Hamilton County Councilman Mark Hall’s July Timesheet

Welcome to The Timesheet. This column is a report of work done on behalf of the people of Hamilton County. It’s to be informative, too – a place to learn about projects and how our county government works.

As your employee, it’s important to me that you know what is being worked on as transparently as possible in county government. You hired me as your County Councilman, and my hope is that you will choose to be informed by regularly reading this column, getting involved, considering volunteering, and by asking questions.

Council meetings are at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month at the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center in downtown Noblesville. Meetings are also available to watch online for those unable to attend in person.

Here is where my time this past month has been spent.

In addition to the County Council public meetings, July work included: watching Board of Commissioners meetings, attending Cicero Town Council and Noblesville City Council public meetings, attending the Quarterly Cicero & Hamilton County officials update meeting, and a Joint Commissioners & Council meeting.

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The July in-person Personnel Committee meeting was canceled. The Finance Committee did not meet in July. The insurance committee met in July to review Riverview Hospital claims; I was unable to attend.

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During July I received nine constituent service requests and communications.

• A neighbor wrote to me about the traffic patterns at 96^th Street and Allisonville Road. After researching jurisdiction and checking with the County Highway Department, I connected the constituent with the Fishers Government Highway Department Manager to address his concerns.
• I received update requests regarding road conditions on Point Lane in Cicero, 216^th Street (Carrigan Road) between Schulley and Mill Creek, and Cherry Tree Road north of 171^st All these roads are under bid with awards to be opened late in August; each individual constituent received a status update.
• I have continued communication and support for a constituent who has a pond adversely affected by a new M/I Homes addition on the east side of Little Chicago Road. In short, retention pond creation in the new addition has adversely affected the water levels and water quality in his pond. Through numerous communications back and forth with the Noblesville Planning Department, M/I Homes local leadership, the homeowner, and the Hamilton County Planning Commission, unsuccessful attempts have been made to remedy the situation. Stay tuned as this one represents a potential blackeye for the developer. This is unresolved as of today.
• I have continued communications with two families who live on Cherry Tree Road near the new Pleasant Street bypass. These families continue to express concerns over the quality of the road as well as vehicle speeds along the stretch of Cherry Tree north of 171^st Street up to the parkway. I’ve exchanged several communications with the families as well as with the Hamilton County Highway and Sherriff’s departments. For now, the solution is to increase patrols and soon attempt to deploy a speed monitoring trailer along Cherry Tree Road. Concurrently, the Highway Department is planning for road repairs. If you are a regular reader of this column, we were able to get the speed limit lowered in that area a few months ago.
• I received a request from a large landowner in White River Township asking for support from Hamilton County Economic Development for building a new data center. This request was sent to the Commissioners who, citing the most recent Farm Bureau survey and the Hamilton County Comprehensive plan, declined the request.
• I received several communications from a constituent regarding the county’s health insurance and Program Benefits Manager (PBM). Essentially, their points were that a different style of employee benefits program and a different Benefits Manager could save the county a considerable amount of taxpayer money as well as increase transparency. This one took a great deal of research, meeting with the County Insurance benefits consultant, NFP, and looking into the administration of the employee benefits program. Fortunately, I have served on the Personnel, Finance, and Insurance committees for the last several years providing me with mounds of data and context. After meeting with the constituent, reviewing his points, and thoroughly researching the matter, I’ve concluded that the county could save money by switching benefits programs, program managers, and even insurance consultants, but at a significant impact to the employees. The transitions would be problematic through a move to no network providers and a referenced-based pricing model. Employees would be billed for any difference in the charges verses the amount that the plan set for reimbursement. It’s a complicated topic that’s taken me a long time to get my head wrapped around. I’ve concluded that the savings would not be worth the aggravation of impacting the benefits and claims processing for county employees.

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Of special note this month, was attending the State of The Towns event sponsored by OneZone and hosted at Beck’s Hybrids in Atlanta. Representatives from Cicero, Arcadia, Atlanta, Sheridan, Hamilton Heights Schools, and Sheridan Community Schools all answered questions about their respective entities’ present state and future growth in front of an audience of several hundred attendees. The discussion was enlightening and it is exciting to learn about the growth and happenings in the Northern parts of Hamilton County.

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Lastly, I received my copy of the 2027 Hamilton County budget book. The binder is hundreds of pages long, full of budget requests that are submitted by all the departments. As is my practice, I’ll read each budget submittal and then spend half a day in the Auditor’s Office reviewing the details behind each department’s budget. Items over $100,000 require detailed review. It takes a great deal of time to get through it all, but it prepares me for the budget hearings and separating department needs from wants.

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This is my timesheet. This is where my time went during July 2026. While my job is primarily the financial oversight of the county budget, it is important that I understand the Board of Commissioners’ priorities and balance them with the stewardship of taxpayer dollars. That is the job, and I am excited to do the people’s business.

As a taxpayer myself, and listening to so many of you, our employers, it’s important for the taxpayers to have access to all the information you want. I work for you, and although you may not choose to do a deep dive into what your County Council does, it’s important that you can always do so.

Feel free to contact me at (317) 832-1104 or mark.hall@hamiltoncounty.in.gov with questions, feedback, or if you would like to talk about county business.