The Latest Hometown Happenings Around Fishers
Writer / Larry Lannan
Photography Provided
The Hamilton East Library Board, governing the library system serving the local area with buildings in Noblesville and Fishers, voted unanimously August 24 to pause a policy of reviewing all books in the young adult section for content. This policy had been the subject of media attention nationwide, and drew the ire of book authors such as John Green.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness briefed reporters on August 21 on his over $164 million 2024 spending plan. $129 million of that total would go to city operations, and $35 million would pay debt service. When Fadness explained his 2023 budget of over $144 million last year, he warned there would be an increase in the debt service in 2024, which accounts for most of the roughly $20 million increase in the total budget figure.
The mayor is proposing the addition of three uniformed Fishers police officers, two additional school resource officers for Hamilton Southeastern schools, and one lab employee, in 2024. He also wants three more firefighters to supplement the current staff during absences, rather than assign overtime work. The 2024 budget proposal calls for a 5% employee raise, plus a longevity pay provision for police and firefighters eligible to retire after 20 years of service, providing an incentive to stay on the job in years 20 through 25.
You may be familiar with the U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges and universities, but the news organization recently released a ranking of high schools, organized nationally and by state. Fishers High School ranks 11th in Indiana, 740th nationally and sixth in the Indy metro area. Hamilton Southeastern High School is listed as number 13 in Indiana, 893rd in the nation and eighth in the Indy metro area.
The Fishers City Council approved recommendations from its nonprofit committee to fund local nonprofit groups. The following groups will be funded by the city during 2024 in the following amounts: Hamilton County Youth Assistance Program, $40,000; Youth Mentoring Initiative, $50,000; Janus Developmental Services, $10,000; Conner Prairie Museum, $80,000; Prevail, Inc., $15,000; Shepherd’s Center of Hamilton County, $10,000; Outside the Box, Inc., $15,000; Cherish Child Advocacy Center, $20,000; Recovery Café Hamilton County, $10,000.00.
Administrators for Hamilton Southeastern schools briefed school board members on the state of academics in the district at an August work session. Although there are areas ripe for improvement, the news overall was very good on the academic front.
Round Room, headquartered in Fishers, held a sales rally in downtown Indianapolis during August and used the occasion to pass out donations to nonprofit organizations totaling $1.7 million. Round Room is one of the nation’s largest Verizon Authorized Retailers.
Hamilton Southeastern schools shared a message to parents in late August that changes school policy. Now, if you have a student in grades kindergarten through eight, there is a requirement that the student must be “accompanied and supervised by an adult” when attending a school event. such as a football game.
“We have seen a large number of unsupervised junior high students gathering at high school sporting events, which has resulted in uptick of incidents,” says Emily Abbotts, Hamilton Southeastern schools spokesperson. “While the school district has increased the number of SROs at the game and administration, we do not have enough personnel to oversee large numbers of unsupervised students. Our top priority remains student and staff safety.”
You may have already seen restaurants in Fishers with letter grades posted for all to see. This is a result of a new policy by the Fishers Health Department to translate inspection results for local eating establishments into a letter grade.
The City of Fishers has received construction bids on the first two Barrett Law projects, but the financing for each is not in place yet, so no dollar amounts have been released on exactly how much the construction will cost. The projects are just east and west of State Road 37 on the north end of the city. The Barrett Law allows a city to improve private roads, have the businesses along the road pay for that work over time, then take the roads into the city’s inventory.
The City of Fishers is in the market for a new director of planning and zoning. Fadness announced at the August council session that this would be Megan Vukusich’s last council meeting in that job. Vukusich is taking a new job. It was not specified where she is going, but there were references to her going to a more urban area to the south. Hatem Mekky has been named the director of engineering for the City of Fishers. He replaces Jason Taylor, who accepted a position in the private sector.
Kim Lippe is the principal at Brownsburg High School. Lippe had spent the past 15 years with Hamilton Southeastern schools, most recently serving as assistant superintendent of staff and student services.
