Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart sang the praises of an officer in his department, Kevin Kolbi, as he was honored before the City Council Monday night for 20 years of service.

Also, a team from the Mayor’s Youth Academy presented their proposal on the sale of cannabis and Delta 8.  They argued that it would be difficult to ban the substances, but would support limiting the sale of these products and taxing their sale.

Changes are coming to Fishers Geist Waterfront Park.  The nonresident parking fee will be reduced from $50 a day to $25 a day this summer, and only levied during “peak times.”

As previously reported here, Fishers residents will no longer use the city cell phone app to enter the parking area for free, a driver license showing a Fishers address will suffice.  Mayor Fadness added at Monday’s City Council meeting that, for instance, out-of-town grandparents driving their grandkids to the park could provide some other identification, such as a student ID, and that his staff is working on that situation.

Also, nonresidents paying to park will no longer need advance reservations, they can just pay cash as they park.

Jake Reardon McSoley, the mayor’s staff person in charge of city parks, said last summer resulted in fewer park visitors than had been projected.  The Canadian Wildfire pollution and many cooler-than-normal summer days were partly to blame for the lower park attendance.  McSoley tells LarryInFishers park staff will review last year’s attendance data to help in forecasting “peak times” when nonresidents must pay the $25 parking fee.  The city is sorting-out how it will determine “peak times” and how that will be communicated to the public.

Councilor Bill Stuart said he feels the $25 daily fee for nonresidents is “still a little too high” but feels this is a step in the right direction.

The City of Fishers has received a bid of $37.6 million to construct a roundabout at 141st Street and State Road 37, in line with where the city wants the construction costs.  A previous round of bidding resulted in contractor proposals of over $40 million.

Mayor Scott Fadness told the City Council Monday night waiting to rebid the plan has saved the city “several million dollars.”  The State Department of Transportation must review and approve the project, but Fadness says this work can be completed this year.

When asked about the impact on traffic in the northwest part of the city with major construction underway at 146th Street and Allisonville Road, along with the construction at SR 37 & 141st Street, the mayor said his team is working with the Hamilton County Highway Department on that very issue.  Fadness expects Allisonville Road to be open once the construction at SR 37 & 141st begins.

The issue was raised as the Council approved debt financing for the State Road 37 & 141st Street construction, allowing the city of the option of debt financing at least part of the work or utilizing cash reserves.

The Hamilton County Highway Department announced a key lane restriction Tuesday on 146th Street at the Allisonville Road construction zone.  The statement is below:

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Please be advised, beginning on Tuesday, April 16, between the hours of 9AM and 3PM, our contractor will utilize a lane restriction for concrete placement in the work area. The lane restriction will take place in the left-hand westbound lane of 146th Street.

Please use extreme caution while driving through this construction zone.

You may have seen billboards or other posting by a group calling themselves “ReCenter Indiana.”  This organization argues the existing Republican and Democratic Parties are too extreme.

Therefore, ReCenter is urging Democrats to vote in the Republican Primary Election this year.  Democrats strongly disagree.

In a statement issued Monday, Hamilton County Democratic Chair Jocelyn Vare accuses ReCenter Indiana of employing “deceitful and misleading tactics in an attempt to influence the results of the upcoming primary, the consequences of which are negative for voters, political parties, as well as current and future candidates.”

According to Vare, for Democrats to vote Republican in this year’s primary election simply creates confusion.

“The Hamilton County Republican Party chair and I are aligned in our opposition of ReCenter Indiana’s campaign,” said Vare.  “We agree that such deceptive tactics cannot be allowed to influence the outcome of this or future elections.”

The Indy Fuel are in their final season at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.  The East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) minor league team is headed to the playoffs April 19, and later moving to the Fishers Events Center for their next season starting later this year.

When Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness proposed a financing plan to build the Events Center, with a seating  capacity of 6,500 for hockey, basketball or volleyball, the funding formula required the Fishers City Council to pass a food & beverage tax, which the council approved by a vote of 8-1 in October of 2022.

Fishers has already lined up 3 sports teams to call the center home – the Indy Fuel, the Fishers Freight Indoor Football League team (first season in the spring/summer of 2025) and the Indy Ignite women’s volleyball squad.

Since the Fuel play their home games in Fishers starting in November this year, it may be a good idea to see a Fuel game now.  The first playoff game will be at the Coliseum Friday, April 19, and the second contest is slated for Saturday, April 20. Tickets are available at this link.

The Ascension St. Vincent Hospital facility in Fishers has become a part of the local fabric, and you need look no further than the number of births it has provided.  This week, Ascension St. Vincent Fishers had its 5,000th birth, welcoming Neela Annette Cripe, born at 8:30 a.m. on April 10, 2024, weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches in length. Born to Dafne Sanchez and Trevor Cripe from Ingalls, Indiana, Baby Neela is their first baby and they say delivery was very smooth.

“Pregnancy was honestly pretty easy, delivery was really easy, the staff here was great, so we’re really happy overall,” said Dafne Sanzhez, mother of Baby Neela.  “We didn’t realize she was going to get the balloons and all this attention, but she’s loving it.”

Dr. Valerie Gathers, OB/GYN, said this milestone shows the dedication Ascension St. Vincent Fishers has to serving the community as its only Labor and Delivery Center within city limits.

“Fishers has been booming, not only with move-ins but with deliveries. In fact we’ve delivered our 5,000th baby. It’s so exciting. I’m a Fishers resident so this is even exciting for me because I’m getting to deliver my neighbors, friends. It’s awesome,” said Dr. Valerie Gathers.  “I’ve been practicing for 11 years and delivering babies is one of the biggest joys I get. I can wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, smiling, happy because you get to be the first face that this newborn sees when they come into the world.“

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness also recognized this milestone event, honoring Baby Neela with the “World Changer” award.

“I’m excited for this major milestone, not only for the family but also for Ascension St. Vincent Fishers for providing quality healthcare to our residents. We strive to create a community that gives children the opportunity to become World Changers, and Neela is already getting started. Congratulations to the family,” said Scott Fadness, Fishers Mayor.

Ascension St. Vincent in Fishers has been in the business of delivering babies since 2013.

I first met Tom Dickey in 2012.  I had just started this news blog and, to be honest, wasn’t sure at the time how many readers I had, if any.  It was Tom Dickey, then working for the Town of Fishers, that told me he was reading my blog regularly.  It helped keep me going in the early days when I began to wonder whether all this work was accomplishing anything.

Tom spend time at the Town and later the City of Fishers, working in community development and was instrumental in fashioning the early Fishers strategy of economic development.  He later left his work in Fishers and joined a firm on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

It has long been rumored that Tom Dickey would be joining another City of Fishers alum, Shelby Bowen, at  the Fishers-based firm of Rebar Development.  That announcement was made official Friday.

“Over the years, if Shelby and I weren’t talking about a project in which we were working on together, we were calling each other for advice and support,” said Dickey in a Rebar news release. “In many ways, when I sat down in my Rebar office, it felt like not much had changed.”

Rebar started operation in 2017 and has become a bigger player in the local development world in recent years, surpassing $300 million in development since the start.

“I am grateful for the partnerships we have had across central Indiana and the opportunity to develop such impactful projects,” said Bowen, CEO and Partner of Rebar Development. “I’m incredibly excited for what our future holds with Tom joining the team. He’s an extraordinary developer and embodies the sense of character and stewardship that will continue to make Rebar Development the premiere public private partner.”

Rebar currently has projects under construction in McCordsville, Fishers, and Southport. In addition, planned projects include the R.W. Lofts in Warsaw and CityView in partnership with HighGround, a subsidiary of Carmel-based Hageman Group.

The road construction list in and around the Fishers area is growing as the spring season moves forward.  Note the section about the “Barrett Law.”  That is the city’s efforts to fix a number of roads and streets built privately and have not been properly maintained.

Below is the full listing, as provided by the City of Fishers:

Continue reading Weekly Fishers road construction report for the work week of Monday, April 15 →

Johanna Kitchell is in her 16th year as Orchestra Director at Riverside Junior High and Intermediate School.  She is also the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District Teacher of the Year for 2023-2024.

She sat down with Larry to talk about teaching, being teacher of the year and much more in this podcast.

(NOTE:  HSE Schools asked me to add that Mrs. Kitchell was named Teacher of the Year in May of 2023 and the new Teacher of the year will be named in May of 2024)