Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern’s girls started strong and finished strong in their 53-37
Hoosier Crossroads Conference win Friday at Avon.

The Class 4A No. 3 Royals led 16-8 after the first quarter. The Orioles got within
28-24 by halftime, and stayed close with Southeastern during the third period. But
the Royals shut Avon down in the fourth quarter, allowing the Orioles just two points.

Sydney Parrish scored 26 points, including four 3-pointers. Parrish and Jackie
Maulucci both pulled six rebounds, with Lydia Self collecting five. Self also had four
steals.

Southeastern is 4-0 in the conference and 12-1 overall. The Royals host New Castle
on Tuesday.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern got off to an outstanding start at North Central on Friday,
and that carried the Royals to a 73-57 victory over the Panthers.

Southeastern led 24-5 after the first quarter and maintained the lead from there.
The Royals were up 41-25 at halftime. Aaron Etherington scored 23 points for
HSE, including four 3-pointers.

Noah Smith reached double-double status with 13 assists and 11 points; he also
made four steals. Mabor Majak added 11 points and blocked two shots. Chris Grubbs
collected seven rebounds, with Kole Hornbuckle pulling six rebounds.

Southeastern is undefeated at 5-0. The Royals will play Culver Academy at 5 p.m.
today at the FORUM Tipoff Classic at Southport.

It was just a few months ago when the City of Fishers applied to the State of Indiana, asking the the downtown Nickel Plate District receive a special designation.  The Indiana Arts Commission wasted no time in approving the Fishers area a state-wide Cultural District.

This is on the heels of Nickel Plate Arts recognizing Fishers as the Emerging Arts Champion of the Year.

“We are thrilled to receive this recognition from the Indiana Arts Commission,” said Leah McGrath, Fishers’ Deputy Mayor in a city news release. “This is such an exciting moment for our community. This designation signifies not only our commitment to advancing arts and culture in Fishers, but is also recognition of the vibrancy and cultural significance of the Nickel Plate District. The Statewide Cultural District designation helps to further root the Nickel Plate District and will guide decisions with community programming, architecture, public art, and more.”

Last August, the Fishers City Council adopted an ordinance to create a local Arts & Culture Commission, which will partner with city departments on arts events.  The commission will begin operations next month.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

A seasonal resort near Strawtown Koteewi Park will be considered by Hamilton County Commissioners in their regular meeting Monday afternoon. Proposed by Bruce Oldham, the 55-acre project, if approved, will include a small lake, campgrounds, rental cabins and eventually commercial businesses.

Located west of State Road 37 at Essig Road, the planned project is called Strawtown Resort Planned Unit Development (PUD). Construction of the lake and eight cabins will begin next year. The proposed PUD comes to commissioners with a favorable recommendation from the county plan commission.

The facility, near the county’s popular Koteewi Park, will presumably attract visitors to Koteewi where they can camp and buy supplies in close proximity to the county park where there is variety of attractions are offered.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern sailed past Pendleton Heights 69-35 in a Tuesday home
game.

The Royals put this one away early, leading 16-5 after the first quarter and 42-16
at halftime. Sydney Parrish scored 28 points, made four 3-pointers and earned a
double-double by grabbing 15 rebounds.

Nine different Royals scored, including nine points from Jackie Maulucci. Molly Walton grabbed six rebounds and handed out six assists, while Lydia Self collected five rebounds.

Southeastern is 11-1 and plays a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game at Avon on
Friday.

Fishers City Hall was the site of a public hearing conducted by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGC) Tuesday morning.  David Marusarz, Deputy General Counsel for the DLGF, began the proceedings by making it clear that the only issue before his agency in this process is whether the City of Fishers complied with Indiana law in approving the issuance of bonds for the Nickel Plate Trail and road projects as part of the 2019 city budget.

There were a number of comments by opponents of converting the Nickel Plate Rail line to a trail, not all about the city’s compliance with state law.  But there were impassioned arguments by six speakers clearly in favor of preserving the rail line, with many espousing both a rail line and trail on the Nickel Plate.  Several asserted that the city has not been honest with the public in providing budget numbers for the trail.

Logan Day, a leader in the Save the Train movement, argued that the city did not comply with state laws on public hearings, particularly not adhering to the “spirit of the law.”  Day also said the city does not yet have all the approvals needed from the federal Surface Transportation Board.

Fishers City Attorney Chris Greisl cited chapter and verse in describing how the city had followed state law in its 2019 budget process.

There were 40-50 people on hand for the hearing.

The DLGC expects to issue a decision on whether Fishers adhered to the law in its budget process public hearings  within about two weeks, according to Marusarz.

Mayor Scott Fadness said after the hearing that he is confident the city conducted the budget process not only in compliance with the state law, but allowed more public input than required by the statute.  He added that the city, along with Noblesville and Indianapolis, are waiting for one final approval from the Surface Transportation Board, but has firmly believes that will come soon.

There has been much speculation about what would become of the south side along 116th Street in the area near City Hall.  We now have part of the answer with the unveiling of plans to develop areas north and south of 116th Street in downtown Fishers.

The plans include a new headquarters building for First Internet Bank.  In addition, there will be a high-end boutique hotel, along with residential space and retail shops. A six-story office building will anchor the development.

The City of Fishers says this is the kind of development envisioned in the Nickel Plate District Master Plan.  The project announced Tuesday morning includes preserving the older structures on the north side of 116th Street, which currently house businesses such as the Nickel Plate Bar & Grill, Roman and Leo, and Fishers Barber Shop. The exteriors and landscaping are expected to be rehabilitated.

“We had a unique opportunity in downtown Fishers to bridge our past, with institutions such as Archer’s and Nickel Plate Bar and Grill, with our vision for the future,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “Jamie Browning and team took that opportunity and delivered a great vision for the future of our vibrant downtown.”

Browning Investments is partnering with the City of Fishers to develop this ambitious plan.

“Browning is thrilled to be the master developer of this truly transformative project,” said John Hirschman, Browning’s president and CEO. “This is a complex in-fill redevelopment spanning a major thoroughfare, and its design and mix of uses reflects years of planning and a commitment to the vision for the City of Fishers.”

If all goes as expected, construction will start in late summer of 2019.  Parts of the development will begin to open their doors in late 2020, with all the development slated  for completion by the end of 2021.

The City of Fishers intends to construct a 750-space public parking garage as part of the development that will include reserved parking from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday for tenants. Incentives to be presented at  Monday’s City Council meeting include fee waivers, land costs and transfer of two City-owned parcels to First Internet Bank. In the event the project does not proceed, all land will transfer back to the City of Fishers, according to the city news release.

Tuesday morning, Scott Fadness was clearly happy about the $160 million investment planned for downtown.  He also pointed to the preservation of some older buildings now housing Nickel Plate Bar & Grill and other businesses along 116th Street just east of the municipal complex.  Not only will those structures remain, they will keep the current look and have major renovations needed with the age of those buildings.

One structure that will not survive, according to Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath, is the old silo structure in that area of downtown.  Plans call for the silo to be removed.

Mayor Fadness also is pleased that First Internet Bank will move its headquarters as an anchor to the new development, with a lot of new space in their new quarters, 165,000 square feet.   The bank is a $2 billion operation, according to the mayor.

The entire development should be open by the end of 2021, with one exception – the hotel may take a little longer to complete.

Every now and then, you come across a true story that a Hollywood screenwriter could not envision.  Such a story happened here in Fishers, involving an alert police officer, lots of first responders, and the use of an AED machine to treat a man that designed electronic components for the technology that saved his life.

Most of the people involved in saving the life of Troy Borgens were gathered at Fishers Police Headquarters Monday afternoon.  Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart gave a brief introduction, along with Fire Chief Steve Orusa, but both quickly turned the attention to those involved in the incident that happened at the Borgens’ Fishers home abut three weeks ago.

Troy Borgens began by stating clearly he was not conscious for most of the story, but has learned what happened and gave the narrative for all gathered.

Mr. Borgens quickly came under stress while at home.  When his wife saw her husband was not breathing, 911 was called.  The dispatcher instructed Mrs. Borgens on how to start CPR.  Officer Corey Miller responded quickly to the Borgens’ home.

Troy Bergens was later told he had just suffered what is called a “widow maker” heart attack.  The name implies that this trauma has a very low survival rate, even when it happens in a hospital.

Officer Miller administered the AED, got his heart going again, paramedics arrived and helped stabilize Borgens’ condition and he was rushed to the local Fishers IU Hospital, then transferred to Methodist Hospital in downtown Indianapolis.

After a 2-day medically-induced coma, Mr. Borgens was revived from that coma and was discharged one week after the traumatic event.

“My prognosis is very good, I suffered zero heart damage, which is just incredible” Borgens said.  “They expect I’ll start cardiac rehab on the 11th of December.”

“The depth of my gratitude just cannot be expressed to these first responders, to the dispatcher, to the doctors and nurses who treated me in the last three weeks,” said Borgens.

The most interesting twist to this amazing story is that Troy Borgens, while working in Everett, Washington, during the years 2006-2008, was heavily involved in the electronic systems integrated into the AED unit utilized by Officer Miller that helped save his life.

There were hugs, tears and lots of thanks at Fishers Police Headquarters Monday afternoon.  It was a good news story.

I continue my travels around Indiana and was away from Fishers for a good part of last week, but that didn’t stop news from happening in our fair city.   Let’s catch-up on a few news items from the last few days:

–The Fishers Winter Wonderland celebration that had been scheduled for Saturday was pushed back to tonight (Sunday) because of the lousy, rainy conditions yesterday.  It goes until 8pm.

–Local Fishers developer RealAmerica lost its bid to receive $1.2 million in housing credits the firm planned to use for a proposed rental housing development near Fishers Elementary School.  The IBJ reports that RealAmerica is in the process of determining where to go from here.  You can read the IBJ story at this link.

–Fishers has been ranked the second-safest city in the state of Indiana by Safewise, a review Web site.  The safest city in the state is much smaller population-wise compared to Fishers, St. John in northern Indiana, with just over 16,000 people living there.  Carmel came in as the third-safest city in the Hoosier state.  For the full list, use this link.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Local winners in the Nov. 6 election will take their oaths of office in ceremonies Dec. 20. County Republican Chairwoman Laura Campbell announced swearing in proceedings will be held in the Historic Courtroom of the Courthouse at 5 p.m. with Judge Steve Nation administering the oaths.

The newly elected and re-elected officials actually assume their duties on Jan. 1. But, the public ceremonies are a tradition, allowing family, friends and supporters to observe election victors swear to “do their duty” in the office to which they were elected.

Those taking office are Kathy Richardson as county clerk, Dennis Quakenbush as sheriff, Mike Casati as judge of Superior Court 1, Gail Bardach as judge of Superior Court 6, Lee Buckingham as prosecutor, Christine Altman as commissioner, Robin Ward as assessor, Jennifer Hayden as recorder, John Chalfin as coroner.

Also beginning four-year terms are county council members Steve Schwartz, Fred Glynn, Amy Massillamany and Ken Alexander. Several town council members in Sheridan, Cicero and Atlanta, nine township trustees and 36 township board members also begin new terms as a result of this year’s election.

The public may attend although seating is limited. A reception hosted by the Republican women’s organization will follow.