It wasn’t a surprise that Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness won his third full term on Nov. 7. After all, he was unopposed in the general election. For the third time.
This year, Fadness didn’t have an opponent in the May primary election, either. Athough he wasn’t ready to call his lack of opposition a “mandate,” Fadness said he likes to think it means people appreciate what he’s done so far.
“I think you would find in the history of my administration. I’m not a lightning rod on cultural issues, which obviously our community has seen a whole lot of that,” he said during an interview in his office at the First Internet Bank in downtown Fishers. “I’ve always been a person that — I talked about this a lot with my public safety team and others — our job is to protect everybody. Our job is to serve everybody. Our job is to create a community where everyone would want to live. And that’s where we stay focused.”
Although a Republican, Fadness said the far left and far right don’t know what to make of him because he generally stays away from divisive politics.
“I’m kind of a guy that stands in the middle and says, ‘That’s not what our focus is going to be,’” he said. “I think sometimes that provides me shelter, honestly, because both sides tend to get upset with me, but the average resident in Fishers, I firmly believe, to my core, they work really hard, they care about their families … they want you to be a person that they can admire from an ethical perspective. And as long as you do that, most residents, I think, will support you or allow you the opportunity to continue to serve in that capacity.”
Some of Fadness’ initiatives that fall into the “serve” category belie what some consider mainstream Republican ideology. He oversaw the creation of the city’s new health department, for example; and Fishers has programs that recognize and celebrate diversity.
“I think they’re Republican (initiatives) in the way that I view being a Republican,” he said. “That may not be the case for certain mainframes of the Republican Party today. And I think that’s kind of the battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. I am a person that believes in limited government, I do believe that there’s a lot of personal responsibility that people have to take. And I believe I can create an environment where people have the best opportunity to reach their potential, but it’s all ultimately up to the individual to reach their potential. That’s why I call myself a Republican.”
Fadness said he created the health department because he thought the city could deliver a better model to fill that public need; and the city has diversity programs because there are people from all over the world moving to Fishers. He said recognizing those realities and responding with appropriate services is simply pragmatic.
His lack of political activism is, in part, one of the biggest challenges Fadness said he’s faced. He’s often called on to make statements about issues that originate outside of Fishers, such as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
As the mayor of Fishers, Fadness knows he can’t solve that conflict. But, he said, he can do something for the people who live in this city.
“I go back to our fundamentals, like whether you’re Jewish or whether you’re Muslim, if you call Fisher’s home, I’m going to do my best to ensure that you’re safe and that you’re treated well,” he said. “And that might be (Fishers Police Department Chief Ed) Gebhart and I stopping at the Muslim school and welcoming the kids to class to show their parents that they’re OK and that we’re thinking of them, or it could be to the Jewish community telling them that we’re thinking of them.”
Fadness said what drives him is his natural sense of curiosity and his delight in solving problems.
“My mind is always going, like 24/7,” he said. “Some people like to play cards, some people like to golf, some people like to watch football, some people like to hang out. I derive a great deal of satisfaction just thinking about how to solve public policy problems. So for me, when people are like, ‘Why does he work so much?’ It’s not because I’m running from something or that I’m trying to achieve some end result. I just like it.”
And, he said, he’s surrounded himself with people who are “wired” the same way, which makes it even more fun.
With another four years at least as Fishers’ mayor, Fadness said he plans to keep on having fun solving public policy problems.
From North Dakota to Fishers
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness started out as a farm kid in North Dakota. He attended the University of North Dakota for his undergraduate degree, and was going to study political science in Colorado with the intention of eventually becoming a professor.
“I had a professor stop me one day and say, ‘You know, maybe you should just get into government first. And you can always come back and teach,’” Fadness said.
Through that intervention, he ended up in an Indiana University graduate program called the School of Public Environmental Affairs in 2005, which required an internship experience. He applied for an open internship with what was the Town of Fishers, was hired and started that job in 2006.
“I interned throughout the year, through my second year of graduate school, and then in the spring I was going to leave,” he said. “The town manager called and said, ‘Hey, we’d like to hire you as like a budget director or budget manager,’ or something of that effect.”
Fadness accepted the job and said he had a tendency to volunteer to fill in whenever a vacancy came up, giving him experience throughout the town’s departments. He eventually was promoted to deputy town manager.
“And then my boss — he and the council parted ways one night,” Fadness said. “And that night, they said, ‘Hey, you’re now the town manager.’”
He was 27 years old.
In 2012, Fishers voters approved a referendum to become a city, which meant Fadness’ job would go away. He said he didn’t really want to run for mayor but eventually decided to give it a try because he felt like there was too much left that he wanted to accomplish.
“There were like four or five of us at the time running, and I only lived in Fishers six years, something like that,” he said. “It was a crazy time. I was fortunate enough to get elected, and I’ve been doing this now for nine years.”
