I recall having many conversations with Scott Fadness after he won the Republican primary for Fishers mayor in 2014.  There was no opposition for him in the November general election, so he often talked about his priorities once taking office in 2015.

A top priority for him, as expressed to me at the time, was mental health.  Fadness had done ride-a-longs with Fishers Police Officers during his time as Town Manager and witnessed first-hand many situations officers were trying to handle which clearly related to some mental health issue.

Once in the mayor’s office, Fadness brought people together and started studying the issue and taking action.  The new mayor wasted no time in moving forward.

Having covered a number of mayors in my reporting past, I had seen many mayors start to work on an issue, put something together, declare victory and move on to the next issue in span of a few months.

I wondered, what would this new Mayor of Fishers do about mental health?  Will he act quickly then move onto something else, or will he stay with it?

My answer came during an event the mayor sponsored Wednesday morning, gathering members of his staff, leaders in the community and mental health experts to talk about where Fishers is on mental health and where the community goes from here.

The mayor began his talk with a history of his efforts, not always initially successful, at bringing major local institutions into the mental health efforts.

COVID had a big impact on all this.  Mayor Fadness wanted a COVID testing program early in the pandemic, so he created a city health department which continues to this day.  The Fishers Health Department has taken-on much of the mental health work.

However, Fadness explained many other city departments are involved in promoting better mental health, including police, fire, emergency services, parks & recreation and planning, just to name a few.  Several department heads were called-on by the mayor to talk about their involvement in the city’s mental health program.

The mayor then took questions and comments from the audience, there were many, and he listened.

He wrapped-up the hour-long session saying he has been inspired by this journey in promoting better mental health.  The mayor should be proud of what he accomplished.  It started with his first day in office, January 2015, up to the present day, with a consistent mental health program.  My early question was answered.  This mayor has kept his mental health program going for his entire time as Mayor of Fishers.