I will start this piece with my own personal Tom Brokaw story.

In 1980, I was working as a journalist at radio station WCSI, in Columbus, Indiana.  Columbus had a long-running series of bringing-in famous guest speakers.  In 1980, Tom Brokaw was one of the speakers.

There was also a tradition of having a “Meet The Press” style interview for the guest speakers that was recorded and shown on the local cable TV access channel.  I had been assigned to serve on that panel to question Mr. Brokaw.

I get nervous sometimes meeting famous people for the first time, so I waited until the very last minute to enter Columbus East High School, where the video recording was to be done.  I thought I had succeeded until I turned the final corner in the hallway, and there he was.

Tom Brokaw gave me a pleasant smile, extended his hand, introduced himself and wanted to know all about me.  That’s my Tom Brokaw story.  He was a very interesting and insightful interview subject and had that midwestern charm, having grown-up in a small South Dakota town.

He later became even more of a celebrity by coining the phrase, “The Greatest Generation,” describing those suffering through years of the Great Depression then serving in World War II. I bring up Tom Brokaw, with a long list of credits on his resume, because he is retiring.  As he leaves the public stage, he has some comment the news business should take to heart.

Mr. Brokaw has some very good advice to those producing news, be it for print, TV or radio.  He simply says, get on an airplane and find out what is going on in America between the two coasts.  He is correct that most news organizations are centered in New York, Washington DC and to a lesser extent Los Angeles.

“Take some of the people who are only in Washington and send them to Salt Lake City or Kansas City, or St. Louis for that matter,” Brokaw told the Associated Press.  In my view, he is correct.

News organizations have been cutting back on their reporting staffs and others involved in producing news content.  Those cuts did not impact the New York or Washington news staffs in the same way it reduced the reporters assigned around the United States and internationally.

If main stream media outlets want to provide news that appeals to the entire country, you need to cover stories impacting people in every part of the nation.  I believe some of the distrust of national media comes from the lack of paying enough attention to what is happening in the lives of people in their own communities.

Particularly in an era when the economic model of news is rapidly changing, the national media, which for the most part is doing quite well economically, should be more attuned to what is happening to people in the midwestern, south and southeast parts of the United States.

LarryInFishers.com is just a small, volunteer effort by me to try my best at informing people in the community where I live.  But more and more people, particularly in rural areas, are without any type of regular local news outlet.

So, media, it’s time to step up to the plate and take heed of advice from one of the best journalists in recent times.  I wish Tom Brokaw all the best as he enters retirement, and wish him good health as he battles those issues.

You can read the story about the Tom Brokaw interview with the Associated Press at this link.

The operating referendum passed by voters in the HSE School District will be expiring and a renewal of the referendum property tax rate is expected to be on the primary election ballot in May of 2023.  That’s what the district’s Chief Financial Officer Cecilie Nunn told school board members Wednesday night.

The current referendum is generating $22 million per year for the local school district.  There is no indication at this time whether the school board will opt to renew the current referendum tax rate, ask taxpayers for more or less in that referendum vote.

The loss of roughly 400 students in the current school year has resulted in the need to cut the 2021-2022 school year spending by $5 million.  The state of Indiana reimburses school districts based on their student population.  Nunn says a budget-cutting committee is already meeting and is making progress.  A report to the board is expected from that group soon.

Nunn points to recent years’ school property tax rates, which have declined slightly in recent years.  She credits increases in assessed valuation of property within the school district as the main reason for the lower tax rates.

The process continues in the search for a new Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools Superintendent.  The current superintendent, Dr. Allen Bourff, has announced he will retire at the end of June, 2021.

Bourff reviewed a timeline of candidate interviews with board members Wednesday and explained a requirement to publish the contract with the new superintendent March 3rd, and a public meeting will be held about that pact March 16.

Allen Bourff has served as HSE superintended since January of 2015.  He succeeded Brian Smith, who left HSE to head the Indiana School Boards Association.

There was a spirited discussion Wednesday night among the members of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board, including the defeat of a motion to allow high school students the option of returning in-person 4 days per week beginning February 17.  The vote was 5-2 with Suzanne Thomas and Brad Boyer the only yes votes.

Most board members opted to wait for data from a survey of high school students, plus more numbers would be available by the February 10th board meeting on COVID positive tests and contact tracing, then a decision can be made by the board at that time.  Contract tracing has resulted in more students  being absent after exposure to someone testing positive for COVID.  There continues to be some positive tests among school staff.

Administrators say, so far, substitute teachers have mostly covered classrooms where the teacher must be absent.

Superintendent Allen Bourff says the e-learning Fridays have been working well, with adjustments being made by the teaching and administrative staff as needed.

The board voted unanimously to support the teachers’ associations in Hamilton County that have each written letters to the governor asking that teachers be prioritized for COVID vaccinations. The board authorized Dr. Bourff to write a letter supporting the teachers’ associations, with input from board members.

Fishers Fire Chief Steve Orusa was to the point – we could do a lot more COVID vaccinations with more doses.  The chief spoke to reporters Wednesday morning at Meadow Brook Senior Living, located near Allisonville Road and Easy Street, about his department’s staff administering 300 inoculations to residents of Fishers assisted living centers.

Once that is done, Orusa says his staff will continue to support the Fishers Health Department in administering COVID vaccinations at the new mass site on 116th Street just east of Brooks School Road.

Orusa’s staff will also be involved in providing vaccinations to homebound individuals in Fishers as more doses of the vaccine become available.

A spokesperson for Meadow Brook says the residents are thrilled to have the opportunity for this vaccination.

The video of the news conference is available at the link below.

The Northeast Commerce Park contains some important economic gems for the City of Fishers, including the IOT Lab & Launch Fishers.  A major artery in that park, Technology Drive, is set for rehabilitation later this year.

The Fishers Board of Works and Public Safety approved a $198,000 design contract with the firm WSP USA for the project.  Mayor Scott Fadness asked city Engineering Director Jason Taylor about when this work should be completed.  Taylor responded that the job should be substantially complete in 2021, but some work may stretch into 2022.

In other Board of Works news:

–The board approved nearly $357,000 for an update to the city’s road impact fees.  This is required every five years.  The city has contracted with A&F Engineering for this study.  Part of the work measures traffic patterns and volume, and that work will be delayed until August when it is hoped schools are back in regular session and will allow a more accurate measurement of traffic counts.

–Improvements are on the way for the audio-visual system in the main auditorium of City Hall.  The chamber, where the city council meets in regular session, has sound and video equipment that has some parts over 10 years old, according to the city’s Director of Information Technology Tracy Gaynor.   The upgrade will allow better sound and video recordings of different meeting configurations in the auditorium, will have a better system for video conferenced meetings and will not require an information technology employee for a video live streamed or recorded session.  The upgrade will cost over $135,000, but Gaynor told the board members 75% of the expenditure will be reimbursed by the federal government, leaving the city’s share at  more than $33,841.

Fund raising has become more challenging in the age of the COVID pandemic, but the HSE Schools Foundation is restructuring Game Day as a virtual event.

The Friday, February 19 Game Day will feature an online virtual trivia contest.

For those enjoying the popular Game Day auction, it is back in virtual form. The auction annually features unique items and experiences, including baskets from each of the HSE schools and PTOs plus an amazing online raffle. You can view the auction online from anywhere beginning February 12th until bidding closes on February 19th.

Game Day raises roughly $100,000 each year, which the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation (HSEF) uses to invest in innovative, teacher and student led ideas from around the district. Proceeds from Game Day support innovative science, engineering, technology and math (STEM); literacy; mental health and wellness initiatives across all grade levels within HSE Schools.

How to you sign-up for Game Day?  Here are the details, as provided by the foundation:

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1. Register your team and be a team captain! Up to 8 people can play together on a team for a $200 tax-deductible donation, with discounts available for HSE Schools staff, clubs, PTOs and alumni.
   • The playing field is up to you! Host a socially distant gathering, or a team Zoom call with friends and family as the participants can be located anywhere!
2. Couple/Family teams! Family teams of 2 adults and kids can also register for family fun for a $60 tax-deductible donation, with discounts available for HSE Schools staff and alumni.
   • Make it a date night in, or family “game night” with multiple generations participating via video as you compete!

The old Marsh Supermarket building on 116th Street, just east of Brooks School Road, had been unoccupied for a long time and was in serious disrepair 3 weeks ago.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness gives credit to the city’s staff that went into the building and did badly needed repairs and remodeling, allowing the conversion of the old grocery store into a mass COVID vaccination site.

City officials cut the ribbon to open the site Monday morning as customers with appointments were lining up to receive their vaccinations.  Joining Mayor Fadness was Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, members of the city council,  Public Health Director Monica Heltz and the city Medical Director Dr. Indy Lane.

Fadness said 300-400 people would receive the COVID vaccine on the new facility’s first day, with the capability to inoculate up to 1,600 people per day once the vaccine is more widely available.

Just part of the large facility that can be used once enough vaccine is available

There is an old saying –  “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  There is some debate as to who said this first.  Some say Will Rogers, others say Oscar Wilde and there are those that attribute the saying to a Madison Avenue advertising agency selling high-end men’s suits.

Wherever the truism originated, it went through my mind while watching the live video feed of the Fishers City Council meeting January 19.  Councilwoman Jocelyn Vare, a Democrat, made her case that the appointments by the council to boards and commissions lack diversity.  She submitted a set of proposals to the council appointment process, which can be seen in detail at this link.

Some of the numbers she cites are quite eye-opening:

–80% appointees are currently white males

–20% of appointees are women

–There are three people of color on all 24 boards and commissions

–There are no appointees identified as part of the LGBT community or considered disabled.

You can read more in the link, but you get the idea.  Those numbers are clear – appointments to Fishers boards and commissions are not diverse.  Not even close.

You would think such a statement would spark an immediate response from one or more Republican member of the council, who have a 7-2 majority.  We saw total silence.  There was nothing said.

Councilwoman Vare’s amendment to the appointment motion was defeated on a party line vote, 7-2.

I could understand why a Republican majority would not automatically approve a proposal made by a Democratic member, seconded by another Democratic member, Sam DeLong.  But watching this meeting on video gave me the impression that the numbers cited were of no concern to the majority party on the council and that things are just fine the way they are.

That troubled me greatly.  I thought back to the Fishers I found when moving here in 1991, which was not very diverse.  The city I see today has much more diversity.  It concerns me that city council appointments to boards and commissions fail to reflect that diversity of today’s Fishers.

I tried to follow up and after digging, discovered there were two statements issued after the council meeting.  The first was from Mayor Scott Fadness.  Here is his statement:

“I am committed to elevating as many diverse voices to leadership positions as possible, as my actions have demonstrated over the last two years. These actions have led to the launch of the Fishers Race Initiative, co-chaired by two people of color that lead another sixteen residents of color as members of the Community Committee on Race which committed $100,000 to bringing Interrupting Racism workshops to our residents. Additionally, I appointed a Black female chief medical director and a female public health director Fishers Health Department. And lastly, since 2019, in the 50 situations where I was required to fill a vacancy for my appointment, I filled 20 of those vacancies with people of color and/or females.

That said, I agree with council leadership in that residents who have served our community selflessly are arbitrarily dismissed from re-appointment based on their demographics.”

I believe that Mayor Fadness has a very good record on race and inclusion.  His creation of the Fishers Race Initiative and funding the Interrupting Racism program give him high marks in diversity actions.  The mayor has a good record of filling appointment vacancies with diversity in mind.

Selina Stoller, just elected President of the Fishers City Council at the January meeting, also issued a statement.  Here it is:

“I am very proud of the work our community is doing around inclusion and equity, which includes:

• Female council leadership in 2020 and 2021
• Four female city council members since 2020
• Launch of Fishers Health Department with one black female as chief medical director and appointed female director of public health
• Since 2019, in the two situations where Council has had a vacancy for their appointments, they filled one vacancy with a female.

“However, our Council majority disagrees that when appointment terms expire we summarily dismiss residents who have performed dedicated public service merely for the fact that they do not fit a certain demographic. We certainly retain our commitment to ensuring diverse voices are represented. Simple statements during a council meeting do not equate to action nor give credit to any of this work that so many residents have participated in.”

Council President Stoller’s statement is disappointing on a number of points.  First, the voters are responsible for electing female city councilors, and I give the voting public of Fishers credit for that, not the council itself.

When Cecilia Coble was elected president by the city council, she was the first woman to ascend to the post, and Ms. Stoller has succeeded her.  For that, the council deserves credit.

I am not sure how the council takes credit for Mayor Fadness’ appointments of Health Department leaders.

The council is taking credit for appointing one woman when there were two openings on boards an commissions.

Finally, Ms. Stoller appears to be making the argument, as the mayor did in his statement, that the city should not “arbitrarily dismiss” or “summarily dismiss” current appointed members of city boards and commissions.

I have re-read Councilwoman Vare’s amendment to the motion and her reasons for making that motion and  I see nothing that refers to firing all the appointees.  She is proposing a new system to evaluate current members and provide a way to bring more diversity to new appointments.

I am entering my tenth year of covering Fishers news as a volunteer blogger, and I have sat through a number of these meeting of boards and commissions consisting of appointees.  I can say that there are some appointees that do very good work and have served the city well and would deserve reappointment.  But there are others that may not have earned an automatic appointment to another term.  I can understand if the council majority does not want to sign-on to Jocelyn Vare’s proposal, but can those Republican councilors honestly say that the appointments, as they stand now, are diverse in any meaningful way?

There is a large chasm between “arbitrarily” and “summarily” firing appointees and providing some system to evaluate openings when a term is ending.  As best as anyone can discern, there appears to be no real system to evaluate the work of appointees now.  Is it right to always reappoint these board and commission members automatically?

I understand the council has scheduled a retreat soon and I sincerely hope they will make amends for the silence at the January 19th meeting and the council president’s statement after the session that appears woefully inadequate to me.

I know, what difference does my opinion make?  I get that, but think about the following.  Is it not important what business leaders looking at Fishers as a location think?  Is it not important what people considering a move to Fishers think?  Is it not important that our current inventory of high-tech firms will consider public policy about diversity when they make decisions to grow here or move elsewhere?

The Fishers City Council did not make a good first impression Tuesday night at the council meeting when the diversity issue was raised and silence ensued with most members. But the councilors have an opportunity to simply recognize that for many years, they have not been appointing diverse members to boards and commissions.  The Fishers City Council needs to undertake a serious effort at making changes.

Let’s show Indiana, the nation and the world that Fishers is serious about having our city council appointees to city boards and commissions reflect the Fishers of today.

There is some good news to report on the local COVID front, and we will take any good news at this point in the pandemic.

The Fishers Health Department reports a second straight week of a declining percent positivity rate.  As of Tuesday, January 19, the rate was reported at 12.93% at the Fishers testing site, with a case incidence rate of 89.82.  Although both show declines, the city remain in the red, or highest, transmission risk category.

Therefore, look for no loosening of restrictions in Fishers.

Testing availability in Fishers is strong at this time, with a 2.7 day wait for results.

The Intensive Care Unit availability in hospitals in our area has improved slightly.

The Health Department says the COVID transmission rate has been reduced, but not enough to roll back precautions and mitigation strategies at this time.

Fishers is set to open its large COVID vaccination site on 116^th Street near Brooks School Road Monday morning, at the old Marsh Supermarket site.  The city says as many as 1,600 vaccinations can be handled in one day at that location.

So, Fishers remains in the red, or highest, category for COVID transmission, but numbers are beginning to slowly move downward, providing what the Health Department describes as a light at the end of the tunnel.