Towns of Geist File Petitions, Fishers Files Their Own Injunction

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.