The Spark Fishers Festival is coming Tuesday, June 21, and continuing through Saturday,  June 25.

The City of Fishers issued a news release Wednesday with all the plans for the 2022 celebration.  Here is that release:

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The annual Spark!Fishers festival, ignited by First Internet Bank, returns to Fishers’ Nickel Plate Cultural District this summer. Kicking off on Tuesday, June 21 and running through Saturday, June 25, the weeklong festival will offer different ways for the community to celebrate each day. 
 
“We invite the entire community to our largest celebration of the year. Spark!Fishers highlights what it is to be a Fishers resident, showcasing the breadth of art, food, music, and community organizations, all locally sourced,” said Fishers Parks Director, Sarah Sandquist.  
 
The patriotic celebration will be packed full of family favorites and Independence Day traditions, while launching the Fishers Sesquicentennial Celebration, honoring Fishers’ 150th birthday by showcasing what it means to be uniquely Fishers. All events, with the exception of the 5K, are free to attend, and no registration is required.  
 
“For years, we have called Fishers home and are excited to remain a member of this vibrant community with the opening of our new headquarters in the Nickel Plate District,” said Nicole Lorch, First Internet Bank President and Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to once again sharing this annual summer celebration with the City of Fishers and our neighbors.” 

The 2022 lineup includes: 

Tuesday, June 21 / 7-9 p.m. 
Tuesday Night Concert featuring Fishers Music Works’ White River Wind Symphony at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater 

Wednesday, June 22 / 7 p.m. 
5K Run/Walk sponsored by IU Health Fishers around downtown Fishers, registration now open. 

Thursday, June 23 / 6-9 p.m. 
Spark!Fishers Car & Art Show around the Municipal Complex

Friday, June 24 / 8 p.m.  
Friday Night Concert featuring Bruno Mars tribute band, Uptown Funk, at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater  
      
Saturday, June 25 / 3-10 p.m.  
Spark!Fishers Street Fair around the Municipal Complex, with a community parade at 6 p.m. and fireworks at 10 p.m.

Sunday I posted a piece on this blog about a conversation I had with someone familiar with the Hamilton County political scene.  He told me two county-wide Republican primary elections would say a lot about where Hamilton County is headed politically.

In both of those races, the incumbents lost and new office-holders are on the way.

In the race for the Republican Party’s candidate for prosecuting attorney, incumbent Lee Buckingham failed in his bid for another term, losing to Greg Garrison.  You may recall that Garrison’s claim to fame was his work as a Marion County prosecutor that represented the state in convicting former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.  That led to him having a radio talk show for many years.  Garrison retired from radio in 2017.  He will now lead the team of prosecuting attorneys in the Hamilton County office.  Garrison won with 59% of the votes cast.

The other election saw a Hamilton County Council incumbent lose his bid for re-election.  Challenger Mark Hall defeated incumbent councilor Steve Schwartz.  Hall garnered more than 58% of the vote this time around.

There were many other election results of note Tuesday night.

Darren Murphy won the newly-created judgeship in Superior Court 7, defeating Stephenie Gookins, with 52.5% of the vote.

Former Hamilton County Reporter newspaper publisher Jeff Jellison easily won the Republican race for County Coroner over his opponent Ned Masbaum with more than 67% of the GOP votes cast.

Closer to home in Fishers, three Republicans out of the four candidates will be on the ballot in the fall for Fall Creek Township Board – Brian Baehl, Tony Scott and Jason Meyer.  Three Democrats will be on the November ballot for the three board seats – incumbent Rachna Greulach along with Kimberly Passey-Strahan and Sukriti Sachdeva.

The Hamilton County Clerk’s office says under 12% of registered voters cast a primary election ballot.  There are only estimates on how many eligible voters chose to stay away from the polls (and early voting) but that number is down in the single digit percentage at best.

For a full listing of the election results from the Hamilton County Clerk’s office, use this link. 

(EDITOR’s NOTE:  I incorrectly cited Patricia Bratton as a winner in the Fall Creek Township Board election…in fact, Tony Scott won in that race.  The story has been corrected)

The Grand Project Award has been described as one of Indiana’s most prestigious engineering honors, handed out each year by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana.  American Structurepoint, with headquarters located on the north side of Indianapolis, has won the Grand Project Award for its engineering work on the intersection of 126th Street and State Road 37.

According to an American Structurepoint news release, the award also recognizes  the City of Fishers, Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), Hamilton County, and the City of Noblesville for collaborating to address traffic congestion and safety challenges along the SR 37 corridor in Hamilton County, Indiana.

“We are honored to share this recognition with the City of Fishers, INDOT, Hamilton County, and the City of Noblesville to improve traffic flow and solve complex congestion issues along the SR 37 corridor,” said Rick Conner, president of American Structurepoint, in the company news release. “At American Structurepoint, we take pride in improving lives in the communities we serve.  This is a great example of that because the improvements will reduce the amount of traffic congestion, improve access to the businesses along the corridor, and enhance safety for people who travel on SR 37. The work we do can even save lives, and I am proud of what we do and our team who constantly goes the extra mile to achieve successful results like this.”

The intersection design created an overpass roundabout over SR 37 on 126th St., and an underpass for SR 37 traffic to move freely.  This replaced the previous traffic signal.

A similar design is under construction at 131st Street and State Road 37 and is expected to be completed at the end of 2022.  Bids will be opened soon for an interchange at 141st Street and State Road 37.

I am in my 11th year of writing this news blog which focuses on the community where I have resided for more than 30 years – Fishers.  As a one-man-band blogger, it is difficult to keep up with the news in my own city.

However, Fishers is part of Hamilton County so one cannot ignore developments there.  I was speaking with someone the other day with lots of experience watching Hamilton County elections.  It is his view that the results of two Republican primary races will tell us a lot about where our county stands politically.

The first race is for prosecutor.  Lee Buckingham is seeking another term in office.  Greg Garrison, the prosecutor that handled the Mike Tyson case resulting in his conviction, is challenging in the May 2nd primary election.  Garrison has also made a name for himself in recent years as a radio talk show host.

Will Hamilton County GOP voters stay with Lee Buckingham, or go with Garrison?  The result will say a lot.

The second race of interest is for County Council, District 3. Incumbent Steve Schwartz will once again face challenger Mark Hall.  Both candidates have been campaigning heavily.  Only voters residing in District 3 will decide this GOP primary race.

There is one other item I will be watching on this 2022 primary election night.  There are several school referendum votes up, one in Perry Township (Marion County).  Voters have been tending to approve increases in their local property taxes to support their local school districts.

Some in the General Assembly think too many have been approved, leading to new language on the ballot for a school referendum.  For example, the language on the ballot now uses the word “increase” four times in the ballot language.  Will that have an impact on how voters choose to vote?

The reason I am interested, even though no school referendum vote is happening in Hamilton County this time around, our local Hamilton Southeastern School District will hold a referendum next year to continue an operating referendum.  Even if the school board chooses to continue the current referendum tax rate, the ballot will state the word “increase” four times, even though the rate remains the same, because the tax rate is higher compared to no referendum rate.

A few things to watch as the 2022 primary election results roll in Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

It was the mid-1970s and I was hosting a late-night radio talk show that ran from 11pm to 3am the following day, 5 days a week.  It was aired on a 50,000 watt station adjacent to Marion County.  The program had a much larger audience for that time period that one would imagine.

I had a variety of regular callers to the program, many of them characters that kept the show lively at times.  One person that regularly called and seemed to have his head on straight called to ask a question.

How could anyone ever be in favor of a pay raise for elected officials?  He could not, in his own mind, justify any pay increase for any elected person under any circumstance.

I then posed a question to him.  Understanding that everything must be justified and within reason, do you want a set of elected decision-makers consisting only of those that can afford to serve?  Would that not result in only the wealthier class among us making our major government decisions?

He paused for a moment and then said, yes, he could see some circumstances where elected officials’ pay raises might be justified.

That exchange came to mind while reading the latest piece written by IndyStar Columnist James Briggs.  I read Briggs regularly.  Sometimes I agree with his stances, other times I do not.  But you can always count on a well-thought-out argument from him.

His most recent missive makes the case that a pay increase for members of the Indianapolis City-County Council might be justified.  You can read his commentary at this link.  (NOTE:  You must be an IndyStar subscriber to access this story.  One again, please support you local media!  Online IndyStar subscriptions are not expensive.)

When reading Briggs, I recalled an issue that came before the decision-makers of Fishers in 2016.   Fishers had converted itself from a town to a city.  A 2012 referendum from the voters created the city form of government.  The first city election was held in 2014 and the City of Fishers stood up on January 1, 2015.

The town council had established the council member pay as $12,000 per year around the year 2000.  The town council kept that rate of pay for about 16 years.

It was in 2016 that a study was conducted to compare Fishers council member compensation to similar cities in our geographic area.  That study found our council members compensation far behind every municipality in that report.

So, when the Fishers City Council set council member salaries for 2017, they each received a $7,000 increase in their annual salary.  The idea was to include elected officials in the annual pay raise so a large one-year hike in compensation would not be needed in the future.

In having covered Fishers for nearly 10 years on this news blog, I know the amount of time and effort that each council member devotes to city duties.  It is not a small time commitment.

Most council members either have full-time jobs or are retired.  The council salary is not what they count on to make a living.  But they should be reasonably compensated for the work they do.

As Indianapolis considers what compensation is best for their councilors, yes, they will get criticism for raising their pay, as Fishers did in 2016.  But consider all the factors when making a decision like this.

“Paying City-County Council members like the professionals they are (or, at least, closer to it) will lead to better candidates, better elected officials and better government,” James Briggs wrote on his IndyStar commentary. “The field shouldn’t be limited to people who either can afford to work for almost nothing or who are willing to sacrifice financial security for the call to public service.”

This time, I do agree with Mr. Briggs.