Janet Chandler has been immersed in the education of Fishers area students for a very long time at HSE High School. She serves as the elected President of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association. In addition to being a history teacher, Janet is the coach for the high school’s Mock Trial and We the People teams. Janet Chandler talks about all that and more in this podcast interview.
Monthly Archives: November 2017
Fishers Community Chorus Sponsors A Food Drive For Local Families
The Fishers Community Chorus wants you to know they can do more than sing. I have seen them perform and they sing very, very well. But this choral group is taking on another challenge – sponsoring a food drive to help local families in need.
Donated packaged food, personal care items and cleaning supplies are needed. All donations support the Fall Creek Township pantry and the Delaware Township food pantry, serving families living in Fishers.
Donations can be dropped off at four STAR Financial Bank locations in Fishers and Cornerstone Lutheran Church on E 116th Street.
But, time is of the essence. This drive ends Saturday, December 2nd.
You can stay in touch with what is happening at the Fishers Community Chorus through their Web site at this link, or their Facebook page at this link.
Nickel Plate Rail Line Update From Fred Swift
by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
Keeping up to date on the Nickel Plate Railroad’s status and efforts to get it back on the rails, as well as the accompanying controversy, is a not easy.
Here’s what we know: The newly created Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad is forging ahead with plans to secure railroad engines and train cars to operate excursion rides from Noblesville north, possibly as far as Atlanta. The hope is to have a train on the tracks by Memorial Day 2018, according to Brenda Myers, county tourism director.
The Heritage organization was essentially created by the Hamilton County Visitor and Convention Commission, generally known as the tourism bureau. This entity has access to substantial funds through the county innkeepers tax. Heritage has engaged longtime local railroader Tom Hoback who has formed a new company, Atlanta Pacific, to operate and maintain the railroad.
Hoback said this week that he is awaiting a “track usage agreement” with the county Port Authority which is owner of the Nickel Plate tracks. With that in hand, he will begin efforts to acquire rolling stock.
While it would seem logical that the new Heritage group would want to acquire train equipment from the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, Hoback said he has not pursued that, noting he is not sure of the condition of the equipment there. In any event, the museum apparently has no interest in selling its trains, according to its president.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Museum (ITM), still located in Forest Park, wants to continue operations on the Nickel Plate where it ran excursion trains for the past 20 years until the Port Authority suspended its use of the tracks in March 2016 citing safety concerns. Earlier this year the authority approved a plan to convert the railroad south of Noblesville into a recreational greenway trail for walkers, joggers and bicycle riders similar to the popular Monon Trail.
The president of the museum board of directors, John McNichols, indicated this week that the struggle to use the rail line will go on. The museum this week filed a request with the federal Surface Transportation Commission asking that the Port Authority not be given the right to place the Nickel Plate in the Rail Bank.
The rail bank simply means local government is on record as reserving the right to use the right-of-way for a trail, but if and when needed again for rail service it could be converted back to that use. McNichols is not happy with the Noblesville city administration claiming that charges of toxic pollution at the museum’s Forest Park site are not true and only part of an effort “to run the museum out of town.” The museum has a year-to-year lease on its park location which will be up for renewal early next year.
Another organization known as Save the Nickel Plate is continuing efforts to raise funds to save the rail line, but this group is not directly connected with museum. It does support the ‘Save the Train’ yard signs that have appeared around the city.
Meanwhile, the popular Polar Bear Express that operated locally during the holiday season for many years, has moved to Logansport. The ITM, which has found a second home in Logansport, is going to run the Polar Express this year beginning Nov. 24 on tracks from Kokomo to Logansport.
HSE Calendar Survey Results
At the most recent regular Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board meeting, administrator Jeff Harrison reviewed the school calendar survey results with the board members.
The survey results were not posted in the usual place, with the online board agenda after the meeting. In recent days, the full survey results were posted online.
Several LarryInFishers.com readers asked about the data. Now that the numbers have been posted online, you can review the full survey results at this link.
Next month, the board is expected to receive a recommendation from school administrators on a calendar for the 2018-2019 school year , and possibly several years into the future.
Darren Murphy Named Hamilton County Court Magistrate
by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
Darren Murphy, Noblesville attorney for 12 years with the Howard Law Firm, has been named magistrate for Hamilton County Courts. He takes over from David Najjar who was recently appointed judge of Hamilton Superior Court 5.
The seven local judges made the appointment, which essentially becomes effective immediately. The position is fulltime in Magistrate’s Court. Murphy is no stranger at the Judicial Center. He has assisted County Attorney Michael Howard for several years.
Murphy is a decorated veteran of the U.S. Army, participating in the invasion of Panama in 1989. He was wounded in the military action which deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
A resident of the Fishers area, Murphy returned to the area in 1990, earned a law degree and subsequently began his legal career in Noblesville.
Magistrates serve in an elected judge’s behalf, often conducting preliminary hearings and tending to other matters of legal administration.
Shop Fishers Coming Saturday, November 25th
The Friday after Thanksgiving has long been known as Black Friday, and in recent years the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been set aside for shopping locally. The City of Fishers is sponsoring a small business shopping event this year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 25th.
40 local stores have signed-up for the Shop Fishers event. All are offering a different deal or incentive to shop locally.
Each business is running a deal specific to their store during the event, and shoppers are encouraged to plan ahead. Details can be found online at this link. or inside the Nickel Plate District (“NPD”) mobile app. The NPD App is available for download on Apple and Android devices, and includes a list of participating businesses, deals, and an event map. A few hard copies of the Shop Fishers map will be available at participating businesses.
“Shop Fishers started as an effort to support local businesses when the Nickel Plate District was quite literally coming to life,” Mayor Scott Fadness said in a city news release. “Each year, residents continue to embrace our local business community by shopping locally during the holiday season. Shop Fishers takes place all day long, offering deals for everyone on your holiday list.”
During the event, limited Shop Fishers giveaways will be available to the first few customers at each store. Additional Small Business Saturday reusable shopping bags will be available in stores, on a first come first served basis. Shoppers participating are encouraged to snap a picture of themselves out making purchases during the event, and to post them on social media using hashtag #ShopFishers. One lucky winner will receive a Shop Fishers prize pack with goodies from participating businesses. The winner will be selected on Monday, November 27th.
HSE Girls Go 5-0
Hamilton County Reporter
Hamilton Southeastern improved to
5-0 on Tuesday with a 50-43 win at Perry
Meridian.
The Class 4A No. 4 Royals lead 10-5
after the first quarter and 21-11 at
halftime. The Falcons cut HSE’s lead to
33-30 by the third quarter, but the Royals
were able to hang on for the win.
Sydney Parrish led Southeastern with
25 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
Amaya Hamilton grabbed five rebounds.
The Royals will play their first home
game of the season on Saturday
afternoon when they host Fort Wayne
Carroll. Tipoff is 2:30 p.m.
Costs of 911 Service
by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
Representatives of northern Hamilton County communities met with county commissioners Monday to discuss a county request that Adams, Jackson, White River and Wayne townships and the municipalities within them begin paying their shares of 911 emergency communications costs. At present, county government, along with Noblesville, Carmel, Westfield and Fishers are paying the entire cost of the system, which is approaching $5 million per year, according to County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt.
When the countywide system was adopted several years ago, the northern areas had relatively few calls and the larger governmental units agreed to pay the costs. Now, with increasing costs, officials believe all units should contribute based on the number of calls originating in each town and township.
Officials of the northern communities will meet in the near future to consider the county’s desires. Thereafter, a decision will be made on the proportionate distribution of costs with any added charges to be levied in 2019.
The 911 communications center is located at the county sheriff’s department. From there dispatchers receive residents’ calls for police, fire and emergency medical assistance and send the appropriate resources to the scene of the emergency.
The number of police, fire and EMS responses reached 317,471 last year, and has been growing at 20 percent per year. Based on these figures, the amounts of money being requested range from as much as $130,000 from Sheridan to as little as $17,477 for White River Township.
State Road 37 Project Moving Forward With Professional Services Contracts
The City of Fishers is moving forward with the professional services needed in preparing for the major upgrade coming to the State Road 37 corridor. The Fishers City Board of Public Works and Safety approved supplemental agreements for professional services tied to the State Road 37 project Monday. The additional services are for right-of-way and environmental work. This is partly due to a change in the drainage system for the remodeled highway. Originally, water drainage was to be routed along 141st Street, but that had to be changed for technical reasons and will now be routed along 146th Street. City Engineering Department Director Jeff Hill told the board the State Road 37 project requires coordination with a number of moving parts, but the major work is still scheduled to be bid in 2018.
The board also cleared the way for inspection services needed to move forward with intersection improvements along Allisonville Road at 131st and 126th Streets. Those projects are expected to be bid and constructed in 2018.
When the mold remediation project was completed at Fishers Fire Station 92 (at Brooks School Road and 116th Street), technicians found issues with the heating and air conditioning system that needed repair, and the board approved $85,000 to complete that work.
The board approved a new contract to provide computer software for the city’s inspection operation. The current vendor has announced the software now used by the city will no longer be supported. The changeover is expected to complete by late April, 2018.
Schools & Nonprofit Building Corporations
School districts have utilized what some call a “gimmick” under state law allowing the use of nonprofit building corporations. It is a complicated mess I have known about for a long time but had no idea how to explain it in a way most people could understand because of its complexity.
I give high marks to Indianapolis Star reporter Emma Kate Fittes for taking on that task and explaining, as simply as possible, the tangled web of nonprofit corporations and school corporations in the construction and renovation of school buildings.
Reporter Fittes cites two specific Hamilton County examples, one in Westfield and the other in our own Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
I would recommend this article to anyone with an interest in school finance. It appeared in the November 13th edition of the Star.
You can read the Emma Kate Fittes story at this link.