Commentary by Larry Lannan
It is difficult to fathom just how much change is coming to Fishers government. Things had not changed much when I began covering town council meetings in January, 2012.
At midnight on December 31, 2014, the Town of Fishers will go out of business. As of January 1, 2015, Fishers will emerge as a second-class city. That is a very big change.
As a town, as long as four of the seven members of the council agreed, the decision was made. Now, the city council will make decisions on issues such as overall budgets, ordinances and zoning issues. The mayor will be the chief executive and will run the city on a day-to-day basis.
State law created just one-year terms for the city officials elected in 2014, for the transition from a town to a city. They will all serve during calendar year 2015. In 2015, all Fishers city offices will once again be up for election, this time for the normal term of four years.
That creates the unusual situation of newly elected office holders needing to run for reelection. They will be settling into their new jobs as the filing deadline looms to run for office in early 2015. The primary election will be held on May 5, 2015, a little more than five months after the new city officials have taken office.
It will take some time for the new city council to organize itself. It will take some time for new mayor Scott Fadness to make his mark as the first mayor of Fishers.
In some ways there will be much change, but in other ways citizens of Fishers may not notice much difference. The same police officers and firefighters will be on duty. The same crews will be working on local streets and clearing the roads in winter storms.
The elected officials at the very top may be moving around a bit, but the people doing the day-to-day work for Fishers government will not be changing on January 1.
That’s the good news. Most of you will notice no change at all in how you relate to your municipal government.
Allow me to wish each and every one of you a blessed Christmas season and a happy New Year. We have seen a busy 2014 in Fishers. The new year is bound to be an eventful one for the new city of Fishers.
