Brixx Pizza in downtown Fishers was the scene of a flash fire in the kitchen area Tuesday morning that left two people injured, one treated at the scene, the other transported to Eskanazi Hospital.  Fishers Fire officials say neither worker sustained life threatening injuries.

Early damage estimates are at $200,000.  Brixx is closed until further notice.

According to the Fishers Fire Department, this was not a sustained fire but was described as a flash fire, based on initial reports.

Brixx was the first commercial tenant to open at The Depot mixed use development at the 116th Street entrance to City Hall.  The restaurant opened earlier this year.

The Fishers Board of Public Works and Safety approved spending $52,000 on computer software to track the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts and deals.  Mayor Scott Fadness said this will allow better reporting to state government on TIF activity in Fishers.

City Controller Oscar Gutierrez told the board this software will allow the city to track TIF parcels, districts, valuations and appeals.  Gutierrez added that the new software will bring much of this work in-house with city staff and not require the expense of utilizing outside accounting firms to track and file state reports on the city’s TIFs.  The new software will take this information away from spreadsheets and modernize the tracking system.

Mayor Fadness says this software will allow a centralized location to track this information on a single platform, something that has not existed in the past.

You can find more information on the software contract at this link and at this link.

With the spotlight on Carmel and its intention to pass a gay rights ordinance August 17th, I asked Mayor Scott Fadness if Fishers is looking at the same proposal.  The answer is yes, but Fadness wants any ordinance to have an effective enforcement mechanism.

The City of Fishers already has language in its laws and procedures to bar discrimination against LGBT people in areas such as procurement and employment.  The mayor’s concern is how the city would go about enforcing an expanded general anti-discrimination ordinance.

If an ordinance were to be enacted and there is no clear path to investigating any complaints, the ordinance would have no real impact, according to the mayor.

Fadness told LarryInFishers he and City Attorney Chris Greisl have been investigating how to put together an effective human rights ordinance for the city.  He plans to take a close look at the precise language of the proposed Carmel ordinance as Fishers looks at fashioning its own law.

Launch Fishers is donating 100 computers with accompanying flat screen monitors, plus 50 additional flat screen monitors, to the Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation.  Launch founder John Wechsler announced the gift at the start-of- school meeting held at Fishers High School Monday morning (8.10).

Launch Fishers is preparing to move from its 16,000 square foot facility in the basement of the local library to a new office building with 52,000 square feet of space.  The building was previously occupied by DECA, a collection firm, which went out of business and left nearly all its information technology equipment behind.  When the City of Fishers purchased the office building allowing for the Launch Fishers expansion, Launch inherited that equipment.  It is from that stash of computers that Launch made the donation to the school system.

Mayor Fadness, speaking at the same meeting of school staff, praised the school system’s excellent reputation as an engine for the city’s growth.  “I can’t tell you how many people we recruit to the City of Fishers, not because of the work that I do, and not because of what’s happening in our city, but rather, what’s happening in our school system,” Fadness said.

Teachers and other staff members are preparing for the start of school,  Students report Wednesday, August 12th.

As I wrote on August 3rd, the City of Fishers is looking into a special census that could net money for local government.  The estimates from the city controller’s office show a very big gain for Fishers.

The cost estimate for a special census is $373,500, far below initial expectations.  The projected additional revenue from a special census is $1,829,300.  Doing the math, that means Fishers would gain $1,455,800 over a 4-year period, beginning in July of 2017.

The regular census occurs every ten years, with the last one taken in 2010.  With the population growth Fishers has experienced since the last census, the city has been running numbers to determine whether a special census would provide a financial gain.

One component of the plan that lowered the cost is limiting the special census only to growing parts of the city, particularly on the east end of Fishers.

Lindsey Erdody of the Indianapolis Business Journal wrote a story in early June about Fishers and other suburban areas of Indy looking into the special census option.

The Fishers City Council will make the final decision on any new census.  It is expected to be on the council’s agenda for the August 17th meeting.

When Hamilton Southeastern Education Association President Janet Chandler

spoke before the assembled school system employees at Fishers High School Monday morning (8.10), she made some news by announcing that the association has reached a tentative agreement with the school administration on a new contract.

The details of the contract have not been announced.  “We do have a couple of details that we still need to iron out,” Chandler said.   She hopes to have the details of the tentative pact available for teachers within a few days.

For a contract to be ratified, it most be put up for a vote and passed by the teachers, then approved by the school board.

Chandler was speaking at the start of school session, which this year included not just teachers, but all school corporation employees.

When I posted a story on this blog a week ago about how the reported Indiana teacher shortage is being felt in Fishers, I received plenty of feedback.  A few days later another of my commentaries appeared in Current in Fishers, this one about how the local school corporation got to the point of likely asking taxpayers for more money in a referendum next year.

I want to address some of the comments I received from both of those pieces.  I want to thank all those making comment.  Most were well thought out and appreciated.

The first comment I received came from Bill Brown, a former city council candidate and a long-time school bus driver for HSE Schools.  Bill pointed out that low pay raises and a hit on the health care benefit wasn’t just felt by teachers, but all HSE School employees.  I agree, Bill.  My piece here on the blog a week ago was centered on teachers so I only addressed that part.  But Bill is right that bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and other school system employees felt the same pain as the teaching staff.  The Hamilton Southeastern School System is the second largest employer in Fishers (roughly 800 employees), with only Navient claiming a larger work force (1,700 workers).

Anna Stumpf posted a lengthy comment (says she cut it down from the original 3 pages). She contends that we shouldn’t focus so much on pay and instead talk to the teachers about what they want and need to improve the educational experience.  I cannot disagree with much of what Ms. Stumpf wrote.  I tried to point out in my piece that pay isn’t everything but it is an important component in keeping and retaining a top notch teaching staff.  I thank her for her thoughtful views on the subject.

In response to my Current commentary, Dee Brown asks why Fishers couldn’t take money from the downtown projects on the municipal complex and use it for the schools.  I have written extensively about the downtown projects, which are getting out to a good start but it will be a long term evaluation on their success.  The problem here is state law.  The City of Fishers cannot legally give money to the school system.  The city is building those downtown projects.  The city and Fall Creek Township did buy some land from the school system to ease HSE’s budget problems but that was a sale at fair market value.  Bottom line, the city couldn’t redirect funds (legally) from the downtown projects to the school system directly.  There were also some other comments but I am not able to decipher the points being made or I would have a response.

When I post a story on this blog, I never know how it will be received.  My post a week ago about Fishers and the teacher shortage created lots of interest and I thank the many people who took the time to read it.

I realize this blog centers on Fishers, Indiana, but as the blog publisher, allow me a point of personal privilege to extol the virtues of my former News Director.  When I arrived at WCSI Radio in the late 1970s as the morning news anchor and reporter, it was Sam Simmermaker that took me under his wing and helped me find my way in a new city.

Sam started at Columbus Indiana’s WCSI in the early 1960s and became news and sports director of the station.  We shared the same newsroom for four years.

When you work with someone every day for a number of years, you begin to appreciate their strengths.  It didn’t take me long to see that Sam is someone special.

Sam still works for WCSI, but only contributes sports news and does live play-by-play of local athletic events.  Sam is a treasure for WCSI and Columbus, Indiana.

Several former employees of WCSI have been gathering the last couple of summers at a downtown Columbus restaurant to get together and share our many stories of working at the radio station.

This year, another top-notch radio professional, Larry Henry, was at the reunion.  Larry and I were the morning team on WCSI for several years.

Mr. Henry was able to see Governor Mike Pence recently.  The governor is from Columbus and is very familiar with Sam’s work.  Larry Henry had a big surprise for Sam Simmermaker at this year’s reunion.

Sam was awarded one of the top honors any Governor can bestow on a resident of Indiana.  Sam is now a Sagamore of the Wabash.  My thanks to Governor Pence for his recognition of Columbus Indiana’s most revered broadcaster.

Congratulations to Sam Simmermaker for being deservedly honored for his long service to the state and the people of Columbus.  And kudos to my former colleague Larry Henry for helping to make this happen.

We may be seeing temperatures a bit cooler than normal for August, but the summer road construction schedule in Fishers is still in full motion.

Below is the schedule for local road work for the work week beginning Monday, August 10th

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Lantern and Commercial intersection

Beginning on/after Tuesday, August 11th, the current entrance will be closed and the new road will be opened to traffic.  This new road will continue to have a stop sign until the new traffic signal is installed and powered.

Resurfacing Work

Resurfacing work is taking place at multiple locations throughout the week of August 10. Work will be conducted in Apple Tree Circle and Drive within the Sunblest neighborhood, and in Bridgewater subdivision.

The Pines

Sidewalk work will begin the week of August 10th in The Pines.

Windermere

Continuing through the week of August 10th, temporary lane restrictions should be expected along Windward Pass and Stillwater Court.

131st Street

A lane shift will still be in place along 131st Street between Parkside and Cumberland Road, with possible stop and go traffic as they pave the new south lane. Flaggers will be onsite to help direct traffic. Surfacing will continue onto 131st Street, and traffic will be interrupted during that time. For updates on this project be sure to follow @DriveFishers on Twitter.

Cell phone towers are seen all across America, but there is new technology coming online to enhance cell phone coverage without adding a large number of old-fashioned towers. This involves placing micro cell antennas on existing utility poles.

A task force has been at work hashing out the language of a new text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in the form of a new city ordinance allowing and restricting such micro cell towers located in the City of Fishers.

The Fishers Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed text amendment to the UDO, a zoning issue, at the August 11th meeting, at City Hall, starting as 6:30pm.

The proposed text amendment would allow the micro cell towers, but require that they be placed 1,000 feet apart, meet specific standards as to how they appear and would not be allowed in residential neighborhoods.

Below you will find the actual proposed ordinance that will be the subject of the public hearing.  Note that such as ordinance would need the approval of the Fishers City Council in order to become law.

Continue reading Proposed Micro Cell Tower Ordinance to Have Public Hearing August 11th →