Thursday was a night of talking about all the joint projects the City of Fishers has offered to support the local Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools.  The list is a long one.

Every department head in Fishers City Government spoke before the school board, explaining the many joint endeavors each has with the school district.  Mayor Scott Fadness talked about a program started by the Town of Fishers in 2014 when Fadness was Town Manager, taking over the responsibilities of groundskeeping and snow removal for the HSE Schools at a time of serious budget difficulties for HSE.  Fadness says that program saved enough money to fund 5 teachers.  That program continues to this day.

Fadness’ Chief of Staff Jordin Alexander explained the new fund created by the City Council in the 2024 budget, establishing a $500,000 fund for new and innovative programs submitted by HSE Schools’ teachers.  A board has been formed of mostly retired teachers to decide which proposals are funded.  Alexander & Mayor Fadness emphasized this program is not in any way replacing the work of the HSE Schools Foundation, but plans to supplement the foundation’s work.

The city’s PowerPoint presentation before the school board is available at this link.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools Deputy Superintendent Matt Kegley wants to make one thing clear to families of graduating seniors at both high schools…the date for the 2024 graduation is set and is not changing…rehearsal is May 31 and commencement is still on for June 1.

But there is a proposed change to the 2025 graduation date.  Instead of May 31, the 2025 HSE Schools graduation will be held on June 7.  This will be the first commencement to be conducted at the new Fishers Events Center, currently under construction.

Kegley told the school board the 2025-2026 school calendar will be before the board and the 2026 graduation date will be reflected on that document..

Dr. Denise Rehfuss, a parent with a third-grade son in Hamilton Southeastern Schools, expressed her concern about how racial minorities are not being represented at the top positions in the HSE District during Wednesday night’s public comment period before the school board.  She referred to recent resignations of African American administrators.  They include Superintendent Yvonne Stokes, Human Resources Director Kim Lippe and DEI Director Nataki Pettigrew.

“It just seems like there is a very defined goal of eliminating anything that is different.” said Dr. Rehfuss.  “Our district and our community has a lot of different type(s) of people.”

She described how her son was initially placed in a private school once the family moved to Fishers, but she changed her mind and placed him in public schools here due to the “stellar” reputation of HSE Schools.  Now, Dr. Rehfuss says recent developments have caused her to rethink this decision because at HSE Schools, “it feels like it (is) no longer a welcome environment.”

Dr, Rehfuss ended her statement saying HSE is almost at the point of posting a sign saying these people need not apply.

There was no response to her comments from school officials.

With a new school superintendent hired, there have been a number of changes announced by Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools in the top leadership.

Brian Murphy will be a new face to the HSE central office staff.  He comes to the local district from the Indiana State Department of Education where he served as Chief of Staff.  Before that, Mr. Murphy served as Executive Director for the Indiana State Board of Education.  At HSE, Murphy will serve as Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and will report directly to Superintendent Mapes.

Cecilie Nunn, who served briefly as HSE’s Chief Financial Officer before stepping down to be an Accounts Payable Clerk, will assume the job of Director of Business / Deputy Treasurer, a position she has held before.

Stephanie Madison has served as Director of Business for HSE Schools and is resigning, but will be paid on a contract to handle the transition.

Ryan Taylor will move from leading Student Services to  Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools.

Danielle Fetters-Thompson will go from executive director for elementary education to Assistant Superintendent of Foundational Learning.

This is a long list of changes coming to HSE Schools in the top leadership.  Those were the only actions approved at the Wednesday evening board meeting at the top of the personnel chart.

Be prepared for a closure of 106th Street between Cumberland Road and Hamilton Pass beginning Tuesday, March 19, through October 18 of this year.  This will require a closure of all thru traffic for a bridge replacement.

Local traffic will continue to have access to their homes, while thru traffic is asked to utilize the posted detour route of Cumberland Road, 96th Street, and Mollenkopf Road.

The announcement came from Hamilton County.  Counties in Indiana generally are responsible to maintain bridges.

Mayor Scott Fadness, Police Chief Ed Gebhart and Fire Chief Steve Orusa gathered at the Hamilton East Library to discuss how the city plans to handle the solar eclipse coming April 8.  Note that I give the wrong date for the recording session during the podcast, it was March 11, not March 12.

Also, Chief Gebhart and Mayor Fadness talk about how the city is handling large car “meet-ups” after such an event happened in Fishers March 3rd.  That part is later in the podcast.

As Fishers has grown, if you are looking for the geographic center of the city, you would find it right around 121st Street and Hoosier Road.  That is the site of the new Fishers Community Center, next to Hoosier Road Elementary School.

A community center for Fishers has been discussed for years, but through the efforts of Mayor Scott Fadness, City Councilor Todd Zimmerman and a number of others, this idea was brought to a reality when the ground-breaking ceremony was held Tuesday morning.

The facility will be a 105,000 square-foot structure, and is designed based on comments from over 3.500 residents in an online survey.  Included in the center will be a dog park, indoor playground, indoor walking/running track, and aquatics facility.

The Center will offer both memberships and day passes with discounts for Fishers residents, while featuring free amenities accessible to both residents and non-residents, including a large indoor playground, indoor track for walking and running, and a café operated by Sahm’s Hospitality Group. The Center will also be the new home of the Fishers Health Department, as well as Outside the Box’s adult day program to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  More details on membership fees will be released at a later time.

The site was once the Johnson Farm. and members of the family have been supportive of using this tract of land for the Community Center.  The ground-breaking ceremony also featured students from Hoosier Road Elementary School.

For more on the Fishers Community Center, use this link.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Fishers Community Ce

The proposal to contract with one private firm for city-wide trash collection service will take an important step in April.  At the Tuesday morning meeting of the Fishers Board of Public Works & Safety, Mayor Scott Fadness said that body will be voting on the request for proposals (RFP) which will contain the specifics of what the city expects private sector bidders to include in any bid.

The mayor’s Chief of Staff, Jordin Alexander, presented the first draft of an RFP at a recent board meeting and the mayor indicated several changes would be made before the final version is approved.

Once the bids are submitted, the board will consider each bid.  That may require a much larger meeting room than the board’s normal location at the City Court.  It is possible the new City Hall/Arts Center will be ready in time to host such a meeting.

The City Council will have the final say on any trash collection contract.  The earliest any contract with a private firm would be effective is 2025.  Residents have been voicing concerns recently about the spike in costs for trash collection service.

In  other board action:

–The board approved buying 3 flatbed trucks for the city fleet at a cost of $176,056.80.  Tabatha Miller from Fleet Management told the board the cost of this equipment is gone up 30 per cent in just 2 years.  Delivery is hoped to arrive by the end of 2024.

–Beginning July 1, city customers of the stormwater and sanitary sewer system will be placed on a paperless billing system.  This is projected to save the city money by streamlining the billing system.  Customers will be provided an “opt-out” choice if deciding not utilize the paperless system.

You may recall that Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness recommended a $50 nonresident parking fee last summer at Geist Waterfront Park.  The City Council voted in favor of the fee and it was enforced during the summer of 2023.

In a podcast recorded Monday, March 11, Mayor Fadness tells me the fee will be reduced in 2024.  He is working with his Parks Department staff and “a new scenario” will be put before the City Council in April.  The mayor did not provide any additional details on that scenario.

“We’re excited about that fact that we have some additional capacity,” Fadness said during the podcast recording session. “Some of the concerns we had last year about – is this thing going to be swamped by people – (have) been alleviated.”

On another issue raised during the podcast, Fadness says he is aware of cities providing incentives to move into the community, with the popularity of working from home.  According to a story in the Indianapolis Star, Noblesville is offering an incentive package valued at $15,000 for those qualified, including relocation fee reimbursements, golf club memberships and co-working space.

According to Fadness, “We’re all racing for talent.”  But the mayor was clear, he doesn’t excpect any such program coming to Fishers.

“I don’t see us doing this anytime in the foreseeable future,” says Fadness. “Our focus is really trying to build a quality of life, an amenity package that would be attractive for people to want to be part of our community and our focus is really trying to build a quality of life and amenity package that would be attractive.”

Although the mayor admitted he hasn’t spent much time thinking about this concept, “I continue to wonder – do people make life decisions like where they’re going to move based on those types of (incentives)?”

The podcast, also featuring Police Chief Ed Gebhart and Fire Chief Steve Orusa, will be available Wednesday afternoon.

It has been 12 years since Fishers has hired a Chief of Fire & Emergency Services.  Fishers was still a town when Steve Orusa was hired for that job.  He has been Chief more then 12 years and is now working with the city on a smooth transition to a new Chief as Orusa plans on retiring later this year.

“While I couldn’t be happier for this next chapter in his life or more grateful for his service to our city, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that Chief Orusa’s leadership and vision for building the industry-leading Department we have today will be missed,” said Mayor Scott Fadness in a statement posted to social media Monday.

Chief Orusa is wrapping up a 40 year career in public safety work.

“In the months to come, there will be a change in our Fire and Emergency Services Department,” according to Fadness.  “But we’ve always leaned into opportunities to change to make us better, more efficient, & serve the community. I look forward to supporting Chief Orusa’s transition to retirement.”

Fadness says his administration will work “diligently and methodically” in the search for a new Chief.  Orusa told the mayor he plans on retiring “sometime before late fall.”