No Democracy in Fishers, IN

No democracy in Fishers, IN. A certified petition was submitted to the Town of Fishers, Indiana on May 3, 2010 calling for an election to determine if the Town should become a City. By May 6th Mr. Scott Faultless, President of Town Council stated that they might not bring up this up for a vote this year.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100506/LOCAL0102/5060414/-1/LOCAL0102/City-town-issue-simmers-again-in-Fishers

I guess this is another example of where the government of Fishers believes it is above the concepts of democracy. This is clearly an abuse of power by Mr. Faultless and the gang of seven. Are they so afraid of losing power they will go to any length to keep it? Even if this comes up for a vote later by delaying it until next year they gain five more years in power. Mr. Faultless and fellow Council Members if you do this you will show the entire world that you are no better than a dictator in a third world country. Don’t let people vote, kept yourselves in power at any cost. If Mr. Faultless never intended to let this to be on the ballot how come he set up a committee of 44 people to study the concept/differences between a Town and City, had them come to about a dozen meetings, and hire Mr. Steve Carter, former Secretary of State as its facilitator. Was this just for show? It appears that way now. Now he wants a Township Merger Plan to go first. This merger concept came up as a blatant attempt to try and stop the City-Yes vote. The merger has already been voted down by Delaware Township and not voted on by Fall Creek. Even if approved by Fall Creek, other studies, if done properly, in other locations of the state have taken a year to be completed. Knowing the actions of this Council the odds are the study is already written and any study would be a sham. That is the only way they could even get it on the ballot by this November.

Now all of a sudden the Town has scheduled a Joint meeting with the Township Board on May 10,2010. Here is what is going to happen. At that meeting both the Town and Township will adopt resolutions to form study committees to look at the merger. They have to take 30 days for people to apply to be on the study committees, why brother, they already know who is going to be hand picked to be on the committees. Elsewhere in this state when mergers came up, the committees took the full year allowed by law to come up with their recommendations. I am giving odds that this study will be accomplished in record time. The odds are it is already written. That is the only way Fishers could then hold two public hearings in time for a deadline of September 2, 2010 to get this on the ballot. The public then votes on the merger plan. Now here is where Fishers is not certain of what might happen. They have to get approval from the people who live in the un-incorporated area of Fishers independent of those who live in Fishers. Of course the plan will talk in glowing terms about how this will reduce the size of government and be more efficient, bah, bah, bah. It will leave off the increase in fees for those in the un-incorporated area which is actually a hidden tax increase.

Now lets look at the City-Yes vote and why the Town Council is doing this merger. In their thinking, one of two things happen. If they get the merger, they will form a new form of government of a soft city, a city with a Mayor that is actually the head of the City Council, just like the Town Council with its Council President. A figure head Mayor with almost no power, no checks and balances that a real City brings. They will go to 9 Councilors instead of the 7 now and may or may not have set districts. They will then claimed they have created a City and there is no need for the City Yes vote. Plan B if the merger is killed by the voters. The City Yes vote will then be placed on the ballot in November 2011. Even if approved by state law it would not go into effect until 2015 which is the next city election. That would keep them in office until 2015. If the City Yes is on the ballot this year and approved the new City goes into effect in 2011. But the Town Council is in fear the voters will approve the new City and therefore they want to keep it off the ballot at any costs.

Mr. Faultless and other members of Council as elected officials of the Citizens of Fishers you should put aside your personal bias and do what is expected of you in the representation of the citizens. If you can’t exercise your duties, you should resign immediately. If you follow through with this action to prevent a vote and take these actions you are throwing it in the face of all the people who have fought and shed blood for this nation since July 4th 1776. Your actions for this merger is a clear sign that you can’t be trusted as representatives of the people, you are not representatives of the citizens of Fishers, but rather of a very special interest group, your self’s.

Both Republicans and Democrat this is not an issue of either party, this is an issue overrides the concept of parties. It is an issue of the people petitioning their government and a government that ignores the petition.

I urge everyone to call and e-mail members of the Town Council and tell them how wrong this is. Even if you don’t live in Fishers, IN. Tell them what you think of running a government that only wants to keep itself in power.

Scott Faultless faultless@fishers.in.us

Eileen N. Pritchard pritchard@fishers.in.us

Stuart F. Easley easley@fishers.in.us

Daniel E. Henke henke@fishers.in.us

Charles P. White white@fishers.in.us

David C. George george@fishers.in.us

Arthur J. Levine levine@fishers.in.us