An idea raised at the September meeting of the Fishers City Council Finance Committee may need to be postponed for consideration to next year. Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren told the committee on Wednesday that there is an issue with at least one current member of the Board of Works and Public Safety already holding what state law defines as a “lucrative position.”
The council panel mulled over the idea of paying members of the Board of Works at the last meeting. Hultgren said he has discussed the issue with City Attorney Chris Greisl, and that could be a problem for one currently-serving member of the Board of Works.
Jason Meyer is an elected member of the Fall Creek Township Board. If Mayor Scott Fadness wants Meyer to continue in his current role as a Board of Works member, and he would be eligible for a salary for his work on the city board, Meyer would need to choose between his elected position with Fall Creek Township and the appointed position with the city.
Currently, the City of Fishers does not pay members of the Board of Works.
In other matters before the committee:
- The city has received written objections to funding the Nickel Plate Trail as part of the 2019 budget. City officials say 10 to 13 objections were filed from six to seven different addresses in Fishers. The city will issue written responses to these objections through the budget process.
- On another issue, Hultgren told members of the Finance Committee that both the fire department headquarters building near City Hall and the fire station along Allisonville Road, near Metropolitan Airport, will both need to be demolished and rebuilt. The issue was raised during discussion of bonds to be issued in order to pay for the fire stations to be rebuilt.
- City Controller Lisa Bradford told the committee her operation is moving to the building that once housed the police department. Her operation is also quickly adapting to new accounting software.