by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

An interesting publication by the Hamilton County Farm Bureau caught my eye this week when visiting the county courthouse. Included in statistics from the Farm Bureau is the fact that half of the county’s 400 square-mile area is devoted to farming despite all the residential and commercial development.

The information tells an interesting story about agriculture in our county. For example, the market value of farm products is about $100 million annually, which makes farming probably our biggest purely local industry.

There are now about 325,000 people living in Hamilton County with most of them in the southern half. There are only 585 working farms, most of them north of 196th Street, which is the county’s north/south division line.

Most years at least 50,000 acres are devoted to corn production, nearly 60,000 to soybeans and around 1,200 acres of wheat. The remainder is pasture and woodland.

While figures are two years old, the report says 8.3 million bushels of corn are produced in the county, 3 million bushels of beans and 84,000 bushels of wheat.

Total net income to farmers annually is listed at $29.9 million. The assessed value of the county’s farmland was placed at $233 million two years ago, and property taxes paid on this ground was a little over $4.3 million each year.

It’s probably all rather surprising for folks who have come to think of Hamilton County as being suburban. In fact, virtually half the county is still highly productive, rural farm country.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush has released the county’s top three crash locations.

According to the Sheriff, two of the three locations with the most frequent crashes are located on 146th Street:

• 146th Street & Hazel Dell Road
• 236th Street & U.S. 31
• 146th Street & Gray Road

According to Quakenbush, the main cause of accidents at these intersections were drivers following other vehicles too closely.

Sheriff Quakenbush recommends leaving at least three seconds between you and the vehicle in front of you. He also reminds all drivers not to text and drive and to obey
all traffic controls.

It has been years in the making, but the State Road 37 reconstruction will begin in earnest Sunday, March 1st.  There have been lane restrictions and some reconfiguration, but the first road closure of any length is set to begin.

The west side of 126th Street and State Road 37 will close to traffic March 1st.  Access to the businesses in the area is still available by using Lantern Road.  There will be no traffic access to cross SR 37 at 126th Street.  The suggested detours are mapped-out using the link below.

Here is the weekly Fishers road construction update, as provided by the city:

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There are two pieces of legislation moving forward in the Indiana General Assembly of special interest to the Fishers area.  One deals with a dispute over distribution of County Option Income Tax (COIT) funds, the other creates a conservancy district for Geist Reservoir.

First, the COIT dispute, mostly between Fishers and Carmel, may be on the way to settlement now that leaders of both cities have agreed on moving forward.  In 2019, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness told the City Council Finance Committee that Carmel was receiving about $21 million more annually in COIT distributions compared to Fishers, despite the fact the two cities have roughly similar population numbers.  Fadness cited the distribution formula created under state law as the reason for this.

A COIT distribution bill passed both houses of the legislature last year, but the local COIT provision did not survive the House-Senate conference committee that wrote the final version of that bill.  State lawmakers are trying again this year, and State Representative Todd Huston, whose district encompasses the City of Fishers, says he is confident the issue will be resolved this time around.

The COIT agreement reached by leaders of Carmel and Fishers has passed the House this session and is poised for final passage in the Senate.  “The bill will go to conference but I am confident the language will remain the same when we pass the final bill,” Huston said in an e-mail message to LarryInFishers. “I appreciate the work done by Fishers and Carmel leaders to get to this place.”

Mayor Fadness tells LarryInFishers the deal reached with Carmel calls for a revised COIT distribution formula that will add $15 million-$18 million in additional COIT funds to Fishers over three years, but that increase is tied to a rise in COIT tax collections of 2.5% each year.  In other words, presuming a strong economy continues locally, Fishers will receive the extra funds.  According to Fadness, after that initial three-year period, Fishers would receive $4 million-$6 million in additional money per year from COIT, but that would once again rely on continued COIT tax collection growth in the coming years.

On the second matter before state lawmakers, Huston says the measure aimed at creating a Geist Conservancy District has passed the Indiana House. State Senator Jim Merritt, whose district includes Fall Creek Township, is the Senate author of the Geist Conservancy District measure.  A conservancy district would have the legal authority to tax property owners and impose fees in the area of Geist Lake in order to do required maintenance on the reservoir.  For more background on the proposed Geist Conservancy District, read a recent article written by John Russell in the Indianapolis Business Journal at this link.

Riverview Health is letting patients know that about 2,600 mailings may have been sent out in error.  According to my new-gathering partner, the Hamilton County Reporter, the hospital learned their mailing vendor sent letters to the correct address, but with the wrong patient name.

That means a letter meant for one patient could end up in the hands of another individual.  Riverview emphasizes that no Social Security numbers, financial information or bank account numbers were exposed.   No financial information, such as credit or debit card numbers were compromised.  In addition, no medical data was exposed, according to Riverview.

The methods of patient notification used by Riverview are currently under review as a result of this incident.

As required by federal law, Riverview Health is also notifying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Riverview Health patients impacted by this disclosure are also expected to receive letters in the mail notifying them of this incident within the next few days.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern finished the regular season on a spectacular note Thursday, shocking Class 4A No. 2 Lawrence North 51-49 at the Wildcats’ gym and running its win streak to 13 games.

The 4A No. 9 Royals held the lead for most of the first half, going up 15-8 by the end of the first quarter, then leading 28-17 with 2:30 left in the second period. The Royals led 30-20 early in the third, but the Wildcats made a 17-6 run to regain the lead at 37-36 with two minutes left in that quarter. LN led 39-38 at the end of the period.

Vinny Buccilla and Elliot Robinson made back-to-back 3-pointers to get HSE up by seven early in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats made another run to take the lead, going up 49-46. Kole Hornbuckle then converted a three-point play with 1:01 left to tie the game at 49-49.
Southeastern got a defensive stop with under a minute and held for the last shot when Robinson was fouled with 18 seconds left. Robinson made both free throws to put the Royals up by two. Lawrence North got one more chance, but missed a last-second 3-pointer.

“Great team win,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield.

Hornbuckle finished the game with 13 points. DeAndre Rhodes dominated the boards with 12 rebounds, while Hornbuckle, John McCall and Mabor Majak each collected five. Buccilla handed out four assists.

The Royals finished the regular season 17-5 and will play Carmel in the first round of the Noblesville sectional at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

As Fishers has grown from the small town I found when moving here in 1991 to a city with a  current population estimated at nearly 95,000, we have also seen growth in the number of not-for-profit organizations formed in our city.  Even with the number of these organizations growing, the demand for services for Fishers families and young people grows even faster.

A group of Fishers nonprofit leaders began to meet last year and explore ways to work together.  That has resulted in the launch of the Fishers Non Profit Coalition.  The Coalition has met four times so far, with the first gathering in July of 2019, and the next session set for April, 2020,

“As we have looked at data sets from the state and other organizations over the past few years we have seen a lot of disparity in numbers making it difficult for organizations like ours to serve the needs of our target population,” said Dr. Jody Britten, co-founder of the Fishers-based non-profit Early Learning Alliance Network, in a Coalition news release.

The Coalition says it is being founded to “identify needs, cultivate community, and curate data sources to support the social infrastructure of our growing community.”  The idea for the coalition started with Alison Gatz, Executive Director of Youth Mentoring Initiative (YMI).

“We started the Coalition to identify Fishers nonprofits who want to gather for conversation,” Gatz said. “There is power in collaboration and just understanding the landscape of support and expertise for the non-profit community.”

If you are involved with a Fishers nonprofit group and would like to be a part of the Coalition, fill out the contact form at this link.

For more information about the Coalition, access their Web site at this link.

Whenever I need an update on the latest news in local high school sports, I go the Hamilton County Reporter Sports Editor Richie Hall.  In this podcast, we cover swimming, diving, football, girls basketball and preview the upcoming Noblesville boys basketball sectional.

Fishers has a reputation for being a busy place during the month of March, Disability Awareness Month.  2020 will see even more local events planned.

I spoke with the the co-chairs of the Fishers Disability Awareness Month events, Kelly Hartman and Cecilia Coble.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

One of my favorite people in the Hamilton County family of public servants is the “park guy,” Al Patterson. Unfortunately for the county, Al is retiring after 28 years of building our award-winning county park system to become the best in the state.

Many counties have maybe one small park, some have none administered by the county. Hamilton County had a small park system consisting of about 190 acres in 1992 when Al became parks director. Some of that land was not yet developed for park use.

In a county such as ours, it was obvious that the ideal land was going fast for residential and commercial development, so acquiring land with park potential was a “now or never” proposition.

Al took the lead in getting most of the current 1,600 acres of parkland. About half that land came through working with the estate of the late Dan Taylor who owned the historic farm we now know as Koteewi Park at Strawtown.

Development of Cool Creek Park near Westfield with its widely acclaimed nature center and summer concerts came under Al’s direction.

While serving as assistant to the county commissioners, one of the most memorable phone calls I got was from Jesse Cox in 1998 when out of the blue Jesse asked if Hamilton County would be interested in having his farm as a donation. I called Al, and he took it from there.

The county accepted the generous offer, and Jesse and his wife also gave a very large amount of money to develop what became Coxhall Gardens on 116th Street.

Al Patterson came to us from Connersville where he had directed city parks. With support from county commissioners, council members, and the assistance of deputy director Chris Stice and staff, we now have a group of 13 parks with great attractions ranging from bird watching to ziplining that is the envy of the state.

Al and his wife, Laura, are moving to Wisconsin where they have family, including a new grandson.

Al deserves our sincere thanks for a job well done. We will miss him.