John Wechsler founded the co-working entrepreneurial operation Launch Fishers…he talked to Larry about it on our latest podcast.

Fishers City Attorney Chris Greisl told city council members Wednesday night that the Indiana State Board of Accounts has been complaining to lawmakers it no longer has the staff or budget to audit all government entities every year.  As a result, many local government entities are taking advantage of a state law allowing the hiring of private accounting firms to conduct the annual audits previously handled by state auditors.

City Controller Oscar Gutierrez told the council a private firm could provide annual audits that would provide different skill sets and knowledge base than the State Board of Accounts.

The city would need to receive state approval to do this, but Greisl assured councilors Fishers will follow the state statute to the letter, assuring approval.

Council members voted unanimously to “opt out” of the State Board of Accounts audits and hire a private auditing firm.  Then the council gave unanimous approval of BKD as that auditing firm.

BKD had been recommended as the firm to conduct city audits by the city’s 3-member Audit Committee, appointed by the council and Mayor Scott Fadness.  Council President John Weingardt (a CPA) and Council Member Eric Moeller (who works in the financial field) are both appointees to the Audit Committee.

Failure is a concept not often seen in a positive light.  Here are just a few famous quotes about that very subject:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Thomas Edison

“He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts.”

Richard Whately

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”  

Richard Branson

“Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.”

John Wooden

People we see as big successes today suffered serious failure along the way, including people such as Walt Disney, Thomas Edison and Bill Gates.

Launch Fishers is sponsoring FailFest Thursday, July 28th, Fishers High School, 9:00am-5:3-pm.  It’s a way of celebrating the learning process failure provides to all of us.  Few, if any of us, are successful 100% of the time.

This year’s list of speakers includes:

Chris Baggott, Founder of ClusterTruck;

Kim Brand, President of 1st Maker Space;

Brandon Gorin, 2X Super Bowl Champion and Area Representative of Marco’s Pizza;

Eric Hiler, Founder of Dulead;

Matt Hunckler, Founder and CEO of Verge;

Jared Ingold, Owner of Vardagen;

Steve Loser, Assistant Principal at Fishers High School;

Robert McDonald, Co-Founder of Brandery;

Oscar Moralez, Managing Director of VisionTech Partners & VisionTech Angels;

Polina Osherov, Editor in Chief of Pattern Magazine;

Kris Parmelee, Co-Founder and CEO of Lectio;

Jonathan Polak, Partner of Taft Law;

John Qualls, President of Eleven Fifty Academy;

Teresa Sabatine, Founder of The Jump Network;

Cassie Stockamp, President of The Athenaeum Foundation.

More speakers will likely be announced before the event.

This is the third consecutive year Launch Fishers has setup the FailFest event in Fishers.

Early bird ticket pricing is available now at $69.00. Advance sale general admission tickets will be $99.00 and at-the-door sales will be $129.00. Tickets are now available at

www.FailFest.us

A Fishers faith-based group heard some sobering statistics Tuesday afternoon:

–Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 15-24 in Indiana.

–In 2014, 119 young people died in our state by suicide.

–Girls are more likely to consider suicide – boys are more likely to die by suicide.

Those sobering facts were shared by Mike Dunn, Crisis and Suicide Intervention Director for Mental Health America of Greater Indianapolis.  He gave an hour-long presentation to the religious representatives at a City Hall event sponsored by the City of Fishers Mental Health Initiative.

“95% of people who die by suicide had a psychological disorder at the time of death,” Dunn said.

Dunn went into detail describing why teens attempt suicide, and reviewed some of the warning signs.  He also emphasized that it’s time for the stigma attached to suicide to be removed, allowing a more open discussion, opening the door to more prevention to take place.

You can learn more on how to get help at this link.

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has provided an update on overnight paving and patching along Interstate 69 and the work to upgrade Exit 210 set to begin afte July 4th.   The update from the state is below….

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Interstate 69 patching & paving

Milestone Contractors plans to begin tonight (June 28th) paving an asphalt overlay on southbound I-69 south of Campus/Southeastern Parkway (Exit 210) to State Road 37 (Exit 205).

Crews will also continue patching existing northbound pavement north of Exit 210.  The patching operation will continue north over the next several weeks to the end of the project limits, which is just past State Road 38 (Exit 219), before returning southbound on I-69 back to Exit 210.

Milestone is repairing pavement on about 15 miles of interstate before paving a new asphalt overlay on existing lanes.  Motorists may temporarily experience rough pavement after sections are patched and before sections are paved.

Weather permitting, patching and paving operations require alternating lane closures six nights a week on Monday through Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.  One lane of I-69 will remain open at all times, and two lanes will remain open during peak daytime travel times.

The speed limit on I-69 through the work zone is reduced to 60 mph and further reduced to 50 mph when workers are present.  Motorists should also be alert for trucks entering and exiting the highway through the construction zone.

After pavement is repaired and resurfaced, crews will start work to rehabilitate interstate bridges and build the additional travel lane.  Beginning soon after Independence Day (July 4), northbound and southbound I-69 traffic lanes between Exit 205 and Exit 210 will be shifted toward the outside shoulders to set temporary concrete barriers and begin construction of an additional travel lane in the median.

Campus/Southeastern Parkway Exit 210

Construction of the new interchange configuration is scheduled to begin after Independence Day (July 4).  Campus/Southeastern Parkway bridge construction will require overnight lane restrictions between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. starting on or after Wednesday, July 6.

The first phase will begin building the new ramps and will prepare for shifting traffic into a double-crossover diamond configuration later this summer, which is intended to improve traffic flow during widening of the bridge deck and construction of the permanent interchange improvements.

When I interviewed Gerry Dick of Inside Indiana Business for a Podcast posted May 11th (you can listen to it here) he talked about the success of Launch Fishers morphing into a state-wide movement.

Inside Indiana Business recently featured an interview with Elkhart Mayor Tim Neese about his city’s efforts to begin their own Launch movement (you can read more and see the interview video at this link).

Elkhart has been a city dependent on the swings of the RV economy for many years.  When RV sales are down, jobs are scarce around Elkhart.  When RV sales are booming, as they are now, employers are having difficulty filling job vacancies.

Elkhart has caught on to the success of Launch Fishers.  The idea is to provide coworking space and incubate new businesses that will expand locally and begin hiring their own employees.  The hope is to provide employment not so dependent on the volatility of the RV industry.

It’s interesting that Fishers is the place where the (then) town council took a chance, providing seed money for Launch Fishers.  Now Launch has outgrown its quarters in the  Fishers Library and moved to a more expansive facility.  It appears the rest of Indiana is paying attention to Fishers’ success.

When you plan a parade, the worst fear is rain and thunderstorms.  All that stayed away from Fishers late Sunday afternoon and the 2016 Fishers Freedom Festival Parade started right on schedule.

There may have been no rain, but the heat hovered around the 90-degree mark during the event.  There were plenty of water bottles among the crowd looking on and for those in the parade.

Here are a few pictures from this year’s parade.

The Mudscock Jazz Combo played a concert at the Fishers Freedom Festival June 25th….here’s my review…

A perfect, sunny summer day welcomed the first visitors of the Fishers Freedom Festival at Holland Park Saturday morning.  The opening ceremonies featured a raising of the flag and the introduction of the royal court.

The festival runs June 25 & 26, with the parade starting at 4pm on the 26th.  More information is available at this link.

Here is a recording of the live video stream of the festival opening ceremonies Saturday morning

Fishers Police have made 4 arrests on mainly Fraud and Theft Charges, with one suspect identified as a juvenile.  The 3 others are adults.  Police identified the suspects as members of the Felony Lane Gang.

Authorities say it all started with a report of a purse stolen from an unlocked car at the Goodard School, 12818 East 116th Streeet.  The local Crime Reduction unit and detectives launched an investigation leading to the arrests.

Below is the full news release from the Fishers Police Department:

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 On Wednesday, June 22^nd, Fishers police officers responded to the Goddard School, located at 12818 E 116^th Street (116^th Street and Brooks School Road) regarding a woman’s purse being stolen from her unlocked vehicle.

Fishers Detectives and officers assigned to the Crime Reduction Unit launched an extensive investigation that included 24 hour surveillance of multiple suspects. Yesterday afternoon, officers arrested the suspects as they attempted to cash a fraudulent check at a bank in Indianapolis. Two of the suspects were taken into custody without incident. One suspect ran and was taken into custody after a short foot pursuit and the fourth suspect attempted to flee in a vehicle, but was quickly taken into custody. The three adult suspects were transported to the Hamilton County Jail without incident. The fourth suspect was a juvenile and was remanded to the custody of the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center. No injuries occurred as a result of these arrests.

This continues to be an active investigation as it is believed these suspects have been involved a crime spree covering multiple states. Anyone with information regarding these suspects is encouraged to contact Detective Dan Nelson at 317-595-3331.   

Suspect:       Givseppe A. Hudson

                        36 years old

                        Margate, Florida

Charge(s):    Theft Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud of a Financial Institution Level 6 Felony

                        Identity Theft Level 6 Felony

Conspiracy

Habitual Offender

Held:              Hamilton County Jail

Suspect:       Vincent L. Slaughter

                        27 years old

                        Oakland Park, Florida

Charge(s):    Theft Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud of a Financial Institution Level 6 Felony

                        Identity Theft Level 6 Felony

Conspiracy

Held:              Hamilton County Jail

Suspect:       Kendrick D. Daise

                        27 years old

                        Pompano Beach, Florida

Charge(s):    Theft Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud of a Financial Institution Level 6 Felony

                        Identity Theft Level 6 Felony

Conspiracy

Held:              Hamilton County Jail

Suspect:       Juvenile

                        17 years old

Charge(s):    Theft Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud Level 6 Felony

                        Fraud of a Financial Institution Level 6 Felony

                        Identity Theft Level 6 Felony

Conspiracy

Held:              Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center