Did you know there are more than 250 Homeowners Associations (HOAs) in Fishers? Let’s just say all of them did not show up for a Wednesday morning gathering sponsored by the City of Fishers, but HOA presidents and board members filled the Launch Fishers Theatre as they peppered Mayor Scott Fadness and his department heads with questions.
The mayor addressed a number of issues in his presentation and the HOA officials had many questions, but the issue of trash collection costs was raised by the mayor. He told the story of how he, as the Fishers Town Manager in 2013, held a public meeting about the low bidder to provide trash collection service for a city-wide contract of less than $10 a month. Fadness expected residents to be happy about this.
The public meeting on the subject in 2013 was nothing of the sort. “I got ripped apart,” Fadness said. “Someone accused me of being a part of the mafia.”
Once the Town of Fishers ditched the idea of a city-wide trash collection contract, it never came up until City Councilor David Giffel raised the issue last year. That began a process.
The mayor’s staff, after public pressure lately due to increases in fees by the only 2 trash companies (mostly) operating in Fishers, is working on a Request for Proposals (RFP) providing what the city expects when it is ready to accept bids for a city-wide trash collection contract. Fadness told the HOA officials that is what the city can do, just to see what the market will provide in bids.
The mayor says once the bids are in, then a public discussion can be held on whether or not the city should move forward on a city trash collection contract.
The HOA confab started at 8:30am and was scheduled to wrap-up around noon.
Officials from several city departments provided presentations, including police, fire, emergency services, building inspection, planning & zoning, engineering, health and community outreach.
Very productive Great job by the mayor and his staff.
As someone who spent many years on HOA boards, I would caution the mayor that these groups are not leaders in the sense that they are indicitive of where activities (regulation, etc.) needs to head. HOAs are regressive and are a trailing force on needed changes–they resist change as they’re meant as protections against it.
Expecting them to show some kind of leadership or initiative will fail, as that’s not what they are designed to do. If you’re looking to HOAs for advice, you’re asking for a “no change” vote.