The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board will decide July 21st on the language of a proposed  funding referendum and how much tax money the school system will request from taxpayers. The board also plans to meet Friday morning, July 17th, to discuss the options available on the handling of the referendum.  Both meetings will start at 7:30am.

Under current plans, the referendum would be held in the November 3rd general election this year.

HSE School Superintendent Allen Bourff presented the board with three possible scenarios for a funding referendum.  One would keep the property tax rate where it is (the previous referendum authorizing a 10 cent property tax increase for operating funds  expires at the end of next year).  The second would call for a increase of nearly six cents, the third calls for a hike of just over 11 cents.

Operating referendums only last for 7 years.  In other words, the school system would see a dramatic plunge in revenue with no action at all.

With more tax funding, local schools would be able to enhance the compensation package for teachers and reduce class size.  Additional funding could also reduce or eliminate fees parents must pay for extra curricular activities, including athletics and various clubs.

You can access the summary of the three scenarios at this link. 

The school system received good news from a private firm hired to conduct a community survey on the issue of a funding referendum.  69% of those responding favored the current 10 cent rate authorized by the last referendum.  59% said they would support increasing the property tax rate to 20 cents if the extra money is used to compensate teachers and reduce class sizes.

78% in the survey said the HSE Schools are moving in the right direction.  68% gave the local schools an A or B grade.  80% want HSE Schools to pay their teachers competitively.  86% said they moved to Fishers due to the reputation of the school system.

The survey was done using a scientific sample.  15,000 post cards were mailed to residents living in the HSE School District.  The results were from those responding.

In other news from the HSE School Board session…

–Superintendent Bourff gave the board a summary of his first 90 days on the job.  You can view his presentation at this link.

–The Senior Academies at each high school should be ready for occupancy for the start of the school year next month.  Teachers are now able to occupy the facility at Fishers High School and the same is scheduled to happen next week at HSE.  Construction crews have battled tough winter weather and a very wet spring & summer, but are still on schedule.

-The HSE High School State Championship Rugby team was honored by the board.

Shortly after Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness assumed office this year, he appointed a blue-ribbon panel to study how the city can approach issues of mental illness.  The group has been very quiet publicly, choosing to wait until its recommendations are complete before unveiling its findings.

The committee is made up of the mayor, members of the city council, representatives of the Hamilton Southeastern School System and many others.

While I was coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s, there was a societal stigma attached to anyone identified with a mental illness.  I am happy to say that stigma is slowly going away.

I am no mental health expert, but in reading and talking to people who know something about this, we all need to approach mental health the same way we approach any health issue.  For example, we don’t stigmatize people with cancer or heart disease.  We shouldn’t look down on people suffering from mental illness just because they have a medical condition in need of treatment.

The Indiana Youth Institute released some sobering numbers earlier this year.  Here’s what the Indianapolis Star reported on February 17th of this year about that report:

“Indiana has the highest rate in the country of teens who have considered suicide and the second-highest rate of those who attempted it…”

The data, from 2011, says 19% of teen students in our state contemplated suicide and 11% actually attempted to take their own life.  Suicide is just one aspect of mental health, but it is a critical one.

I honestly do not know what the city can do about this problem, but it is encouraging that the mayor’s office is making this issue one of the first priorities in the early months of the Fadness Administration.

Keep an eye out for the recommendations of this group.  It could be important to the entire community.

The Indianapolis Business Journal has put the public transit issue on the front page in the July 13-19 edition.  Reporter Lindsey Erdody presents the many opportunities and roadblocks in fashioning a public transit bus system connecting parts of Hamilton County to the Indianapolis metro area.

It is clear from her interview quotes that county elected officials are very wary of the transit issue.  Even in Carmel, which stands to benefit from the first proposed bus route, the Red Line, the city council voted down spending $200,000 to qualify for federal matching grants in completing the $2 million preliminary work on the Red Line.

The scenarios put together by the Hamilton County Transit Forum show the Red Line running from Westfield’s Grand Park, through Carmel, then south to Marion County, as the first phase is completed in 2018.  The Green Line, mapped to start in Noblesville south through Fishers and on to the Indy area, is a project set for 2025 completion.

These timelines assume the passage of a transit referendum in the November, 2016 general election.  Sources have been telling me for months that some private polling has been done on how a referendum would do in Hamilton County, and that polling has not been encouraging.  Bottom line, there is no guarantee such a referendum would pass.

The referendum would call for an income tax increase ranging from 0.1% up to 0.25%.  The larger the tax increase, the more comprehensive the service.

With Fishers scheduled for a transit system no earlier than 2025, local officials here have been hesitant to push for a system that would not be in the offing for ten years, while Westfield and Carmel would be implementing their system as early as 2018 (if all goes according to plan, and that’s a very big if).

I would encourage you to read Lindsey’s story in the IBJ if you are a subscriber.  If you don’t have an IBJ subscription, find it on a newsstand.  It is a good update on the status of mass transit proposals in the northern suburbs of Indy.

Fishers asked for bids to redevelop a half-acre plot of land in the downtown Nickel Plate District, bur the two bids submitted have been rejected because of the incentives included in the proposals.

Lindsey Erdody of the Indianapolis Business Journal posted this story on the IBJ Web site.  Read the story at this link.

We are in the heart of the road construction season and the work schedule is not slowing down in Fishers.  Below is a listing from the city with all the projects set to be done during the work week beginning Monday, July 13th…

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Burberry Place

Concrete repair work will continue taking place in Burberry Place through the week.

Eller Road Closure

Eller Road between 106th Street and 116th Street will be closed for the replacement of the bridge over Cheeney Creek. The road will be closed to traffic through early August. During this time a detour will be available along 106th Street, Allisonville Road and 116th Street. Fishers Heritage Park will be accessible during construction, and local traffic will be able to proceed south on Eller Road as far as Round Up Trail and White Horse Lane. This is a Hamilton County Highway Department project and questions can be directed to their department at (317) 773-7770.

Georgia Road

Restrictions continue the week of July 13th on 104th Street between Georgia Road and Florida Road to allow for shoulder work. There will be flaggers onsite during construction.

Lantern and Commercial

Lanes may be reduced as work on the intersection and railroad continues.  Please travel with caution in the area.

North Street

Lane restrictions will be in place until August 6th for North Street between Municipal Drive and the railroad tracks. Flaggers will be in place.

Promise Road

Utility work along Promise between 131 Street and 141 Street will continue along with periodic lane restrictions. Flaggers will be onsite.

96th Street Power Lines

Power line transfers and old pole removal will continue the week of July 13th along 96th Street going east from Cyntheanne Road to Fortville city limits. This project is ongoing and updates will be posted as they become available. Flaggers will be onsite to help direct traffic.

131st Street Construction

Road and shoulder construction will be ongoing along 131st Street between Parkside Drive and Cumberland Road. Updates on this project will be posted as they become available, and flaggers will be onsite to direct traffic.

Road Resurfacing

Scheduled to begin on the following roads:

• Cumberland Road between 131st Street and 141st Street
• Bridgewater Road
• Aldenham Place
• Doncaster Court
• Burning Ridge Lane
• Hamilton Pass

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) is donating $5,000 to the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation to support a literacy program in local elementary schools.  The money is tied to the volunteer work at the foundation by a local agent for MassMutual, Kevin Clasen.

Below is the full text of the news release from the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation:

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The Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation (HSSF) has received a $5,000 grant from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) as part of MassMutual’s national Community Service Award (CSA) program. HSSF is one of only sixteen organizations nationally to receive an award. MassMutual made the grant on behalf of the volunteer efforts of Kevin Clasen, a local MassMutual agent with WestPoint Financial Group.

“MassMutual’s Community Service Awards program aims to encourage and recognize those financial professionals who are active members of their community,” said Nick Fyntrilakis, Vice President of Community Responsibility, MassMutual. “Kevin’s volunteer work reflects MassMutual’s steadfast commitment to supporting organizations in the communities where our financial professionals live and work.”

Kevin has been an active board member with the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation since 2010 and has led fund development efforts, participated in the executive committee, served as a school based liaison, and aided strategic planning efforts. Executive Director Freedom Kolb stated, “Kevin is an out of the box thinker and has been a critical leader during a time of growth for the Foundation.  He clearly cares about local schools and students. Kevin has the charisma to rally community support to public education.”

Mass Mutual funding will be utilized to support the Elementary Literacy for All project which supplies best practice literacy curriculum to all 12 local elementary schools. 

The City of Fishers announced two additional staff members to Mayor Scott Fadness’ economic development team.

Brandon Dickinson comes from Indianapolis city government where he served as Director of Enterprise Development.  As Director for Economic Development in Fishers, he will oversee all Fishers Advantage economic development initiatives including the further redevelopment of the Nickel Plate District, expansion of Launch Fishers and growth along the I-69 business corridor.  Dickinson is a graduate of Regent University School of Law and Indiana University-Bloomington where he majored in Public Policy and Legal Studies.

The second addition to the staff is Assistant Director of Economic Development Megan Baumgartner.  Before joining the Fishers department, she worked at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC).  At the IEDC she collaborated with regional economic development organizations to grow and attract new business to the State of Indiana.  Baumgartner is a Purdue University graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and Spanish.

“Part of being a smart, vibrant community is having experienced leadership to move Fishers forward,” according to Mayor Fadness in a city news release. “I’m excited to work with our economic development team to bring more entrepreneurial opportunity to Fishers and strengthen the long-term sustainability of the city.”

Fishers city government has seen some reorganization with the departure of Community Development Director Tom Dickey to the private sector.  The hiring of new Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath has also been part of the staffing chart changes.

Cellular smartphone service has required large towers to connect with consumers in the past.  Those towers are not going away, but new technology using smaller, microcell systems may slow the need for more large cell phone towers.

The microcell antennas and support boxes are small enough to place on street light fixtures or utility poles.  Some of the support boxes will be placed on the ground level, at

the base of the pole.    These microcell units can enhance the quality of your cell phone connections and, in some cases, replace the need for some future large antenna construction.

The Fishers City Council has referred a proposed ordinance governing these microcell towers to the Fishers Plan Commission for a recommendation.  The Plan commission has formed a subcommittee to hammer out proposed ordinance language.

The subcommittee has been working with industry representatives to hash out language for the city ordinance.  At the July 8th meeting, the subcommittee discussed at length what technical features would be needed in such an ordinance and the rules for ensuring the antennas and related boxes have no aesthetic issues for the neighborhoods involved.

Subcommittee member Rich Block, also a member of the Fishers City Council and Plan Commission, voiced his desire to ensure Fishers has enhanced connectivity to wireless networks as part of this upgrade.

The Fishers Plan Department staff will draft ordinance language for consideration at the next subcommittee meeting in August.  Once the subcommittee agrees on a proposed ordinance, it will go to the Plan Commission for a public hearing and recommendations, then on to the City Council for final action.

On November 3rd, 2015, all precincts will be open for voting in Fishers during general election day.  The Hamilton County Elections Office confirmed for LarryInFishers that there will be only one contested Fishers race on election day, and that is for City Council At-Large.

That means Mayor Scott Fadness, City Clerk Jennifer Kehl, City Judge Dan Henke and all the district city council members are officially elected to four-year terms in office, beginning January 1, 2016.  Greg Purvis, who was unopposed in the May Primary, will be the only Democrat candidate on the general election ballot in Fishers.

There will be four names on the ballot for city council at-large – Republicans Rich Block, Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman, along with Democrat Purvis.  The three highest vote-getters are elected.  All Fishers city registered voters are able cast their ballots in the at-large council election.  Block, Coble & Zimmerman are incumbents.

Purvis ran in the South Central City Council District in 2014 and was only able to garner 27.76% of the vote.  Republican John Weingardt won that race.

Fishers held a municipal election in 2014 with one year terms at stake in the transition from a town to a city form of local government.

The Hamilton County Democrat Party has the right under Indiana law to appoint candidates to office where no one ran in the primary election, but the deadline to do so expired at noon, July 6th.  The Hamilton County Elections Office says no appointments were made by Democrats by the deadline.

The election office also confirmed there were no Libertarian Party or write-in candidates filing for office in Fishers.

Fishers has now been a city for 6 months.  How is it going so far?

Here’s my Current in Fishers commentary at this link.