points, I thought was outstanding,” said Moore.

Terry Hicks also was outstanding, especially in the second half. The 6-5 junior
forward took over the game, scoring nine points in the third quarter and 10 more in the
fourth. Hicks finished the game with 27 points.

“And that’s what he can do,” said Moore.  “He needs to be aggressive. He took good
shots. He rebounded the ball well. We need him to do that. He’s extremely versatile and
I thought he played a really smart game tonight.”

Willie Jackson, a 5-11 junior, added 10 points for the Tigers. Jordan Jones came off
the bench to score eight points.

Fishers is now 1-1 for the season and hosts Noblesville on Friday to begin Hoosier Crossroads Conference play.

The annual tree lighting ceremony and visit from Santa Clause is back at the Fishers City Hall complex, with a bit of a change this year.  With the area around the Amphitheater under construction for a major renovation project, the Central Green area, between City Hall and 116th Street, will be the hub of activity this Christmas season.

On Thursday night, November 30th, the city kicks off the local Christmas activities.

For more details, see the city news release below:

============================

The City of Fishers invites the community to celebrate the start of the holiday season during Fishers’ Winter Wonderland on Thursday, November 30^th from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The free event, presented by Fishers Parks & Recreation, features family-friendly winter fun on the Central Green, the new home for this year’s annual city light display.

Along with the festive tree lighting and light display, residents and families can step into a Winter Wonderland featuring an ice carving demonstration, live music by Dave and Rae, live reindeer and more. The special night concludes with an appearance by Santa Claus and the tree lighting at 7:15 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and 5280 Bistro will be on-site for food purchases. The city will also partner with the Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County to host a Toy Drive at the event, and donations of new, unwrapped toys will be accepted.

Fishers Parks & Recreation is also offering the following free holiday events:

Santa’s Mailbox – Children are encouraged to bring their letters to Santa to drop in the city’s Santa’s Mailbox during the Winter Wonderland event. A Fishers tradition, Santa’s Mailboxes are located at City Hall (1 Municipal Dr., Fishers, IN 46038) and at the Fishers Parks & Recreation Office (11565 Brooks School Rd., Fishers, IN 46037) now through December 11^th. By including a self-addressed, stamped envelope with their letter, children will receive a reply in the mail from Santa before Christmas Eve.

City Light Display – The city’s colorful holiday lights will be displayed through January 1^st. Special thanks to the Fishers Department of Public Works for their hard work on the annual display.

Pictures with Santa – Fishers Parks & Recreation is also excited to host the free annual Pictures with Santa event at City Hall on Tuesday, December 6^th and Wednesday, December 7^th from 6 to 7:30 p.m. This year, a Sensory Friendly Hour will be offered for children with special needs on Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m.

To learn more about this year’s holiday events presented by Fishers Parks & Recreation visit www.fishers.in.us/winterwonderland and follow Fishers Parks & Recreation on Facebook and Twitter. Also, download the free Nickel Plate District App for iPhone and Android for additional event updates and Nickel Plate District news.

The health clinic for Fishers city employees has been run by a company called QuadMed since 2008, but the city has chosen to terminate the contract and bring in a new health provider.  The transition to a new firm named Our Health is now underway.

Mayor Scott Fadness said the city sought to terminate the contract with QuadMed due to “performance issues.”  The Fishers City Board of Public Works and Safety approved the contract termination arrangement.

In other matters brought before the Board of Works:

–An agreement between Fishers and the Indiana Department of Transportation was extended for the project along 96th Street to add lanes, including bridge work.  The extension was approved.  The extension is needed for environmental work and land acquisition.

–The bids for steel needed for the winter overhaul work on the Amphitheater and new pavilion came in over budget, so the board authorized negotiations to reduce the steel cost and allow the project to move forward.

It has been a while since the Indianapolis Star had a front-page story about Fishers, but I was a bit surprised at the lead in John Tuohy’s piece in the November 27th edition.  The lead to the story wasn’t about city finances or economic development.  It was about “fun.”  Yes, “fun.”  Here are the first four sentences:

First, the Fair Train was grounded. Then, the Freedom Fest was skedaddled. Finally, a plan for a skating rink was put on ice.

Has Fishers become a fun-free zone?

What is interesting about reporter Tuohy’s story is that I asked Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness  a question similar to what the Star is addressing nearly two years ago in my first full podcast – many long-time Fishers residents complain about the rapid changes in the community, and I asked the mayor how he answers those people.

His answer was simple – cities are either moving forward or backward.  Fadness believes just keeping things the way they are is not an option.  Given those two choices, the mayor opts to keep moving the city forward.

You can listen to the entire podcast at this link.

Tuohy’s piece explores the fact that Fishers may have lost some “fun” things we have enjoyed in the past, but the city is replacing most of them with something else.  You can argue about whether the new amenities  are better than the old, but change is coming – the only question is how things will be changing.

When the Fishers Freedom Festival Board of Directors issued the news release announcing it will no longer host the annual summer event, the mayor took exception to the assertion that the “festival partnership does not fall within their city’s vision.”  The mayor was emphatic with me that festivals are within his vision and that the city will continue a summer festival, which Mr. Tuohy’s article does address.

I have never found a measurement of fun for a community that makes any sense.  When I moved to Fishers in 1991, the Town of Fishers was one kind of place, a quiet suburb of about 10,000 people.  The City of Fishers is a much different place with a population of nearly 90,000.  I suppose fun for a small town and a growing city are two different things.

When I began the LarryInFishers.com news blog nearly 6 years ago, I did so because news outlets like the Star were paying only occasional attention to our community.  The Star is paying more attention to Fishers now, but if you want more updates on the fun measurement, you will have to go to the Star for that story.  I still don’t know how to measure fun.

To read John Touhy’s full story, use this link.

There has been a lot going on in Fishers lately.  There are squabbles about the school calendar at Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools, a popular pizza restaurant in the heart of downtown Fishers has closed abruptly & unexpectedly…and the Fishers Freedom Festival is in the process of winding down the nonprofit group that has run the event since 1989.  That’s a lot of news in just a few weeks time.

On top of all that, I have a contract to travel the state this time of year as an instructor for Indiana University.  That means it is a bit more difficult for me to track local developments.

I have been wanting to write about this issue, but just now have reserved the time to do so.  I respectfully ask that you read what I have to say.

I am writing this to give you all a warning that this local news blog, and my podcasts, could all be history if one federal agency conducts a vote in December and the outcome is the one all observers are expecting.

If Net Neutrality rules, first established in 2005 by the George W. Bush administration and strengthened during the administration of Barack Obama, are repealed or greatly relaxed, my news blog and podcast series could be a thing of the past.

Am I being alarmist about this?  I do not think so.  I will explain why.

If the Net Neutrality rules are changed as expected by the Federal Communications Commission, you may soon find it difficult or impossible to access LarryInFishers.com.  I am just a locally-focused, small blog.  I have no commercial sponsors.  I am just a volunteer trying to serve my community during a period of time when news coverage is lacking here due to the economic changes in the news business.

If the big providers of Internet service (AT&T, Comcast, Verizon etc.) decide LarryInFishers is not that important to them economically, they could block my content in favor of other sites willing and able to pay them.  If not blocking, these firms could “throttle” my blog and podcasts, meaning it would take so long to load onto your computer or phone that you would likely give up on it.

For the “small fish” on the Internet, such as LarryInFishers.com, it is conceivable that we would disappear from sight on what is now a neutral Internet playing field.  The large Internet Service Providers would have complete freedom and discretion to do just that.

You may have seen the statements from companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon.  They all claim they will not block or slow down any “lawful” sites on the Web.  That’s what they say now.  That could change in the future.  That’s what has many of us worried.

After writing here recently that I was contemplating ending this blog after nearly 6 years of providing this service, I was deluged with wonderful comments asking me to continue, so I have.  But this change in the Net Neutrality regulatory framework is the biggest threat to Internet offerings such as mine.

If you do care about LarryInFishers.com and want it to continue, I would urge you to contact Congresswoman Susan Brooks and our two senators, Joe Donnelly and Todd Young.  Since the Federal Communications Commission vote will likely change the Net Neutrality rules, there will almost certainly be litigation on this issue.

As the litigation delays implementation, Congress has the right to intervene at any time.  I would urge all citizens of Fishers to contact your two senators and member of the House.  That is the only way Net Neutrality has a chance of being preserved.

In a new world without Net Neutrality, LarryInFishers.com and my podcasts have a very uncertain future.

Contact information for Congresswoman Susan Brooks is available at this link.

Contact information for Senator Todd Young is available at this ink.

Contact Senator Joe Donnelly at this link.

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers scored a tough win at New Castle Saturday, beating the Trojans
50-47.

It was a back-and-forth game throughout; the Tigers jumped out to
a 10-5 lead after the first quarter, but New Castle came back to go up 20-17 at halftime. Fishers reclaimed the lead by the end of the third period and held on for the win.

Toni Grace scored 25 points for the Tigers and also had five rebounds. Kenedi
London added 12 points, and Tamia Perryman grabbed eight rebounds. Lydia
Stullken made two blocks.

Fishers is now 7-2 and hosts Mooresville on Wednesday.

Adam & I review the film Lady Bird.  My nephew Connor Glass talks about being a production assistant in the film industry..