On September 11th, 2017, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness joined Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett for a news conference, announcing a regional central Indiana bid to lure the Amazon second headquarters to this area.   Now that the Indy metro area has made the list of the final 20 regions under consideration, the speculation is running rampant.

There is a lot of talk on the chances of the Indy metro area landing this big economic development prize.  I think we should just take it all at face value.  In my opinion, central Indiana has a 1 in 20 chance, just like all the other finalists.

Although Fishers Mayor Fadness was heavily involved in preparing the local bid, the mayor told me in a podcast interview recorded January 3rd (well before the Amazon announcement of the 20 finalists) that no site within the City of Fishers was part of that bid.

“Something of that magnitude, I wasn’t really certain it belonged in a suburb like Fishers,” Mayor Fadness told me. “I was really doing it because I wanted Indianapolis, as a metropolitan area, to put our best foot forward.”

The two mayors, Hogsett and Fadness, have established more than a working relationship.  “He and I are friends,” said Fadness.

Hogsett knew how the Fishers mayor “geeks out” on economic development projects and how they are structured.

“Part of what I brought to the table for that, I think, I hope, is a suburban face to it, to say, this is a regional effort,” the Fishers mayor said.

All suburban mayors were allowed to submit a site for Amazon, and a group of officials from the metro area and business leaders ranked all those submitted sites.

This entire exercise of submitting the Amazon bid was not just an effort to lure Amazon here, it was a way to bring all the government and commercial entities closer together in order to look at economic development from a regional point of view.

Fadness hopes this lays the groundwork for regional collaboration in the future.  He has a goal for 2018.  “You’ll see me very, very active on more regional thinking in 2018.”

Even though Fishers would not host the new Amazon complex if it comes to central Indiana, Fadness is well aware that Fishers will get its share of new residents coming here to work for Amazon .

Amazon has not given a specific date on when a decision will be made, all we know is it will likely be announced before the end of the year.

You can listen to my entire podcast interview with Mayor Fadness at this link.