After several weeks of being closed for construction work, the intersection of 126th Street and Allisonville Road is now open!

Now that the shock is beginning to wear-off on the surprising news that Hamilton Southeastern School Board President Mike Bottorff has resigned his board seat, the question many are asking is – what comes next?

Under state law, the remaining board members will decide who replaces Mr. Bottorff on the board.  But how they go about doing that is entirely up to the board.

I contacted all six school board members late Thursday night, asking where the board should go from here.  As of mid-afternoon the next day (Friday) I have received two responses.  One is still processing what all this means.  The other is busy dealing with personal family end-of-school-year issues.  Neither would comment at this time.

So, why have the other four school board members not responded to my messages?  I do not take that personally.  I don’t believe these remaining board members yet know what will happen next.  I suspect they were taken a bit off guard by Mike Bottorff’s decision to resign from the board.

The board has a wide range of options before it.  I will quickly run through what the board did when there was an opening on the board in late 2013, the last time this happened.

Darren Sink, who oddly enough sat in the same at-large Fall Creek Township seat as Mike Bottorff, notified the board of his resignation in November of 2013.  The board decided to allow anyone living in Fall Creek Township and meeting minimum qualifications to apply for the open board seat.  There were a lot of applicants.

The board reviewed all the applications and chose a set of finalists.  Board members interviewed each candidate in open meetings anyone could attend (I attended them all).

In January of 2014, Howard Stevenson was sworn-in as a new HSE School Board member.  Mr. Stevenson then ran for the at-large Fall Creek Township school board seat in 2016.  The rules governing at-large elections for HSE School Board say the candidate must live within the township she/he may be representing, but the entire school district votes on each township race.

In that 2016 Fall Creek Township at-large election, Mike Bottorff had 14,797 votes, and Howard Stevenson tallied 14,756 votes.  Bottorff won that election by about one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of the votes cast.  Candidate J. Kent Everett came in a distant third.

I’m already seeing plenty of social media posts supporting this or that candidate to apply for the vacant board seat.  Just keep in mind the board decides how and when to fill that seat.  They could follow the precedent of 2013-2014 or do something entirely different.

At this point, board members have not provided any indication how they plan to proceed.

Then, there is the issue of how to name a new board president.  Sylvia Shepler, as board vice president, will preside over the next regular board meeting scheduled for June 12th (that presumes the board chooses not to call a special meeting, with the proper advance notice under the law).   The board then may choose to vote on a new board president to fill-out Mr. Bottorff’s term for the remainder of this calendar year.

But even that is not certain.  The board could just allow Mrs. Shepler to assume the role of acting board president the remainder of the year.  Once again, this is all up to the board.

Some have asked why Mike Bottorff has chosen to resign from the board so suddenly?  My answer is this.  Unless given a compelling reason otherwise, I take Mike at his word that he is leaving the board for the reasons he provided in the letter to his fellow board members.

“I find I cannot continue that (school board) service and also keep important commitments to my family,” Bottorff wrote in the letter. “I have to set priorities and, in that regard, my obligations to family must come first.”

We did get a hint of this in Board President Bottorff’s statement read aloud at the May 8th school board meeting when the HSE District nondiscrimination policy was approved.  He cited examples of threats made to school board members and their families as the nondiscrimination policy was debated in the local community.

I have always admired anyone willing to run for public office.  The candidate and family face many personal hardships just to run a sound campaign.  Then, once elected, the elected official must be prepared for the harsh criticism that comes when a controversial issue is debated.

No matter how you may feel about Mike Bottorff’s votes on the school board, I admire his willingness to serve and I wish he and his family nothing but the best in the future.

Now, we wait for word from the school board on how his successor will be chosen.  I will be reporting that here at LarryInFishers.com.

After several valiant efforts to save the firm, it appears SteadyServ, a Fishers-based enterprise, will need to sell after trying to reorganize under bankruptcy.

Samm Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) posted a story Friday saying the local business, which is best known for developing a draft-beer management and inventory system called iKeg, has failed to meet its sales projections each quarter since 2012.

You can read Samm Quinn’s story at this link.

Road construction in and around Fishers continues for the work week starting Monday, June 3rd.  Watch 136th & Cyntheanne Road for a one day closure Tuesday.

The city now says 126th Street and Allisonville Road, which has been closed the past few weeks to allow construction work, will reopen “soon,” but is no more specific than that for now.

Here’s the latest road construction list, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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Mike Bottorff submitted his resignation from his seat on the Hamilton Southeastern School Board, effective the date the letter was submitted, Thursday, May 30th. Bottorff has served as president of the board this year.

“I provided notice to the Hamilton County Clerk that I have resigned as a member of the Board of School Trustees effective May 30, 2019,” Bottorff wrote in a letter to fellow school board members. “It has been a privilege to serve my community as a member of this Board, but, after months of thought and reflection, I find I cannot continue that service and also keep important commitments to my family. I have to set priorities and, in that regard, my obligations to family must come first.”

Bottorff was elected as the at-large board member from Fall Creek Township in 2016.  His seat is up for election in the fall of 2020.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board will now begin the process of choosing Bottorff’s replacement.  Under Indiana law, when a school board vacancy occurs, the board itself chooses the replacement.

Bob Kravitz has been around local sports in the Indy area for a long time.  He is also a long-time Fishers resident.  Bob now writes for a Web site TheAthletic.com which charges a small monthly fee for a ton of sports content, including Bob’s commentaries.  I talked about that, and a lot more, with Bob on this podcast.

When Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness delivered his State of the City address last week, he emphasized regionalism in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area as a way to solve problems, particularly an issue like infrastructure.  Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett unveiled his vision of what regionalism would look like at his State of the City address, and it appears the two mayors are no exactly together in their vision.

The Indianapolis Business Journal posted a story on their web site (ibj.com) about Hogsett’s plan to fund infrastructure projects throughout the nine counties making up the Indy region.  However, under Hogsett’s plan, Hamilton County would fund 33% of the regional fund but receive just 18% of the proceeds.  You can read the entire IBJ story at this link.

“I’m perplexed by Mayor Hogsett’s proposal that is not consistent with the work the Central Indiana Conference of Elected Officials has been doing collectively over the past year,” said Fadness in a statement released Wednesday night.  “While I agree that regionalism is important, I believe we need to find a solution that will transcend political seasons and ensure the long-term sustainability of our region.”

The Hamilton Southeastern School District will have a Librarian/Media Specialist as Teacher of the Year for the second consecutive school year.  Maria Kussy from Brooks School Elementary School, was named as HSE School District Teacher of the Year for the upcoming school year beginning in August.  The previous Teacher of the Year was John Hochstetler, a Library/Media Specialist at Sand Creek Intermediate.

Maria Kussy has been in education for 19 years, with the last two years as the teacher-librarian.  She strives to build relationships with all students and colleagues through literacy, collaboration, and inquiry.  Her passions include bringing stories to life, getting children excited about reading and writing in all of its forms, and working towards equity and inclusivity.  She graduated from Marian University (2000) with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in French.  She is currently working toward a Masters in Educational Administration and Supervision through Ball State University.  She is married to Michael Kussy, is a mother to five boys, and is a foster mother.

The winner of the Honor & Excellence Award for support staff went to Della Johnson, Office Manager at HSE High School.

The “All for One Award” honors staff members that practice equity and inclusion in their work.  The two winners of that award for 2019 are Danielle Riego, English as a New Language Coordinator….and Renee Isom, Media Specialist at Fishers High School

Below is a list of all those honored by school building:

First, Teacher of the Year…

Continue reading HSE School District Hands Out Teacher Of The Year, Other Honors →

For many years, the City of Fishers has been eyeing parts of Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport for economic development, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was announced between Fishers and the Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) in October of 2015 with that development in mind.  Wednesday the parties have announced the next step in developing part of the land at the airport by calling for proposals to develop a large part of that property.

The private firm JLL is involved in this process, named last year as marketing broker for the project.

“The City of Fishers welcomes the opportunity to partner with the Indianapolis Airport Authority and JLL on this call for proposals,” said City of Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “We have seen a significant amount of interest in this property since our MOU was established in 2015, but developers and companies have been hesitant due to the preference of land leases. We now have the chance to sell this land and continue to transform development along 96^th Street.”

Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger is IAA’s Vice President, and said, “This further step with JLL is a continuation of that positive momentum that will deliver improvements to our citizens.”

IAA owns the airport property, which is just north of 96th Street on Fishers’ southwest side.

The final set of bids are in and approved, clearing the way for the new Fishers Fire Department Headquarters Building, which will also include a fire station.  The old HQ structure has been demolished and the new building will be under construction soon.    Fire Chief Steve Orusa told the Board of Works and Public Safety that the bids came close enough to the engineering estimates that the bidding process is now over.

The board approved Fire Station bids Tuesday by the following firms:

MacDougall Pierce Construction, Inc.
Glenmark Construction.
Jack Laurie Group.
Lehaman’s Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Brown Sprinkler Corporation.
Gaylor Electric.

The board also approved a number of water-related actions, including  a pavement cut at 116th Street and Wainwright Boulevard (just east of Allisonville Road).  In order to complete this work, the eastbound lanes of 116th Street at Wainwright will be down to one lane for two work days, but will be open to both lanes during morning & evening rush hours..