In the aftermath of the Fishers City election, which resulted in two Democrats being elected to the Fishers City Council, I requested a reaction from Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness.  His statement is below:

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter 

For the first time in history, Democrats have been elected to city councils in Fishers and Carmel.

While it may not seem like winning a total of three seats out of 11 contested council races is impressive, it is a major breakthrough for Democrats. And, it is likely to build momentum for next year.

In Fishers, Democrat Samantha DeLong defeated Republican Eric Moeller by 32 votes, and Jocelyn Vare bested Rich Block by more than 500 votes for an at-large council seat. Republicans prevailed for the other seven. Mayor Scott Fadness was re-elected without opposition.

In Carmel, Miles Nelson, a Democrat, won over Debra Minott in a new council district by a margin of 1,467 to 1,151, while the GOP won the other eight seats on the nine-member council. Mayor Jim Brainard got more than 10,000 votes but didn’t need them. He was unopposed.

Republicans swept the election for council in Noblesville and in Westfield where Mayor Andy Cook fended off a challenge from Libertarian Donald Rainwater 3,168 to 1,991, and Mike Johns won the only contested council race over independent Kate Snedeker.

Voters made Chris Jensen officially the city’s mayor-elect. He was unopposed and has already begun forming his new administration.

Jerry Cook was elected to the town council in Cicero over Brad Baker in the only race on the town’s ballot.

Republicans were surprised and disappointed by the Democratic wins in Fishers and Carmel, but their fortunes may not be fading as straight ticket Republican votes outnumbered straight ticket Democrat votes 8,878 to 1,867 countywide. The total voter turnout was very low at only 15.6 percent countywide.

Democrats had figured they would do better with a low turnout if they could get their hardcore supporters to the polls.

Carmel had the best turnout at just under 20 percent, and that may have been because of a school tax referendum in which voters were asked to consider increasing property taxes to provide more school security. That referendum passed with 69 percent approval.

Two Fishers City Council Republicans on the losing end of Tuesday night’s election results took to Facebook Tuesday night for comments.

Council President Rich Block, an at-large member of the council, wrote on his Facebook feed when it was clear he would not win re-election.  ” Congratulations to Jocelyn Vare for being elected,”  wrote Block. “I have sincerely appreciated the support and the work we did together for Fishers. Thank you.”

Jocelyn Vare said Tuesday night she received a phone call from Rich Block congratulating her, and she expressed her appreciation for the phone call.

North Central District Councilman Eric Moeller posted on Facebook Tuesday night, saying he had placed a call to Sam DeLong congratulating her on winning the council seat and offering assistance in the transition.  He expressed pleasure at the many people he has met during his council tenure of more than 4 years.

“…to me it’s more of a pivot,” wrote Moeller. “A pivot from spending time with council-related matters, to spending much more time with my family – which I’m truly looking forward to! Side note – My five year old son wasn’t even born yet when I campaigned in the 2014 primary.”

Councilman Moeller added that he looks forward to continuing to be a strong advocate for Fishers.

The Rails Restaurant was the scene of a raucous election night party Tuesday as supporters of Democrat Jocelyn Vare gathered to celebrate an historic electoral victory in her campaign for Fishers City Council.  She will assume her at-large council seat in January.

The final results showed Ms. Vare garnering 25.49% of the vote, besting Republican City Council President Rich Block, who received 22.61% of the votes cast.  Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman both easily won re-election to at-large council seats.  There were four candidates for at-large Fishers council seats, with the top three elected to four-year terms.

I moved to Fishers in 1991, and never saw a Democrat get very close to winning a municipal election, sometimes the whole election was cancelled when no Democrats stepped forward to run.  That’s why this is an historic election.

The cheers, selfies and celebration were something to see for Jocelyn Vare as she partied with her friends and supporters.  I recorded a brief video with her election night you can view below.

But there was another important upset Tuesday, with Democrat Sam DeLong defeating incumbent Eric Moeller, by a margin of 32 votes, 599-567.

Republican incumbents David George and John Weingardt both won re-election to council seats.

This election will not shift the political make-up of Fishers city government.  Republicans still hold a 7-2 majority on the council, the mayor’s office, along with the city clerk and city judge.  But the simple fact that two women, both Democrats, were winners in this general election has made political history here.

I was with Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Joe Weingarten at the Hamilton County Judicial Center as the election results were coming-in.  Joe was smiling ear-to-ear.  His candidates were not only competitive, but won some races in this year’s local elections.

I’ll have more to say in the coming days about this election.  In the meantime, you can find the final results at this link.

Final Results

CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE

Rich Block (R)                                             4390      22.61%

Cecilia Coble (R)                                       5097       2625%

Todd Zimmerman (R)                              4983       25.66%

Jocelyn Vare (D)                                        4950        25.49%

CITY COUNCIL NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT

Eric Moeller (R)                                      567                  48.02%

Samantha (Sam)DeLong (D)           599                  51.37%                    

CITY COUNCIL SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT

John Weingardt (R)                            743               54.67%

Lane Skeeters (D)                                 616              45.33% 

CITY COUNCIL SOUTH WEST DISTRICT

David George (R)                              861       51.71%

Adam Kaps (D)                                   804       48.29%

A sunny, pleasant Sunday afternoon was marred by a fatal accident on I-69, near 106th Street, in Fishers.  The southbound lanes of the Interstate highway were closed for several hours as authorities cleaned up the crash and investigated the cause.

Fishers Police have identified the fatal victim as William Womack, 66, from Indianapolis.  Listed as seriously injured are Heath Franklin, 43, and Isaiah Newsome, 41, both from Bloomington, Indiana.

Just after 2:00pm, Fishers police received a report of the crash, involving  a 2015 Ford van and a 2018 Ford Truck. The driver of the van was found dead at the scene. The driver and passenger of the truck were seriously injured and transported to an area hospital by the Fishers Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

According to the Fishers Police Department Crash Reconstruction Team, it appears that both vehicles were traveling southbound when the two vehicles collided.

No other details on the cause of the crash have been released. Police say the collision remains under investigation. The southbound lanes of Interstate 69 were partially closed for approximately three hours Sunday afternoon

After talking with many of the writers at the Local Author Fair at the Hamilton East Library in Fishers Saturday, most of them told me how useful Instagram has been for them to get the word out about their respective books.

As a result, I have tried to setup an Instagram account.  My user name is LarryInFishers2012 (2012 being the year I began this news blog).  So, if you want to follow me on Instragram, feel free to do so as I continue trying to figure out how to use this platform.

I went to Fishers City Hall Friday to vote early.  There were no voters there other than myself.

One of the poll workers looked at me and asked, “Is there any way we can get more young people to come out and vote?”  I had no answer then and I have no answer now.

In my estimation, past data are clear, few people of any voting age bother to show up and vote in our municipal election here in Fishers.

Yes, it’s true we have no mayor’s race and many city council districts have unopposed candidates.  However, everyone voting in the city of Fishers can vote in the at-large City Council election.  There are four candidates, 3 incumbent Republicans and one challenger, a Democrat.

I received a very pointed comment when I posted Fred Swift’s commentary on the upcoming election, which was posted on the front page of Sunday’s Hamilton County Reporter  (the Reporter has a news-gathering partnership with me and Fred Swift’s commentary was posted on my blog as part of that partnership).  Mr. Swift was looking at local elections throughout Hamilton County.

The person posting the comment argues that election ballots should have an option equating to “none of the above” which would be a sort of protest message that none of the candidates are acceptable to an individual voter.  This proposal has been around a long time.

There was a time, as a Political Science college student in the 1970s, when I thought that idea had some merit.  Perhaps delivering such a message to the political parties might nudge them into providing better candidates and better choices for the voting public.

In the ensuing years, I have changed my mind.  No, I am not saying voters always have good choices.  For the record, in the Fishers city election this year, we have some high quality candidates and perhaps a few that are not of such high quality.

But I no longer believe the “none of the above” ballot option would end up doing much good or changing anything for the better.  It may make some voters feel better, but it would not likely make any positive changes to the election system.

In some cases, elections present imperfect choices.  But to live in a democracy means, in my view, you have some basic civic responsibilities.  I think voting is one of them, even if you are dissatisfied with the choices.

But, again, that’s just my opinion and others are entitled to their own.

So, in that spirit, if you are a registered voter and live within the city limits of Fishers, I would urge you to educate yourselves about the candidates and vote.  The actions of your city government impact your life, no matter what age you may be.  I recorded podcasts with all the candidates and you find links to them at this link.

FYI, LarryInFishers.com plans to be in Noblesville to report on the election results.  Watch this space, as well as my Twitter account (@LarryInFishers) for the latest election returns Tuesday night.

Now, one more thing.

I had the distinct pleasure of walking around the Hamilton East Library in Fishers Saturday and talked with most of the local authors on hand for the Local Author Fair.  I was amazed at the variety of work being put on display.

One man wrote a book about a gambling, bank robbing relative that did most of his criminal work during the Great Depression, and was a good friend of gangster Pretty Boy Floyd.  Another researched his Great Great Grandfather who fought in the Civil War, then returned to Indiana.

Then there were plenty of fiction writers, from romance novelists to one writer that concentrates on stories of biker gangs.

They were all fascinating people and I had the chance to record brief discussions with over 20 of them.  You can access the podcast featuring all those interviews at this link.

A tradition is beginning to build in the City of Fishers to recognize military veterans on special days, such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  On November 11th, 10am, at Fishers City Hall, there will be a community celebration honoring local veterans.

The event is free and open to the public.

Fishers city government has supported a special program for a number of years, Hometown Help for Heroes.  The city marshals the community’s public and private resources to alleviate some of the practical burdens that families of a deployed head of household will face.

Fishers Department of Public Works (DPW) manages the program.  It offers families with deployed head of households services, including driveway and sidewalk snow removal, as well as lawn mowing and trimming services during the summer months.

In order to register for this program, use this link.  Families must meet the program requirements to be enrolled.

I have been asked many times to help local nonprofit groups with fund raising and I help when and where I can.  But planning and staging an event has challenges.  You must often rent space and encounter other expenses just to put the event on to raise money for the cause.

Then, those attending normally need to get dressed and venture out into the community to attend the event.  There is some work and effort on everyone’s part to get this done.

HAND is once again asking people in our local area to just stay home and support the local group.

HAND, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Noblesville, specializes in providing low-income housing in Hamilton County and some surrounding areas.  HAND tried this fund-raising technique before and it is back this year.

It is sort of a fund raising version of a stay-cation.  You can support HAND just by staying home and relaxing.  The news release announcing the “nonevent” says this is “the only one of its kind in central Indiana.”

If you are looking for tickets to the November 9th HAND “nonevent,” find out more at this link.

Proceeds from this nonevent will go toward support for HAND’s housing-development, home-repair and community-building programs.

More more information about HAND, use this link