Fishers Mayor Race to get Interesting

Rumor’s are flying, quiet evening meetings being held and another person about to announce a run for Mayor. The rumors all are about Scott Fadness, Fishers Town Manger. He joins Walt Kelly and has something in common with him. Both were opposed to having a real city and a real Mayor, now they want to be Mayor. Could they be a real Mayor or is this just another way for the old guard to keep power and things very much the same. The Town has already announced they are going to lobby the state to delay the election, give them more time to try and kill the real city. So for Scott this makes sense, he might lose his job if a real Mayor came to the city. But in running he keeps his job, may have to take a pay cut as Mayors make less than City Managers around here. Or would the new City Council reward him with his being the highest paid Mayor in the state. His buddy and best man at his wedding is our Fire Chief so I guess he is counting on the support of the fire department. I wonder how he got the chiefs job? Will the Town Council allow him to stay in his job while running for Mayor, I hope not, but I am sure they will. Also as a member of the International City/County Management Association, he has agreed to a code of ethics that states “Refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body.” Well so much for ethics. I guess he can resign from the association and it makes it all OK. So here we have Walt Kelly a throw back to an old era and now Scott Fadness who has shown a lack of leadership and vision but then again he would do the bidding of the no change Town Council due to become the City Council.

July 4, 2013

Did someone forget it’s the 4th of July? The citizens of Fishers recently voted to become a city, the Town Council figured they had until 2015 to convert, giving them time to plot how to stay in power, how to mold districts, how to plan who is to become Mayor or how to screw up things to make the new mayor look bad. Then along came a new state law that because of old Fishers tricks set time limits on when things needed to be accomplished. Vote to change to become a city then the next year you have to vote in the new government. This was done because the old law did not have a time limits and a government could wait forever to go to the next step just as Fishers did when the request for the election was submitted. They waited and waited to put it on the ballot hoping to trick the voters but the people were smarter than the Council. Rumor was they expected to win to stay a town or a fake city by 80% and then lost by 70%. So much for evil plans. So here we are on another 4th of July when citizens of the land in 1776 told King George we want to govern ourselves. Dear Fishers Town Council – we the citizens of Fishers in the year 2013 want to govern ourselves, it is time for you to stop playing your games. What are you waiting for to set up the new six districts? Oh are you waiting to the last minute to prevent others from running. Must be. The tricks kept on coming. The latest rumors on who’s running: the list is now down to three names: Reene Cox John Weingard Walt Kelly (backed by Scott Faultless) (More on this later) And hopefully an outsider. Someone just told me John Weingard, Scott Fadness and Fire Chief Orusa are all on vacation and by chance wound up at the same place in the Virgin Islands.

And Scott again - two days in a row. But New Topic.

Indy Star June 20, 2013 Fishers to hold elections sooner than expected; former council president Faultless unhappy "But Town Council member Scott Faultless, who was council president for 11 years before Weingardt replaced him in January, said the new, shorter timetable creates problems for potential candidates and said Weingardt should have seen it coming. “I think it’s unfortunate that the leadership on the Town Council didn’t catch this sooner,” Faultless said. “That’s the job of the council president, to monitor everything that is going on in the Statehouse that affects the community.”" The Town of Fishers pays a lot of money to a lot of lawyers including a bunch of lobbyists. This is the same bunch that tried to trick the citizens of Fishers to set up a fake city. What I find very interesting is Scott Faultless is ready to blame John Weingardt for not knowing about the legal change. Scott seams to think he is the only one who knows how to run Fishers. It was the job of the Town attorney and Town manager to advise the Council of what is going on. Clearly they are not doing their jobs not Mr. Weingardt. Mr. Faultless wanted to keep this inefficient form of government in place the citizens of Fishers knew better and have chosen to have a Mayor and a real City. A city with a City Attorney on staff instead of a contracted attorney, a City with a full time Mayor instead of a part time Council member who is chosen by the other council members to be a part time President of Council and not the head as implied by Mr. Faultless. It is time for the voters to remember that Mr. Faultless is one of the roots of the problems in Fishers and show him the door in the next election. Another reason he is unhappy - he would have to run in two elections - one in 2014 and then again in 2015. That gives the citizens two changes to throw him out.

Scott is at it again

Scott is at it again. It looks like Scott Faultless is at it again. When the fire contract came up this year. Scott once again said the people in the Townships are not paying their share for all their Town of Fishers benefits. This is the same old story. “The people in Giest are not paying their fair share.” We heard this over and over. The Fire Contract is overcharging already to the people living outside of the Town. The basis of the fire services is the value of the home versus the number of structures. Only in Fishers is this being done this way. So here we go again the people with a New York License plate driving up I-69 through the Town of Fishers should pay a toll. If they stop to get off on exit 5 (or whatever the new exit number is, stopping to eat will have to pay the new restaurant tax) Grandparents visiting and taking the kids to the park should pay. Maybe anyone driving on township roads should pay the county for use of the road. Scott wants everyone to pay for every service if they use it or not, if they live in the town or not. He was all wet during the Geist annexation and now he is trying to force everyone living outside the town limit to pay full payment for all services without regard to have the right to vote in the Town. This is another way around force annexation without annexation. Folks remember 2014 elections it is time to throw Scott out of any office he may run for.

The first Mayor for Fishers

A newly enacted State Law calls for the election of a Mayor in 2014. Of course this is very upsetting to all the Town Council members who were expecting to stay in office until 2015. What this does is set up two elections for Mayor and City Council one year apart, 2014 and 2015. If the citizens elected a Mayor that turns into dud in one year they can replace him or her. Same for the Council members. It also means they have to raise money to run for two elections. So I see a lot of arm-twisting and if the past is any indication – town contractors and law firms will be hit hard. After all this is Fishers. The mad dash is coming. The Town Council is going to have shortly pass an ordinance with new districts and call for an election of a Mayor. I expect a lot of candidates for this new office and it is going to be very interesting to see who runs. Concerning the new districts, under a City there are six set districts, currently we have seven, so one of the current council seats will have to go. But if any of the current council members run for Mayor they can’t run for Council. So finding one to drop out should not be difficult. I am certain the behind the scenes discussions are going on right now. After all this is Fishers. The Republican Primary will be overflowing; so far I have heard several names and even a posting on Facebook asking the same question. https://www.facebook.com/FirstMayorOfFishers Names that have been mentioned and or whispered so far: Dan Canan Renee Cox Wayne Crane Scott Fadness Scott Falutless Walter Kelly Pete Peterson John Weingardt The City Council seats are going to be even more interesting. Under a City Charter six of the seats are going to have to be firmly defined and not all at large as in the past. This means you for the first time actually elect someone from your district. It also means that a current seat holder may have to run against someone who is know in that district and who does not have to run at large. One more thing. I am certain the Town Council is trying to figure out how to get around the new law and delay the election until 2015. After all this is Fishers.

Are you ready for next May?

The state passed a new law because of the mess brought about by Fishers in the trick question election. As you remember the Town Council tried to trick everyone to keep them in power, not these voters. Smarter than the town council yes. Well other communities tried other mergers etc and all of them failed. Then the state lawmakers noticed. A little push from a couple of citizens including our own Brian Baehl and a number from Evansville got things moving even faster. The law passed 49 to 1 in the Senate and 97 to 3 in the House. So to the Town Council your lost again. To other citizens all over the state you will not have to go through what we all did. By the way the Town attorney travel to another town to try and sell them on this crazy plan, so the new law stopped that game. The Current had an article and Scott Fadness said the new law does not effect Fishers. Wrong again. The new law requires the Mayor and new Council election in 2014 and they wanted it in 2015. Another year to built up their war chests with money to run an election. I can't wait to see how they try and delay the election from 2014 to 2015. The Town Attorney must be up all night trying to figure this one out. Ok election 2014 and the list of Mayor candidates keeps growing, real or not real the names keep popping up. So far my count is up to seven, but I am not into the rumor spreading of candidates so you will have to figure out your own list. But what it does is open the field, lets say three of the current council members run in the primary, that means two or three seats open up depending on the new districts. If you run for Mayor you can't run for election in a district seat. That was one of the tricks they tried to play on the voters. Then three at large seats which translates into an open contest for 5 or 6 council seats. Hopefully people who want to see good government for the people step forward and run. Instead of the same old people who want government for the government and not the people.

Rep Ubelhor and his dumb propsed Law. And I mean dumb.

This has got to be one of the dumbest moves yet by a Representative in the Indiana House. Rep. Matt Ubelhor, R-Bloomfield wants to allow farm raised deer to be hunted in 200-acre fended-in farms by hunters. He claims it would result in 400 jobs and so it would be good for Indiana. Most of the hunter groups and DNR don’t agree. In fact they claim that farmed deer get diseases and if one escapes it could spread far and wide. Well I guess that is one way to reduce the deer population in the state. But not one I would want to see. Maybe he should figure out a way to bring 400 real good paying jobs to Indiana instead. But that would require someone to think and it appears that is beyond his capability. Below is a note I sent to him, I doubt I get a reply. But if I do it will be posted here. Dear Representative Ubelhor What is next Hungry Games? Are you going to propose that Indiana adopt a program similar to the ones in the books? After the hunters are done shooting deer in a cage what will they want next? Why are you even bothering to have the hunters waste their time coming to the state, just have the farmers kill the deer and ship the head to the hunter. After all that would make them even more money. Are you so eager to try and make a few dollars for a few hunters you are willing to risk disease for all the deer in the state. If in state hunting groups and DNR are against this why are you for it? Just so a few can make a few dollars you need to re-examine your position and come to your senses. Or maybe you do want hunger games next.