Bob Rice handles all things energy in Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School buildings. He just returned from a White House summit all about how schools across the nation are saving money on energy costs.
Bob talks about that, and an award HSE Schools received at the summit, in this podcast, linked below.
The new Fishers City Hall is nearing completion, with most city employees now working in the new structure. Part of City Hall will be an Arts Center. The Indianapolis Arts Center will be providing the arts classes. I received a tour of the facilities and they are impressive.
Mark Williams, Executive Director of the Indianapolis Arts Center, and Michelle O’Hollaren, Vice President of Education & Innovation, joined me for a podcast discussion. The new Fishers Arts Center will have a June arts summer camp. Also, the operation is on the lookout for local arts instructors.
Listen to my conversation with Mark & Michelle at the link below.
As the school year nears an end, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District has announced the Teacher of the Year for this school year, and the 2023-2024 winner is Aimee Bastin.
Mrs. Bastin has 30 years of public education experience. She currently serves as a resource teacher and also chairs the Exceptional Learners Department at Fall Creek Junior High School.
“I think of teaching like, if you want to go into sales and you want to be a good salesperson, you have to believe in the product,” says Bastin. “And I believe in what we do here at HSE.”
She is also a leader in professional development, sharing the latest information on new accessibility tools and learning strategies for students.
Along with the honor of being named HSE’s Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Bastin was awarded a $500 prize from the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation. She will also move forward as the district’s nominee for the Indiana Department of Education’s Teacher of the Year competition.
According to FCJ Principal Michael Ryan, “Mrs. Bastin will do anything it takes to help students and works to ensure every child is receiving a world-class education.”
The two other finalists for district-wide Teacher of the Year were Clarise Nolan of Sand Creek Elementary, a speech pathologist, and Sarah Chattin, long-time science teacher at HSE High School.
There was a time when the Hamilton Southeastern School Board used a “Snapshots of Success” agenda item at board meetings honoring school-related individuals and teams, but it appears that tradition has ended. The Fishers City Council is picking up the slack, taking time during the Monday night Council session to honor two local school teams.
First, Council members and Mayor Scott Fadness welcomed the Fishers High School Boys State Championship basketball squad, under Coach Garrett Winegar.
The city also honored the HSE High School “We The People” team for their success in the recent national finals. The team, under Coach Janet Chandler, showed their talent in knowledge of civic affairs.
The Nickel Plate Trail in Fishers was once the Nickel Plate Rail Line, and when the conversion was made from the railroad to a trail, adjacent landowners sued the federal government. According to a story posted on the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) Web site, those landowners, stretching from Indianapolis to Noblesville, have reached a $7.6 million settlement with the federal government.
According to reporter Taylor Wooten, “The settlement involves 168 property owners along more than 20 miles of the Nickel Plate Trail from just south of East 16th Street in Indianapolis to just west of the White River in Noblesville.”
There is much more to this story. You can read the entire piece at this link. Note that you may need a subscription to access this story,
Family Express describes themselves as a family owned enterprise that began in northern Indiana with 81 locations, and wants to build a convenience story, fueling station, car wash and pet wash near the interchange at State Road 37 & 135th Street, near the Zaxby’s and Taco Bell.
If all goes as planned, Family Express expects to open in late 2024.
Monday night the City Council gave the proposal first reading. It now goes to the Plan Commission for a public hearing June 5th, with final Council action slated for June 17th.
The first candidate has filed for the upcoming election for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board. John F. Stewart has filed his candidacy for the Wayne Township seat.
In a news release announcing his candidacy, Stewart says he plans on “addressing mental health in schools, providing diverse career paths for youth, and ensuring a strong educational foundation for every student.”
He also points to his experience as a business executive and business owner.
Stewart and his wife Suzanne, according to the release, have had 3 children attend HSE Schools, “Their two sons are on the autism spectrum, and their daughter has faced
mental health challenges,” says the release.
This year’s round of HSE School Board elections are at-large. The entire school district votes on candidates from Wayne, Fall Creek and Delaware Townships. The candidates must live within the boundaries of their respective townships.
The school board filing period has just begun and ends at noon, June 20th.
There is no question pickleball is growing as a sport, particularly in Fishers. When a new indoor pickleball facility was before the Fishers City Council Monday night, councilors were supportive, but raised concerns about the look of the building and adjacent parking lot.
The structure is a former Marsh grocery location on 116th Street, just east of Brooks School Road. The building once served as a COVID vaccination site for the City of Fishers.
Council members expressed concern for the condition of the parking lot adjacent to the building. They had been receiving concerns from constituents in the area of the building about the condition of the parking lot once the city vacated the site.
Director of Planning and Zoning Ross Hilleary assured councilors the city would enforce provisions of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in working with the building owner.
Once receiving those assurances, the Council voted 9-0, allowing the “change of use” for the former Marsh location.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness was direct in his comments before the City Council Monday night – his city is as efficient as any municipality in the state, yet state tax distribution systems short-change Fishers. To remain competitive with surrounding communities and the private sector, the City Council voted unanimously to provide city employees a mid-year hike in basic pay.
Public safety workers will see a $2,500 increase in their annual pay. Other city employees will receive a $1,000 annual hike in pay. Fadness says this will cost the city about $500,000 in 2024 and roughly $1 million in 2025. The pay increase will be effective in the current pay period. Fadness emphasizes this pay increase will not apply to any elected officials.
The mayor says this mid-year pay action is unusual, but the gap in compensation has been growing. This is not a bonus, but part of the base pay for each employee.
Fadness repeated an assertion he made on a recent podcast with me, saying the property tax and income tax distribution system established by state law penalizes Fishers and it is his long-term goal to work toward advocating what he describes as a system that treats Fishers fairly. He cites Carmel as an example, in which that city receives $60 million more per year in property and income taxes compared to Fishers. Fadness calls this gap “staggering.”
The mayor points again to Carmel, with roughly the same population as Fishers, funding 130 more city employees compared to Fishers.
Councilman Todd Zimmerman argues that a number of public safety employees work on regional task force assignments, so they are impacting more than just what is happening within the Fishers city limits. He wants a total look into the pay for public safety workers.
For several years, people living in the northeast part of Fishers, in the area of Southeastern Parkway and Cyntheanne Road, have wanted a grocery store nearby. Meijer is proposing a grocery at that location, but several residents of the area voiced their opposition to this store in this location.
The Fishers City Council listened to a presentation from representatives of Meijer, describing the proposed store as smaller than most other locations, such as the facility in Noblesville. This Meijer would offer only groceries and a pharmacy.
Since this is the first reading of the proposed text amendment, there was no public hearing, but a public hearing will be part of the Plan Commission consideration. Even though there was no formal public hearing, residents in the area of the proposed grocery voiced their concerns and outright opposition to the project during the Community Comment time at the end of Monday night’s Council session.
Many area residents say traffic is already a problem, with some saying they cannot make a left turn out of their neighborhood now, and this would become impossible with the addition of Meijer.
The next stop for this planned Meijer store is the Planned Unit Development (PUD) Committee to look at the planned elevation levels for the structure July 10, then on that same date the Plan Commission will hold a public hearing and vote on recommended action by the City Council. The final Council vote is scheduled for July 15.