Q&A: Ryan Miller, Brownsburg Fire Territory Battalion Chief and Washington Township Trustee
Writer / Jamie Hergott
Photography Provided
What do you like most about the Avon community?
My parents moved our family to the Washington Township/Avon area when I was 3 years old. I grew up, went to school and lived most of my life here. What I like the most is that Avon just feels like home – so much so that my wife, who is a Brownsburg graduate, and I decided that Avon is where we wanted to raise our own family.
What is your favorite local Avon restaurant and why?
We have so many good options here in Avon, but I find that my go-to choices are Yats or Los Rancheros.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me depends on which job I’m working on that day. I’m a full-time, career firefighter for Brownsburg Fire, where I serve as a battalion chief. We work a schedule that’s 24 hours on and 48 hours off, which allows me the time on my days off to work as the Washington Township trustee.
With the fire department, my job is to oversee and help manage emergency incidents. My primary role would be to act as the incident commander of any larger-scale emergencies. Aside from that, I also help manage my shift with staffing and payroll, and act as a liaison between my shift and our administration.
As Washington Township trustee, my job is to help manage and oversee all things related to township business, which includes our parks department, fire department, township public assistance, and cemetery care and maintenance.
What is your family’s favorite thing to do together?
My boys and I enjoy going over to Parabellum. Sport shooting is a shared interest of ours and we like having a safe and local place to practice.
My wife and I like to cook at home together. Nearly every night that I’m home, we both find ourselves in the kitchen working on dinner together. We struggle, like any other family, to decide what to have each week, but we’re both pretty good cooks so once we figure out what we’re having, we normally eat pretty well.
We all enjoy traveling together. We’ve taken many good vacations together, and whether it’s a short or a long trip, we always take advantage of those opportunities to try new foods and activities.
What motto do you try and live your life by, and why?
I’ve always tried to live my life by the motto, “Don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want to have to explain to grandma.”
I have a great deal of love, respect and admiration for my entire family, and I would never want to put myself in a situation where I’ve let any of them down.
What’s your favorite book and why?
I’m not much for reading books. My wife, on the other hand, reads a crazy amount of them. I frequently joke with her that if the book is good enough, then they’ll make a TV show or movie about it.
What is a favorite childhood memory?
My grandparents weren’t always local, and growing up I would spend nearly my entire summer breaks with them. For much of my childhood they lived in Northwest Arkansas near Beaver Lake, and we spent countless hours out on that lake fishing, swimming and skiing. Whether it was just us, or if we had other family or friends out there with us, we always enjoyed our time out on the water together.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
A hobby of mine is 3D printing. It can be incredibly frustrating at times, but it’s that challenge that I like so much. There are so many things that can affect the quality of a print, so this gives me the opportunity to tinker on something in an attempt to achieve the perfect print.
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on?
I’ve had many great vacations over the years, both growing up and as an adult. To describe the single best of those vacations would be tough, but I think I can narrow it down to two different ones.
The first was when my wife and I were able to take our young boys to Disney. To see them experience the magic of Disney for the first time was really cool. To top it off, my family has always been big “Star Wars” fans and, unbeknownst to us, we happened to be there on a “Star Wars” weekend. Our boys really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and get pictures with many of the different characters that we have watched on TV.
The other vacation that stands out for me would be our latest vacation, which was a cruise down in the Caribbean. Since our boys are older now, they had more freedom to wander the ship and meet new friends. Between the activities available on board as well as in port, we all enjoyed our time together doing the different activities.
This was the second cruise that we’ve taken with our boys, and we continued our new tradition of trying some sort of food that we’ve never had before. Each night at dinner on the ship, we would search the menu and try and find something that we’d never had before, just to see what it was like. Most of it was good, but not everyone cared for everything that we tried. Fortunately there’s not a shortage of food options on board the ship, so finding something else to have was never a concern and helped encourage our little culinary adventures.
What’s a unique skill or talent you have?
I have played the drums for over 30 years. In school I was a part of the Avon Marching Black and Gold and the Avon Drumline. I still play the snare drum to this day, now as a member and a drum sergeant for the Indianapolis Public Safety Pipes and Drums bagpipe band. We are the host band for the FDIC International conference, and we participate every year in the Indianapolis St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the day’s associated festivities. We play a variety of other events throughout the year as well, which gives me plenty of opportunity to use the skill that I developed while I was here in school.
