A former primary candidate for Hamilton County Commissioner is advocating for Fishers to be within one commissioner district, but Mayor Scott Fadness says he sees no immediate need to push for such a proposal.

Fishers resident Bill Smythe has been involved in Republican politics for many years and was a candidate in the 2016 GOP primary for a Commissioner seat.  Incumbent Mark Heirbrandt won that election.

“According to the new census data, Fishers is the sixth largest city in the state and ranks second in Hamilton County, just behind Carmel,” wrote Smythe in a statement released Tuesday. “However, the city of Fishers has never had its own representation in the executive branch of our county government.”

Smythe also points out that none of the three Hamilton County Commissioners reside in Fishers.  The entire county votes in county commissioner elections, but each commissioner must live within their respective districts.  New district lines will be drawn based on 2020 census data.

According to Smythe, this has nothing to do with any future political plans of his own.  “I have no intention of ever running for office again and most assuredly I will never appear on a GOP ballot in the future,” writes Smythe.

Fadness says he has worked well with all three commissioners on projects such as State Road 37 and the local airport. “Obviously, anytime there’s representation for Fishers that’s a good thing, but I don’t know that I have a sense of urgency about it,” Fadness said.

Both City Councilman John Weingardt and Mayor Fadness added that it takes two of the three commissioners to decide anything, so having a relationship with only one commissioner may not be in the best interests of Fishers.  How lines are drawn for state legislative districts are of much more interest to Mayor Fadness.