Fishers council talks shift to city

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) - Wednesday's Town Council meeting in Fishers showed little evidence of the battle that voters settled on Tuesday.

Election Day, residents of Fishers voted to abandon the "town" designation and claim "city" status.

In the Town Hall auditorium, council members spent most of their latest session talking about a kennel in a new proposed development and about improvements planned for a building at Holland Park. Right now, there's not much they can do about  the town's transition.

Council President Scott Faultless said "we're working with the town's attorneys and putting together a roadmap in terms of what steps we need to take, legally, to become a second class city."

Second class, in this case, means nine council members and an elected mayor. Six of the council members would represent districts. Three would be elected at-large.

It's a change Faultless opposed. He preferred to keep the current form of government. But, if that's what the people of Fishers want, "I'm all for that, that's just fine," he said.

The challenge is how to make it work.

That's where the advice from the lawyers comes in - and the roadmap. He hopes the council members will have their questions answered within a few weeks. Then, by December or January, Fishers leaders can ask for public opinion about how the change should be made.

No election for mayor can be held before 2014. So, the earliest Fishers - as a city - could have a mayor in office is January of 2015.