City Council - Regular Meeting

and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Welcome to the September 15th city council meeting. Uh we have no announcements, no proclamations, no presentations, but I do have a special announcement from Councilman Daramer. Thank you. Uh for identification purposes, uh Brad Remer, Fischer, City Councilman, Northeast District. Uh I live in the Del Webb in Britain Falls. And before I start, if I don't mind, I didn't ask Pete for permission, please. But everybody recognize Charlie Kirk, what he has done for this nation religiously. Forget the politics, but religiously. And uh just wanted to mention that. Thank you, Charlie. Okay. uh is what I would like to do. I um live in Britain Falls and one of our residents out there is having a birthday this Thursday or this Friday, September 19th. She was born in 1921. She will be 105 years old. Um let's see, how do I get this going again? Okay. Her name is Ununice Desardens, 104 years old this Friday. And uh Ununice was one of six children. She had uh in the family four boys and two girls. She was raised in New Hampshire and her parents owned the local meat market in a small town. So she knew everybody. and um she served in World War II as a Navy wave and then after the war came home and got married to her husband Bob in 1946. She and her uh since her parents own the meat market, everybody in town was invited to their wedding.

So after that they had two children. Uh Nancy on the left and Dean on the right. Uh she lives in Britain Falls with her daughter Nancy. Uh her other son Dean lives in uh Oregon. Um unfortunately her husband died early in 1964. Uh this was a picture yesterday. Uh Dean is in town for her birthday. So Dean's on the left, Nancy the daughter, and then Ununice who turns 104. Uh she did get remarried and had three stepchildren. Um, the thing that is really neat is she's the greeter at H Heartland Church for two services. She's there for about two hours greeting the kids that come in and every one of the kids just come in and give her a hug. This happens to be my greatg granddaughter, uh, Gwinny. Um, last year on her 103rd birthday, I'd mentioned to the mayor about it. Him and Elliot went out to her house and surprised her. And this was in September of 10 2024 last year. Uh the mayor also then dedicated a tree in Cynthanne Park in her name and that is her tree and her and her daughter. And anytime visitors come in town to visit, she takes them out and shows her her tree. Uh mayor, she did call me and say, "You need to check the tree." She's afraid of dry.

Yeah. that you would check that place. I I said I would let the mayor know. I do recall on her home visit, Elliot, she said she used to drive to the east coast uh by herself. Yeah. Uh but then decided to stop doing that when she was in her 90s. Yeah. So, yeah. Impressive.

She's amazing. Um amazing. If you sit down and talk with her, she is amazing. Um but they they do love that tree. uh the veteran local veterans group in Britain Falls this week uh held a ceremony for uh that was taken Tuesday at uh the ceremony for her being a veteran. Um and we were celebrating her 104th birthday. I hate to admit but she's probably sharper than I am. I could be your son but boy she is sharp for 140 years old. She still plays games on her computers and can carry a conversation with you. She is amazing. Uh my wife asked her, "Uunice, what do you contribute to your longevity?" She thought for a moment and she says, "I don't really know, but I have an egg every morning for breakfast." So, that may be the answer. Maybe egg sales will go up tomorrow. But I just wanted to recognize her. She's a great lady. Um and really fun to be around. Um she tries to go everywhere. I didn't want her to have to come tonight uh just for a few minutes. So, she is hopefully watching online. Ununice, happy 104th birthday.

Thank you, Brad. And absolutely happy birthday, Ununice. All right, moving along. Uh, council committee reports. John, finance committee.

Uh, yes. Um, couple things to talk about. Obviously, tonight we're presenting our, uh, first reading of our budget for 2026. Um, budget finance committee has been meeting. Uh, we've had three separate meetings. The first one was with Mike Broer, our financial consultant that had a meeting with him. We had a meeting uh after that with all with a number of the department heads, talked about their needs for the coming year. And last week, we had a final u budget finance meeting regarding the budget as well and a couple other items. Um in addition, just want to recognize uh Lisa and her team. four of us, our CPA firm, did an independent audit and for and this is every year since we've had an audit, we've had an unqualified opinion on our financial statement as a whole, which is a a fabulous achievement um and something we should be really proud of. So, congratulations, Lisa, and to your team.

Thank you, John. Moving along, the health department report is online should anyone care to view that. And we'll move on to the consent agenda. I am look for a motion. Approved. Motion by John. Second. Second by Tiffany. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Okay, moving along. Going to the regular agenda. Well, bill's online, but it's just a consent agenda, so I didn't have to do a roll call vote on that one, I believe. So, I think I remember my proper protocol. So, item number eight. Thank you, Lisa Bradford.

Yep. Lisa Bradford, city controller. The item before you is an additional appropriation for our continuing education fund. The continuing education fund is supported via funds received from different violations. And so this is a restricted fund that can only be used for certain types of purchases. This will go to the police department for supplies that are needed for them to do their job. Happy to answer any questions. This does require a public hearing. Any questions for Lisa? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak in this item, please step forward, state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes on which to speak.

Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion. Motion by Selena. Okay. Second by Tiffany. All those in favor? Oh, we got to do a roll call vote on this one, Jen. Because is Bill online? Bill is online according to Tracy. So, roll call vote. Peterson. Yes. Yes. John Wayne. Hi. Cecilia Cobalt. Hi. Brad Dramer. I Selena Stler. I Todd Zimmerman. Hi. Tiffany Diplon. I. The motion passes. Well, we got to get Bill in there, didn't we? Oh, Bill Stewart.

Bill. It passed. We can move on. Yeah, we'll get to your bill hopefully in a second. So, uh, item number nine then still Lisa.

Yeah. Um, for the record, Lisa Bradford, city controller. The item before you is related to the permanent financing of a bond anticipation note for state road 37. So the this is a financing it's a lease structure. So this resolution approves the Fiser Redevelopment Commission entering into a lease with the Fischer Redevelopment Authority. I know as we've talked about before this is simply a financing mechanism related to how we are issuing the debts. These are property tax back bonds. This is contemplated in the fiscal plan and has been contemplated in all the fiscal plans that you've seen previously and to date. Um, this will, as I mentioned, finance, permanently finance the portion of the intersection that was the 131st and 135th interchange along with some potential other projects that are listed in the project description. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Lisa? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion by John, second by Todd. Roll call vote. Jen. Peterson. Yes. John Deluchia. Yes. John Weingart. Hi. Cecilia Kovville. Hi. Brad Ramer. Hi. Selena Stler. Hi. Todd Zimmerman. Hi. Tiffany Diplon. I Bill Stewart. Bill. Still having technical difficulties. So that passes as well. Moving on to item 10, Lisa. All right. Happy to turn it over to Mayor Fadness to Mayor Fadness. Yeah. Talk about the 2026 budget.

Mayor,

good evening. Council President Peterson, council members. Uh John stole my thunder here a little bit because I would have said the exact same thing he did, which is thank you to Lisa uh and Elliot who have shephered the budget process through the last several months. And honestly, big shout out to our department heads who have always rallied to whatever expectations we have when it comes to meeting our financial marks. And uh this budget honestly was a really smooth process and and John as chair of the finance committee, thank you for your efforts and all the members of the finance committee. Sometimes these can be tedious conversations, but uh after 18 years of submitting budgets to all of you, I feel very confident that we've done a good job of putting Fisers in a sound financial position while not unduly burdening our taxpayers. So tonight will be a brief summary of that budget. Uh and then I will be happy to have the public hearing, answer any questions that you uh may have as a council, and then hopefully we move on to final approval in October for for those of you that um are not familiar with the budget process. This starts in earnest many months before tonight. Uh really start in the spring honestly. We start sitting down with department heads refining our uh kind of revenue forecasts. Obviously, this was a little bit of a different year with Senate Bill One uh and some other legislative items that we were dealing with at the legislature. So, we had to truly understand what was coming out of the state legislature before we could give guidance to our count uh to our department heads. But, they responded quickly and here we are today. So, here again is just a list of all the activities that have led up to date, including a postcard that went out to every resident letting them know uh that this budget hearing was coming up so that we can engage our residents and make sure that no one could say they weren't aware of the fiscal condition of their city. Um, brief overview of what we were able to accomplish in 2025. It was a very, very busy year. Um, I'm not going to go through each one of these, but I think there's some really marquee programs that you all have supported and developed over the years that continue

to pay dividends in our community, such as the neighborhood matching grant, $400,000, overs subscribed yet again this year. So, we had more people asking for that as neighborhoods to invest in themselves and we had funding, but we went through that 400,000. We continue to invest in our teachers. I don't know that you would find too many other cities in the state of Indiana today that are committing public dollars from city coffers to pour back into our schools because we believe in our teachers and their innovation and we want to continue to drive that forward. Uh but those grants are uh ongoing. I'll tell you a quick snippet. Um and Jordan Alexander, our chief of staff, handles this program along with a group of uh retired teachers. We invested in virtual reality goggles uh for um uh English as a second language students. And if you haven't been in one of those classrooms, it's really truly extraordinary to walk in and see a teacher trying to educate 14 kids that speak seven different languages. Some of them don't even speak English. And I don't know if you watched uh this year with any interest, but uh the academic achievement of our kids that are English as a second language learners is through the charts. Now, we're not taking credit for that by any means, but the fact that you all were willing to come alongside those educators and give them the tools they needed to go do those things is leading to real meaningful accomplishments in our schools. And you all have been of the belief and I am as well that where the schools go, the city goes and vice versa. And so that partnership has never been um stronger including with our exper experiential learning, you know, whether it's at the Edgar Park, Connor Prairie, uh Richie Woods. Um under quality of life, uh I'm really proud to say there were three big projects and all many of you, if not all of you, can remember a strategic planning meeting over at Connor Prairie many, many years ago at a retreat where we said we're going to do three big things and we're not going to raise property taxes to do it. One, we're going to build a new city hall because it was literally falling into the ground. Two, we're going to build a community center. And three, we're going to build an event center.

You know, by the way, we're going to deliver that to our community under a financial model that does not increase property tax rates. Well, tonight we sit here weeks away from opening a beautiful community center. You're standing in your new city hall and the event center has just finished up its first fiscal year and we did not raise property taxes to accomplish any one of those. So, promises made and promises kept. Well done, city council, and to the team that executed on it. Congratulations. Moving on to operational excellence. We brought on board three new school resource officers. Chief Gart and his team pioneered a new effort to bring retired police officers uh to our department to provide services to our schools at a reduced cost to both the schools and the city. And we're continuing to build out our school resource program. And we were having overwhelming success and interest by really really great candidates that want to finish out their career a different way being around kids and giving back to kids. And that program has been extraordinary and we continue to see that grow and you'll hear more about that here in a second. Fun things like the completion of a barn and working restrooms at the park for the every uh second grade kid that goes to the park is grateful for the fact that we now have uh running water and bathrooms. And uh I probably the number one thing that I've received compliments on and I'm sure you have as well. Last year we endeavored to create an entire citywide landscaping program and I can't tell you how many residents stop me and tell me how much they appreciate the way aesthetically our community looks. So a busy busy 25 uh for the city of Fisers and as you can see all that was done with the lowest municipal tax rate in Hamilton County, a triple A plus bond rating, strong uh general fund cash reserves and Yet again, something near and dear to my heart, the 18th straight distinguished budget presentation award. I started that when I was an intern. That's how long I've been uh around this organization. And Lisa and her team has continued on that tradition. And 36 straight uh certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting.

Just shows you not only what we're doing, but how we're doing and upholding the most and highest professional standards. One thing we want to level set with everyone tonight is that the 2025 total tax rate is not just the city of Fischer's tax rate. A lot of times people will get their tax bill and they'll look at the tax rate and say what this all must go to the city of Fisers. This is not to point fingers but to educate. But the total tax rate is made up of a variety of different governmental entities when it comes to property taxes. In our tax rate, whether you're Delaware or Fall Creek Township, it varies slightly, but our tax rate is 70.65 of $2.19 or $2.155. So it's important to keep that in mind as you think about what portion of the overall tax burden is actually because of the decisions that we make here at city hall. Um it's also important to know the trajectory of our property tax rate over the years. You all have been very fiscally sensitive to what our municipal tax rate has been and we've tried to manage to that tax rate. So, uh in all honesty, you would have to go back to 2019 to find a tax rate lower than what your tax rate is today. So, all these investments in our community, all the inflation that we've seen, your tax rate has continued to reduce or get to the level of 5 to seven uh years ago. Um, where that puts you in Hamilton County is you are still the lowest municipal tax rate. Again, going back to that pie chart, what we can control from the podium here and the table that you sit at, Fischer's municipal tax rate is just under 71 cents. And you can see where the other communities in Hamilton County uh also align. And I would tell you that most of Hamilton County's communities are well-managed and are fiscally conservative. So when you go beyond that and you look at our other peers across the state, that gap only gets more

significant uh as we move forward. So that's the context for which we are today. As we look forward to 2026, some themes arrive in our 2026 budget highlights. Um, we're going to try to maintain the current tax rate. There was, as always, what happens in these budget times, there was a lastm minute change uh by the Hamilton County that we're still trying to to figure out when it comes to net assessed values. There was some adjustments being made literally in the last uh 48 hours. So, we're we're trying to understand that, but we we still think we can get close to a flat to no tax rate increase. Um, and what can we get with our investments here in the city? We're going to add an additional three firefighters uh to our fire department as we build up for additional capabilities within the fire department. We're also going to be adding to those school resource officers. Um we in full transparency are not certain that the schools given uh the impacts of Senate Bill one will have the ability to fund these additional uh school safety officers. If you remember our deal right now is we pay 50%, the schools pay 50%. But the chief and I both believe strongly that um this program is important and if we're in a financial position to continue to grow that and take on 100% of the burden, then we should do that for the time being. And when the schools have the financial means to to be a partner in that, then I have every confidence they will they will come alongside us. Uh when it comes to uh neighborhoods, we're going to continue to invest at 400,000. For years, our neighborhood matching grant was at 100,000. We went to that large number, 750,000, then we went down to 400. We want to stay at 400,000. We think that's an appropriate number. We're going to continue to invest in the teacher innovation grants. And we also have a $10,000 ADA uh matching grant that we're excited about, Cecilia, to to roll out as a pilot uh program. We're going to be making some significant investments in our parks.

It's been a long time since we've done any significant investments in the current existing park infrastructure that we have. We're not talking about building new parks. We're talking about going back into the parks that we currently have and upgrading a lot of those facilities. And so, we have some money uh set aside for that. And then, as always, a pretty significant road construction schedule ahead uh while also focusing on repairing and improving our sidewalk infrastructure. Overview of the budget. Quite simply, a total budget of $23,680,000. uh our operating and capital budget. So the amount of money that we're spending on both operations and one-time expenditures is roughly 162 million. I think what's very very important for you to see here is our cash reserves in all funds, this isn't just the general fund, but in all funds is nearing um 67 uh million. And we can talk a little bit more about kind of the shifting sands of our financial reality here in a moment. Um, from an overview, this gives you an idea of where our cash reserves have been. Any general fund cash reserves, that's the largest bucket of money that we have. You can see we had quite a buildup into 2024. A resident may ask, well, why are you building up all of that cash? If you recall, that was a relationship with Carmel that we had where we had that one-time money came over and that was not something we were going to spend on operations. We have now spent some of that money down between 24 and 25. That's what got us our landscaping projects, record investment in sidewalks, and a variety of other uh investments. And so now you've seen that cash come back down to a more reasonable number. And we're going to continue to monitor that and work with our finance committee on what is our strategy and what is the appropriate amount of financial reserves uh as the city moves forward. Um just to give you an idea of where the money is being spent in that general fund. Um you know debt service 16% and that's an important change that we have legislation passed last year now brings

our debt into the general fund. I am not going to bore everyone with the details here tonight, but and we've covered this a number of times, but moving the debt into our general fund was actually a very positive step forward for us to receive more of the income tax back that should have been coming to the city of Fisers for a number of years. So that's why you're now seeing this in that general fund bucket where you otherwise wouldn't. Personnel represents 55%. You can see the others as well. How are we able to keep tax rates low while investing in a growing city? Um, one of the things that we pride ourselves on here is that we do run lean. We try to be as efficient as possible and this is a testament to that. Um, total employees uh, per 100,000 or as a percentage of the population. You can see here that we rank the lowest and that allows us to invest back in amenities and reinvesting in our community while also uh, taking care of the people that we currently do have. We are competitive in our salaries and benefits. We're able to recruit really top talent into this organization. We are always keeping an eye out for what we need to add additional people, but we don't do that lightly. And as we add people, we it is really about what do we need to deliver back to our residents. Not what makes life easier for our organization, but what makes life better for our community. That's the matrix for which we look at. And I think after 20 years of doing this, that is the result you have where we run very very efficiently. So, just to recap on the public safety, what we're proposing here tonight, three additional new firefighters, two additional school safety officers, a continued investment in resource, over 1.8 million of the total $3.3 million fleet loan uh or fleet cost is associated with fire and police. This is something that we have to continue to watch. Uh a fire a ladder truck used to cost a million dollars. Now it cost $2 million. I mean, the the the costs associated with our fleet seem no end in sight. And not only does it cost $2

million, it takes three years to get one. Um, so this is something that we're going to have to continue to monitor, and our fleet director does a wonderful job of trying to make it as efficient and effective as possible, but it's something we're going to have to continue to work on. We're adding an additional $100,000 into our fire department's training budget to ensure that they have what they need to continue to keep their skills sharp and push the envelope, especially as the physical environment in Fisers continues to change. They have to be able to respond to any variety of calls in a different environment than maybe what they're used to. And so, we want to make sure that we have the ability to do that. Quality of life. Uh, I do have to say one of the funniest things that's happened uh to date for me that I just never thought would occur, that picture there on the 96th Street Trail, that's the bridge that we're going to have, the pedestrian bridge over 96th Street. I cannot tell you the number of people that have asked me um or really commented on how difficult it will be to run over the bump. So, for whatever reason, people believe they're going to have to run up the the round piece. uh it's not what you're going to do, but uh again, we're making significant investments in quality of life. These youth athletic infrastructure improvements will be uh second to none. Uh Edgar Park uh store will open up. Edgar Park West will continue to develop. Nickel Plate Trail Bridge will be completed. Um we'll have the first full year of the community center up and under operations in 2026. And we feel very confident that we're going to hit our financial benchmarks there as well. and we'll have our first full year of the White River Park being open. Uh those were those goggles I was telling you about evidently. Um so the not forprofits, this is we're doing this a little bit different this year. Uh last year the council decided to delegate to me kind of a recommendation for how the city would go about uh parsing out the um the nonprofit dollars

that we all lot. Uh and so tonight I'm proposing to you that $165,000 goes to the Youth initiative, which keep in mind that's a merger of YMI and YAP. Uh Connor Prey would receive $75,000. And Cherish Center, which does all of our um investigations for um sexual assaults primarily in youth, uh they would be uh receiving $35,000 of grant funding. We talked earlier about the neighborhood vibrancy grant of 400,000, education innovation grants of 50,000, and our ADA matching grant for 10,000. infrastructure investments. Uh I'm not going to run through this list because it might depress you the amount of road construction that will be occurring uh next year, but it is going to be a very very big year. 131st and Brooks School Road will receive a roundabout in anticipation of the new target being built. Um as you can see, there's a number of other roundabouts uh occurring as well. and we're still going to have kind of our marquee two uh road servicing packages that will be funded at the same level that we've been aggressively funding over the last few years to repave those streets and neighborhoods. I'm certain there are probably people here tonight and there are people that I talk to all the time that advocate for their roads to see uh resurfacing. It's something that we're methodically trying to accomplish at the rate that everyone uh can live with and that's something we're just going to stay on top uh as we move forward. uh trails and greenways. We're exploring a new east west corridor and in 2025 we had we plan on completing knock on wood 100 or state road 37 and 141st street which will complete the entire state road 37 uh corridor for the city of fisers as well as the nickel plate trail bridge over 96 street. In closing, um there's a lot of talk out there in the state of Indiana today about a lot of communities in very dire shape and a lot of controversy and a lot of conflict over how they're going to deal with the realities of the legislation. Um you should feel

confident and reassured that the city of Fisers is in very sound fiscal shape. Um we're able to meet our community's needs. uh we're able to push forward and continuing to really truly create a desirable community today, tomorrow, and well into the future. And that is in no small part thanks to your stewardship over the last decade or more. And uh thanks to all the men and women who call the city of Fisers their place of employment. Uh with that, council president, I would be happy to entertain any questions from the city council or to open it up for a public hearing.

Any questions for the mayor? Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Anyone wish to speak on this topic, please come forward, state your name and address of record. You give them three minutes in which to speak on this topic. Mr. Colby, good evening. Michael Colby, 7105 Cold Lake Drive. Uh, Mayor, have you uh taken into account the change in the formula that was announced out of the sister's office today on homes over $600,000 going from 40% to 37 and a half. What impact will that have on the budget?

Yeah. Uh yeah, thanks Mike for bringing that up. Yeah, as referenced uh earlier, that's the last minute kind of nuance that we're working through right now. Uh we don't have the exact numbers associated with our city, but um we feel confident that we'll be able to manage that. Sorry. and and secondly, I don't know if it's appropriate for the budget hearing, but I know 96th Street and Allville Roundabout is a a problem for most citizens. Are you going to be addressing any of that and what impact will that have on the budget, if any?

Yeah, we continue to study 96 in Allisonville and also monitor the amount of traffic coming off a clear path. Uh so the amount of volume that's going through that roundabout today because of the detours that come from the construction on 465 is significant. Uh so we're watching to see as that dissipates does the number of accidents that occur on 96 in Allisonville also decline. Uh, so I don't think you're going to see any significant changes to 96 in Allisonville from a from a form and function standpoint until we can understand what's the true amount of volume that'll be going through that road post clear path which hopefully will be in the next 12 to 24 months. Thank you. Thanks, Michael.

Anyone else? Amy Perry, 106 Chippenham Lane in Fisers. Good evening, council members and council president Peterson, and thank you for letting me speak. First, congratulations on the fiscal responsibility that Fisers has under Mayor Fadnas' leadership. When I spoke to you in January, you kindly informed me that there was $20,000 in the 2025 budget for removing invasive plants in Fischer Parks. This is good because the longer we wait, the more it costs. As you can see from the handout, removing one acre of medium density honeysuckle or other woody plant costs $1750, almost twice as much as removing one acre of low density woody plant. And removing just one acre of high density honeysuckle costs $3750, more than twice as much as the 1750. Richie Woods, which is my passion, Richie Woods Nature Preserve is around 40 to 42 acres. So, if it happened to have high density, that would be $140,000. But fortunately, it's not there yet. And there is hope for preventing that danger. Now, Fiser's DPW and Stantech, the private firm, are doing a great job with the funds that they have. I'd like to request that you increase significantly the amount in the 2026 budget. For a

comparison, Westfield's 2025 budget for tree preservation and planting and invasive removal, I'll grant that in 2024 and 25 is $75,000. Many Fiser parks in addition to Richie Woods need the attention of Stantech to remove these harmful plants. When you vote to increase the budget for invasive removal, which is probably DPW, and let the native plants return and prosper, monarch butterflies will thank you. Hummingbirds, other birds, hikers, birders, first graders in the nature first program. And everyone who visits the parks will thank you. And I will be happy to thank you. And another thank you is deserved by Juan Poente and Marissa Deckert because they have repaired the step that is the entrance to the cabin at Richie Woods. Thank you. You

may just want to say thanks for your time tonight. I really appreciate that. The uh that program is being renewed from 25 and 26, but I'll work with our public works and parks and recck team to see uh if we might want to increase that budget a little bit. We are carrying over that program to next year as well. Thank you. Anyone else?

Hello, I'm Ross Reinhardt, 7704 Creekide Court. Um, and first of all, I appreciate all the hard work that's gone into this year's budget and making it accessible. I I really appreciated the online meetings that you can uh view and the documentation made it easy for me to follow along and stay informed. Um, I'm also thrilled to see uh that trail connect connectivity remains a top priority. I'm excited about the bridge across 96th Street investments in our schools. It's really cool to see our tax dollars at work and to celebrate that in this process. Um, one emission that I noticed that I don't think Fisers can afford um is we don't have any provisions for as we grow for public transit. Um, and as Fisers continues to grow, we're reaching the the borders the the land that we can build onto. So, we're going to have to be more efficient about building into the land we already have. Um, and in order to do that, we're going to need to have an efficient transportation methods um that aren't really land intensive. So, we can back fill into things like parking lots and spaces that were otherwise taken up um by cars previously. Um, and I don't think fishers can afford to to not uh look into this investment because um as we grow um we're going to continue to need to welcome new neighbors and if we don't um address that then housing prices are going to go up as this supply is constrained. um and we're going to miss out on potential tax baits uh increases especially in light of the changes to the formula. Um you know it's going to be beneficial for us to welcome those new neighbors. Um it also helps us build on investments we've already made. So we've made investments in uh biking and walking infrastructure and public transit serves to extend the range that you can go um in any of those modes. Um and for it's I think it's important to note too that for somewhere maybe around a third of the community these aren't uh additional options but they would be their own transportation only transportation options um if they can't drive a car. Um so it's important to you

know give them mobility through our community as well. Um it also helps us uh get more for our dollar out of our infrastructure investments. you know, for every um foot of pipe laid in the ground that we have to maintain, uh if we can get more out of the the land that it's servicing um through this more efficient land use facilitated by the efficient transportation means um the more return we get on that investment. Um I think it goes well with how we've invested in mixeduse nodes across the community as well. It gives us natural places that we can connect with the the public transit. Um, so I think it's important for us to to continue um to or to uh consider this as an investment we need to make in order to allow fishers to continue to grow. Um, I don't think that we can afford not to consider. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Okay. I saw you make a move. I didn't know if you're coming up to the podium or not. If uh no one else wants to make any public comment, I'll close the public hearing and I'll entertain a first reading. First reading. Thank you, John. Moving on to item number 11. Elliot.

Good evening, council president, council. For the record, Elliot Hulkran, deputy mayor. Pinch hitting tonight for our human resources director, Ethan Lee. Uh here to present the first reading of the city's 2026 salary ordinance. This is in alignment with everything the mayor just presented in the 2026 budget. So, subject to your approval, uh the changes are due to a new and updated job functions, industry market standards, and annual annual wage increases. Specifically, the proposed 26 salary ordinance reflects the following changes. In economic and community development, uh adding a new position title of zoning administrator. In public works, adding a new position title of operations manager. in police and fire, increasing the clothing allowance by 4% to a max of $1,350 and increasing longevity pay to a max of $8,000 after 25 years of service. Uh specialty pays, uh adding bilingual specialty pay for the fire department to match that of police and adding a fire marshal incentive pay as well. And finally, a 3% increase to the maximum bi-weekly salary amounts for all position titles, including elected officials. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Elliot? One thing, Council Peterson, that I didn't mention that I can't believe I w I overlooked, um, health insurance for 2026, the cost associated with health insurance in the city of Fischers, and no small part to Elliot's work on this deal, um, again, will not increase to the city of Fisers, our cost. So, we're now at year six of no increase in healthc care cost for providing health benefits to our employees. And I don't it's hard to articulate to people how big of a deal that is in terms of saving dollars. Um but um it's it's an extraordinary situation that we have and um grateful for the work that Elliot and his team did negotiating that deal with community health, but also grateful for our employees coming along with us to uh kind of a leap of faith and going to this direct employer or direct provider contract. Um but that's six years without a single increase in healthcare costs and two of those years I believe Elliot they went down

decreases correct if I can chime in on that my professional life is in this realm and we deliver consistently we have to make hard conversations with clients of 15 to 30% increases annually. So people don't realize that and that's the industry right now and so it's incredible to get a flat for six years just so everybody imagine the compounding of that if you did 15% at minimum for six years what that looks like

follow up with as a past mayor I would like to compliment our mayor you've done a fantastic job of that I fought it for four years and it was always the biggest item with the biggest increase that Todd's talking about. And mayor, you've done a great job with that. The savings to the citizens of Fisers uh and the benefit to the employees. I'm very impressed and I wished I'd known that when I was mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. These are the things that don't end up on Fisers uncensor actual actual things that are saving people dollars. But yeah, go ahead. Any any questions for Elliot? If not, I'll entertain a first reading. John gives it a first reading. Thank you, John. Elliot.

Yep. Moving on to I guess sir, we've removed items 12 and 13. So, we'll go down to planning and zoning. So, I assume I'm going to see Ross. There he is. Item 14, Ross. We got my favorite lovely annexation, voluntary annexation stuff. That is correct. Uh, for the record, Ross Hillary, meaning economic development. The keyboard. Um so one correction um item 15 was removed but item 12 13 and 14 remain on the agenda. So say that again.

Um item 12, 13 and 14 should be on the agenda but item 15 was withdrawn. Yeah, ours 12 and 13 are economic development. You start at 14 and 15. So you're saying 15 is gone. Disregard the numbers on the screen. Whatever. Okay, there we go. You can't have 14. Okay. You can't give me playbook and then do give me a different playbook. People, my apologies. Uh resolution 091525E is the Collinswood Lane annexation. Uh resolution. This is a fiscal plan. Uh some background. This is a voluntary annexation for new construction. Uh you guys saw this in August. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Ross? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Motion by Selena. Second. Second by Tiffany. Uh, all those in favor, roll call vote, please.

Yes. John Deluchia. Hi. John Weingart. Hi. Cecilia Kovville. Hi. Brad Dramer. Hi, Selena Stler. Hi, Todd Zimmerman. Hi, Tiffany Disson. I Bill Stewart. I Wow, he's there. Boy, Bill, motion passes. Found him. Welcome to the meeting, Bill. Thank you, Jen. Well, I was I could hear you the whole time. Good to know, Bill. Glad you're there. And I Yes, on the two previous votes.

I appreciate that, too, Bill. Although it didn't matter, but we'll still take them. All right, so item 14 has passed. Is item 15 still on the agenda, Ross? Yes. Okay. So, item 15 on my agenda, now your agenda. We're going to go to next. Uh, this is a request to approve voluntary annexation of the fiscal plan that you just heard 081825A. Um, same location. You saw this in August. Happy to answer. Any questions or I'll entertain a motion. Motion by John. Second. Second by John Deluchia. All those in favor? Roll call. Jenny, please. Pete Peterson? Yes. John Deluchia? Yes. John Wangart. Hi Cecilia Kovville. Hi Brad Dramer. Hi Selena Stler.

Hi Todd Zimmerman. Hi Tiffany Deton. I Bill Stewart. Hi. Motion passes. Thank you. Moving on to May real quick. You mentioned last time something um that area that neighbor is just right by where I live and how was any encouragement to get all those other neighbors to annex in or we've had any discussions or anything like that? Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Um, so this is the only lot that's has new construction. Um, if we did have some sort of sewer project, then we would probably communicate that with those homeowners. Correct. That is correct. So, um, it is likely that we would see them in the future. But as of right now, there was no additional annexations. Okay. Item 16, Ross.

Uh, yes. This is a new item for you. Uh, the Hidden Oaks annexation 091525B. Uh this is a request for around nine and a half acres off of Southeastern Parkway. This is a voluntary annexation for four new estate residential lots. Uh this is the first reading. Uh we anticipate this coming back in October for fiscal plan and final reading. This does require a public hearing. Happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Ross? If not, I'll open a public hearing. Anyone wish to speak? Please step forward to the mic. Name and address of record. You've be given three minutes in which to speak on this item. Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion. Motion by Todd,

second by Tiffany. Roll call vote, please, John. Oh, no. This is only a first reading. So, I just needed a first reading. My bad. First reading. Yep. First reading was by Todd. Okay. Going on to item 17. Oh, that's withdrawn. So, we don't have that. So, now we're on to any unfinished or new business. Nope. Okay. I'll open the floor for community comment. Please come up and state your name and address for the record. You give him three minutes in which to speak. Going to get double duty from Michael tonight.

Good evening. Michael Col5 Cold Lake Drive. I'm here to talk about private roads. I know there has been some changes in what's going to happen 116th houseville that is roundabout is going away. It's going to be intersection improvement and I know there's been some talk about when it was going to be a roundabout closing 116 and Allisonville requiring some sort of a detour. I talked earlier before the meeting with the engineer director. He said they don't anticipate closing that. So, I'm just wondering what other contingencies are going to be made for traffic that may want to go ahead and go through River Glenn, River Ridge, and will there still be a detour?

And you'll still get my road. You hear that, don't you guys? I heard it, Mike. On the record, we'll still get the roads. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Anyone else wishing to make a public comment? I'll get double duty in a couple. Okay. The most out of my writing.

Well, I'm Ross Rehard 7704 Creek Side Court. Um, and this is short. I just uh wanted to touch on the intersection at Allisonville 116th as well and just say I'm really excited to see um that we're not doing the roundabout. I think it's a win for the pedestrian connectivity in that area. Um, as going through the roundabout that size are dice best. Um and so I would encourage us as we move forward with the improvements that we also consider um that pedestrian and bike experience through there. There's lots of little things we can do um as we work with the intersection. Uh for example, the uh corners, you can do protected corners and bumpouts. Right now, if you're standing at the corner when you cross, you have to like watch so that you don't get your toes run over because you're pretty much standing right in the edge of the road. Um so having those bumpouts is a great win for uh making that more protected. Um and then things like Even small things like leading pedestrian intervals allow uh the pedestrian sign to change just before the traffic signals um which increases the pedestrian's visibility as they go out to the crosswalk because often what'll happen is they both change at the same time and you'll start walking and somebody will turn right into you at that point. Um so little things like this I would encourage us to to look for now that we have this great opportunity to um really improve the pedestrian connectivity through that intersection. um you know, especially because you've got, you know, Riverside School on the other side and those neighborhoods that want to come this way. Um it's just a really key area that people want to get through. Um and this is a really great opportunity for us to to improve that, make it a better experience without having to spend a lot of money since we'll be working on the intersection anyway. So, yeah. Thanks.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Uh, Casey Crosby, 6611 Manchester Drive. Uh, first off, actually, I wasn't planning on doing this, but I actually want to ask everybody here to give a round of applause to Mayor Fadness for this awesome budget that he proposed to us. Everything was awesome about it. And so, can we all please Thank you.

I feel like there's a there's a butt coming here. Yeah, you had me at Agra Park West.

But honestly, I'm not You're super fiscally responsible. I'm proud to live in the city. I really am very happy that that we have people like yourself leading the city. So, thank you. Anyways, I've wasted one of my minutes here. So, sorry. Uh let me get to what I wanted to talk about real quick here. I uh put together um this fact and fiction and I'm not going to call out anybody by name, but I do want to c bring up some attention to things that are not settling well with me and several of my neighbors that I've talked to. Um first of all, fact is that Fisers did not test for lead. Uh Fisers used ANL Great Lakes Laboratory. That's what was that's the fiction and the results were 27 parts per million. The fact is Fischers has not followed proper and legal zoning ordinances for the Agra Park on airport property. Fiction is the city can put an agra park on property zone metropolitan airport. The fact is the city has discounted safety and threats to aviation and citizens. Fiction is the city has done due diligence in making sure no harm can be done and that FA approves of the use of the property that can attract wildlife. I know again I'm very proud of living in a city. I've lived here for over 15 years and I also love the say the saying of Fish are smart and I've used this before but I decided to come up with a different version of smart. This is a smart that's addressed to you the council Mr. President and the rest of you but also to the staff. The council and the staff need to be smart. Not specific, not measurable, all those other terms that are used for smart in business, but safe, moral, accountable, respectful, and transparent. I think we're doing a great job with transparency as far as the city budget. So, I again commend everyone there on the city staff and the mayor. But there's several things here that I have

very much concerns about. I have concerns about how when I produce information out to the public forum that people are basically going after people like myself and saying that we're making up stuff. That's not okay. And this is being done by city council people. So that's all I wanted to mention to you guys. I hope you will reconsider this despite the budget, despite the mayor's insistence on going forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Oh yeah, public comment.

You're three minutes. Uh Becky McNichols, 11146 Stratford Drive, same neighborhood. And us and many of our people living in our neighborhood are really looking forward to that Agra Park and the planning that's going on. And they have included very many people within the neighborhood to be a part of that. And we're looking also forward to being able to access the 106 and that whole area which has been great for Southwest Fishers. So I applaud that that's happening. the lead. My concern is if there's lead in that area, there's lead on my house and lead in my yard. So, I wouldn't mind knowing if there is a lead issue, but I'm thinking that Mayor Fadnus is not going to do anything for any citizens at this city.

Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate this. Again, for the record, uh, Council President, we did have ANL Great Lakes Laboratories conduct the lead testing for our soils. They're a company out of Fort Wayne that does this for a living. I trust their experience over me going out there and trying to figure it out myself. 6 parts per million is by Environmental Protection Agency safe for all farming. Very good. Thank you, Elliot. Anyone else for public comment? Going once, going twice. Three kinds of charm. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn.