by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

(The County Line commentaries by Fred Swift are posted here as part of a newsgathering partnership between The Hamilton County Reporter and LarryInFishers.com.  This list is being sent to Santa for our good boys and girls laboring in public service to our great community. It’s meant to add a bit of humor for the season and more meaningful for Reporter readers who’ve kept up with the local news.)

For Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness: Tickets on the next Fair Train.

For Noblesville Deputy Mayor Steve Cooke: A guided Preservation Alliance tour of beautiful, unspoiled Seminary Park.

For Carmel School Superintendent Nick Wahl: full reinstatement to his lucrative position.

For George Kristo: A case of alcohol-free champagne for his next New Year’s Eve party.

For Sheriff Mark Bowen: A new year free of crime and jail overcrowding.

For Democratic County Chairman Joe Weingarten: More brave candidates coming forward to run for office.

For County Commissioner Christine Altman: A lifetime pass on the commuter rail line . . . valid upon its arrival in Hamilton County.

For Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard: A merry-go-round play set for his office to show visitors what it might have been.

For the folks at the Indiana Transportation Museum: Permission to put the Polar Bear Express back on the tracks.

For Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear: The new edition of “How to Build a Roundabout in 90 Days” written by Carmel City Engineer Jeremy Kashman.

For Elections Chief Kathy Richardson: An extra supply of electronic notebooks for better election reporting courtesy of her friends on the County Council.

For County Commissioners: A 99-year warranty covering hail damage on their new solar panels.

For Noblesville ice skaters: A two-month extension of the Jan. 8 scheduled closing of the Federal Hill Commons ice rink.

For Home Place residents: Invitations to the Welcome to Carmel annexation dinner party at the Home Place Tavern.

For all our loyal Reporter readers: A Very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

The Fishers City Council honored two firefighters for twenty years of service, and The Advisory Council on Disability, which received an award from the Governor’s Council For People Wit Disabilities.

Mayor Scott Fadness mentioned awarding a Key To The City at Lynda Carlino’s retirement event.  Ms. Carlino has led the local nonprofit, S.P.O.R.T.S, through many years of massive growth.

In late June of this year, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District agreed to hire the private firms of MilesHerndon and BitWise to work on branding the school system and updating the district’s Web presence.  Nearly six months later, MilesHerndon is presenting some concepts to the school board.  BitWise is not quite ready to preview Web site concepts until the branding decisions are made.

School board members grappled with the choices of logos for the entire school district and individual schools at a Tuesday morning work session.  After a lengthy discussion, MilesHerndon was given an idea of how to come up with a final version of the logo and phrases to brand the local school system.

The next step is for school administrators to work with the private firms and finalize the logo and phrases to identify the Hamilton Southeastern Schools.

MilesHerndon told board members it had conducted a number of “discovery group” sessions to get some idea how to design the logo and phrasing.  The firm also conducted phone interviews with community members within the school district.

BitWise told board members they are not ready to present a new Web site design until Miles Herndon completes its work on the logo and phrasing.

Two of the phrasing options proposed by MilesHerndon are:

Community of Thoughts – and Actions

Inspiring Learning    

At the June 28th session, the board approved contracts with MilesHerndon and BitWise.  $50,000 goes to MilesHerndon for the branding and $98,599 to BitWise for the Web site redesign, for a total of $148,599.

The Fishers City Council voted to allow special zoning for empty grocery stores, including two vacant Marsh stores and a Kroger to be vacated.  The zoning provision means these vacant spaces may only be used as groceries.

Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath said this provision will allow development other than a grocery on a case-by-case basis.  She said residents in the impacted areas favor this action, while the property owners of the vacant spaces do not.

The vote was 8-1, with Councilman Rich Block casting the no vote out of concern for the property owners.

Thyssenkrupp Presta is coming to Fishers, bringing 86 existing jobs and expecting to create 64 more positions by 2020.  The firm will spend $7 million to renovate 47,000 square feet of space once occupied by Comcast.

The Fishers City Council approved a 5-year tax abatement for the thyssenkrupp Presta as part of the Economic Development Agreement, along with a $50,000 commercial grant, conditioned on the jobs promised.  The State of Indiana is also providing incentives, $950,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants.

Company officials say all these jobs coming to Fishers will be engineering positions. The Fishers facility will be aimed at high-tech steering systems and other technologies tied to the automotive industry.

Thyssenkrupp Presta has about 500 employees in the Central Indiana area, and is an international firm operating in 79 countries throughout the world.

For many years, one of the most dangerous intersections in Fishers has been 126th Street and Hoosier Road, particularly since 126th Street was widened to four lanes.  As of this Wednesday, motorists will find a much easier way to navigate that intersection.

Mayor Scott Fadness told the City Council Monday night that the traffic signal being installed at that location is scheduled to be operational on Wednesday of this week.

Members of the Fishers City Council received an update on plans for the renovation of the area between City Hall and the Amphitheater, including an upgrade to the Amphitheater itself.  Sean O’Grady, Assistant Director of the Fishers City Department of Public Works, told council members at the Monday work session that the current schedule calls for the renovated Amphitheater to be completed June 1st.

The design calls for a pavilion between the stage and City Hall, which is set for completion in Mid-June, 2018.  The pavilion will provide more rest rooms and will be a space for community meetings.

City officials say the bids will determine how extensive the renovation will be.  After the Amphitheater upgrade, which expands the stage by 25 feet, the next priorities for Mayor Scott Fadness will be expanding sidewalks in the area and sloping the ground to allow better sight lines for the Amphitheater.  The mayor said the third priority for him will be a fountain area and ice skating rink.  Fadness says if the budget does not allow the third option, that could be added later when money is available.

The budget for this renovation is $6 million.  Over $1.4 million has already been spent on the project, leaving just over $4.5 million remaining.  How much renovation that will buy will not be known until bids are opened in January.

When an area is growing as much as Fishers and the Hamilton Southeastern School District, it takes many leaders to handle the influx of people and students.  Our local area is losing two people important to managing that growth.  They both richly deserve retirement.

First, there is Jim White.  He has handled transportation for Hamilton Southeastern Schools for many years.  He was the captain of the ship that scheduled all the bus routes in a community that managed massive student growth during his tenure.  Imagine dealing with that growth and also maneuvering around all the road and street construction we have seen around Fishers.  With all that, the buses almost always ran on time.  Jim will point to his staff, but members of his staff point to Jim as being the leader they always could depend upon.  Jim is traveling to Florida next month, but his main home will remain in the Fishers area.  I wish him well.

Then there is Lynda Carlino.  She is the long-time executive director of the Southeastern Program Of Recreational Team Sports (S.P.O.R.T.S.).  This is a nonprofit organization that has run youth sports programs throughout Fishers and the area encompassing the Hamilton Southeastern School District for many years.  Once again, Lynda presided over this organization during a massive influx of young people wanting to play sports.  It has been Lynda’s job to hold together all the volunteers that have made S.P.O.R.T.S. possible all these years.  Many cities administer youth sports programs through the their local parks & recreation department.  Fishers never had to do that because Lynda Carlino and S.P.O.R.T.S., through private donations, volunteers and some help from local government, has professionally handled youth sports programs.  We all owe Lynda a debt of gratitude for all she has done.  She deserves some time in the warm sun next month.

Zach McKinney is taking over the HSE Schools Transportation Department in a transition that began in July of this year.  Scott Spillman is entering his new job as executive director with S.P.O.R.T.S.

I am sure Zach & Scott will do an outstanding job in handling their new duties.  But we will miss Jim and Lynda.  They have been properly recognized for their long service to the community.  I have had the honor to get to know them a little.  They are both fine people.  I wish them well in retirement.

by

Jim Belser

Hamilton County Reporter

The intensity couldn’t have gotten any higher Saturday night at Fishers as the
Tigers tangled with Hamilton Southeastern in girls’ basketball to determine this year’s
Mudsock trophy winner. In the end it was the Royals cool composure down the stretch
that carried them to a 54-49 victory over their Hoosier Crossroads Conference rivals.

“When we get together, whatever your record is, whatever you’ve done on the past
doesn’t matter, Hamilton Southeastern coach Chris Huppenthal said. “I was proud
of our kids, they stayed composed and hopefully that will help us on the future.”

Hamilton Southeastern withstood a torrid comeback attempt by Fishers late in
the fourth quarter after being up by as many as 10 points. Shelby Ford, coming off the
bench in place of an injured Sydney Parrish, knocked down a free throw during the Tiger
run with 46 seconds to go, putting the Royals up 50-46.

“When she hit the free throw with 46 seconds left, it put us up by four and became
a two-possession game,” Huppenthal said.

Teammates Molly Watson and Malea Jackson followed her success at the foul line,
combing for 3 of 4 from the stripe the rest of the way to hold on for the win and move
the Royals to (12-2) on the season. Despite the loss, Fishers holds on to a winning
record at (7-6).

Parrish of Hamilton Southeastern saw limited action in the contest as she battled
early foul trouble and left the game with just under a minute to go after hitting her chin
on court following a foul on a drive to the basket. She finished with 12 points on the
night.

Malea Jackson led the Royals in scoring with 14 points. For Fishers, Toni Grace led
the Tigers with 16, while teammate and sophomore guard Tamia Perryman chipped
in 14.

Down 45-35 with just over five minutes left, Fishers got a steal and a fast break score
from Katie Burton. Kenedi London hit a 3 pointer for Fishers and Grace scored on a
fast break bucket following a Fishers steal to cut it to 49-44. Fishers gave itself one last
chance when it forced a late game turnover with Burton diving on the floor to gain
possession and calling time out

Two late scores by Perryman of Fishers wasn’t enough to threaten for the win. For
Fishers coach Lauren Vail, it was business as usual between the two schools.

“They are an extremely talented basketball team. He had kids step up and hit big
shots. Kids that don’t necessarily hit big shots,” Fishers coach Lauren Vail said.
“They were poised down the stretch when we tried to speed them up. I though both
teams played exceptional hard, and I thought it was a great basketball game.”

The Lady Royals controlled the pace for much of the first half even with leading
scorer Sydney Parrish on the bench with two fouls for much of the second quarter.
Picking up the slack was teammate Jackie Maulucci, who contributed eight secondquarter
points to keep the Tigers at bay.

Molly Walton of HSE gave the visitors their biggest lead of the first quarter after
going coast to coast for a layup following a steal. Her score at the 1:42 mark gave the
Royals a 12-8 lead. Fishers came back to tie things up at 12 with 10 seconds left in the
first with a steal and a fast break score by Toni Grace.

The Royals opened a scoring gap in the second quarter as the Tigers struggled to
find their range. Fishers was just 2 for 7 shooting in the second quarter.

Fishers takes on Delta in Muncie at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20. Hamilton Southeastern
plays Plainfield at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21 in an away game.

Adam & I review the film The Shape of Water, talk about the new Star Wars film and review the Golden Globe nominations.  Our guest this week is Dave Dugan.