Fishers News

If you haven’t heard by now, on Tuesday night (January 22) the Fishers Town Council voted 6 – 0 to adopt the three Geist forced annexation ordinances. Councilor Charlie White was absent from the meeting, which is why there were only 6 votes.

The GUO and just about everyone else expected the Town Council to adopt the ordinances, despite the fact that doing so is clearly NOT the will of the people, despite the fact that it will now cost the taxpayers of Fishers even more money (hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars) to fight this in court—because the Geist property owners will take them to court, and despite the fact that even the state General Assembly is considering legislation that would make forced annexations illegal because such annexations are simply wrong.

We now have 90 days from the date the ordinances are published to obtain remonstration petitions from at least 65% of the property owners of each of the three Geist annexation areas! The clock has begun ticking.

This week the GUO will be mailing remonstration petitions to each of the property owners affected. When you receive your petition package please carefully follow the directions for signing and returning the signed petitions to the GUO. The signed petitions are due back to the GUO before February 4th.

Remember, our attorneys have said that we have a strong case against this forced annexation, but to present our case we must get to court. Under current Indiana law, the only way we can get to court is to file a remonstrance that includes petitions signed by at least 65% of the property owners of record. Every petition counts.

On a slightly humorous note, prior to the Council vote the Town Council had two lawyers and one consultant make presentations to the Council to explain (a) that the Town is fiscally sound, (b) Geist is leaching off the largess of the Town by using their services without paying for them, and (c) why Geist shouldn’t incorporate itself into its own towns.

The first two items are akin to you paying a beauty consultant to tell you how beautiful (or handsome) you are. “Here’s $10, please tell me how pretty I am.” The latter made no sense whatsoever. But, it would appear that the Town Council has money to burn to pay for a “feel good” session, not to mention that several other town attorneys were present at the meeting.

Sign the petitions and get them back promptly to the GUO—we will prevail!

Now is the time to donate!

Obviously, their Fishers Town Council has unlimited financial resources and would rather spend the taxpayers’ money on fighting Geist than doing good works for their citizens.

Unfortunately, the GUO does not have unlimited resources nor can we simply tax people to pay for legal costs. We are now looking at a protracted legal battle for sure, so please contribute to the legal fund.

You can donate online, or mail a check to GUO, P.O. Box 56023, Indianapolis, IN 46256. Thus far, we saved every Geist homeowner over two years’ worth of additional taxes. Moving this through the courts, if nothing else, could save at least another two years worth of additional taxes.

Using the Fishers Town Council projected tax increase of 16.45%:

If each homeowner gives at least 10% of what you’ve already saved, we will be well funded.

We fully expect the Fishers Town Council to pass the Geist annexation ordinances at their next meeting on Tuesday, January 22nd, at 7:00 pm at the Fishers Town Hall.

Nonetheless, plan to attend to voice your displeasure to the public and the media.  We need to make a significant noise to let the Council know that this action is wrong and we are ready for the battle.

The GUO will also be prepared with remonstration (anti-annexation) petitions for homeowners to sign immediately after the Council passes the ordinances.

This is also an excellent time to make a contribution to the legal defense fund.  We need money to win this in court.

Senate Bill 114 Passes Committee-Step One Win for Our Side

On Wednesday, January 16 the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee voted 6 – 4 to pass SB114 onto the full senate for review and vote.  The Committee vote was along party lines with the Republicans voting for and the Democrats voting against.

This bill, authored by Senators Drozda and Gard, significantly changes Indiana’s annexation law for the better.  In particular, the bill eliminates forced annexation in Indiana; the only way a municipality could annex a territory under this law is if the landowners agree.  If the municipality initiates the annexation, all of the property owners would have to consent to the annexation.

Now it is up to the Senate to pass the bill.  If the Senate passes the bill, then it’s on to the House for a vote.

A key provision of the bill, as currently written, is that it is retroactive to January 1, 2008.  It says that any involuntary annexation ordinance adopted between January 1st and July 1st, 2008 is void.  If passed into law with this provision in tact, it would stop the Fishers forced annexation of Geist.

As you can imagine, Stu Easley, Fishers Town Councilor-who testified against the bill at the Committee hearing; imagine that-complained long and loud to the press that this provision was targeted to Fishers.

But, the issue of forced annexation is a state-wide issue and there are many other communities in the state, such as Jeffersonville, who are fighting forced annexations.

The basis of the bill is to make the annexation process fair and equitable.  If that is the objective of the general assembly, then stopping all pending forced annexations now is the fair and equitable thing to do; it would not be fair to allow municipalities to proceed with forced annexations between now and the time the law would otherwise become effective(July 1, 2008).  That would also be an attempt to circumvent the intention of the general assembly.

That’s akin to telling your child they are misbehaving, but allowing them to continue to misbehave until some point in the future.  Common sense says that you stop the misbehavior now, even if the child got away with it in the past.

This bill continues to need your support.  Please call and/or e-mail the state senators.  To e-mail, go to www.in.gov, click on the General Assembly link, click on the Legislators link, click on the How to Contact link, and click on each senator to e-mail.  Also, encourage your family and friends throughout the state to send their respective legislators a letter or e-mail. This is not just an Indianapolis-area problem, it affects residents in Pendleton, Anderson, Jeffersonville, Whitestown, Muncie and Morristown (near Shelbyville) who are all involved in hostile annexation.

Senator Beverly Gard represents most of the Geist area and is solidly behind this bill.  But, the rest of the senate needs to hear from the populace.

When you voice your support to the senators, please tell them that the retroactive provision of the bill is the fair and right thing to do.   The other guys (the municipalities) have not been playing fair for a long time, so making this bill retroactive only helps to somewhat even things out.

Don’t forget too that Fishers, Carmel, and some other cities and towns will no doubt be spending a lot of money on lawyers and lobbyists to try to stop this bill; we can only succeed if we continuously tell the legislators what we, the people, want.

From the Noblesville Ledger: The simmering debate over attempts by Fishers to involuntarily annex 2,200 properties at Geist boiled over in 2007 unleashing a flurry of legal maneuvers to gain the upper hand in the fight. Noblesville Daily Times readers voted the turf battle Hamilton County’s top story of 2007.

As the Fishers Town Council prepares to vote on its annexation ordinances, it marks a new chapter in a saga that began more than two years ago when Town Council President Scott Faultless announced the town’s plans in November 2005. Days later, the Geist United Opposition formed and the fight was on. (Read Full Story)

Judge Nation ruled that Fishers’ first reading of the annexation ordinances on September 17th preempted the incorporation filings of East and West Geist, forcing incorporators to put their plans to form Indiana’s newest towns on ice.

“We have to focus on the annexation proceedings now,” said Rachel Quade with the Geist United Opposition. “Let’s show up in force next Wednesday night at the Fishers Town Hall and tell them what we think of their plans to forcibly annex us.”

If Fishers proceeds with the annexation proceedings, the areas of North, East and West Geist will have a chance to sign petitions remonstrating against the Town of Fishers for 90 days beginning in mid January. Each area will have to secure 65% of the residents’ signatures on a petition to get their day in court.

“After we win, we’ll pull the incorporation papers back out again and refile,” added Quade.

“The Board of Geist United Opposition sincerely appreciates the work everyone did gathering over 800 signatures on petitions for incorporation,” said Kirk Bidwell. “Clearly, the promise of incorporating our area into self-governing towns resonated with a lot of people. You can rightly say that you were part of making history in the Geist area.”

An important reminder:  the Fishers Town Council is holding the required public hearing on the Geist annexation next Wednesday, December 19th, 4:00pm, at the Fishers Town Hall.

All Geist residents should attend this meeting!  Plan to make a statement at the hearing as to why you are against this forced annexation.  It may be that:

• You are against paying significantly higher property taxes for services you don’t need, don’t want, and don’t use.
  • Even if the state changes the property tax system, Fishers will simply replace property taxes with another, higher tax (e.g., local income).
• You don’t like the idea of the Town Council-a governmental body that you did not elect and who does not represent you-forcing you into their town against your will and for no other reason than they want your money.
• You don’t like the way the Town Council conducts business:  spot annexations to ensure certain councilors can retain their council seats; uncontrolled growth that is stressing our schools and infrastructure; forcing people to sign agreements not to fight annexation (non-remonstration) in order to get building permits; and, making outrageous, retaliatory statements like our kids won’t be able to play in the SPORTS program or our sewers will be shut off if we fight annexation.

Tell all of your neighbors to attend!  Please help get the word out and call your neighbors and ask them to attend this meeting.  The date and time are certainly not convenient, but that would appear to be by design-after all, why wouldn’t the Town Council make it as difficult as possible?

Attorneys for both sides in the “who’s first” argument presented their sides to Judge Nation this evening.

Doug Church and Brian Babb, attorneys for the Town of Fishers, argued that the Fishers introduced the ordinances to annex three areas around Geist on September 17th at a regular town council meeting, thus claiming exclusive jurisdiction in the unincorporated areas around Geist. Incorporators for the towns of East and West Geist filed their petitions on September 21st and they were officially filed on September 24th.

Rob Schein and Brian Zaigar of Kreig DeVault argued that the Town of Fishers’ ordinances were not officially introduced until they were adopted on October 4th. They also pointed out that the September 17th first reading was not complete, there never was a second to the motion and therefore was not officially introduced.

Attorneys for Fishers are going to file additional documentation by 10:00 am tomorrow morning and Judge Nation will rule sometime before the December 19th town hall hearing.

An important reminder: the Fishers Town Council is holding the required public hearing on the Geist annexation on Wednesday, December 19th, 4:00pm, at the Fishers Town Hall.

All Geist residents should attend this meeting! Plan to make a statement at the hearing as to why you are against this forced annexation. It may be that:

• You are against paying significantly higher property taxes for services you don’t need, don’t want, and don’t use.

Even if the state changes the property tax system, Fishers will simply replace property taxes with another, higher tax (e.g., local income).

• You don’t like the idea of the Town Council—a governmental body that you did not elect and who does not represent you—forcing you into their town against your will and for no other reason than they want your money.

• You don’t like the way the Town Council conducts business: spot annexations to ensure certain councilors can retain their council seats; uncontrolled growth that is stressing our schools and infrastructure; forcing people to sign agreements not to fight annexation (non-remonstration) in order to get building permits; and, making outrageous, retaliatory statements like our kids won’t be able to play in the SPORTS program or our sewers will be shut off if we fight annexation.

Tell all of your neighbors to attend! Please help get the word out and call your neighbors and ask them to attend this meeting. The date and time are certainly not convenient, but that would appear to be by design—after all, why wouldn’t the Town Council make it as difficult as possible?

We will see you there on the 19th.

S.P.O.R.T.S.—more Fishers FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)

If you can’t win the hearts and minds of people by offering something tangible and of value, then you can always try to scare them by spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt. They won’t come along willingly, but you might scare them into bending to your will.

No doubt, you have heard that certain Fishers Town Councilors are saying that if Geist forms its own towns or is not annexed into Fishers that your kids will not be able to participate in the HSE SPORTS programs because some of those programs take place in Fishers’ parks; they say the Town will no longer allow non-Fishers kids in those parks, and one councilor has even said that he will use the police department to enforce that.

And they wonder why people don’t want to be under the thumb of their government.

Here are the facts:

• By its own ordinance, the Town of Fishers cites that any participant in SPORTS using their parks simply reside within the HSE School District. To quote:

As a condition of use of town athletic and sports fields by youth leagues sanctioned by S.P.O.R.T.S. which are given priority in scheduling and which are allowed to use the town’s athletic fields free of charge, the town requires that all participants in S.P.O.R.T.S. sanctioned youth recreational sports leagues shall reside within the Hamilton Southeastern School District (emphasis added).

• Further, from the same ordinance:

Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, it is the policy of the town that no child shall be denied the opportunity to participate in any sports league utilizing the playing fields owned by the town in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America or the Constitution of the State of Indiana (emphasis added).

• Even the mission statement of the SPORTS program includes all kids in the Hamilton Southeastern community:

S.P.O.R.T.S. (Southeastern Program of Recreational Team Sports) is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing youth in the Hamilton Southeastern community with the opportunity to participate in recreational and competitive team sports that promote character development, leadership and physical fitness.

One might question how a town councilor can make threats that if carried out would violate their own ordinances. But then, it wouldn’t be the first time that a politician ignored an inconvenient truth.

Of course, the Town Council can always change its ordinances, but then (in addition to discriminating against kids from Geist, Noblesville, and other non-town areas), the people of Fishers may begin to question whether they want a town council that spends their time and the people’s money on childish retribution.

Point is: the threats are hollow.

Fishers Town Council members have been telling Geist residents, the Fishers Zoning Board, and the media that they have a letter from Lawrence Township Trustee Mike Hobbs indicating that the City of Lawrence has no intention to provide fire protection to the new Towns of Geist.

While no one has seen this supposed letter, we do have a letter from Mike Hobbs stating that, in short, the “Lawrence Township Fire Department, in conjuction with the Castleton Volunteer Fire Department, is prepared and committed to providing fire protection services for the proposed Towns of Geist municipality.”

Download letter (PDF)

Over 400 people turned out for the Geist United Opposition Property Owners’ Meeting (held this last Thursday, November 7th, at the HSE High School cafeteria) to hear more about annexation and the incorporation of the Towns of East & West Geist, and to ask questions.

Also in attendance and on hand to answer questions were Steve Dillinger, Hamilton County Commissioner, Sheriff Doug Carter, HCSD, Lt. Kevin Fessel, HCSD, and Chief Michael Blackwell, Lawrence Township Fire Dept/Castleton Fire Dept., as well as our legal representatives Brian Zaiger, Rob Schein, and Nigel Riggins of Kreig Devault.

There was also a large contingent of fire fighters, including a fire truck and ambulance, from the Castleton Fire Department, slated to become the Geist Fire Department should incorporation go through. They were there to show their support, which included a $1,000 contribution to the GUO to fight forced annexation and achieve incorporation.

Our heartfelt thanks to the men and women of the Castleton Fire Department!

The presentations and discussion focused on three topics: current state of affairs regarding the Fishers Town Council’s latest forced annexation attempt of Geist; status of the incorporation of the Towns of East & West Geist, including a discussion of estimated tax rates and planned services; and, finances and the need for additional contributions (see next article).

A copy of the presentation materials is posted here. You can also post questions regarding either annexation or incorporation on the website and the GUO will do it’s best to post answers as quickly as possible. We will also post the questions and answers that came up during the meeting.

Overall, there was clear and strong support from all those in attendance to continue the fight against forced annexation and to move forward with incorporation. We very much appreciate everyone coming and your strong support.

“To fight for our right to be independent….

you need to say it with your checkbook” to quote Pete Peterson, president of the GUO.

We estimate that it will take at least $400,000 to beat the Fishers Town Council in court. Based on a review of the proposed fiscal plans put forth by the Fishers Town Council, the first year alone we will collectively pay them $2,437,178 in increased property taxes.

[This number is actually higher than the one we quoted before, which we had estimated based on the NAV, whereas this number is straight from their plan.]

Divided by 2000 homes, this an average $1,219 annual tax increase for each homeowner, not counting tax rate increases from the Town Council (which have been proposed already). In that the forced annexation process began in November, 2005, this works out to an average savings, thus far, of $2,438 per homeowner.

If each homeowner contributes less than 10% of the savings already realized, or $200, we will meet our estimated financial needs to fight this battle. Of course, if you want to give more, we’d be more than grateful—fundraising is a time consuming task and the faster we can reach our goal, the more time we’ll have to concentrate on the battle at hand.

Make no mistake, the Fishers Town Council is loaded for bear and is willing to spend any amount of their taxpayers’ money to try and get us. At the recent Plan Commission meeting, at which we presented our case for incorporation, they had 6 or 7 attorneys plus financial “experts” on hand to try and dispute our case. That’s a pretty hefty burn rate.

While we don’t need that many lawyers, we do need money for legal services (and we’ll certainly guard you money with much more frugality and much more consideration than the Fishers Town Council obviously does with its citizens’ money).

Click “Donate Now” on the www.SayNoToFishers.com website, or send a check to:

Geist United Opposition
P.O. Box 56023
Indianapolis, IN 46256

Thank you very much!

PS: If you have friends in Fishers, why not ask them what they think about their Town Council’s willingness to spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions of taxpayer dollars to forcibly annex Geist. Our fight is with the Town Council, not the good people of Fishers. If they think this is a complete waste of a lot of their money, perhaps they would be willing to call their town councilor and complain.

Today, the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the Hamilton County Superior Court ruling and gave the City of Carmel to go ahead to forcibly annex Home Place.Home Place had challenged Carmel on its fiscal plan; basically saying the City did not specifically cite the methods and means of how it would finance services to Home Place.  Carmel claimed that it had sufficient resources to provide the services.  In light of the state Supreme Court ruling in favor of Carmel over Southwest Clay, in which the court essentially said that the fiscal plan can be amended from time-to-time by the City to reflect negotiations with property owners, the Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Carmel.

What does this mean for Geist?

Not much!  While challenging the veracity of Fishers’ fiscal plans for Geist is not out of the question, our case will be based on a different set of laws regarding the provision of services; that is, the law says if the territory to be annexed (Geist) already receives services from sources other than the municipality (Fishers), the annexation is not in the best interests of the property owners, and the financial impact will be substantial, then the annexation cannot go through.

We meet that test because we get services from the county and other providers, not Fishers.

Of course, the Fishers Town Council will jump up-and-down and shout in glee and claim that this ruling goes directly to the heart of the matter and further validates their right to annex anybody they want and Geist doesn’t stand a chance now.  They will also claim that they provide services to Geist because we use their roads and parks and so on.  But, we’re used to the Town Councilors stretching the truth beyond reason, so this new noise won’t really be new at all.

In an upcoming Friday Report we’ll outline the ridiculous fiscal plans the Fishers Town Council has prepared in anticipation that this ruling might have gone in favor of Home Place–the plans are full of “magnanimous” spending of millions of dollars for stuff we don’t need or want.  Stay tuned.

As you all know, on September 17th the Fishers Town Council introduced three new ordinances to forcibly annex the Geist Area. These three ordinances replace the original four they introduced almost two years ago.

Even though we are proceeding down the incorporation track, we still must fight this forced annexation bid by the Town of Fishers.

The Geist United Opposition (GUO) was formed then to fight the forced annexation.  Through GUO’s efforts we delayed the original annexation and, in fact, got the original annexation ordinances withdrawn (although we knew it would only be for a short period).  If GUO hadn’t been formed, we’d all be singing the Fishers anthem by now and paying much higher property taxes.

Using tax numbers provided by the Town, we’ve saved Geist property tax payers over $2,209,000 in additional taxes each year that we’ve delayed the forced annexation.  That averages $1,105 per homeowner per year!

Despite how “magnanimous” the Town Council views itself (by offering to take our tax money and then give some small portion back for stuff we don’t need or want), the Game is On and the court battle is just a short time away.

Many of you have said that you will contribute money when the court battle is at hand, well, NOW IS THE TIME!

We are being forced to remonstrate against this annexation.  And, you can bet that when we win in the County Superior Court, the Fishers Town Council will appeal; when we win in Appellate Court, they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.  In its blind arrogance, the Fishers Town Council simply won’t stop until they’ve spent millions of their taxpayers’ money on this boondoggle.

Since they are forcing this action we are going to need several hundred thousand dollars for the legal battle (we’re a bit more careful with our money than the Town Council).  But, this is not a bad investment on our part.  If each homeowner simply gives about 18% of their first year average tax savings ($1,105)-which you’ve already saved thanks to the efforts of the GUO-or $200, that would go a long way to satisfying our projected legal funding needs.

So, please contribute today and contribute generously.  Many people have worked very long hours on your behalf to fight the good fight.  Now is the time to show your appreciation and your willingness to do your part.

Go to the “Donate Now” link to contribute online; or, send a check to:

Geist United Opposition
P.O. Box 56023
Indianapolis, IN 46256

Thank you very much!

GAME ON!

In a Fishers Star article from 3/17/2007, Scott Faultless commented on the possibility of Geist incorporating.

“I think they should do it,” said Faultless. “If you look at the area they are talking about, it’s all residential. There is very little commercial development. All the tax responsibility would be borne by the homeowners.”

Fishers Star Article from 3/17/2007 (PDF)

Let the legal battle begin.On one side you have the frustrated Fishers Town Council that has been talking about annexing Geist for almost two years with nothing more than a verbal ordinance from Monday night to show for it.

On the other side you have an excited group of Geist homeowners that finally have a proposal on the table other than Fishers’ “take it or leave it” offer.

This morning at the Hamilton County Courthouse, Geist United Opposition leaders presented their 273 petitions from area homeowners along with a financial plan, certified survey of the area to be incorporated, a letter of intent from the Castleton Fire Department to provide fire protection, and a petition to the Hamilton County Commissioners stating their intent to form the Towns of East and West Geist.

Since Fishers annexed the lake bottom earlier last year, the East and West shores of Geist lack contiguity and therefore two towns must be formed. They will work together with an inter-government contract to provide services for the entire area.

Around 10:00 am, representatives from the Town of Fishers appeared with a letter stating that the Hamilton County Commissioners had no jurisdiction in this matter since they had already started the proceedings to annex the area.

“The Town (of Fishers) sent letters out to everyone giving them until today to respond to their offer they mailed out on September 11^th,” said Allan Yackey, attorney for the new Towns of Geist. “Estoppel is the issue here. You give me an offer and a date of September 21^st and I relied on it, you are stuck with it.”

After the press conference on the south courthouse steps, Fishers Town Council member Stuart Easley spoke to the cameras with his views of this latest move. He pointed to the choice that Geist residents now have between the world class services being provided by the Town of Fishers versus what he deemed “another delay tactic by the Geist United Opposition.”

I assure you Mr. Easley, this is not a delay tactic. The others might have been, but this isn’t.

From the beginning, the Geist United Opposition has opposed “Forced Annexation.” Look at the yellow signs, go to the SayNOtoFishers.com website, or watch me on television in my bright yellow T-shirt.

Over the last two years, we’ve all received a two-year doctorate degree in civics and local government. After the Southwest Clay vs. Carmel case, the consensus amongst most people close to the issue was unanimous: We need to be incorporated. The State of Indiana does not look at unincorporated land surrounded by towns and cities favorably. Either way, our taxes are going to go up. At question is whether you want to pay that tax money to a neighboring town and trust that they will give you the services you need or do you just keep the money for yourself and create your own town?

Up until now, the only option for Geist residents has been the forced annexation bid by the Town of Fishers. Their choices were to join Fishers, or go down fighting. Today, thanks to a group of GUO and Geist residents, there now is a second option on the table: Form two new towns and have your ‘own’ town.

For the last four months, a core group consisting of Rachel Quade, Joe Weingarten, Kirk Bidwell, David Wyser, and Mike Fisher has been working on a subcommittee of the GUO to research the process, financial implications, and long-term viability of forming a town to fend off annexation for good.

Forming a new town is not easy, and arguably harder than just being annexed. According to Indiana law (IC 36-5-1), you must provide, among other things, proof of how you will provide fire protection for your new town (or towns in our case). Currently, Fall Creek Township has a contract with the Fishers Fire Department to provide fire protection to the unincorporated areas around Geist. You can’t just go to Wal-Mart and buy fire protection, and as we found out, this is a political football that the group worked long and hard to resolve.

Discussions led by Joe Weingarten and Mike Fisher netted an anxious and willing fire department in Castleton that wrote a letter of intent to provide fire protection to the new towns. Currently Castleton Fire Department is a volunteer fire department under contract with Lawrence Township Fire Department. With the consolidation of fire in Indianapolis eminent, Castleton Fire Department officials will be looking for a new home.

Geist is anxious to have them move in.

Once this major hurdle was overcome, organizers felt confident that public services would not suffer under a new town and set their sites on the financial impact.

Indiana financial consultant Greg Guerrettaz was retained to do a preliminary assessment as to the tax implications of incorporation. Everyone believed that if the tax rate was the same or higher, incorporation would most likely not be a viable option for residents. Initial study numbers came back slightly lower than Fisher’s current tax rate, low enough for the GUO to approve the full study project.

At the conclusion of the research and financial planning needed for incorporation, Guerrettaz concluded that the property tax rate of the new Towns of Geist would be approximately 20% less than that of Fishers.

With fire protection in hand and a financial report showing a lower tax rate with no loss of public services, incorporation organizers steamed forward to draft the petitions and ultimately get 273 signatures in less than 24 hours from excited homeowners.

Next Monday at 2:00 pm, incorporation leaders are meeting with the Hamilton County Commissioners to formally declare their intent to become the Towns of Geist. This is an open meeting, but not a public hearing. Feel free to come and show your support of the new towns, but be forewarned that there will be no forum to discuss the issues at this meeting.

A special thanks to all those who have played such a huge part in getting us this far. Months ago, the dream of forming our own Towns of Geist seemed impossible. Thanks to the hard work of Rachel, Joe, Mike, David, and Kirk, this dream became a reality.

Now settle in for a horse race to see who can either annex or incorporate Geist first. Fishers will try to delay Geist residents from forming their own town, Geist will push forward now to get the approvals from Indianapolis and Lawrence. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Hopefully, the will of the people will win out, not the will of the lawyers.

Only six days after the announcement from the Fishers Town Council that they were giving Geist residents 10 days to respond to a tax abatement offer coming in the mail, they reintroduced the forced annexation ordinances anyways.

So much for listening to the residents, eh?

Two areas were combined (we’re not sure which two) resulting in three areas instead of the original four. Of course, no information is available on this yet via the Fishers website, nor did they announce their intentions of re-introducing these ordinances through their published agendas or minutes. Business as usual in Fishers.

The first reading of the ordinances is expected to occur at the next Town Council meeting which is on October 1^st at 7:00 pm in the Fishers Town Hall. Given this new sense of urgency to move forward again with forced annexation, Geist residents could be signing petitions to remonstrate as early as January and February of 2008.  Great weather to be signing petitions.

Ironically, Fishers also signed a petition with the State of Indiana to exceed the maximum tax levy for 2008. Property taxes are going up in Fishers, again, from $.3234 to $.3395 per $100 which amounts to a 5% increase. Again, business as usual in Fishers.

The much anticipated battle is about to begin and it will no doubt be expensive. Contributions are being solicited again, this time with a more certain timeline in place. Please stay tuned to SayNOtoFishers.com for information as it develops. Send contributions to:

 Geist United Opposition
PO Box 56023
Indianapolis, IN 46256

By now you’ve received your “offer” letter from the Town of Fishers, which recaps the same offer that they made during their neighborhood meetings and which clearly states their intention to forcibly annex the Geist Area if homeowners don’t jump on board and take the offer.

As you saw in the letter and as we reported in our last report, TOF is offering to delay the effective date of the annexation until 12/21/08 and provide a graduated tax abatement—the only amount allowed by state law—of a 75% discount year 1 (2010), a 50% discount year 2 (2011), and a 25% discount year 3 (2012) with 100% of the tax increase beginning 2013.

The Town Council has stated that your taxes will go up 16.45% provided you qualify for the Homestead Deduction and Mortgage Exemption and Property Tax Replacement Credit and Homestead Credit under state law; otherwise, your tax will be higher.

That is the purported increase today.  As you probably already saw in the Indianapolis Star (September 5th and 6th), the Town Council is already talking about a property tax increase to cover the costs of Town expansion (road projects, hiring more police, etc.).  Of course, the Town won’t guarantee you a tax hike limit of 16.45% as part of their so called deal, will they?  How long before 16.45% becomes 18% and higher?

While they are saying they are committed to additional dialog with homeowners that could lead to a pre-annexation agreement (you get the above deal if you sign away your right to petition against annexation), they also clearly stated that “To this end, please know that the Town can and will re-initiate the annexation process if it is determined to be in the best interests of the residents of the Town of Fishers.”

We don’t know whether the residents of Fishers care one way or the other; certainly, none of them showed up at the neighborhood meetings to extol the virtues of living in the Town or encourage us to join up.  We do know the Town Council wants our money.

In the letter, they also say that you have until September 21st to respond—by mailing in a form—if you wish to have further dialog.  Obviously, it doesn’t matter if you respond or not as TOF certainly plans to re-introduce the annexation ordinances soon; after all, their objective is not voluntary annexation, but getting 36% of Geist homeowners to sign the non-remonstration (pre-annexation) agreement so that we can’t fight—remember that it takes 65% of property owners to petition against forced annexation in order to get our day in court; if we don’t get to court we can’t win.

Remember too, our attorney has said that if we get the 65% we will get to court and our case is highly defensible.  We stand an excellent chance of winning.

Keep in mind also that mathematically you would save more money by fighting annexation, win or lose.  That is, if TOF introduces the forced annexation ordinances this month, our remonstration filing would take place around March 2008 (given the timeline provided for in annexation law), and it could easily take three to four years after that before the court case is settled.  That ends up being a 100% tax abatement during the period you would otherwise be paying higher taxes to Fishers, even with the abatement.

And the cost to fight annexation all the way through appeals?  About $200 per household.  That’s a lot less than paying an additional $1,010 per year in taxes (for a $500,000 home, using TOF figures)—year in and year out.

Special Census:

Why did Fishers offer a 12/31/08 effective date for annexation as part of their “deal”?  So that we could be counted in the 2010 census as part of the Town. The law does not allow annexations to occur in the year preceding a census (2009). More Fishers residents equals more money to the Town of Fishers.

But, the Town is moving ahead with a special census now, which makes sense.  Because of their unbridled growth, the Town wants to be sure they are getting all of the extra tax revenue they can that is based on population size, etc.

That’s all well and good, but some Geist residents who are not in the Town of Fishers have received a letter from the Town saying a census taker will be showing up soon.  Perhaps this was an error or perhaps Fishers just mailed the same letter to everyone in the 46038 zip code.

Obviously, if you don’t live within the Fishers town boundaries you can’t be counted in their census. And if you don’t want to be counted in their 2010 census, you’ll support the GUO in our fight against this impending forced annexation.

So far, the Town of Fishers (TOF) has met with (or tried to met with) about 14 Geist Area neighborhoods—one or more members of the GUO has been at each meeting. Some of the meetings have been well attended—especially if the neighborhood is on septic—while others were not attended by anyone at all (other than the GUO).

The net of TOF’s presentation is an “inducement” to encourage homeowners to be voluntarily annexed. The inducement is:

1. The annexation would not be effective until 12/31/08.
2. Homeowners would not begin paying increased property taxes until 2010, based on the 2009 assessment (which is the law).
3. The Town would abate a portion of the higher property taxes over a three year period—the abatement percentages are defined by state law:
a. 75% discount year 1 (2010)
b. 50% discount year 2 (2011)
c. 25% discount year 3 (2012)
d. Full fare beginning year 4 (2013)
4. For those on well and septic that want water/sewer connections, the deal basically includes 30 year interest free financing of the cost of doing so, along with some other benefits.

They are saying that our property taxes would go up 16.45%. They dispute our estimate of a 20% – 22% increase, but those numbers were obtained from TOF back in November 2005 when several Geist property owners asked the Town what their individual tax increase would be—so, these are their numbers. Keep in mind also that originally TOF claimed our taxes would only go up 14.68%.

Regardless, using TOF figures handed out at their presentations, if your house is valued at $500,000 then your tax increase will be $1,010 per year—a jump from $6,139 to $7,149—year after year (assuming you get all of the homestead and tax replacement credits available). For a million dollar home, taxes go up $2,127 per year: that’s over $21,000 in ten years excluding any tax rate increases by Fishers, Hamilton County, Fall Creek Township, and HSE.

With the exception of providing interest free financing for water/sewer connections for those currently on septic, thus far TOF has offered nothing else in exchange for higher taxes.

Voluntary vs. Involuntary and the Numbers

It is our understanding that the Town plans to mail their proposal for “voluntary” annexation to all Geist Area homeowners early in September. We believe that the proposal will be a recap of the tax abatement offer (outlined above), and perhaps one or two offerings such as a new firehouse. The mailing may or may not contain a pre-annexation agreement for you to consider signing.

If it does contain a pre-annexation agreement and if it is patterned after the pre-annexation agreements offered to those considering water/sewer hookups, it is not an agreement to be voluntarily annexed, but rather an agreement to not remonstrate against annexation.

What does that mean? Under law, to be voluntarily annexed 51% of the property owners of the area wishing to be annexed must petition the Town Council requesting annexation. That means a majority of the people want to be annexed.

We don’t think they will seek voluntary annexation as outlined under the law, but rather re-introduce the forced annexation ordinances, and if they have enough homeowners who have signed “pre-annexation” agreements then the forced annexation cannot be fought.

A supermajority is needed to legally fight a forced annexation: 65% of the property owners must sign a petition against the annexation. But, if TOF can get 36% of Geist property owners to sign a pre-annexation agreement, then it will not be possible for the rest to remonstrate as the 65% threshold cannot be met. Pretty good strategy on their part, wouldn’t you say?

So what’s the risk? TOF would like you to think that annexation is inevitable and you are better off taking their tax abatement deal now than risk paying 100% of the additional taxes once the forced annexation goes through.

But, check it out: using TOF numbers they say that if your home is worth $500,000 you will save $1,514 in reduced taxes over the first three years of annexation. After that (beginning in 2013) you will pay an additional $1,010 each year—given that the average length of time one keeps the same home is 7 years, that’s $7,070.

If we fight the forced annexation—our attorney has said that if we get the 65% we will get to court and our case against forced annexation is highly defensible—it could take several years before the case is resolved and you could save more money by fighting annexation than by taking the deal.

[Keep in mind that property taxes are paid in arrears, which is why if the “voluntary” annexation is effective 12/31/08, property taxes would be assessed in 2009 and become payable in 2010.]

If we fight the annexation, assuming it would take three years to pass the ordinances, file the remonstration, and go through a court hearing (including the inevitable appeal), the economics would be:

Again, assuming a three year process: (1) if “voluntary” annexation goes through you would pay an additional $2524 in property taxes between now and 2013 (on a $500,000 home, using TOF figures); (2) if we fight annexation a lose, you would still save $504 over the pre-annexation offer; and, (3) fighting annexation and winning—a likely scenario—you would save $2524, plus $1010 per year each year thereafter.

Under the law, even if the Town Council introduces the forced annexation ordinances at their September 17^th meeting, they still have to hold a public hearing no earlier than 60 days after that and cannot adopt the ordinances for another 30 days after the public hearing. This would take the timeline to about December 17^th just to pass the ordinances.

Then we have 90 days to collect petitions and file our remonstrance; that takes the timeline to about March 17, 2008. Then a hearing has to be scheduled and held, the ruling made, and the inevitable appeal by the Town to occur. This could easily push the timeline out to sometime in 2010 before resolution. The above table conservatively assumes, if TOF prevails, annexation at the end of 2010 and tax payments beginning 2012 for taxes assessed in 2011. Each year added on to this would save you another $1010.

If Geist prevails—and there is every reason to believe that we would—then there are no new taxes as TOF cannot try to annex us again for 4 years.

Moreover, the state Senate has formed a study committee to review state annexation laws. Fighting annexation now gives the legislature time to perhaps fix current annexation law and, perhaps, end all of this silliness once and for all.

Lastly, don’t forget that the proposed tax increase by Fishers of 16.45% may or may not hold up long term—if it’s higher, your savings in fighting forced annexation will be higher, as well; this is on top of the huge tax increases we just got hit with; likely, as Fishers annexes more territory the Township will have to increase taxes to make up for the short-fall; and, HSE may need to raise taxes as well as more and more people move into Fishers.

It’s always interesting as to how it is so important that politicos show the proper amount of bluster to the public. Doug Church, Fishers town attorney, told the Fishers Town Council Thursday night that Fishers would win in court if it pursed involuntary annexation [of Geist]. “We should prevail in any involuntary annexation action” is the quote from Church in the July 13^th Indianapolis Star. In that article he said that the recent Supreme Court decision strengthened Fishers’ case.

But, of course, the Council wants to be magnanimous and work with Geist property owners on voluntary annexation even though, according to Stuart Easley, Town Council member, that “The best time to offer an olive branch is when you have all of the power” (same article).

So, the Fishers Town Council votes to withdraw the four pending annexation ordinances—hooray for our side! Forced annexation is off the table for now. (See the associated story below). That’s the good news.

What did the GUO do in return for this? We simply agreed not to discourage property owners from meeting with representatives of Fishers to discuss voluntary annexation.

We did not agree to promote voluntary annexation; we did not agree to not continue to hold the Town Council’s feet to the fire; and, we did not agree not to fight any forced annexation attempt.

We did succeed in holding off forced annexation for a bit longer—the longer the better from a tax increase perspective at the very least.

And, we are certainly not opposed to the Town Council attempting to make their case as to why it is in your best interest to pay higher taxes for services you already have (and pay for). But, we will continue to do our best to be sure that you have the facts.

For example, the above politico bluster from Church and Easley is just that, bluster. No attorney in his or her right mind guarantees a victory in court, but Church would like to make you think they can’t lose so you might be more willing to capitulate.

Stu Easley would like you to think they withdrew the annexation ordinances out of the goodness of their hearts and, because they “have all of the power,” you may as well capitulate now because the end outcome is inevitable. They didn’t and they don’t.

The Carmel vs. SW Clay case was significantly different from ours. More importantly, the ruling didn’t do anything to strengthen Fisher’s position—there is no roadmap. But, if you’re the Fishers Town Council, it sounds good to say there is, especially if you are trying to scare people into thinking you hold all the cards.

Don’t be fooled. The law hasn’t changed and we still have a strong case against forced annexation.

We have been successful in fending off Fishers and bluster-to-the-contrary they know that the court battle would be long and expensive and, in the end, they very well could lose. So the new tactic is to withdraw the ordinances—which they can re-adopt just as quickly—and try to play nice for a while. Who knows, maybe they will come up with something wonderful—like draining the north end of the lake and moving their new downtown there—and we’ll all want to jump on board, well except maybe the fish.

Lastly, please do not be fooled by Fishers claims that they are reaching agreements with 6 neighborhoods.  Those neighborhoods that are in talks with Fishers are either older neighborhoods that are on a septic system that need Fishers for their sewer connections or brand new neighborhoods that had agreements with the developers –again for sewer connections.  These 6 neighborhoods are all small and do not represent a significant percentage of the Geist area.

In a special session of the Fishers Town Council this evening, board members voted to withdraw the four ordinances that would have forcibly annexed over 2,000 properties on Geist Reservoir.

That’s right, they called a ‘cease fire’ on Geist.

Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless said “the Town wants to work with our neighbors in the Geist area to reach an amicable and fair resolution, voluntarily.”

“We have been fighting against involuntary annexations from the very beginning,” said Pete Peterson, President of the Geist United Opposition. “We strongly support the Fishers Town Council’s decision to withdraw their forced annexation bid for Geist.”

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While the decision to withdraw may be reason to cheer now, the residents of Geist have another battle looming on the horizon: voluntary annexation negotiations. Fishers intends on pursuing voluntary annexations amongst the neighborhoods via homeowners association and neighborhood meetings. These are the same types of meetings that the City of Carmel held with Southwest Clay residents that signed the NOAX referendum, negating their ability to remonstrate.

Put simply, if Fishers can get 36% of all the residents that were previously under the forced annexation crosshairs to sign a referendum or tax abatement deal, they can eliminate the Geist residents’ ability to remonstrate against a forced annexation. Why? Because in order to have your case heard by a judge in Hamilton County, residents must have 65% of the property owners sign a petition against the forced annexation. If Fishers gets 36% or more to sign in favor of a referendum, Geist can not reach that 65%.

As for the cease-fire called tonight, both sides can declare victory. Fishers residents avoid a long and costly legal battle which will inevitably end up in another Indiana Supreme Courtroom. The City of Carmel spent over $1 million on their Southwest Clay case alone. Geist residents have the cloud of forced annexation, four separate lawsuits, legal bills, and petition drives lifted at least temporarily. With the recent property tax hike that all Geist area residents were hit with, forcing another 20% increase on residents would have stirred an already angry hornet’s nest.

As for the Geist United Opposition the group plans to remain intact and continue to serve the residents of Geist.

“Until forced annexation is no longer a threat to our residents, we will continue to fight the fight,” said Peterson.

Geist United Opposition has worked diligently over the last 12 months trying to change the Indiana State statutes regarding forced annexation. Until the state laws are changed to disallow forced annexations or until Geist is incorporated into its own municipality, forced annexation will always be a viable threat.

Look for Fishers to promote the fact that they have three subdivisions (or 10% of the residents) in Geist that have already agreed to be voluntarily annexed. In each of these cases; however, sewers were the driving factor. Country Lane Estates, Forest Knoll, and Carefree were all built on septic systems that are starting to fail. Having a smelly swamp in your backyard will force you to do things you normally wouldn’t entertain. I’ll be anxious to see what they offer other neighborhoods in the area.

What will happen from here is anyone’s guess. I foresee stepped up incorporation activity by the unincorporated residents of Geist. They clearly see that one way or the other, Geist will be incorporated whether it is through voluntary annexation, forced annexation, or incorporation. Hopefully, the residents of Geist will come up with an alternative proposal to Fisher’s voluntary annexation proposal in the near future.

While Fishers may have temporarily denounced involuntary annexation, look for a new annexation tactic to be introduced: Coerced annexation.

Listen to the special podcast show on Geist Radio!

By popular demand, we’ve uploaded the infamous gavel throwing incident by Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless to YouTube.com. Watch this clip now!

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Tom Britt and Steve King, hosts of the new Geist Radio Show, aired a show last weekend focusing on the status of the proposed forced annexation by the Town of Fishers of more than 2,000 Geist residents. Rachel Quade and Pete Peterson from the Geist United Opposition were interviewed, as well as the latest gossip concerning the May primary voting by Scott Faultless against two of his current Fishers Town Council board members.

To listen to the Geist Radio Show online, click here.

The Town of Fishers has hired the attorney firm of Barnes and Thornburg to stop the State Senate bill proposals that could make forced annexation in this state more fair to its citizens. While lobbyists are not uncommon, one must wonder if the citizens of Fishers expect their tax dollars to be used in this way. This is an example of the kind of free, unchecked spending that happens with a municaplity’s tax dollars. Is it any wonder why the citizens of Geist (and other unincorporated areas) have NO desire to be a part of a city or town that can so easily get away with wasted spending??? The same people who whine that life’s not fair because non-citizens use their roads are all too happy to waste their citizen’s money in ways seen and unseen. Fishers only regret must be that Jack Abramoff wasn’t able to help them out with their efforts.

We were talking about the Verizon Music Center being for sale and just down the road Fishers is annexing property left and right. What would happen if Fishers bought Verizon?

Which area are you in? Check the map below for the latest annexation map provided by the Town of Fishers.

Of course, many people make resolutions for the New Year—lose weight, take a great trip, treat other people more kindly, and so forth. Scott Faultless made a resolution as well: “Complete the (Geist) annexation this year.”

Yup, in the December 30th Fishers Weekly William Fouts, one of their reporters, collected New Year’s resolutions from a number of residents. Most were typical resolutions. Mr. Faultless resolved to “Complete the (Geist) annexation. Work on getting the airport moved and improving traffic. Probably traffic is number one. Annexation is number two and the airport is number three.”

Maybe someone in Town Hall should resolve to tell Mr. Faultless that the traffic will only get worse with continued, unchecked Town growth (and everyone in the state will be paying for highway expansions to accommodate that growth); if they move the airport and build on all of that land, traffic will—you guessed it—get even worse.

And, annexing Geist will be an unfulfilled resolution for Mr. Faultless. Maybe he should have instead resolved to no longer throw gavels.

Fighting City Hall is Costly

In case you missed it, our fight against annexation was again reported in a December 9th Indianapolis Star article by Cathy Kightlinger, which also discussed the formation of a PAC to work to change Indiana’s annexation law. Click on this link to see the article.

Ryan Heath also wrote an article in the December 6th Fishers Topics on the efforts being undertaken to change Indiana’s antiquated annexation law.

GUO and the Annexation Reform PAC

As mentioned in the above article and prior Friday reports, concerned citizens from around the state (including, for example, Home Place, SW Clay, Georgetown, Fayetteville, Jeffersonville, and the Geist area) have organized themselves to work to change Indiana’s unfair and antiquated annexation laws. They are also in the process of forming a Political Action Committee (PAC) as one means to help address this issue.

Forced annexation by a municipality is a state-wide issue. There are many citizens who do not want to be forced to become part of a city or town, especially given that they did not elect the people who are trying to force an annexation upon them.

Geist United Opposition remains focused on its primary mission, which is to prevent the forced annexation of the Geist area into the Town of Fishers. Some members of the GUO are also working on the state-wide annexation issue (naturally); however, the two organizations are and will remain separate so as not to dilute their respective missions.

Because annexation reform is a topic germane to the fight against Fishers annexation of Geist, we will do our best to keep you informed on that topic as well, as part of our ongoing Friday Reports.

For more information on annexation reform, please visit www.annexationreform.com.

Much to my dismay, I saw the nation go blue on election day yesterday. Even our great state of Indiana followed suit. What went wrong??? Well, Republicans stopped behaving like Republicans once they were elected. I hope that the 100% Republican Fishers Town Council learns from the mistakes of their friends in the US Congress. Republicans are supposed to stand for SMALLER GOVERNMENT, LESS TAXES. When a candidate puts an R next to his or her name, that’s supposed to mean something. A note to our friends on the council : ANNEXATION IS IN DIRECT CONTRAST TO THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. I hope that everyone has learned an important lesson from the election of 2006. Fishers Town Council – Don’t take Republicans for granted

Comments from old saynotofishers.com web site

Gary Allen at 11/09/2006 10:09 AM
I will be a new resident of the “un”annexed area and a long time observer of the annex issue. It is amazing how passion for the subject becomes so strong from some people. They let their heart take over and get defensive with anyone who trys to bring a new perspective. I have been reading “atgeist” and “atfishers” regularly and find it amazing that passion over brains take over. What are the real issues? So far I have seen that the cost increase of the new taxes at 22%. Is this correct – NO! A taxing district cannot make a windfall of money of a recent annexation. The new houses annexed must be put in to the entire tax base, and then recalculated. So what will the increase be, if your so much against it comes up with the real answers to this? Ask the experts. What happens when your area cannot pay the fire bill again? Will your taxes go up to pay for the emergency service? Or will the township turn you over to the “volunteer” fire department of McCordsville? Then watch your insurance rates increase. To the residents of the “annexed” area, you should be more involved too. This affects you as well. If these homes get annexed your taxes decrease. Give me non-passionate facts, not your opinion. Then maybe I’ll with draw my name from volunteer annexation. By the way Republican.

Mike Fisher at 11/15/2006 06:08 PM
Well Gary, let me offer this: the 22% tax increase is based on the numbers provided by the Town of Fishers; even they said at the beginning that it would be a 14% increase, but they had initially calculated the numbers wrong. The tax rate in Fishers has not gone down nor has there been a decrease (only increases) in homeowners’ property taxes, despite the extensive level of annexations undertaken by the Town over the last several years; as such, the likelihood of a tax decrease is somewhere around nil. Yes, the Township owed money for fire services and chose to sell the building to Fishers in exchange for enough funding to cover expenses for four years. After which, there may or may not be a small tax increase to cover fire/EMS services. Keep in mind, the Township never charged Fishers rent for using the building. Nonetheless, any tax increase for fire/EMS would be significantly less than town-based property taxes–we’re only talking about $1.6 million per year. You are right to the extent that a taxing district cannot reap a windfall and keep all of the money; per Indiana Code, they have to demonstrate in the Fiscal Plans how they will use the money to the benefit of the area to be annexed. However, if you had reviewed the Fiscal Plans offered by the Town you would clearly see that the numbers don’t add up (mostly because not much attention was paid to preparing the plans because they thought no one would actually look).

Thank god it’s Election Day so we can get back to our favorite commercials on TV. I am so tried of the 9th district bashing; I still have no clue what either man stands for.

Oh well, bring on the eight different car commercials within one newscast. So I can zoom zoom to mute while they race by.

But I know some of you are having electron day commercial withdrawal and I feel sorry for all of you so I wish to announce my candidacy to Fishers Town Council if those rotten-to-the-core politicians annex us. So Scott, here is what you have to look forward to if you annex my property on Geist.
You see if you annex us I will have to get a job to pay for my increased taxes and I figure $12,500 a year working for the Town should be just about right. It will cover my tax increase and gas money to get to the Town Meetings. I am retired and on a fixed income, so my choice was becoming a greeter at Wal-Mart or getting elected to Town Council. While the Wal-Mart job might be easier I always liked a challenge.

My platform –
I will vote against every forced annexation. I would only vote for an annexation where the citizens of an area came to the city with a request to be annexed and only when 75% of the citizens in that area ask for it. What I truly can’t understand is why the Town Council annexed the Geist lake bottom unless they were looking for the fish vote.
I will vote to stop the practice of forcing developers to approve annexation of new developments for sewer hook-ups. Only after 50% of the land is sold, the citizens who live in that new area can then request to be annexed. The city can charge for sewer hook ups with a service charge but cannot use blackmail.
I will vote against any increase in government spending unless it has a direct positive effect on the citizens. For example: Build a new city hall –NO, Buy a fire truck or police car – YES. Also I will vote for the purchase of a back-up gavel for Town Meetings just in case the Council President breaks another.
I will vote against any road construction that does not make full use of alternative funding such as Federal Highway Funds or additional state funds. For example, 116th street did not use available Federal Funds.
I will vote against any new commercial strip malls until all current ones are at least 90% leased. We do not need more nail shops and dry cleaners on every corner. We are a town and not New York City.
I will require the Planning Commission to come up with a comprehensive plan for the Town’s growth and development. This must include a look inward instead of only growing outward. We do have older neighborhoods that are forgotten by the current town leaders.
I would push for making our Town a City; it is a city, looks like a city and should be a city. This might have an impact on state funds to the city and would have an effect on the structure of the government. Maybe that’s why the current leaders don’t want it to become a city; they could lose some of their power.
I would endorse that the Town become smoke free, in all businesses, all public places and on all city property. Most important of all, city employees must not smoke on the job or even at home as a condition of employment. Why? To reduce the cities insurance bill. By being smoke free we would get a large reduction in insurance premiums and a reduction in sick days. In Pueblo, CO the city went smoke free and found a 25% reduction in heart attacks among all its citizens. If bar owners are upset, too bad, maybe you should focus on being smoke free and draw in business you would never have had because of the people who could not see the sports action on your TVs due to the clouds in your environment. Also when visiting a restaurant with our children and grandchildren we should not have to endure second hand smoke that will shorten their lives, we should not have to reduce the lives of our young people who have a job working in those restaurants. If our town leaders don’t have the guts to stand up for the majority who do not smoke, don’t elect them.
Speaking of environment I would introduce legislation that would require any trash pick up company working within the limits of the Town would have to provide recycle pick up at no cost to the citizens. Recycling makes money, so why should we have to pay them for pick up? Why should we have to drive to the County Fair Grounds to take papers for recycle? This is just one of those common sense items that our town leaders don’t seem to have.
I will move to stop the practice of pre-meetings of the Town Council, it seems that before every Town Council Meeting they have a working session to make sure they will be no problems at the Town Council meetings and look like they all agree. They don’t really take minutes and while its an open meeting, its held in a very small room, they real question is why? Since it is held just before the real meeting. Working sessions should be rare and use for real working efforts such as a session to rewrite a lengthily town ordnance and not to discuss what they are going to discuss at the town meeting. We need to have open and frank discussions at the Town Council Meetings, not rubber-stamping.

So if I get annexed look for me to run for office and I hope some others will also run and we will run on the Broom Party Platform of a Clean Sweep of the Fishers Town Council also known as the Old Boys Network.

My name is Joe and with great delight and joy I approve this message.

The Fall Creek Township board voted to sell the fire station and township offices located at 116th and Brook School Road to the Town of Fishers to satisfy a $916,000 debt.To view the proposed purchase agreement, click here.

Comments from old saynotofishers.com web site:

Rich at 09/21/2006 02:58 AM
This is a perfect example of the Town of Fishers being a good neighbor. Without this sale the un-annexed areas would be forced to raise their taxes to a fully sustainable level for Fire and rescue service. This is another logical example to make the case for annexation.

Rachel at 09/24/2006 11:36 AM
The idea that Fishers is being a “good neighbor” is laughable. As has been the case with everything the Fishers Town Council proposes, there’s more to this than meets the eye. I guess we will have to dig to get to the bottom of this one too in order to find out what the Council’s true motivation is here. I doubt that being a “good neighbor” is at the heart of this deal.

Joe at 10/10/2006 08:27 AM
Rick – This is the perfect example of where the people of Geist have paid the taxes that resulting in the building of the Fire Station. So it was no free ride. Do you think the township built the firestation with no money? No it was Geist taxes that built the firestation.

Rich at 10/15/2006 08:21 PM
Joe- Actually you are half right. It was some of Geist taxes that paid for the firestation, but it was also many areas of Fall Creek township that are already in Fishers that paid for the firestation. So Fishers residents and Geist residents paid for it. My actual point was that the sale of the firestation was necesary because all of Fall Creek Township (which is where I live)was not paying a high enough township tax to raise enough revenue for the payment for the fire and rescue service.

Steve S. at 10/31/2006 04:03 PM
See, if you had been paying the correct share of taxes, they may not have had to sell the station back to Fishers. Hmmmmmm. Funny how that works.

Tom Britt at 10/31/2006 05:04 PM
We are paying our fair share of taxes. Fall Creek Township was only $200,000 in deficit to Fishers, the balance of the sale price is a credit on the books which will be used in the coming 4 years. If Fishers had been paying rent all these years, maybe we wouldn’t have had such a shortfall?

Rich at 11/01/2006 12:55 AM
Mr. Tom Britt, the @200,000 is additional information. I was using your post of a $916,000 debt for reference. Though I appreciate the forums you have created I do wonder why you always use the term “we are paying” and “we wouldn’t have had a shortfall” when you don’t even live in Hamilton County, let alone Fall Creek Township, and are not affected by this issue. “Rent” was an intangible part of the fire service contract.

Tom Britt at 11/01/2006 07:13 AM
I use “we” because I live at Geist and “our” website services all the residents around Geist. Just because Geist residents are split into 3 counties doesn’t mean that the other two counties don’t have a voice. You and a bunch of Fishers town employees, including Mr. Huff, want to make a big deal about about me not living in the affected area. Why the concern? Do you live in the affected area? Didn’t think so.

Rachel at 11/01/2006 09:05 AM
I find it humorous that someone from Fishers is worried about a “non-resident” caring about this issue- considering Scott Faultless is the president of the Fishers Town Council, and he doesn’t even live in Fishers. Oh wait, he did pull off some bogus annexation of his property to make the appearance of being a Fishers resident so that he could hold on to that president position. I guess we need to ask Faultless & Friends to pull off another fast one to annex Tom Britt into the affected Geist area to appease his critics. We know botched, underhanded annexations are the Town Council’s specialty, so the annexation of Britt should be smooth sailing. I OFFICIALLY ANNEX MR. TOM BRITT INTO THE AFFECTED AREA OF GEIST. There, that’s probably as official as the Faultless property annexation.

Tom Britt at 11/01/2006 11:03 AM
If I could hold my breath for extended periods of time, I could live on the north end of the lake which Fishers annexed. This would be about as crazy as Fishers annexing this property to begin with that has zero tax revenue. The Water Company is still waiting on their notice that they are being annexed.

KPB at 11/04/2006 06:16 PM
The Town of Fishers sure seems to have a lot of cash on hand. Why is that? A town doesn’t need a lot of cash. Shouldn’t they just have enough to conduct everyday business? Attention Fishers residents: that’s your money in their pocket.

From the WTHR.com website and newscast:

Fishers – The president of the Fishers Town Council is apologizing about an angry outburst at a recent meeting.

Scott Faultless became visibly angry following claims made August 7 by councilman Charlie White that a developer was treated unfairly.

“I had no intention of saying anything tonight until I heard what I just heard, which is a bunch of —” Faultless said. “A bunch of —, and you have never heard me say anything disrespectful like that in this meeting. That is the biggest bunch of baloney you could ever hear, and I’m sick of it.”

The outburst took place after Councilman White accused the council of playing unfairly when it denied a potential developer a continuance on its proposal to build a high-end shopping center and luxury homes. The council later voted to deny that developer’s project.

Faultless told our news gathering partners at the Indianapolis Star he regrets getting so upset. He apologized for his actions.

click here for the wthr.com website.

We’ve heard much from the Fishers leadership about annexing Geist to fill in the “swiss cheese” in the town’s boundaries and unite us so we can live as one big happy tax-paying family. Then I learned from a friend who lives near 136th and Lantern (much closer to the Fishers town center and whose residents are far more likely to be availing themselves of Fishers services) that they are not part of Fishers and evidently not on target to be annexed. I guess some parts of the cheese are tastier than others.

Don’t make TOF Council President Scott Faultless angry. In the last town council meeting, he actually had to take a brief recess from the meeting after slamming his gavel and cursing in public (which was sensored!). The childish tirate came after another councilor (Charlie White) spoke out against the unscrupulous and questionable behavior of the council. You can actually go to the Town of Fishers web site, click on GOVERNMENT and then Town Council meetings to check it out.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/BJZXbYaGY0o" width="300" height="250" wmode="transparent" /]

I would like to thank Scott Faultless and the town council for providing that very insightful brochure describing all the wonderful benefits of becoming a new resident of Happy Town. This brochure is now lining my bird cage.

The Town of Fishers has joined Carmel in their appeal to the Indiana State Supreme Court on their failed annexation of Southwest Clay. Attorneys for Carmel bypassed the Court of Appeals and went straight to the State Supreme Court in an emergency motion. The Town of Fishers, Muncie, Pendleton and Anderson all accompanied Carmel as ‘”friends of the court’” (or “amici curiae”) since these proceedings will have a direct impact on their annexations.

This is good news for Geist residents affected by the Fishers annexation. The ‘”road map’” that Fishers attorney Doug Church keeps assuring everyone that came from the Judge Hughes verdict in the Southwest Clay trial is a map of a dead end road. If this decision is upheld by the State Supreme Court, Fishers will have to retool their annexation plans and look for voluntary annexations versus forced annexations.

For Geist residents, our best defense is changing the annexation laws in Indiana for good. A new town council in Fishers, a successful remonstration, or an apology letter from Scott Faultless himself will never guarantee that Fishers will back off their annexation attempts. Repealing the annexation laws statewide, a hot topic not just in Indiana but nationally, will once and for all get the Fishers’ monkey off our back. I

n the meantime, you may have seen the media frenzy around the four-color flyer that the Town of Fishers mailed out to all of their residents (estimated to be over 30,000). While Geist neighborhoods receive letters inviting them to meet with Fishers to talk about ‘”how a unification of Fishers would benefit and affect you and your neighborhood’”, Fishers residents receive a brochure stating ‘”your tax dollars are supporting Geist residents’”. You don’t win over a lot of minds and hearts by sending out flyers telling Fishers residents that Geist residents are ‘”single-minded’” and ‘”don’t want to pay more taxes without a consideration of the significant benefits they are receiving’”.

The mystery to me is this: Why mail 30,000 flyers out to Fishers residents unaffected by the annexation? There are only two parties to this forced annexation. On one side, you have the seven town council members that can pass the resolution to forcibly annex Geist. The Town of Fishers has a lot of employees, a Town Manager, and others that are supportive, but they can’t vote on the resolution, only the seven town council members can. On the other side you have 2,050 parcel owners that have been carved up into four arbitrary areas. These are the folks that have to pay to defend themselves against an annexation with their own money, sign petitions, and be accused by a neighboring town that they are freeloaders.

So, why send this ‘”call to arms’” to Fishers residents? They don’t have a dog in this fight, nor do they benefit if Geist is annexed. Asking Fishers residents to ‘”contribute to the dialogue and discussion’” is pointless and a waste of their time. What’s next, selling torches at the Fishers Town Hall?

If the flyer was good for anything, it was a good reminder to Fishers residents that the town council is more concerned with their public image during a stalled annexation than it is with the pressing school overcrowding issues, the impending 5% property tax increase, or the ‘”swiss cheese’” in their own backyard. Remember, until Faultless annexed his 140′ wide strip of land in the Valleys at Geist, there were only a few parcels of Fishers property east of Olio Road. There were a lot of homes at Geist Reservoir before Fishers was ever incorporated.