Hamilton County Reporter

The Carmel Fire Department, along with the Carmel Police Department, Hamilton County Emergency Management and Carmel Clay Schools, are continuing their investigation into the Wednesday explosion at Carmel High School.

Representatives from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) assisted fire officials in the investigation on Thursday. An IDHS spokesperson said, “At this point, it appears there was no boiler malfunction. Two boilers were impacted. Workers were doing routine service and a natural gas leak occurred, leading to an explosion during the reigniting process.”

Fire officials said they want people to understand the magnitude of the incident, and how fortunate it is that it wasn’t worse.

Carmel Fire Department officials did report there were approximately 100 people inside the building at the time of the explosion. Emergency personnel reported two people were injured in the incident, a school employee and a private contractor; however, names are not being released.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County 911 dispatch operation has garnered a number of awards lately, but county officials will need to conduct a search for new leadership as two top people plan to move on.

Mike Snowden, Executive Director of Communications for Hamilton County, has tendered his resignation. He has accepted a job as City Administrator for the city of O’Fallon, Missouri.

“I wish to convey my thanks to the County Commissioners for their faith in my abilities,” Snowden said. “I would also like to thank the members of the 9-1-1 Executive Board, the Public Safety Board, as well as the Mayors for their support, guidance and rock solid support during my tenure.”

O’Fallon is Snowden’s home town.

“His exceptional leadership qualities were demonstrated during the Noblesville West Middle School shooting,” said County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt. “We wish him continued success in his future endeavors and thank him for his service.”

Snowden’s last day with Hamilton County will be Jan. 25, 2019. An interim Director will be announced soon. That person will supervise the communication center while the county conducts a national search for Snowden’s replacement.

Meanwhile, Hamilton County Communication Center Director of Operations Darin Riney has tendered his resignation. He has accepted a job the new chief of Westcom Communications Center, the consolidated 9-1-1 public safety dispatch center in West Des Moines, Iowa, which serves a population of 160,000.

Prior to serving Hamilton County residents, Riney was the deputy director and dispatcher for Wayne County Emergency Communications in Richmond, Ind. He has also served as a reserve police officer and a volunteer firefighter.

Riney’s last day at the Hamilton County Communication Center will be Feb. 5, 2019. He will begin his job in Iowa on Feb. 11.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern dropped its first game at the West Kentucky Hoops Classic on Thursday, falling to Center Hill, Mississippi’s No. 1-ranked team, 82-66.

The Mustangs powered through the first quarter, taking a 25-14 lead. The Class 4A No. 8 Royals were within 42-32 at halftime, but Center Hill, which is undefeated at 15-0, kept Southeastern at arm’s length in the second half.

Mabor Majak led HSE with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Grubbs and Vinny Buccilla both added 12 points, with Grubbs pulling six rebounds and Buccilla dishing out four assists. Buccilla also made two 3-pointers.

The Royals are 7-2 and play the Webb School from Knoxville, Tenn. at 5 p.m. today.

Anyone remember the name Dick Cheney?  Yes, he was Vice President of the United States during the 8-year presidency of George W. Bush.  Director Adam McKay looks at the life of Dick Cheney, with a special emphasis on his political career.  Here is my review:

It’s that time of year when people look back on the previous 12 months and look at the top news stories of the year.  In 2018, Fishers had more than its share of stories to cover.  I suppose that is normal for a community growing as much as Fishers has in recent years.

A top 20 news story list is normally the result of several meetings and many large arguments within a news organization.  I have no one with which to argue, so this list is entirely mine.  I expect many people will take issue with it, and that’s fine, this is totally subjective based on my coverage of news in and around Fishers the past year.  So, if you disagree, feel free to fire away!

My wife Jane and I have lived in Fishers since 1991, and I have been covering Fishers as a reporter since January of 2012.  So this list is the result of what I have gleaned from being there when news happens, talking to the elected officials and the view of people living in Fishers.  So, with that in mind, here is my list of the 2018 Top 20 news stories in Fishers.

20.  Democrat Wins An Election Rachna Greulach was elected to the Fall Creek Township Board in the November general election.  Township board seats are not the highest-profile offices in Indiana, but her election is important because she is a Democrat and Republicans have dominated elections in Hamilton County for a very long time.  Republicans point out that Greulach was helped by a state law that did not register township office votes on a straight party ticket.  Even considering that, any Democrat winning, especially in southern Hamilton County, is still news.

19  Mike Beresford Goes To Carmel  Dr. Mike Beresford had been a fixture in the administration of Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools for a very long time.  When Carmel was in need of a new superintendent and came calling, Dr. Beresford said yes.  I had known Mike during my entire time covering HSE Schools and will miss him.  Carmel made a good decision in hiring Mike Beresford.

18.  HSE School Nurses  When the HSE Schools recommended turning over the nursing staff in the schools to Community Health Network, most of the nurses fought back, wanting to remain employees of the school corporation.  After much back and forth, what was described as an “acceptable” agreement was reached to allow the nurses to continue handling their jobs much as they had before after becoming employees of Community Health.  School officials said the contract with Community will save money.

17.  IOT Lab Opens  This operation may be in Fishers, but it is the state’s lab.  Governor Eric Holcomb and officials from Indiana University were on hand for the big announcement.  2018 was the year of the grand opening of this high-tech facility that enhances the reputation of Fishers as a high-tech hub.

16.  MetroNet Resumes Construction  The company has been installing its own underground cables to offer high-speed Internet and television service to Fishers.  The firm ran into trouble with many neighborhoods in Fishers when gas lines were being ruptured, along with other issues.  City officials and MetroNet worked out an agreement on how the company must handle construction work moving forward.

15.  Inaugural Spark Fishers Festival  The Fishers Freedom Festival was the premier summer gathering in Fishers, traditionally just before the July 4th holiday.  That festival started in 1989 and continued through 2017.  When the city did not provide financial and in-kind support for 2018, the Freedom Festival began dissolving the organization and the city led a new celebration at the same time of year, taking on the name of Spark Fishers (the branding shows it as the Spark!Fishers Festival, with the exclamation mark in the middle).  It was an oppressively hot day for the one-day festival in 2018, but the parade & fireworks garnered a large crowd.

14.  Fishers Enacts New Cycling Ordinance  Cycling enthusiasts pushed for an ordinance aimed at protecting cyclists while on Fishers roads.  The biggest change in the ordinance provides a 3-foot “halo” around the cyclists where motorists are required by law to give those on bicycles space.  The vote was fairly close, with the City Council voting 5-3 to approve the measure.

13.  Renovated Amphitheater  City officials had an aggressive timeline to finish renovations between City Hall and the Amphitheater.  The entire area was revamped, including a new pavilion named the Cube.  The stage itself was widened, other parts of the building were expanded and renovated.  The area in front of the stage was redone to allow better sight lines for the audience.  The new stage opened in mid-summer with the Cube opening shortly thereafter.

12.  Kroger at 116th & Allisonville Road  The Kroger company had announced plans to construct a new grocery across Allisonville Road near 116th Street.  However, once Amazon announced its intention to get into the grocery business, Kroger stock went down and the firm made a decision to cut back on expansion plans nation wide.  This Fishers project was axed as a result.  Kroger did announce plans to renovate the current grocery location.  City officials say they are working on ways to enhance the first commercial area the Fishers area had in its growth years.

11.  Parkland Anniversary School Walkouts  March 14th was the one-month anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.  There was a nation-wide call for a brief student walkout on that anniversary at the precise time the shooting had happened one month earlier.  HSE Schools, in contrast to nearly all school districts in the area, took a very tough stand, threatening discipline for any student walking out.  Some students at HSE Schools did walk-out, but the events were orderly and not disruptive.  I could find no example of a student disciplined in any HSE School for participating in this walk-out.

10.  Commercial Development  Fishers saw another boom in commercial development, too numerous to list here.  The Yard and One North developments spent the year under construction.  The city announced a new development along 116th Street near City Hall that will include a new headquarters for First Internet Bank and a “boutique hotel.”  Some older buildings on the south side of 116th Street, such as Nickel Plate Grill, will be preserved.   These are just a few of the major projects announced or underway.

9.  Mayor Fadness To Seek Another Term  If there was any doubt, that was cleared up early in the year when Scott Fadness told me in a January 2018 podcast interview that he had told his department heads he would run for re-election in 2019.  He later issued a news release through his campaign formalizing his intention to run for another term.  In addition to the mayor, all 9 city council seats are up for election, along with the City Clerk and City Judge in 2019.

8.  Geist Park  The city spent a good part of 2018 negotiating with IMI Inc. about buying their former property on the lakefront.  Those talks broke down, a condemnation proceeding went forward and the city ended up paying an amount somewhat higher than the original offer.  City officials have been asking for feedback on how the park, the only public space on the Geist Reservoir waterfront, should be developed.

7.  Changes At The Top For Fishers Police   In late July, Fishers Police Chief Mitch Thompson was arrested on DUI charges following an auto accident on the north side of Indianapolis.  Thompson immediately resigned as chief and resigned from the department in October after pleading guilty to one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person.  Ed Gebhart was immediately appointed acting chief and was named as the permanent chief in August.

6.  Road Construction   How many years has this been a top news story in Fishers?  Too many to count.  However, with the rapid growth comes the need to improve the road infrastructure.  There were many projects in 2018.  Included in that list would be the roundabout at 131st Street & Cumberland Road, 106th Street and the widening project on Allisonville Road north of 116th Street, which will not be finished until spring or summer 2019.  Brace yourself, the construction project on State Road 37 will begin as early as February, 2019.

5.  School Safety  On May 30th, The City of Fishers and HSE Schools sponsored a school safety event at the HSE High School auditorium.  The event drew a large crowd.  The impetus for the gathering was the May 25th school shooting in Noblesville.

4.  Murder-Suicide  Two long-time teachers in the HSE School District died in what authorities described as a murder- suicide involving a couple going through a divorce.  The coroner’s office ruled that Kristal Sergi died of multiple gunshot wounds and ruled her death a homicide.  Her husband Frank Sergi apparently turned the gun on himself and died of a single gun shot to the head.  Both teachers had touched the lives of many young people throughout this community and the shock over the tragedy hangs over this area to this day.

3.  Rails To Trails  The Nickel Plate Rail Line had been used for the Indiana State Fair Train and other occasional excursions, but the City of Fishers has moved forward aggressively to transform the rail line running through Fishers to a trail.  A group called “Save The Nickel Plate” has been just as aggressive in trying to stop the city and advocating the preservation of the rail line, keeping it either just used for trains or dual use as a trail and train track.  So far, the City of Fishers has been successful in legal and administrative proceedings, but a few are still pending.

2.  School Board Election  There will be three new faces on the seven-member Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board in 2019 after the November election.  Only one incumbent member stood for re-election and Michelle Fullhart won her seat.  Three other sitting members chose not to run again…they were Terry Tolle, John DeLucia and Matt Burke.  The newly-elected members are Brad Boyer, Janet Pritchett and Julie Chambers.

1…..Redistricting  With the new Southeastern Parkway Elementary School under construction and set to open in August, 2019, the HSE School District had to go through a process of redrawing the boundary lines for schools grades kindergarten through 8th grade.  As always, the process was controversial, with many parents pushing the school board not to move their children.  But after all was said and done, new school districts were drawn and approved by the school board.

Well, that’s it for the 2018 Top 20 list.  I also posted a Top 10 podcast listing on my blog, if you want the ten most popular podcasts from the year 2018.

Most of all, thanks to all of you for reading this blog and listening to my podcasts.

Only a few days remain in 2018, so it is time to look back on the year and figure out the top news stories.  In this podcast, I list my Top 20…from number 20 all the way to Number 1.

LarryInFisher.com is finishing up our third year in producing local podcasts with local people.  That was my goal when I began this podcasting quest in early 2016 and it continues to be my focus.

I checked analytic data for the year of 2018 and found the listing below to be the most popular podcasts from the past year.

I first want to sincerely thank all my faithful podcast listeners.  Just under 16,000 times during 2018, someone listened to most or all of a podcast episode.  For someone aiming at local podcast issues, this is an amazing number.

I have several types of podcasts I produce under the banner of “Podcasts by Larry Lannan,” but let’s start with my LarryInFishers series, which is aimed at local issues and local people.

Here are the Top 10 LarryInFishers podcasts for 2018:

10.  Hub and Spoke Coming in at Number 10 is quite an accomplishment for this podcast because it was recorded in late December.  Many podcasts pick up audience levels after being posted for a period of time.  This episode featured David Decker and Travis Tucker, the co-owners of the planned Hub & Spoke commercial development in Fishers. Samm Quinn, a reporter at the Indianapolis Business Journal, joined me in the conversation.  Listen to this podcast at this link.

9.  Muzaffar Ahmad  Originally from Pakistan, Mr. Ahmad came to the United States in the late 1990s and now lives in Fishers.  Muzaffar is a Muslim.  He has formed a group of people representing various religious beliefs in the Fishers area promoting peace and what unites all religions.  The organization is called the Fishers Multi-Faith Community for Compassion.   Listen to my talk with Muzaffar at this link.

8.  Mayor Scott Fadness  I had the opportunity to speak with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness several times on podcasts during 2018.  The episode with the most listeners was the interview I recorded in early January, 2018.  The mayor looked back on 2017 and we talked about what the future may hold for the city in 2018.  Listen to the podcast at this link.

7.  Jennifer Miller and Andrea Davis from HAND These two ladies work for HAND, a nonprofit group promoting affordable housing in Hamilton County.  Listen at this link.

6.  High School football coaches In August of 2018, the high school football season was set to get underway.  Richie Hall, Sports Editor of the Hamilton County Reporter, joined me in these podcast sessions.  Listen to the interview with Fishers Coach Rick Wimmer at this link.  HSE Coach Adam Morris is featured at this link.

5.  Sarah Sandquist  When long-time Parks and Recreation Director Tony Elliot left Fishers for the sunny warmth of California, his second-in-command was named to take over the department.  Here is my talk with Sarah Sanquist shortly after she assumed the reins of the Parks and Recreation Department in Fishers, at this link.

4.  Teacher of the Year John Hochstetler This was my third time to speak with the HSE Schools Teacher of The Year.  This year it was John Hochstetler.  List at this link.

3.  HSE School Board Candidates I decided to lump these all into one position on the list because all ten candidates agreed to sit down for a podcast interview.  You can find all the podcasts at this link

2.  Former Police Chief Mitch Thompson This podcast was recorded long before Chief Thompson stepped down after an accident on the north side of Indianapolis that resulted in his arrest and later guilty plea.  Mitch Thompson resigned from the department after entering the guilty plea.  So, understand this interview was recorded long before all this, but still attracted a lot of attention among podcast listeners.  Hear it at this link.

1…..HSE Schools Redistricting  While the redistricting process was underway for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools, I arranged to record a podcast with the school board president, superintendent and assistant superintendent to talk about the process.  In mid-December, the school board voted in favor of a redistricting plan for grades K-8 that will impact just over 2,000 students, starting in the 2019-2020 school year.  Listen at this link

During 2018, Adam Aasen and I hosted a podcast called “Hamilton County Goes To The Movies,” featuring our film reviews and local guests with a connection to film.  We started the podcast in the summer of 2017, but had to put the production on hiatus due to our respective schedules.  We hope to produce some special editions of this podcast in early 2019, with the goal of bring back the weekly series.  You can still listen to any of those podcasts at this link.

I also posted several reviews as part of my “Podcasts by Larry Lannan.” under the heading of  “Arts&Fishers Podcasts.”  They include reviews of films and local theater productions.  Here are some of my most popular reviews for 2019:

Review of the film A Star Is Born 

Film review of Phantom Thread

Review of play Is He Dead? 

Review of the play Critical Recall

Review of the film First Man

It was October of 2017 and I was off to cover a story about a local group that does important work in the local community, the Youth Assistance Program ( YAP).  An event at Flamme Burger in downtown Fishers raised money for the Fishers YAP.  I took a few pictures and write a short piece about the fund raising event.

But that was not the most important thing happening that October night.  It was the first time I had met Hamilton County Judge Steve Nation.  I had read about his work as Hamilton County Prosecutor and as a judge, but had never met him before that evening.

There are times you just feel you have made a connection with someone.  That’s the way I remember my first time talking with Judge Nation.  We start talking….and continued talking…for a long time.

It was then that I realized why Steve Nation had been elected to office over and over again.  He is a very special person.

When someone graduates from law school, there are many avenues that new attorney may take.  Steve Nation chose the path of public service and remained on that path for 40 years.

Judge Steve Nation is retiring and has received a number of accolades, all deserved in my view.

On this Christmas Eve, allow me to thank Judge Steve Nation for his service to Hamilton County.  All of us owe him a debt of gratitude for his work that impacts all of us.

Happy retirement Judge Nation, and Merry Christmas to you and all reading this post.

Normally, when there are presentations of recognition by the Fishers City Council at a regular council session, I try to post photos as quickly as possible.  However, due to some technical difficulties, I am getting to what happened at the December 17th meeting now.

Included in the line-up to be honored were two long-time city employees, two local academic winning state championships and graduations ceremonies for the Fishers Citizens Academy.

Here are those pictures.

Continue reading Fishers City Council Recognitions →

The City of Fishers is moving full speed ahead with plans to convert the Nickel Plate rail line into a trail.  You may recall about two years ago, when the announcement was made about the plans for the trail, there were county commissioners on hand along with Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear.

A story on the front page of the Indianapolis Business Journal December 21st edition, written by North of 96th reporter Samm Quinn, says Noblesville leaders are not anxious to create the section of the trail in the Hamilton County Seat.

Current Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear appears not be inclined to move forward with the trail during 2019, his final year in office.  Reporter Quinn spoke with the known Noblesville mayoral candidates and no one talked about the trail as a priority.

Meanwhile, the federal Surface Transportation Board has essentially granted Novblesville, Fishers and Indianapolis the go-ahead to rail bank the corridor within the borders of their respective municipalities, which allows the cities to move forward with the trail, in a ruling announced Friday.  The “Save the Nickel Plate” organization, which has pushed for keeping the rail line intact, either just as a rail line or a combined rail & trail, asserted the federal ruling was “great news” on their Facebook page saying the board “clearly spelled out how to return the rail to active service.”

Save The Nickel Plate would need to change the leadership in city government for that return of rail service to happen.  Logan Day, a spokesman for the group, recently stepped down from his Save the Nickel Plate post to explore a run for Mayor of Fishers in the 2019 city election.

Save the Nickel Plate has also filed lawsuits against Fishers and made an administrative challenge to the city’s procedures issuing bonds to pay for the first phase of the trail, which will trigger a property tax rate increase.  So far, none of these challenges have been successful, but some are still pending.

In a statement released Friday after the federal board’s action, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said this ruling “reaffirms the city’s right by law to move forward with the trail and we plan to do so imminently.”

It would now appear the city plans to aggressively move forward with the Nickel Plate Trail, and Save the Nickel Plate plans to be just as aggressive in fighting the trail conversion in every possible arena provided by law.  Let’s wait and see how this develops.

You can read Samm Quinn’s story at this link.  (NOTE:  If you are not a subscriber of the Indianapolis Business Journal, you are limited in the number of stories you may access each month)