The bid has been accepted, the governments are acting and the removal of the railroad tracks along the Nickel Plate is beginning. Even with all that, two organizations are trying their best to sway public opinion to their way of thinking.
Two organizations, Save The Nickel Plate and Indiana Trails, are arguing that Noblesville and Fishers should not pull the rails out of the ground, but pursue a program of keeping the rails and building the trail around them.
I spoke with Logan Day and Tom Williams about what their organizations are asserting.
Metronet my now go back to digging in Fishers, but city officials will be watching the firm closely. After another series of gas line breaches last week, city and state authorities ordered the firm to stop digging to lay fiber optic cables in Fishers neighborhoods.
The city says Metronet will be subject to “probationary procedures.”
Below is the text of the entire statement issued by the City of Fishers:
“After meeting with Metronet, the City of Fishers has lifted the no-dig order under probationary procedures. Probationary procedures include: regular monitoring by City inspectors and required hydrovac-only digging for gas lines (a no-contact digging procedure to prevent utility strikes). The City will continue to explore all options to ensure accountability and safety by Metronet and other utilities and their contractors. As an IURC regulated utility, Metronet has the authority to install within the public right of way but must abide by local permitting and ordinance regulations. Residents can submit comments to the IURC online at iurc.in.gov. The City will provide further updates as they become available.”
(Editor’s Note: Adam Aasen has been my podcasting partner in our movies podcast series, but he also is a small business owner and city-councilman-elect in Carmel. One of his charitable causes is Restored Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of human trafficking. Adam wrote this piece, published by my news-gathering partner, The Hamilton County Reporter)
Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire who was accused of abusing and trafficking young women and girls for decades, died on Aug. 10. And his death doesn’t really close the book on his story.
Not only do investigators want to find out more about what happened, but the healing process is not over for the victims in this case. These victims of human trafficking will not get to see Epstein face his accusers in a court of law. And often the road for restoration is a long one for such victims.
Young boys and girls who are victims of human trafficking often deal with the psychological scars for years.
According to the May-June 2019 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, new research details the process that human traffickers use to force a psychological bond on their child victims.
This study looked at victims from 1990 to 2017 and found that victims of human trafficking will see disruptions in their social and emotional development. Some conditions that are often seen include depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self-destructive behavior, chronic stress and more. These victims have a hard time maintaining relationships, obtaining an education or keeping employment.
In the state of Indiana – including Hamilton County – young people have become victims of human trafficking. Since 2007, there have been over 1,700 calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline regarding Indiana victims.
One local organization is helping these become whole again after surviving their abusers.
Restored, Inc. is a nonprofit that serves victims of sex trafficking in Indiana through active recovery, compassionate relief and the hope of restoration. Some of their programs include trauma counseling, emergency housing referrals, legal services, food/clothing and medical help.
I’ve personally visited Restored’s office in Indianapolis and they do great work.
For the second year in a row, I’ve decided to host a fundraiser for Restored Inc. at Donatello’s Italian Restaurant in Carmel.
The event will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17. Guests will sample seven different wines while enjoying assorted heavy appetizers. There will also be a silent auction where guests can bid on items to raise funds for Restored, Inc.
Cost is $55 per person, not including tax/tip. All tickets include a donation made to Restored, Inc.
The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School board has authorized Superintendent Allen Bourff to negotiate a recommended deal for the board to buy land for a new Durbin Elementary School. The board voted 7-0 Wednesday evening allowing the school administration to negotiate on the board’s behalf.
The board was told at the previous meeting that extending utilities to the current Durbin location would cost at least $5 million. Attorney David Day said Wednesday that local land owners would be involved along the utility extension route, with negotiations or condemnation proceedings, which would take time. CFO Mike Reuter said his financial analysis boils down to acquiring the 20 acres required for a new elementary building and holding onto the current Durbin property, with that land value likely to rise over time.
The board was told there are 228 more students in HSE Schools, compared to this same time last school year, but the number is not yet final. Brooks School, New Britton, Sand Creek, Southeastern and Thorpe Creek Elementary schools are either at or over capacity. The building most over capacity is New Britton, by nearly 70 students. Bourff says that means the future of Durbin impacts the student population numbers for these schools.
With authority to negotiate, Bourff told board members he may have a Durbin recommendation by the next board meeting August 28th.
In other school board news from Wednesday’s session:
–The school calendars for the coming school years (2020-2021 & 2021-2022) were discussed and the board spent time talking about the proposed 2020-2021 calendar. It calls for the first day of school to be Wednesday, August 5th. There was a lively discussion on how that date could be moved back, but no consensus was reached. The calendars will be on the August 28th board agenda for approval. You can review the proposed 2020-2021 school calendar at this link. The proposed 2021-2022 draft calendar can be found at this link.
–Dr. Bourff says the administration is researching the possibility of having later start times for high school students. He plans on having discussions with high school students and will bring this before the board at a later date.
–Dr. Bourff announced plans to establish a Purdue Polytechnic High School at the Hub and Spoke facility now under construction near 106th Street and I-69. Bourfff says this program is consistent with the HSE Schools’ HSE21 concept.
–Board member Amanda Shera voted “no” on the consent agenda, normally a routine item at each board meeting. She said after the meeting that her vote related to objections she had over the custodial contract.
–Stephanie Madison was introduced to the board as the new Director of Business for HSE Schools. She replaces Cecilie Nunn, who will take over the Chief Financial Officer duties for the retiring Mike Reuter beginning in 2020. Madison previously worked for the Charles A. Beard School Corporation in Trafalgar, Indiana.
–This meeting began at 4:30pm, the only instance where this reporter has attended a board session at that hour. The earlier start time allowed board members to attend parent-teacher night activities at their respective children’s schools.
Tom Britt is a busy man. He just moved his headquarters from the Geist area to downtown Fishers. He is involved with the 37 Thrives program, along with a number of other issues in and around Fishers. Here is my podcast with Tom Britt.
Mayor Scott Fadness (middle), along with Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren (left) and City Controller Lisa Bradford (right) review the 2020 budget with the City Council Finance Committee
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness provided the first glimpses of his administration’s spending proposals for 2020 before the City Council Finance Committee Monday evening. He says the city tax rate should remain about the same as last year, unless council members decide to issue a short-term 1-year bond, which would be financed through a one-year-only rate hike of 1-2 cents, in order to pay for needed street repairs in some older neighborhoods.
Fadness is proposing a 2 per cent increase in pay for city workers next year, while increasing the city match for employee contributions to the city’s retirement plan by $500 a year per employee. The city is proposing no increase in the employee’s share of health insurance premium costs in 2020.
The city projects $2.2 million will be collected in 2020 from the Wheel Tax on vehicles registered to Fishers residents. The mayor also told the committee the General Fund will have $16.4 million in the bank, as cash reserves, heading into the start of 2020.
The Finance Committee plans more meetings as the budget details take shape. A public hearing will be held by the City Council on the budget in September, with the final vote on next year’s city spending to be held in October.
Leah McGrath, a Fishers Deputy Mayor, has ruled out a run for the 5th District Congressional seat being vacated by Susan Brooks. McGrath has been mentioned publicly as a potential candidate in next year’s Republican primary for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I am grateful and humbled by the encouragement I received and for the people who shared their time and advice with us,” said McGrath in a statement released Monday morning . “After much discernment, however, we concluded it is not the right time for our family. There is more I can do to serve my community here at home.”
As recently as July 19th, in a podcast interview with me, she did not rule out a possible congressional candidacy, but Monday’s statement means she has decided against a run.
Fishers Police announced an arrest Monday morning of an Indianapolice man charged with a number of residential burglaries around the Indy metro area, including apartment complexes in Fishers. Sattore Cooper, 36, is in the Hamilton County Jail, facing felony burglary and theft charges. He also has outstanding warrants for burglary and being habitual offender charges.
Police describe “intensive months of long investigation”leading to this arrest. He was apprehended on August 7th without incident, according to the news release from Fishers Police.
Authorities in Fishers expressed their appreciation to Carmel and Indianapolis police for their assistance in the probe leading to this arrest.
I always enjoy attending the gathering of all the employees in the Hamilton Southeastern(HSE) School District the day before school begins each year. It is a joyful atmosphere, more a pep rally than a meeting. That atmosphere fills the Fishers High School Gymnasium.
When Superintendent Allen Bourff spoke before the crowd this year, he made a stunning statement. The student population may well exceed 22,000 this school year. That would be the first time the number of students in the school district numbered 22,000 or more.
I thought back to July of last year, when the demographer used by HSE Schools for many years, Dr. Jerry McKibben, unveiled his student number projections. I went back and reviewed that report. His prediction for the K-12 student number during the 2019-2020 school year was 21,593.
That means there are at least 400 more students in the current school year than projected, if HSE Schools has more than 22,000 youngsters in classrooms this school year. So, the obvious question is – how did this happen?
I posed that question to Dr. Bourff in a podcast interview conducted on the first day of school. He says administrators are studying that issue, and are still looking at how many students do not end up returning to HSE Schools for a variety of reasons.
“We know that on the west side of the district, as those older neighborhoods turnover, that they could very well be turning over to younger families who are….making the enrollment climb again,” Bourff told me in the podcast. “But we also know that on the east side, housing has really developed to the point that, we have a brand new building, Southeastern Elementary, that was supposed to be at 80% capacity, that is now at capacity, perhaps even over.”
The school transportation system contains technology to chart the number of students in each school and compare the projections to the actual student count. That data will help break down schools where the additional students are located.
The question many families are asking is this – will HSE Schools need to once again use portable classrooms to handle the extra students?
“I hope not,” was the immediate response from Dr. Bourff when I posed that question. HSE Schools have not disposed of the portable classrooms, so they are available if needed.
The solution to this may center on what happens to Durbin Elementary School in Wayne Township. The school district has been considering an expansion of Durbin at the current location, but there is a big complication in going down that road.
It would cost a minimum of $5 million to extend water and utility lines to the Durbin school location, which is not currently served by such utilities. In order to expand that school, utilities would need to be extended.
Dr. Bourff admitted that developers like an elementary school in or near their neighborhoods and he has had conversations with such firms recently, without providing any additional details. Water and utility access would not be a problem in that case.
The school board was told in late July that a decision on Durbin needs to be done no later than January of 2020. If the school board acted then, assuming all goes as planned, it would be two years before a new or renovated Durbin would be ready for students.
So, HSE Schools are facing more students than expected, the future of Durbin will determine how to handle the additional students, and revised projections are needed to know where to go from here.
Let’s watch what happens over the next few months.
You can listen to the entire podcast interview with Dr. Bourff at this link.
(NOTE: This is a commentary written by Fred Swift of the Hamilton CountyReporter. The views expressed are those of Fred Swift and do not necessarily reflect the views of LarryInFishers.com. This opinion piece is posted here as part of a partnership between the Reporter and LarryInFishers.com)
County Republicans are planning a Fall Dinner on September 19, which will serve as something of a kickoff to the November election campaign. Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch
will speak at the rally to be held at the 502 East Event Center in Carmel.
Generally, our purely local elections fail to stir much interest in Hamilton County where a Republican win, often unopposed by Democrats, can be anticipated. This year, however, Democrats claim to be planning a new effort in selected city council races in Fishers, Noblesville and Carmel. They have yet to announce specific plans or events.
Republicans, aware of the intentions, are not taking these races for granted, and will mount a campaign of their own. County C h a i r w o m a n Laura Campbell said volunteers
will be sought in coming days to organize a campaign including door-to-door contact with voters.
Behind this action by both parties is the unknown effect of the ‘Trump Factor.’ While Trump carried the county easily in 2016, there were areas of the county where he did not do as well as Republicans are generally expected to do.
Whether his performance since that election will help or hurt the party is an unknown. Democrats feel it will help them; Republicans hope it won’t, and say it should have
nothing to do with local election issues.
The upcoming November election involves only municipal offices of mayor, city clerk, city judge and city council. Since GOP candidates for the top job of mayor in Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel and Westfield have no Democratic opponents, a very light vote is possible. Residents living inside city limits get to vote while voters in unincorporated areas will have no election this year.
