The Senior Showcase, featuring art from seniors at Fishers High School and Hamilton Southeastern High School, is back for its 13th year.  The artwork will be on display at Fishers City Hall through April 29th, and can be viewed on business days 8:30am-4:30pm.

There will be a public reception Friday, April 22nd, 6:00-7:30pm at City Hall.  Live music will be provided by Photo 51, formed by students from Fishers High School. Following the reception there will be an awards ceremony at 7:30 pm in the auditorium of Fishers City Hall where City Council President Todd Zimmerman and Marquisha Bridgeman, Community Relations Manager of STAR Bank will present the awards.

Award categories are Best of Show; Art Best Reflecting the Written Word; First, Second, Third Place and Honorable Mention for 3D art, Drawing, Painting and Photography. Combined, there are 50 student artists whose work is on display, truly showcasing the incredible talent of our graduating seniors.

As the title sponsor, STAR Bank will be providing scholarship awards for Best of Show ($500) along with First Place awards in each category ($250 each). Four Day Ray Brewing will be sponsoring all Third Place awards ($100 each). Second Place awards ($150 each) are sponsored by Cordoba Strategy Group, Propeller Marketing, and Schoolhouse 7 Café. Fishers Arts Council board Vice President, Tom Rich, is sponsoring all honorable mention awards ($50 each).

I posted a story on this blog last Thursday about a news release issued by Hamilton County all about new rules governing campaign signs at early voting and voting day locations.

Now, WISH-TV reporter Garrett Bergquist aired a story Friday about concerns some have with the First Amendment issues tied to such restrictions.

The story quotes Hamilton County Democratic Chair Dayna Colbert as voicing those First Amendment free speech concerns to the county election board and the state party.  Berquist also cites comments from Paul Helmke, an IU professor and former mayor of Fort Wayne, saying there appears to be no compelling government interest in restricting the number and size of political signage.   The county defends the legal authority for the County Commissioners to enact such a rule.

You can access the WISH-TV story at this link.

As many of you know, I have been producing podcasts for more than six years, many featuring local Fishers  people talking about what they do in and around the local community.  I have posted three such local podcasts the past week.  Just in case you missed them, here are summaries and links to each.

First, Monica Heltz heads-up the Fishers Health Department and provided an update on the closing of the sites used for mass vaccinations and COVID tests.  Those operations have all been consolidated into one building at Technology Drive and Lantern Road.

Second, the City of Fishers has established an Armed Services Commission made of of 11 members.  Chair of the Commission, El Ahlwardt, and Fishers Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren (also a Commission member) talk about how the body is organizing and putting together its programs.

Finally, the Fishers Parks and Recreation Department has announced its 2022 summer concert series for the Nickel Plate Amphitheater (also known as the AMP), both free and ticketed events.  The concerts charging admission will cost $20 each, $25 the day of the concert.  I spoke with Assistant Parks Director Marissa Deckert and department employee Shannon Jones about this year’s lineup.

Two firms have been providing most custodial services in Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District buildings for the past several years, but the school board Wednesday night voted to conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) in order to determine what options are available.

Two private companies handle the custodial duties for HSE School buildings.  Those firms are ABM & EMS.  Administrators told board members both companies want to continue their long relationship with HSE, but both companies also warn the contract will cost more due to the demand for workers.

The board was presented with three options by the administration….continue with the two companies to provide most custodial services, bring all custodians in as HSE District employees or use an RFP to solicit proposals.  The board voted to accept proposals, but could opt for another choice once the proposals are in.

Some HSE custodians and custodial supervisors are currently HSE employees.

The school district will advertise for proposals in April, with the paperwork due by May 16.  It is anticipated a contract will be awarded to one or more firms by June 8, with the new contract(s) effective July 1 of this year, assuming the board approves one or more contract bids..

The Fishers Health Department has been busy lately, closing the testing site near City Hall and closing the vaccination center on 116th Street just east of Brooks School Road.  Both operations have been consolidated into a building on Technology Drive near Lantern Road.

Fishers Public Health Director talks about that, the latest on COVID and what else the local public health operation is doing in other areas, in this podcast.

Hamilton County has several primary election races that are contested, particularly for county council seats and county prosecutor.  With so many contested office in the May primary, the Hamilton County Commissioners issued a news release Thursday citing an action taken this week to limit the political signs at polling places as early voting begins to pick up steam.

Here is the news release from the Hamilton County Commissioners:

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In an effort to reduce damage to and clutter at polling places, the Hamilton County Commissioners passed an ordinance this week limiting the number of political signs allowed at each polling place.

Ordinance 04-11-22-A limits each candidate to one sign per voting location on Election Day and no more than two signs per voting location on Early Voting Days. Furthermore, the signs cannot be larger than 36” X 24”, cannot be placed with metal or wood posts, and cannot be placed in the public right of way.

“It looks like a carnival at the polling sites,“ says Commissioner Christine Altman. “Some candidates are placing four, five or more signs at a single location. Multiply that by the number of candidates and the problem is clear. The owners of the early voting locations and polling sites on election day have understandably expressed frustration over the number of signs outside their buildings and damage done by large signs.”

The ordinance is effective immediately. Early voting locations include Mercy Road Church and the Jill Perelman Pavilion in Carmel, the Roy G. Holland Memorial Park Building and Billericay Park Building in Fishers, the Judicial Center and 4H Fairgrounds in Noblesville, and City Hall and Cool Creek Nature Center in Westfield.

“Early voting locations make voting easy and convenient for our residents,” says County Clerk Kathy Williams. “But voting locations can be incredibly difficult to secure because of the time and space commitment they require. We do not want to abuse their generosity or inconvenience them with picking up errant signs.”

The ordinance also limits the amount of time the signs can be left at a location. No signs may be placed at a polling place earlier than 12 hours before the polling place opens and must be removed within four hours of a polling place closing on Election Day. Signs not removed within four hours of the polls closing will be deemed abandoned and may be removed and destroyed by the owner of the polling place and either stacked or destroyed.

A new housing study finds that Hamilton County businesses will find it more difficult in the future to find and keep employees of those potential workers cannot find affordable housing.

The study, conducted by Greenstreet, Ltd., shows that 18,735 low and moderate-income households locally are spending more than the recommended 30 percent of their income on housing, reducing funds available for other necessities. Rising housing costs also impact households earning more than the area median income. A family earning $97,920 annually, for example, can afford just 28 percent of new homes here and only 12 percent of current listings.

The study results will be presented at a day-long conference sponsored by Noblesville-based nonprofit HAND, which deals with housing issues.

“The Housing Collaborative believes that Hamilton County should have a full range of housing attainable for anyone who wants to call Hamilton County home—during every stage of their lives,” said Andrea Davis, HAND’s executive director, in a news release. “Without a diverse housing inventory, the county risks its ability to expand its workforce, attract young adults looking for a place to settle, and keep seniors in their community of choice.”

More than a dozen local leaders in the housing and economic development fields will dig into specific parts of the study as part of the conference.

The HAND conference gets underway at 8am, May 4th, at at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Noblesville. For more information on the conference, use this link.

One item that normally receives plenty of attention for families throughout the Hamilton Southeastern School District is the school calendar.  When is the first day of school?  When is the last day of school?  When is fall break, spring break and how is the winter break set for December & January?

The school board was briefed on options on the 2023-2024 school calendar, what the 2024-2025 calendar may feature and one change in the upcoming 2022-2023 school year required by a change in state law.

First, Assistant Superintendent Matt Kegley told the board the Indiana General Assembly is limiting e-learning days to 3 days in a school year calendar, resulting in the cancellation of a previously-scheduled e-learning day in April of 2023, if the board approves at the next meeting.

Kegley presented two possible calendars for the 2023-2024 school year.  One would have students report August 9th, but the last day of classes would be May 29th.  A second option would start classes August 3rd, with the last day of school the following May 23rd.

For the 2024-2025 calendar, the calendar falls a little differently, beginning school for students August 7th and the last day of classes proposed for the following May 28th.

Kegley also explained changes in snow days, adding flex days to the calendar in case a snow day is needed, then going to e-learning and virtual learning when required if snow days accumulate.

The board will take a final vote on the calendars at the April 27th board session.

View the revised 2022-2023 calendar at this link.

One option for the 2023-2024 school calendar can be found at this link.

The other 2023-2024 option is at this link.

The proposed 2024-2025 calendar is available at this link.

Mayor Scott Fadness and members of the City Council both agreed some group needed to be formalized to work with the city on military veteran and other related issues.  As a result, the mayor proposed, and the City Council unanimously authorized the creation of the Fishers Armed Services Commission (acronym FASC).

I spoke with the Chair of the Commission, El Ahlwardt, and another member of the Commission, Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren, in this podcast.

What at first appeared to be a routine Fishers City Council Finance Committee meeting became the first public look at designs and some details about plans for a new City Hall.  City officials have hired professionals to plan the details of the new building.

The current Fishers City Hall is costing municipal government a lot of money just to keep up with repairs.  Engineers have toldofficials the current City Hall is sinking into the ground.

The new structure will contain more than just offices for city employees.  An arts center and indoor performing arts theater are part of the new complex.  City Hall offices will take up 21,827 square feet.  The indoor theater will be 14,887 square feet with 250 seats.  A 9,736 square foot arts center containing  a gallery, classroom, flex and studio space will be part of the new building.

Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren laid out a timeline.  Construction would begin in October of this year, with proceeds from city bonds issued for the project coming into city coffers in November of 2022.  The ribbon cutting ceremony is projected to be March of 2024.

All public meetings currently held in City Hall will take place at Launch Fishers during the construction period.  City staff will be relocated to the existing City Services Building, Launch Fishers or employees will be working remotely.  The city administration will operate from space in the new First Internet Bank building.

The new City Hall complex with the arts center is projected to cost $22.8 million.  $6.3 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) money will be used to fund part of the cost.  The remaining $16.5 million will be financed through a 20 year bond backed by property taxes.  The debt service cost is estimated to be $1.22 million.  Hultgren says there will be no impact on the city tax rate or cash balance as a result of this financing plan.

Committee member Jocelyn Vare voiced concerns that the Council will not be holding public hearings or vote on this plan to direct $6.3 million of ARP money to partially fund the City Hall construction.  Hultgren responded that the Council vote many months ago authorizes the mayor and his staff to determine how the ARP funds will be spent.  He and Controller Lisa Bradford say final guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department allows the city to use the ARP money for the City Hall project.

Finance Committee Chair John Weingardt said the city is following all the rules for ARP funds.  Committee member Cecilia Coble had no issue with how the city is choosing to use the ARP money.

Hultgren told panel members the full City Council will receive a more detailed briefing with more visuals and information at Monday night’s regular Council session