A Wednesday night discussion about the wording of school policies resulted in a long discussion among  Hamilton Southeastern School Board members and required one person making a public comment to have his microphone muted when he refused to stop speaking once the 3-minute time limit expired.

The policy discussion centered on whether the school corporation should use an opt-in policy for surveys and some other school activities that are currently opt-out for parents.  Some board members seemed to favor requiring parents to opt-in to activities such as the Panorama survey of students, rather than the current system allowing parents to opt-out.

Some board members expressed concern that the opt-in would not allow enough participants in a process such as the Panorama survey because the participation would not be high enough to provide enough data.

Michelle Fullhart said many parents don’t respond either way to an opt-in or opt-out, meaning fewer families would end-up participating in an opt-in process.

The board considered the policy changes over access to instructional materials, consent for participation, curriculum and animals on school property.  You can find links to all the proposed changes and consolidation of polices at this link.  (Access Board Meeting October 13, view the agenda, and Information Item 6.03)

This was an information item on the agenda so no vote was taken.  It appears the policy changes will be considered again by the school district’s policy committee and considered by the board in a future session.

The 2022 spending plan for Hamilton Southeaster Schools, adding all funds, will total $268.8 million, up from $259.25 million in 2021.  The largest pot of money is the education fund, provided by the state in its funding formula for local schools, totaling more than $150 million.  The education fund provides salaries.

The referendum fund is expected to yield more than $23.799 million.  $41.3 million dollars will go toward paying the district’s debt service.

The public hearing on the budget brought a number of comments and questions, including  difficulty finding budget details on the HSE Schools Web site, how referendum salary funds are being spent and how the Lilly grant will be handled once it expires.

School officials say the Lilly grant was to last 4 years, but was extended into a 5th year due to the pandemic.  The grant funds the Diversity & Equity position and the Panorama survey.  The board will need to decide whether to continue those programs by funding them within the school’s budget or end the programs at a later date.

A final vote on the 2022 HSE Schools budget is set for October 27

The James Bond films began in the 1960s and is still going strong, attracting audiences world-wide.  After changing directors and release delays due to COVID, No Time To Die has been a much anticipated film.  Here is my review.

The Panorama survey is once again being utilized by Hamilton Southeastern Schools, and the local organization Fishers One is encouraging local parents to “opt-out” of the survey.  The deadline to opt-out this school year is October 15.

Fishers One takes issue with some of the survey questions.  HSE Schools say the student responses are anonymous and the data is “designed to capture student voice and allow students to express their perspectives about teaching and learning, culture and climate, and their classroom experiences.”

Fishers one also raised questions about confidentiality and third party use of the data, how parents can access specific results and how the Panorama data is used in academics.

HSE Schools point to an extensive Q&A resource on the district’s Web site, which can be accessed at this link.

The full Fishers City Council had its first look at a proposal from the task force charged with recommending changes to the council’s process for forming its own committees and appointing people to boards and commissions.

The task force is chaired by Council President Selina Stoller, with other members John Weingardt, Cecilia Coble and Crystal Newmann.  The new document, heard at first reading  Monday night, calls for minority representation on council committees, but allows the council president to make the final decision on appointments.  Currently, the full council votes on those appointments.

The sole task force Democrat, Crystal Neumann, voiced disappointment in the recommendation, which she says “does not speak to me and it does not speak for me.”  She supports minority representation on council committees, but believes having the council president have the final say on appointments will hurt diversity efforts. “Diversity is important to Fishers because we are a growing city,” Neumann said.

Neumann also called for more collaboration among task force members.  She says the group has had only one in-person meeting.

Democrat Jocelyn Vare said this proposal would put appointment decisions behind closed doors, rather than subject to a public council vote.

Council President Stoller responded, pointing out the task force looked at other cities, such as Indianapolis and Carmel, to put together this proposal.  Stoller  addressed the issue of diversity.

“I am going to promote diversity within the community,” said Stoller.  “I feel we are a very diverse community.  We do need that representation and that representation should be moved forward.”

Councilman Pete Peterson was critical of the provision taking away the council vote on appointments and giving that authority to the council president.  He called the task force document ”unnecessary, it’s more government, it gets in the way.”

Todd Zimmerman said the the council debate may look uncomfortable, but urged the council not to abandon the task force work but move forward in an effort to find the right language.

The task force proposal has received first reading, which is the first procedural hurdle and needs only one vote.  With divisions on the council over this proposal, the question now is –  where does the task force go from here?

The Fishers City Council gave final unanimous approval to the 2022 calendar year budget Monday night, but first addressed concerns from residents in the River Glen neighborhood.

The 2022 city spending plan totals $121.64 million, with $40 million to be stashed in cash reserves, about $10 million more in reserve than guidelines require.

Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren presented the budget Monday night.  According to Hultgren, Mayor Scott Fadness was out of town Monday working on a “substantial economic development opportunity.”  He did not provide any further details.

Residents of River Glen had discovered in recent days that the city was planning to spend $300,000 transforming the current tennis court at River Glen into several Pickleball courts.  About 4 homeowners with property adjacent to the current tennis facility objected to the noise that would be created with a number of pickleball courts.

Hultgren addressed that concern immediately in his budget presentation, saying the proposed pickleball courts would be located on the west side of the city, not necessarily at River Glen.  The decision on an exact location of the pickleball facility would be done at a later date.

The council also unanimously approved the 2022 salary ordinance, providing a 4% pay increase for all city employees, including elected officials.

I write this on Sunday evening, October 10.  On October 11, Fishers City Councilman David George will attend his final meeting as a council member.  He plans to resign his seat.  Councilor George has the most seniority on the council, going back to the days when Fishers was a town and governed by a 7-member town council.

Mr. George’s replacement on the council, to serve for the remainder of his term, which runs through December 31, 2023, will be chosen by a process spelled-out in Indiana state law.  The Republican precinct officials within his district will vote on the new council member to represent the Southwest Council District.  Mr. George also serves as council vice-president, so it would be assumed the council will vote on which council member will fill the position of  vice president for the remainder of 2021.

The Indianapolis Star published an extensive and well-documented story in the Sunday, October 10 print edition, analyzing Indiana’s unusual system of replacing elected officials when an office becomes open during a term.  It tells the story of how Victoria Spartz jump-started her political career in a Republican precinct caucus when State Senator Luke Kenley resigned his seat.  Spartz was selected by the caucus to serve the remainder of Kenley’s term in the General Assembly, which led to a successful campaign for her current position as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Two excellent Star reporters, Amelia Pak-Harvey and Kaitlin Lange, do a deep dive on how the Indiana system works to replace vacancies for elective office, with the good and not so good aspects of using that system.  You can read the article at this link.  You will need a subscription to the IndyStar in order to access this story.  I have written this before, and I will write it again, please subscribe to your local media!  An initial online subscription to the Star is as little as $1 for the first few months.

The calendar may say fall, but road construction season has not let-up in and around
Fishers.

There are several road projects underway and coming, so take a moment to review the latest update, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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A Fishers City Council “Committee Taskforce” will present its proposal at the Monday, October 11, council session, but Council Member At-Large Jocelyn Vare says she does not support changes in the process for council appointments to boards and commissions.

The language to be presented to the full council says all council members may “indicate a preference” as to whom should be appointed to various boards and commissions, but the decision will be made each year after the council votes on a new president in January.  The council president would be empowered to make those appointments each year, under the proposed language.  The council president would also have the authority to make appointments when there are board and commission vacancies during the year.

“…the City Council president will make all assignments at their discretion, behind closed doors.” Vare says in a statement about the proposed changes.  “This is an even worse idea than the current process. Instead of making the appointment process more organized, thoughtful, and transparent, the…Committee’s best idea is to leave these important appointments up to the whim of one person. I do not support this.”

In the past, the full council voted on a list of appointments.

In January of 2021, Councilor Vare expressed her view that the council’s appointments to boards and commissions lacked diversity, citing data showing 80% of the council appointments are white males.  Vare describes the current council appointment system as  ” haphazard, not transparent, and diversity is not a priority.”

Vare calls the proposed changes in the council appointment system “an even worse idea than the current process.”

The City Council is scheduled to consider the committee’s proposal October 11th on first reading.

The state of Indiana has put $500 million on the table and invited regions within the state submitting proposals to use a part of that money, called READI grants. the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) has been tasked with setting up a system for evaluating the 17 regions submitting requests.  Those requests would total about $1 billion, so all regions will not receive all the money they want.

READI stands for “Indiana Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative.”

One of the 17 requests includes a region consisting of Hamilton, Madison and Marion Counties.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has been heavily involved in the submission, centered on developing areas along the White River.

The IEDC announced the names of those deciding which regions will share in the $500 million and how much each will be awarded.  The READI Review Committee consists of the following members:

• Bill Hanna, Executive Director, Dean and Barbra White Family Foundation
• Isaac Bamgbose, President and CEO of New City Development
• Jason Dudich, Vice President for Finance and Administration, Treasurer, University of Indianapolis
• Jason Blume, Executive Director, Innovation One
• Kelli Jones, Co-Founder and General Partner, Sixty8 Capital
• Leah Curry, President, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana
• Lori Luther, Chief Operating Officer, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital

The IEDC is expected to announce the awards by the end of 2021.