In the span of four years, Scott Fadness went from working as the Fishers deputy town manger of operations to possible mayoral candidate.
An announcement came Aug. 25 that the town manager was forming an exploratory committee on a run to be the first mayor of Fishers.
When Current inquired about him running amidst chatter about his intentions early last month he declined to comment.
“It truly is a change of heart,” Fadness said.
He said originally this wasn’t the direction he and his wife, Aunna, wanted to go, but after considering the love of the community and its potential, a mayoral run was at least worth consideration.
He said the decision process was a discussion that took place over the last six to eight months.
Changes for Fadness are on the horizon as the race looms. Some have occurred already.
Fadness is not returning to his post as an adjunct professor at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of public and environmental affairs this fall. In addition Fadness resigned from a professional organization of which he was a voluntary member, the International City/County Management Association and its Indiana subchapter, based on Code of Ethics tenets that prohibit political involvement if a city manager is to stay credentialed.
“When I discussed it with them, I told them that I am 100 percent committed to this community,” he said. “The community decided to change forms of government and that I was looking to take this career path. We both came to an agreement that I could no longer be part of that organization and continue on this path that I want to go down.”
From here, Fadness said he is taking three to four weeks to make the rounds in the public sphere, asking questions along the way.
Greg Purvis has been involved with the transition from town to city for quite some time. He was an active member of City Yes, the political action committee that pushed for Fishers to make a move toward second-class city status, during last year’s referenda races.
Though he wasn’t speaking for the group that won last November, he said he was surprised that Fadness was making a move for “a different kind of animal.”
He said he didn’t think that Fadness was an “overly political person,” but believes he is a competent town manager.
Fadness is focusing on three areas in his push for mayor.
He said he wants Fishers to be the community where entrepreneurs come to flourish and explore ideas, “continue to push the envelope and apply new technologies” in terms of delivery of core services with efficiency and effectiveness in mind, and developing Fishers’ identity and sense of place.
Purvis said the biggest challenge mayoral candidates will have is economic development and expanding the tax base by adding more businesses to the town.
He said he hoped Fishers would have a mayor that would spend time bringing in economic development that isn’t retail or strip malls.
He said he hasn’t seen evidence in Fadness’s ability to make that happen.
“I wouldn’t say he couldn’t do it,” he said, “but I haven’t seen much evidence of it so far.”
Fadness said he “can stand on” what he has done, citing Launch Fishers, First Internet Bank locating in town, recent development at Crosspoint office park, and his future plans.
“I think that I have the experience in regard to actually running the day to day operations of this organization,” he said. “Along with that, our first mayor has got to set a clear vision and a clear course for where this community is going to be, but not where this community is going to be tomorrow or a week from now, but where are we going to be 10 and 15 years from now. That’s been lacking in our community for a while, and that’s what we need to develop.”