Eric Moeller says his start in local government engagement began as a student in the Fishers Town Government Academy.  A town employee was running the program, his name was Scott Fadness.  Just a few classes into the academy, Fadness had to step aside as the staff person working with the class when he was promoted to Fishers Town Manager.

Scott Fadness is now mayor of Fishers and Eric Moeller is a member of the Fishers City Council, representing the North Central District.  In this year’s municipal election, Eric will have one opponent and continues his campaign for re-election.

Here is my podcast conversation with Eric Moeller.

The State of Indiana provides financial support for local schools based on the number of students reported in each school district throughout the state.  Indiana has what is called the”Average Daily Membership” (ADM) count which is used by state officials to pass out money to local school corporations.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools ADM count for this school year, as recorded by a head count of students conducted last Friday, shows a total of 21,794. Students grades kindergarten through 12th grade are up a total of 273 over the previous school year.

HSE’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter provided board members with the following student population breakdown during a Tuesday morning work session:

–For kindergarten through 4th grade, the student count is up 5.

–In grades 5 & 6, the student count is down by 2

–The number of junior high students increased by 20

–The total number of high school students is up by 245

–The Freshman and Sophomore classes are the largest entering HS this year

–High school seniors outnumber the junior class.

–The count of freshman students is  1,786

–The total number of 1^st graders is  1,550

–In grades 5 & 6, the count was down by 2

Reuter told the board student population is “stabilizing,” The number of kindergarteners entering HSE this school year exceeded 1,500, compared to last year’s kindergarten ADM population of 1,476.

“We opened Southeastern (Elementary) and I know it feels like we just grew and grew, and we did grow out there, more than we’d hoped to,” Reuter told board members.  “But it’s because of their kindergarten class. It’s just completely off the charts compared to (Southeastern Elementary’s) other grade levels.”

HSE administrators have shared the ADM figures with the district’s demographer Jerry McKibben and expects fresh future enrollment projections by November.

Reuter also provided board members with an early overview of the 2020 school district budget.  No overall budget number was available because Reuter is still processing the numerous sources of revenue and the wide range of expected costs for calendar year 2020.

The public hearing on the 2020 school corporation proposed budget will be held October 9th, with final budget approval by the board expected at the October 23rd board meeting.

When the Indiana Department of Education released ILEARN testing results for school districts around the state earlier this month, it was emphasized that this test was much different than the previous ISTEP tests.  Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board members received a look at just how different the testing regime was at a Tuesday morning work session.

The board viewed a video of an elementary student being shown an Interstate highway sign with one exit 1 1/4 (one and one quarter) miles away and the next exit 1 1/2 (one and one half) miles away.  The student was asked to determine the difference in mileage between the two exits.

The elementary student appeared stumped, not sure how to solve the problem.  After a minute or two, the student is then asked to solve the problem of 1 1/2 minus 1 1/4.  The student had no problem working the answer to that problem.

HSE Assistant Schools Superintendent Jan Combs used this example, illustrating  how ISTEP and ILEARN were different.  ISTEP was geared more to having students answer the question of 1 1/2 minus 1 1/4, where ILEARN would present the student with the “real world” example of a sign in an Interstate Highway.

Combs told the board this will help teachers and administrators better prepare students for the ILEARN test in future years.

There were other big differences between ILEARN and ISTEP, according to Dr. Combs.

ISTEP was a timed test, where ILEARN had no time limits for students to complete the test.

Also, ILEARN had a different testing path.  For example, if a student had answered the Interstate highway question correctly, the next question would be a more difficult question.  If the student answered that question incorrectly, a less challenging question would be presented to that student next.

In the 2019 ILEARN testing, 56.1% of HSE students taking the English Language Arts (ELA) and the Math test passed them both.  That compares with 73.5% passing both exams last year.  Last year’s test was the old ISTEP, with 2019 being the first year the state utilized ILEARN.

As far as how HSE students did on the individual Math and ELA tests – 64.3% passed the ELA ILEARN test this year, while 69.2% passed this year’s Math test.

Statewide, 37.1% of the students taking both the ELA & Math ILEARN exams passed both, compared to last year’s pass rate of 50.7% on ISTEP.  The statewide pass rate for just the ELA test was 47.9% and 47.8% for Math.

Administrators are now looking into ways to help students apply the skills learned in class with practice in applying those skills.

There are plenty of lists found in various media sources these days comparing and contrasting the quality of life within various communities in America, but the one that brings the most attention is Money Magazine’s annual “Best Places To Live In America.”  Fishers was rated Number 3 in the nation on this year’s list.

Fishers was the only place in Indiana to crack the Top 10 list.

Here’s how Money Magazine explained their methodology in compiling this year’s listing.

“…the list was compiled using data points such as economic health, cost of living, ethnic and economic diversity, public education, income, health and safety, ease of living and amenities. The greatest weight was given to economic factors, housing, health and safety, diversity, and cost of living. Other critical components included quality of life, education, and local amenities. Residents in the top-ranking locations were also interviewed.”

You can view the entire listing at this link.

“I’m incredibly proud that our city has once again been recognized as one of the best places to live in the nation,” said Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “This honor is truly a reflection of the residents, businesses, schools, and organizations that make Fishers the smart, vibrant, and entrepreneurial city that it is. I’m so privileged to serve this community.

Other Indiana communities in the Top 10 list include Eagle Creek and Fort Wayne.

Fishers firefighters say a “possible medical event” caused a vehicle to crash into a home on Lynn Avenue late Monday morning.  The home, located near 146th Street and Allisonville Road, was badly damaged when the vehicle hit the front of the building and came to rest inside.

Fire Department first responders quickly found the driver of the vehicle and one person inside the house and brought them out safely.  Two people were in the home when this happened, with one quickly escaping the structure and notifying authorities immediately.

Firefighters found smoke upon arrival, but found it was due to spinning tires on the vehicle.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department is conducting an investigation into the crash.

The Fishers City Council has put its stamp of approval on the proposal to increase the Hamilton County Local Income Tax by .1% (one-tenth of one-percent), funding 911 emergency services.  The state law governing these decisions requires elected municipalities representing more than 50% of the county’s population to approve the proposal for it to become law in all of Hamilton County.

Under that state provision, if only Fishers and Carmel councils approve the 911 tax, it becomes effective in all of Hamilton County.  So far, the Arcadia Town Council is the only other municipality to approve this tax.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness argued in favor of enacting this tax increase.  The City of Fishers share of funding county-wide 911 service is $1.3 million in 2019, and would grow to $1.7 million in 2020.  The mayor said he fashioned his 2020 city budget proposal assuming this tax would be enacted.  If not, Fadness told the Council cuts would need to be made in next year’s spending plan.

The vote was 8-0, with council member David George unable to attend the Monday meeting.

During the public hearing, former Fishers Town Councilor Mike Colby and unsuccessful mayor candidate in this year’s GOP primary Logan Day, each argued against enacting the .1% income tax increase.

The American Association of Retired Persons…better known as AARP…..has been active in local issues throughout the state, but particularly in areas impacting residents in and around Fishers.  I spoke with two representatives of the local AARP organization – Tish Biggs and Mandla Moyo in this podcast.

I’ve been on the road a lot the last few weeks, so I was looking forward to acting like a retired guy (I get less of that these days), enjoying some chill time.

The past week just didn’t allow for that.

The first story I needed to follow-up on was the traffic mess outside Conner Prairie for the final Symphony on the Prairie concert.  It appeared the whole world descended on the complex off Allisonville Road that night.  Even Conner Prairie CEO Normal Burns was stuck in traffic and never made it to the concert.  Officials with the City of Fishers, Conner Prairie and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra are all promising to do a thorough review as to why this happened and ensure it never happens again.  In the meantime, if you never were able to use that final Symphony on the Prairie ticket, contact the Symphony Box Office for a possible ticket to another Symphony event.

The ground was broken, finally beginning the long-awaited reconstruction of State Road 37 in Fishers.  For some, it’s the start of remedying a nasty bottleneck for motorists.  For others, the pain of the construction period is all they can think about.  Either way, it is starting now.  The east-west traffic on 126th Street will be restricted or blocked for some time next year, no one know exactly when or any other details.  As construction information becomes available, follow LarryInFishers.com and I’ll do my best to keep you updated..

Next, the three sets of chefs that will occupy the new Fishers Test Kitchen, to be located at the Yard development near the Hyatt Hotel, were announced this past week.  I had the chance to tour the under-construction Test Kitchen and speak with Jolene Ketzenberger, long-time local writer about food, outlining the plans to what is described as a “restaurant accelerator.”  It should be open in November.  I’m looking forward to sampling the chefs’ creations.

Mayor Scott Fadness provided a briefing to the news media about the 2020 budget he will present to the Fishers City Council Monday night.  The $119 million spending plan will call for a 2 cent property tax increase (per $100 of assessed valuation), what the mayor describes as a one-year rate increase to fund capital projects, which means the city will not issue bonds and create debt to fund these projects.

Council members will also vote Monday night on an increase (one-tenth of one percent of taxable income) in the Hamilton County Local Option Income tax.  This increase is funding public safety emergency services.  As the mayor explains it, state law calls for approval by councils representing a certain percentage of the county population.  Under that formula, only Fishers and Carmel councils need to approve this increase for it to be enacted for the entire county.  Most of the new money will pay for 911 service.

A Miami, Florida based firm, Sitel Group, plans to open an office in Fishers, leasing 42,000 square feet of space in the Jarden building, located at 121st Street & Cumberland Road.  The State of Indiana is offering employment-based incentives and the Fishers City Council will vote on city incentives Monday night, including a 5-year property tax abatement.  Sitel plans to employ about 300 people in the operation, which appears to mostly be a technology call center.

The Fishers District (the Yard will be part of that complex) announced artists tasked with creating murals throughout the development.  The developer, Thompson-Thrift, announced those selections last week at the Fishers Arts & Culture Commission meeting,

During the mayor’s budget briefing, I couldn’t resist asking him about the progress of the construction on Allisonville Road, aimed at making it a four lane road south of 131st Street.  The mayor said what should have been a 12-month project has stretched out to about 2-years, for a variety of complicated reasons.  In what may have been a coincidence (or, maybe not) all four lanes along the Allisonville Road construction area opened for traffic late last week.

The past week also featured one of the biggest community events in Fishers each year, the Mudsock football game, pitting crosstown rivals Fishers and HSE High Schools in the ultimate local rivalry football contest.  The stands were full and people were standing all around the field at Fishers High School.  Fishers won this year.  HSE won last year.  It was a big night for the entire community.

As a side note, I discovered Twitter does not recognize the work “Mudsock” and routinely corrected it (in Twitter’s world) to “Murdock.”  No, there was no Murdock game Friday night.  That was embarrassing

So, I didn’t get much rest the past week.  Your volunteer news blogger doesn’t get much rest the next few days, either.  The City Council will be meeting & I’ve alluded to just some of the items on the Monday night agenda.  I have podcast recording sessions scheduled.  Then the HSE School Board has a work session early Tuesday morning (lucky me, I have a dentist appointment following that meeting).

One more thing.  I have been heartened by the response to the GoFundMe page created for Chuck Knox, who suffered a serious injury at home recently.  Even though he has insurance, this will be a big financial burden on Chuck and his wife Shari, both active volunteers around Fishers and all of Central Indiana.  In case you missed my previous post, please consider contributing to Chuck’s GoFundMe page at this link.

The annual varsity football game between Fishers and HSE High Schools is a big football game….a VERY big football game to be sure.  But it is much more than that.

The Mudsock Game is a chance for people living in the Fishers area to gather in one place for an important local event.  That doesn’t happen very often.

It is always a chance to fund important programs.  The Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation has one of their biggest fund raising events of the year connected to this game with their VIP area.  I am told the foundation sold-out VIP tickets once again this year.

This is also the center of a fund raising effort to provide pasta to those in need.  The Pasta Bowl asks for donations of pasta, distributed to local food banks and township trustees.

The best part of this year’s Mudsock Game? – the weather.  Last year’s monsoon rains were a challenge to everyone.  This year, rain and storms thankfully stayed away from Fishers.

Congratulations to The Tigers and Coach Rick Wimmer on their Mudsock Game win.  To the Royals and their Coach Adam Morris, there is always next year.

Below is a video of the halftime ceremony honoring the HSE Schools’ Teachers of the Year

Here are more photos from the 2019 Mudsock football game:

Continue reading The Mudsock is always more than a game →

by

Richie Hall 

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

A football team needs several different personality traits to play in and win a Mudsock game.

Fishers coach Rick Wimmer mentioned a trait that is probably not immediately thought of, but obvious in retrospect: Confidence. As his team celebrated winning the Mudsock trophy over Hamilton Southeastern 27-6 Friday night at Reynolds Tiger Stadium, Wimmer kept
using the word ‘confidence.’

“Football’s hard work and you’ve always got to push them in practice hard,” said Wimmer. “Just because it’s HSE Week didn’t make things easier. Now come game time, everybody’s ready to play. If you put the preparation in and your guys know what they’re doing,
they’re going to play with confidence, and I think that’s what happened tonight.”

The game was tight through the first quarter before Fishers was able to get the
first score of the game. The Tigers began their drive with good field position at
the Royals 26, and used short runs to get themselves to first-and-goal at the 10.

Fishers eventually got to the 1-yard line on fourth down with just a few seconds left in the first quarter. The Tigers then showed their confidence by going for it, and they succeeded, with quarterback Marcus Roux punching the ball in from the 1 with 1.8 seconds left in the
quarter.

Jack Phillips made the extra point kick, and Fishers led 7-0. That would be the score at halftime, as neither team scored in the second quarter. The Royals came close to getting in the end zone in the final seconds of the period, but the Tigers didn’t allow them in, then blocked a field goal.

“That was huge,” said Wimmer. “Absolutely huge. They’re a dangerous offense. We pinned them down there, they didn’t have much time.”

“I felt like we moved the ball really well in the first half, we just couldn’t finish drives,” said Royals coach Adam Morris. “We missed a field goal, go for it on fourth and don’t get it. I thought we moved the ball in the first half, we just couldn’t finish drives.”

Fishers took control in the third quarter with two touchdowns. Jeffrey Simmons caught a 26-yard TD pass from Roux with 7:29 left in the period. On their next possession, the Tigers got to the HSE 44, then Shaun Kim made a 29-yard run to get Fishers in the red zone.
Two plays later, Dylan Scally got the ball into the end zone on a 7-yard run. Phillips
made both extra-point kicks.

“Our offensive line gained confidence and our running backs gained confidence as the night went on,” said Wimmer. “We came in at halftime and felt like we were getting good pushes. We had too many penalties. There’s a negative offensively tonight, we put ourselves in bad situations, took away a lot of first downs because of penalties, mostly holds. So we got to clean that up.

“When we didn’t do that, they didn’t really stop us. We just stopped ourselves
with some penalties. I think we gained confidence as the game went on and that
showed in the way our offensive line played and our running backs.”

Roux scored his second rushing touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter on a six-yard run. Southeastern got on the board on the next series, with DeAndre Rhodes catching a 16-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Hobson.

“I think they just played tougher than we did,” said Morris. “They came out, played better in the second half.”

Scally led the Fishers rushing with 76 yards, while Roux gained 63 yards. Roux was 8-of-19 passing the ball, with Nick Leath making four receptions.

Hobson had a huge night passing for Southeastern, completing 20 of 38 passes for 271 yards. Ben Boysen made seven of those catches, with Rhodes getting five receptions. Nija Wilson led the Royals’ rushing with 28 yards.

The Tigers remain undefeated with the win at 4-0, while the Royals drop to
1-3.