The City of Fishers had set a deadline for companies bidding on the city-wide trash collection contract to have their bids submitted by 10am Monday, June 3rd. However, on Friday, May 31, city officials discovered an “administrative error” in the request for proposals.
With the discovery of the glitch, Fishers has extended that deadline for submitting bids to Monday, June 10, at 4pm.
City spokesperson Ashley Elrod tells LarryInFishers this delay will not impact the time line, which calls for a public hearing in July. All this will do is shorten the time span for the city to review the bids and negotiate with bidders for a final bid offer.
The Town of Fishers went through the process of taking trash collection contract bids more than 10 years ago, but backed-off after public opposition. With mostly 2 companies offering trash collection service in Fishers, Waste Management and Republic, costs have increased and the public mood appears to have changed.
City of Fishers employees have been scattered throughout the community during the construction of the new City Hall. During the month of May, departments were slowly but surely moving into their new quarters at the new City Hall.
I recorded a podcast with Mark Williams & Michelle O’Hollaren of the Indy Arts Center. The Center will be providing art classes on the first floor of the complex. The first floor also contains an auditorium that will seat about 300 people. Mark & Michelle gave me a tour of the auditorium and arts center. I fully expect a great deal of activity in those spaces once all is in full gear, with arts classes and performances in the auditorium. The auditorium will also be utilized for Fishers government meetings, including the City Council.
Mark Willams is particularly excited about the space set aside for the arts and a number of classes are planned. I am no art expert, but it is clear seasoned artists and beginners will all enjoy this space.
When I moved to Fishers in 1991, the Town Hall was just finishing construction. It became City hall in 2015. However, there were structural issues with that building that had it sinking into the underlying water table. It was costing the city a lot of money just to keep old City Hall upright, to the point of making it more costs effective to demolish the old building and construct the new City Hall, with an Arts Center included.
The mayor and his staff invited me to walk with them one last time around the old City Hall just before demolition began. There were a few tears shed among the mayor’s staff on that day with so many memories attached to that building. The mayor admitted he had many memories of old City Hall going back to the days he was an intern for the Town of Fishers. As one would expect, the may chose to look forward to moving on to new City Hall.
I have watched plenty of comments on new City Hall’ architecture, some complimentary, some not so complimentary, at least as to the look of the building from the outside. I am no architectural expert and will stay out of that discussion.
Allow me to say the office part of the structure is impressive because of the immense amount of natural light one experiences when inside City Hall. Natural light is a precious commodity in any work place, and Fishers new City Hall/Arts complex has plenty of that.
The city will be holding an open house soon for our new Municipal Center. I would recommend you come and see what your tax dollars have built.
HSE HS grads throw their caps in the air (photos from HSE Schools video)
I watched the HSE and Fishers High Schools graduation ceremonies on the live YouTube stream Saturday. Memories were made for so many families in and around Fishers June 1st. It is notable that this will be the final local graduation ceremony to be held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Beginning in 2025, graduations will be at the now-under-construction Fishers Events Center. Also, the first graduations at the new Fishers Events Center will be a few days later on the calendar of 2025, June 7th.
I must admit, I did not watch every single graduate have their diplomas handed to them. I wonder how the respective principals and Superintendent Mapes were able to shake all those hands in one day?
I remember my twin daughters graduation day from Fishers High School about 12 years ago. It is a special and somewhat emotional experience to watch your child move from one part of life into another.
I believe it was the valedictorian for HSE High School that put it this way….up to now, you can talk about HSE is where you go…after today, HSE is a place you went.
I graduated from Arlington High School in 1969. It is now a middle school, but many alumni of that school have fond memories of our days there, and I am one of those people.
What I recall of my graduation day was a memory of my World History teacher, Mr. Ben Fort. He assured us he would be at our graduation ceremony and would shake our hands. I wondered whether he meant that. He did.
Ben Fort had a big smile on his face as he shook the hand of each graduate.
Congratulations to each graduate at HSE and Fishers High Schools. You should be proud and your families should be proud as well. Time to move on to the next phase of life.
If you live in the area of 141st Street and Promise Road, you have likely seen the signs that this intersection, which has been a 4-way stop, will be closed to construct a roundabout. This is a City of Noblesville project, because it is on their southern border with Fishers. Fishers neighborhoods in that area will be impacted. This is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Also, June 5th is the date to begin construction of the roundabout at 141st Street at State Road 37. More details below.
This is a very long list of road construction projects this week. Here is the full listing, as provided by the City of Fishers:
