The Fishers Department of Public Works has been dealing with the collapse of a sewer line near 106th Street and Allisonville Road since late Sunday night (December 27th).   Rick Farnham, Assistant Director of Public Works, told the Board of Public Works and Safety the collapse was related to the rainstorm the city was experiencing.

The city has a sewage lift station just north and west of the intersection.

“Due to the proximity of our lift station to the intersection, this collapsed line became rather serious quickly, as far as developing a sinkhole which took in a sidewalk, endangered a (traffic) signal that is there,” Farnham said.  “It is endangering the lift station, it’s endangering the treatment facility also.”

Farnham said the danger to the treatment facility comes from debris getting into the sewer line and entering the treatment system for sewage.

The Public Works Department immediately summoned contractors on site to help handle the emergency.  The Board of Works approved an emergency authorization to pay for the repairs.

Farnhan told the board it is difficult to come up with a total amount needed to handle all the repairs at this early stage, but his best guess is $100,000.   He said repairs will be required for the roads, traffic signals, electrical systems and the lift station.  Part of the roadway may need to be rebuilt, he said

Mayor Fadness said he has emergency spending authority of up to $50,000, which will be tapped immediately to handle the emergency situation.  The emergency also will result in not taking the usual 2-week period for the bidding process, allowing emergency work to be done.

City Attorney Chris Greisl told the board this meeting was to handle emergency items only. The session was originally scheduled for Wednesday at 10am, but the board was short of a quorum with Mayor Fadness experiencing 3 flight delays in returning from a holiday trip to North Dakota.  The Board of Works has only 3 members and Jason Meyer is out of town this week.  Meetings normally require a 48-hour notice under state law, but emergency sessions may be held on less notice to handle emergency situations only.

It has been a long time since I have written film criticism, and you need not be concerned that LarryInFishers will be become a site filled with film reviews.  But I saw a film today (12/30) that merits comment.  Besides, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is normally a slow news cycle, so why not write about a film?

The film is entitled Concussion.  It’s about the NFL and retired players that seem to go off the deep end, ending their lives prematurely and even committing suicide.

There were rumors that the NFL lobbied the movie studio to water down the parts dealing with pro football.  I must argue there is no sign of that in the film I saw.  The NFL comes across as an institution bent more on protecting its own profits, even at the expense of their own players’ health.

This is actually a very personal story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist from Nigeria working in Pittsburgh when he ends up studying the tragic death of former Steeler great Mike Webster.  Omalu ends up discovering a brain condition found in Webster, then other former NFL players, called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

Omalu naively believes the NFL would want to know about this and deal with it, but finds the league fighting back, trying to marginalize him and his findings.

The best part of the story is not about football, but about how Dr. Omalu wants, more than anything else, to be accepted as an American.  His personal story is what makes this film work.  Will Smith does a masterful job playing the part of Dr. Omalu.

I spent time as a radio play-by-play sportscaster and called many high school and small college contests.  I found a certain beauty and chess-like strategy embedded in the game.

But the movie Concussion reminds us of the ugly side of football, including the steep price former players pay once out of the game and dealing with the many hits to the head any player will experience in a gridiron career.

In my view, Concussion is about football, but at its core is more about an immigrant from Africa trying his best to make his mark in his dream country, the United States.  His struggles and final acceptance embody the real story of Concussion.  On that basis, I recommend it to your holiday movie-going schedule.

When discussions were hot and heavy over what to do about the traffic congestion along I-69 in Fishers during rush hours, and how that impacts State Road 37 traffic, there was an elephant in the room few would mention.  The traffic bottlenecks during rush hours in Fishers are partly due to the lack of a good interchange in I-465 and I-69 in Indy.

Based on an announcement from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), improvements will be coming to the I-69 & I-465 traffic connection.

According to the INDOT news release, here’s what the project will entail:

• Building a high-speed, two-lane ramp for traffic exiting I-465 eastbound onto I-69 northbound. The new ramp would bridge over Binford Boulevard and I-465, while the existing low-speed loop ramp would remain for I-465 eastbound traffic exiting I-69 onto 82nd Street in Castleton.
• Widening I-465 to four travel lanes in each direction between the White River bridge and I-69. In addition, two ramp lanes in each direction would run continuously between the I-69, Allisonville Road and Keystone Avenue interchanges for traffic entering and exiting the interstate

As with most infrastructure plans like this, it will take some time.   INDOT says preliminary design of the project should be done in 2016, with construction anticipated to begin in 2020.

Govenor Mike Pence is quoted in the news release as touting this project, along with others in the pipeline, as a way to ease congestion in the northeastern suburban areas of Indy.

“Building this interchange will increase capacity and improve traffic flow. This project, along with recent and planned projects to widen I-69, a scheduled interchange at 106th Street, and the modernization of State Road 37 in Fishers, will dramatically improve the ability of people and commerce to move efficiently in Central Indiana,” Pence said.

The plans carry a $50 million price tag.

2015 has been a year to remember in Fishers.  Now is the time to look back on 2015.  What were the major local news stories of the year?

There are dangers in composing a Top 10 list.  Most news organizations have long meetings and big arguments over what the top stories were, and how to rank them 1-10.

The only arguments I have are with myself, since this is my news blog and I am the only person writing for it.  Having a debate in your own mind can still be a challenging intellectual exercise.

So, here is my Top 10 list of Fishers news stories for 2015:

10.  Major Drug Arrests in Fishers

Last July, local police announced the biggest drug bust in the history of Fishers.

9.  Governor Pence Visits Harrison Parkway Elementary School

The governor took time to visit with administrators, teachers and students at Harrison Parkway Elementary School.  I learned one important fact.  Governor Pence loves talking about his pet snakes before a group of fourth-graders.

8.  City Elections

Fishers elected officials served a 1-year term in 2015 as part of the transition from a town to a city.    Selina Stoller won reelection in a GOP primary contest with former Town Councilor Mike Colby.  Former Greenfield Mayor Brad DeReamer defeated long-time office-holder Stuart Easley in the same Republican primary.  Greg Purvis was the only Democrat running in the General Election and was not successful in his campaign for a city council at-large seat.  All elected city officials will serve 4-year terms, beginning in 2016.

7.  HSE School Funding

Indiana lawmakers provided a funding reprieve for Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  Even with the added help from the state, the school board is expected to hold a tax referendum in the May, 2016 election.

6.  George Kehl Announces His Retirement Plans

If you can find a police chief anywhere in Indiana that has hired every officer on his force other than Fishers, please let me know.  George Kehl has done just that in Fishers.  After a long stint as the top police officer in Fishers, Chief Kehl announced his plan to retire in September of 2016.  However, he will not be taking it easy once he retires.  Kehl has also announced plans to be a candidate for an at-large seat on the Hamilton County Council.

5.  Downtown Development Projects

The Depot development on the grounds of the city complex completed construction, with commercial tenants in place and a strong demand for the available residential apartments.  The Switch development construction continued, with a completion date planned for spring, 2016.  Since Tax Increment Financing (TIF) was involved in these projects, there was some controversy.  However, the election results have shown no large opposition to the projects among voters.

4.  Mental Health Initiative

One of Scott Fadness’ first actions as mayor was to appoint a task force on mental health in Fishers.  After months of effort, a cross-section of community leaders has put together a plan to attack mental health issues in our city.  Time will tell how successful this effort will be, but it is ambitious.

3.  Economic Development

IKEA was the big economic development news for Fishers in 2015, even though the store won’t open for two more years.  The city reached a deal with the airport authority to develop currently unused tracts of land for future development.  State laws delayed the big Sun King development, but the micro-brewery did open a tasting room on 96th Street.  The Saxony sports complex is on hold after the developers ran into trouble firming up financing, so this project is in limbo for now.

2.  Road Construction

The biggest announcement of the year centered on planned upgrades to State Road 37 in Fishers, but the actual construction is not expected to begin for 2-3 more years.  The new interchange at 106th Street and I-69 will begin construction, as will work on I-69 to add another lane of traffic each direction.  The exit 210 interchange on I-69 will be improved and the deck on the Brook School Road bridge over I-69 will be replaced, closing that road for up to a year once work begins (2016 or 2017).  All in all, road construction remains in the news every year for a growing community like Fishers.

1.  First Year as a City

Fishers has just completed its first year as a city, and based on what’s been accomplished by the mayor so far, it appears voters knew what they were doing in 2012.  That was the year the referendum passed transforming Fishers from a town to a city with a strong mayor’s office.  Tom Dickey left his post as head of the Community Development Department, returning to the private sector.  Leah McGrath was hired as the city’s only deputy mayor in a reorganization of the city staff.  One of his department heads once told me the most difficult part of working for Scott Fadness is keeping up with him.  That was certainly true in 2015 and 2016 should be no different.

So, there it is.  My Top 10 Fishers news stories in 2015.  There were several items that just missed the list.  But as some point, you must make a decision and this is the result of all the arguments I conducted in my own mind.

I expect 2016 to be a busy year in Fishers.  I plan to be here on this blog to write about it.

A plea agreement hearing has been requested by Maxwell Winkler, who faces murder charges.  WISH-TV has a story you can access at this link.

It was 1969.  My first job in radio broadcasting did not involve any on-the-air announcing.  I was a 3rd-class licensed broadcast engineer charged with keeping an eye on the transmitter.  I changed tapes and records (we used vinyl in those days).

I worked for a man named Martin Williams, owner of WFMS.  Don’t confuse the 1969 version of the radio station with the country music icon it is now.  Back in those days, Mr. Williams would play entire record albums on the air, tracking them as you would if listening to the record at home.  We had to insert a commercial in the middle in order to turn the record album over and play the other side.

I was 19 years old at the time, Mr Williams was 65.  Martin Williams, as a young man, had met an aging Guglielmo Marconi, the man who invented wireless communications (radio). WFMS was the first FM radio station to go on the air in the Indianapolis market  because Martin Williams was enough of an engineer to know FM sound quality was much better than the AM band (largely used at that time by commercial radio).

My first experience working on Christmas morning was handling a shift at WFMS.  It was a little strange, but I had chosen to work in broadcasting knowing the stations remained on the air during holidays.

Here’s what surprised me.  WFMS was obviously playing Christmas music and much of Mr. Williams’ holiday music selection was very good.  Many people listened while opening presents on Christmas morning.  I began to get one phone call after another, thanking me for giving up my Christmas morning so they could enjoy music the radio station was playing.  That really made an impression on me.

Why am I writing about this?  Because we have plenty of people in Fishers, Indiana, and everywhere else this blog is read, working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Think about police officers, firefighters, and the retail operations that are open on Christmas. Someone must staff our hospitals and emergency services.

Never forget our Armed Forces men and women in uniform, on duty here in America and around the world.  They are usually at work at Christmas.

There are many more examples of people working during the Christmas holiday.

If you know someone required to work on Christmas, let them know you are thinking about them.  Call your local police and fire department (use the administrative phone number please, not 911) and thank them for being on the job while you celebrate Christmas with your loved ones.

Thinking of others is what Christmas should be all about.

Although my regular beat at this news blog is Fishers, I do pay attention to developments in our neighbors to the west in Carmel.

I have a commentary on Indiana Forefront on recent developments there.  You can read it at this link.

After several months of study, discussion and public hearings, the Fishers City Council gave final approval Monday night to a $5 per month increase in city sewer rates.  The increase will be effective on February 1, 2016.

This rate hike will only impact part of the city, the section located in Delaware Township, which receives its sewer service from the city.  Fall Creek Township residents are serviced by HSE Utilities.

HSE also utilizes city infrastructure to provide sewer service and will be faced with increased costs as a result of this rate increase.  The city is allowed under state law to raise sewer rates by action of the city council.  HSE must gain approval from state regulators before raising rates.
During Monday’s public hearing, arguments were made to change the sewer fee structure from a flat charge per month to one based on usage.  Council members voted to keep the fees a flat monthly amount.

City officials argued in favor of the increase, citing the fact that Fishers hasn’t seen an increase since 1997 and the higher fee is needed to build and maintain the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The Fishers City Council approved the deal worked out with the state of Indiana, Hamilton County and Noblesville to basically rebuild State Road 37 from 126th Street north.  The City of Fishers will be paying $12 million as its share of the cost.

Mayor Scott Fadness pointed out the high points of the agreement, including turning the highway back to the state once construction is complete, which means INDOT will be responsible for maintenance of the roadway once it is fully built.  The design phase is expected to last 2-3 years, so construction will not be be starting soon.

The mayor also touted the agreement as giving control of the roadway to the City of Fishers during the construction period.  Mayor Fadness emphasized that he plans to be working with businesses and residents along the highway during the construction phase to minimize the pain for them.

Whether as a town or a city, Fishers has had a long and productive relationship with Conner Prairie.  So it was only fitting that Mayor Scott Fadness present a key to the city for the retiring President of the world-famous museum at the December 21st city council session.

Ellen Rosenthal will be leaving her job at Conner Prairie at the end of 2015.  She has been in a leadership position there since 2003 and president since 2005.  The nonprofit’s operation has seen a great deal of growth during her tenure.

Congratulations to Ellen Rosenthal as she moves on to other challenges in her retirement years.