March is Disability Awareness Month….here is mini-podcast Episode 14

With some of the bad weather experienced this school year, there were concerns the Hamilton Southeastern Schools would need to add a day of school on Tuesday, May 29th.  But students will experience an e-learning day to eliminate the need for this make-up day May 29th, meaning students will be out of school as of the Memorial Day weekend.

The e-learning will happen in the April/May timeline.

You can read the e-learning guidelines approved by the school board at this link.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board President Matt Burke defended the school corporation’s position on student walk-outs to honor the  high school mass shooting one month ago in Parkland, Florida that claimed 17 lives.  Burke argued the board faced concerns from “both sides” when a letter from the HSE School District was issued threatening disciplinary action for students participating as part of the national walk-out.

“We had a number of people who were not happy that we went far enough, in our policy and what we allowed to have happen, but we also had people on the other side saying that we had gone way too far,” said Burke. “In fact, I think the most extreme comment was, ‘bastion of liberalism.’  We felt like we made the right decision by kind of taking the middle of the road.  It’s never fun to make people mad.  But the fact that we have people mad at us on both sides , we felt like we had probably taken about the right approach.”

Burke began the Wednesday school board meeting by publicly thanking students, administrators and teachers for “a great day” (presumably referring to the national student walkout).  He said they “did well.”

Mayor Scott Fadness presented his annual State of the City address….and later in the day he talked with me for this podcast…

Wednesday, March 14th, is the one-month anniversary of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 people, and students throughout the nation walked out of their classrooms for 17 minutes at 10am, in honor of those victims.  The 17 minutes is recognizing one minute for each person that died in the mass shooting.

High School students in Fishers participated in the walk-out, under threat of disciplinary action by Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation officials

At HSE High School, students attending the walkout ceremony said about 400 of their fellow students chose to walk-out of their classes.

I understand there was a walkout at Fishers High School, but I have no further information on that at this time.

Mayor Scott Fadness used his annual State Of The City address to announce two major initiatives, what the mayor describes as quality of life enhancements –  one dealing with agriculture, the other a joint educational program called Fishers First.

The city will partner with Conner Prairie and the Hamilton Southeastern School District to create the Fishers First program.  This effort is explained as bringing about a world-class educational experience for Fishers students that would combine  innovation, collaboration, and new experiences.

What is described as “experiential learning” will be at the center of Fishers First.  Among the programs envisioned include the geology behind patching potholes to experiencing ecology through already-established programs such as Fishers Parks and Recreation’s “Nature First,” where students of all ages will have the opportunity to work alongside the Conner Prairie, the City of Fishers, and local businesses to deepen their knowledge of standards taught inside the classroom.

The mayor also announced the creation of Fishers Agri Park, a 32-acre park, to be located in the southeastern quadrant of 113th Street and Florida Road.  This program will be a partnership between the city and Brandywine Creek Farms, a local nonprofit organization whose mission it is to help educate and inspire individuals of all ages and help meet the needs of those who are food insecure.

Fishers Agri Park is projected to open in late spring, 2018.

Mayor Fadness singled-out the following city employees during his speech:

–Cici Conover, HR Director, as she celebrates retirement after 18 years with the City of Fishers;

–Fishers Police Department Intelligence Unit for their service and dedication to working cross-agency in collaboration to significantly contribute intelligence to 21 cases which resulted in crucial information to the outcome of the case;

–The Economic Development team for a record breaking 2017 with over 2100 jobs and $64.5 M in capital investment announced by companies growing in Fishers;

–Jeff Hill for his traffic mitigation plan during the Portillo’s-TopGolf-IKEA grand openings in fall 2017.

The mayor talked about progress and more to come on the Geist Waterfront Park and the Spark!Fishers summer festival.

by

Fred Swiift

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County Commissioners have established a road resurfacing
plan for the coming construction season. Nearly 36 miles of road surface will
be repaved assuming bids for the work do not exceed available funds.

County Highway Director Brad Davis said $3.2 million is available for the
planned work which is expected to start when weather warms. Most of the paving
will be done in short stretches including several portions of 106th Street
between Allisonville Road and Hague Road, Jerkwater Road between 254th
and 296th streets, and Cumberland Road between Allisonville Road and
234th Street.

Also on the list for repaving are sections of 104th Street, 105th Street, Jessup
Avenue, Cornell Street, McPherson Street, Combs Avenue and Ethel Avenue
in the Home Place area.

In Delaware Township, Chevy Chase, La Canada, Los Robles, Roses and
San Vincente Boulevard in the Lynnwood Hills addition are scheduled for new
pavement.

There will also be new pavement on sections of 191st and 206th streets in
Noblesville and Wayne townships.

The resurfacing will be done by contractors, but sealing and repair of
existing pavement will be done by county crews. Davis stressed that residents
should report locations of chuckholes either online at the highway department
website or by calling (317) 773-7770. Crews are currently filling these holes
when found or reported.

Major projects for the current year include building another dual lane 146th
Street west to Towne Road, completing the new 276th Street between U.S. 31
and State Road 19, and construction of the Lowe’s Flyway connection from
146th Street to southbound Keystone Parkway.

This week Davis and county commissioners are in Washington seeking to
see that funds will be included in new infrastructure legislation that will aid
Hamilton County.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County Commissioners on Monday broke ground on a three-acre solar field that will power the county’s health department and correctional facility.

Upon completion, the solar project – the largest of its kind in Indiana – will consist of 9,300 solar panels located on the east side of State Road 37 just north of State Road 32, and on the rooftop of the jail.

The project is expected to provide a cost saving of $13 million in 25 years. The project will also serve as an educational piece for Ivy Tech students that will monitor electrical use and energy savings.

In addition to the solar project, the county has implemented other energy savings programs, including installing LED bulbs which have already earned the county $90 thousand in rebates from Duke Energy.

Construction of the solar project is expected to be complete in June.

Sheriff Mark Bowen signs the back of a solar panel that will provide electricity to Bowen’s jail and correctional facilities. (Photo provided)

Fishers City Council Member Eric Moeller invites Homeowners Association (HOA) presidents within his North Central District once a year.  That annual session was held Tuesday night at City Hall with about 6 HOA officials on hand.

Moeller, along with Parks & Recreation Director Tony Elliot and City Attorney Chris Greisl, updated the HOA presidents and took questions.

Elliot said the new Spark!Fishers festival will hold its parade during the evening of Saturday, June 30th.  This is a break with tradition compared to the previous Fishers Freedom Festival, which held the parade in the afternoon hours.  The idea is to have the parade end at about the time the fireworks display begins, which should be around 10:15pm.

There were a number of questions from the audience, with subjects such as:

–The renovation of the Nickel Plate Amphitheater

–Improvements scheduled for 126th Street & Reynolds Drive

–Several road projects coming

–Legal responsibilities on maintaining and replacing trees in their neighborhoods

–Responsibility for replacing aging and vandalized street signs

–Speed limits within their neighborhood streets

Councilman Moeller said the city is looking into providing help for aging neighborhoods, exploring some matching programs to supplement HOA efforts to maintain and improve their communities.