Fishers Arts Council is hosting the Watercolor Society of Indiana by showing artwork by their members in the FAC Hub Gallery in November, along with a free public Second Friday reception to meet the artists from across Indiana. The exhibit opens Monday, November 6 and runs through December 1 with a Second Friday reception on November 10 from 6-8pm. The gallery is located at 11810 Technology Drive inside the Collaboration Hub at Hamilton County Community Foundation.

The Watercolor Society of Indiana (WSI) –a statewide organization– held its first organizational meeting in October 1982, at the Indianapolis Art League, now the Indianapolis Art Center. The organization became a registered nonprofit corporation in September 1983, and its first annual Juried exhibit was held in November of that year. The organization’s talented artists appreciate and continue to produce high quality paintings and to educate the public about this beautiful, transparent medium.

“This is the third year we’ve hosted the WSI Members and it’s our largest WSI exhibit to date – 74 paintings by 30 artists – it’s so impressive!” said Les Reinhardt, Executive Director of Fishers Arts Council. “It’s such an incredible showing of talent from across Indiana, right here in Fishers, for all to enjoy. There’s a wide variety of styles, skills, and subjects. I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with many of these artists so I hope folks will come to the gallery on November 10 to meet the artists, see their works, and learn more about the Watercolor Society of Indiana.”

Many of the artworks are for sale at a variety of price points, which makes this exhibit a perfect one for gift giving. The gallery is open 9am to 5pm Monday through Thursday. Friday gallery visits are by appointment only by contacting Fishers Arts Council directly. During the Second Friday reception on November 10, there will be live music from Happy Accident – a duo featuring Jim and Angela Sullivan, along with snacks, drinks, and a cash bar featuring Sun King beer and Daniel’s Vineyard wines. Additionally, FAC board member Pat Grabill will interview WSI’s executive director and member artist, Tanya Roberts, at 6:45pm.

As I write this on Sunday night. we are close to election day on Tuesday.  There is something bothering me about our local municipal election.

It started on social media and is now showing-up in some of the direct mail campaigning.  Negative attacks are everywhere.

Just about every attack ad, wherever you may find it, is mostly (or sometimes completely) not accurate.  Keep that in mind as you decide how to cast your vote.

Negative campaigning is bad enough, but it sets up Fishers in a more difficult place to govern once the election is over.  After, all, we all need to live together once election day is past.

I will not get into the details.  Most of you have likely seen what I am writing about here.  I studied political science in college and found that not always, but in most cases, the campaign that goes negative first perceives itself to be behind.

On the HSE Schools referendum vote, no organized opposition has surfaced.  I have had a few negative comments about the referendum posted on the blog, but we will see how much support the local school district has with the voting public once the ballots are counted.

I hate to see so much negativity in a local election.  Perhaps this is a reflection on how large a city Fishers has become.

I am planning to cover the vote count in Noblesville Tuesday night, so watch this space to keep up with the election results as the votes are counted Tuesday night.

The weekly Fishers-area road construction report is a bit smaller than during the peak construction season, with updates on a number of ongoing projects.  Watch for lane restriction in the area of Fall Creek & Geist Road, plus State Road 37 between 131st & 141st Streets.

Here is the road construction weekly report for the work week starting November 6th, as provided by the City of Fishers:

Continue reading Weekly Fishers area road construction report for the work week starting Monday, Nov.6 →

A donation of $20,000 from the Duke Energy Foundation will lead to the planting of 200 trees in the City of Fishers following a Thursday ceremony.  This is part of a plan for greening and revitalizing the Allisonville Road corridor between 106th Street and 126th Street, along with growing the tree canopy at Heritage Park at White River off Eller Road and 106^th Street.

Both the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board and the teachers in the district had few complaints and much praise for the new collective bargaining agreement with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (HSEA, the union representing teachers in the district) Thursday evening.

The starting teachers’ salary under this agreement, if ratified, would be $48,500 a year, up from $44,074.  Interim HSE Superintendent Matt Kegley expressed his belief that the starting salary is the highest in Hamilton County.  “We are really excited about understanding and knowing that these salaries are super-competitive with our competition in the district and hope that continues to folks wanting to come to HSE,” said Kegley.

A teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree and 36 additional credit hours can earn $91,801 at the top of the scale with 19 or more years of teaching experience.  The only teachers not receiving a pay raise in this contract would be those after 2 years of teaching rated “ineffective” or “improvement necessary,” but HSEA President Abby Taylor told members of the school board only a handful of teachers in the district are in this situation.

The pact is the product of two full days bargaining and one additional day cleaning up contract language.  Taylor says the teacher ratification process is underway and she is receiving much positive feedback from teachers.  Once teachers ratify, the school board is scheduled to hold a ratification vote November 8th.  Board members had questions but appeared to be generally positive about the tentative agreement.

A public hearing was offered but no one chose to speak.  This is a one-year contract covering the 2023-2024 school year.

You can view the PowerPoint presentation to the board at this link.

I do not remember the year, but Bob Knight was at the top of his career as basketball coach at Indiana University.  My brother Tom & I knew a family that had several people graduate from IU.  The mom of the family had always wanted to see an IU basketball game.

One of her kids wrote a letter to Bob Knight explaining the situation and asking for his help.  Knight immediately arranged for seats at an IU home game next to the home bench.  Let’s just say the mom was not prepared for the language used by the coach, but otherwise it was a magical experience for her.

That was a part of Bob Knight.  He could be charitable and giving.  But there was the other side of Knight.

John Feinstein spent an entire season with Knight and wrote the book Season On The Brink.  During his book tour, when asked his impressions of Bob Knight the person, he responded that Bob Knight was the best person Feinstein had ever known and the worst person he had ever known.

My brother-in-law Fred Glass, during his 10-year tenure as IU Athletic Director, met with Knight and tried to convince him to return to Assembly Hall during a home game.  Fred also worked with former players with which Knight had a close relationship, asking them to talk with the coach.

It all came to fruition on February 8, 2020.  Fred got his wish and Bob Knight was honored at Indiana University in the building where he plied his trade so well, before a large crowd of IU fans.

Fred once told me we are all package deals, meaning, no human is totally good or bad.  With Bob Knight we had the good and the bad.  It is up to you to decide what you think has legacy should be.  No doubt, he was a complicated man that was one of the best basketball coaches to ever roam the sidelines.

Fishers Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren says the new Events Center is on track for a grand opening in November of 2024.  Hultgren told the Board of Public Works and Safety that the award of an $18 million bid to Hunt Construction in the public-private partnership arrangement “closes out the bid process” for this project.

The Events Center will be the home for the Fuel minor league hockey team and the Fuel recently announced an indoor football team will also be a tenant in the building.

Mayor Scott Fadness says after some “bad soils” found in the parking area of the construction site, there should be no more “unforeseen costs” as work continues on the building.

“I’m not saying there are going to be things that we didn’t consider but now that we are going vertical it eliminates a lot of those unforeseen conditions,” Fadness said.

The board approved the final bid on the Events Center.

In other items before the board at the Thursday morning meeting:

–City Engineering Director Hatem Mekky says the roundabout construction at 106th Street and Hoosier Road should be completed by the end of November or early December.

–The Fishers Police Department will be placing a substation at St. Vincent Hospital at Olio Road to allow faster response times in the northeast corridor of the city.  St. Vincent is providing the space.  Chief Ed Gebhart says the only cost to the city for this substation will be cable service.

–Verizon has not installed any 5G towers in Fishers for a very long time and it appears there are no plans to install any at this time.  The board revoked 15 right-of-way permits because Verizon has not acted on any of these locations for 2 years, resulting in the right -of-way revocations.  Verizon has never commented on why the company stopped constructing 5G towers in Fishers.

The Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (HSEA), the union representing teachers in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District, and the HSE School District appear to have reached a tentative agreement on a contract covering the 2023-2024 school year.  The contract has been posted as an attachment on the agenda for a special school board meeting set for Thursday, November 2nd, at 5pm.

The contract is the only item on the board meeting agenda, and is for information and discussion, but no board vote at this time.  If the pact is ratified by the HSEA membership, the board will vote on the new contract.

Teacher salaries were between $44,074 and $87,530 prior to any increases negotiated in this agreement. After ratification, the basic salaries of full-time teachers will be between $48,500 and $91,801 for the 2023-2024 school year.

Below is the new hire salary schedule for teachers, which is part of the agreement.  The full text of the contract is available at this link.

Traversing the area of 146th Street and Allisonville Road has not been easy with all the construction.  Be aware of a coming road closure.

Below is the guidance from the Hamilton County Highway Department.

For more on other work in the area, see this update from Hamilton County.

As I write this piece on October 29, we are about 10 days away from the November 7th election day.  Early voting has already started.

I wrote a piece posted on this blog July 16, discussing the HSE Schools referendum and the support it has garnered among local elected officials.  I also tried to sift through many issues surrounding the ballot measure.

The local school board voted 6-0 (with an abstention from Tiffany Pascoe) authorizing the ballot measure and rate to be placed on the election ballot.  If passed, the referendum would generate an estimated $24 million per year for the district.  The referendum rate, if passed, would be .1995.  The current referendum rate, passed in 2016, is .2275.  So, if the referendum passes, the referendum rate would decrease slightly.

Advance HSE, the Political Action Committee advocating for passage of the school referendum, has an online calculator to compute what your 2024 property tax amount would be if the referendum passes, at this link.

Many of the comments posted on my July 16th story took me to task for not looking at the tax situation for property owners in the HSE District should the referendum fail.  Since there is no organized opposition to this referendum as I write this, no one has done a deep dive into what property tax savings you would recognize, but your property taxes would go down without the referendum rate.

However, keep in mind that the issue of increased property valuations would not go away if the referendum fails.  You would have a lower school tax rate, but that does not impact potentially higher property tax valuations that can impact your bill.

Some comments say the increase in assessed valuation of property, a big driver of increased property tax bills, is not being considered in this discussion.  In my coverage, it has been discussed, but the local school board has no control over that system.  The Indiana General Assembly has the final say on the property tax system outside the setting of local rates.

It should be noted that state lawmakers have enacted an additional deduction for property tax bills owed in 2024.  For more details, see this article from the Indiana Capitol Chronicle.  As  noted in the story, this additional property tax deduction is a temporary 3-year relief measure.

Indiana’s property tax system is very complex.  There is the rate, but there are deductions and other adjustments.

There is one thing we know for certain.  If the referendum fails, the HSE Schools will lose about $24 million annually in future years.  That will result in fewer teachers, larger class sizes (particularly in the lower grades) and cutting back or elimination of many educational programs.

As a voter, this is your choice as you cast your ballot in the November 7th election.

By the way, don’t forget, there is an important city election with the city clerk, at-large city council members and all but one district seat on the city council up for grabs.  Your local city government is the closest government to you and has a  major impact on the life you live in Fishers.  Vote in the school referendum and city election when casting your 2023 general election ballot.