President’s Letter
Hello Village residents,
If April showers bring May flowers, I’ve wondered what an April snowstorm brings. Evidently it brings more rain, as the next few weeks are forecasted to be damp ones. Fortunately they’ll also be relatively warm. With more light in the evenings, take some time to walk outdoors. This week’s Village Voice features a Fairy Garden Walking Tour by residents Mia and Debbie Forbeck. It’s a perfect activity on a sunny afternoon or after a baseball game at Lions’ Park.
May brings many other events – mark your calendars:
• The Zionsville Farmers Market will be returning to the Village, but now on the bricks between Pine and Hawthorne starting May 22.
• You may recall an article from February’s Village Voice about beekeeping. Maplelawn is hosting “Introduction to Beekeeping” and “Honey Harvesting” classes beginning May 22. Children aged eight and older are invited to attend, and those under 15 are free: https://maplelawnfarmstead.org/events2/
• Mark your calendars for a May 20 virtual VRA meeting. We’re scheduled to learn more about the Gateway Project.
• Lest we forget, May also brings a certain race to our state. The Indy 500 returns May 30 to a reduced capacity crowd.
And May is also the time for end of school tournaments, exams, dance recitals, and more. Many of these events are being held in person because Boone County vaccination numbers are impressively high. If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, just do it. The sooner the public reaches herd immunity, the sooner people can stop wearing masks. This weekend my niece told me she hadn’t been vaccinated because she’s afraid of needles, then she conceded that she has multiple tattoos. She promptly scheduled the vaccine. Some are worried about side effects, although most people I know had no issues at all. I had one rough day, but it was no worse than the flu. Considering I haven’t been sick for more than a year (masks and sanitizing everything will do that) it was truly no big deal.
Please. Get. The. Shot. And stay safe.
Heather Lusk
ZVRA President
President@zvra.com
Town Council
Happy Spring. Here’s to no more snow!
When you think of Town Council meetings, most think about the various ordinances, resolutions and budgeting process that is introduced, debated and voted on during our meetings. Recently we’ve seen an uptick of an additional element of Council meetings which is presentations.
We like having these meetings as an opportunity for various organizations to discuss their involvement in our community and how it benefits the residents. In addition to informing the seven Town Councilors, it has an added benefit of introducing or updating members of the community that watch our meetings. The interest in our meetings has grown over the years as people realize the decisions made locally can often times have the most impact on their day-to-day lives. As such, I’m happy to offer these groups some free advertising for their mission.
In April we had four such presentations and all are available online if you want more detail. In summary, the presentations were:
- Boone County Solid Waste Management District : This group is made up of local elected officials including Boone County Councilors, Lebanon Councilor/Mayor and Zionsville Town Councilors. The District is responsible for implementing programs and educating Boone County residents to reduce, recycle or properly dispose of their residential waste. This includes recycling programs, tox drop days, expired pharmaceutical collections (a drop box is at ZPD), needle/medical disposal and other programs like shoe collection for donation.
- Zionsville Historic Preservation Committee : I’ve spoken about this group in a prior posting, but for those not familiar, this is a neighbor-led initiative to create a preservation district within the boundaries of the Village for certain homes. They were able to clear up a lot of misconceptions about their goal and more information can be found here: https://www.preservezionsville.com/
- Hickory Hall Polo Club : This group puts on Polo matches at their facility in Zionsville that benefit non-profits. I’m hoping to attend one of their family-friendly events this summer as it sounds like a lot of fun. It is run by a father/son who have a passion for the sport and attracts participants from around the country. You can learn more, and see the schedule, at their website: http://www.indypolo.com/
- Parks & Recreation : Our local parks superintendent (Jarod Logsdon) and our parks board president (Tim Casady) updated us on a number of initiatives going on within the parks system. That includes the completion of our newest park, and walking distance from the Village, Overly Worman Park. That facility will include walking trails, a fishing pond, frisbee golf (frolf?) and a very cool bridge as an entrance. We also talked about expanding the dog park due to demand as well as our summer programming.
- Property Taxes Overview : The Town’s CFO (Tammy Havard) presented on how property taxes are calculated. As seems to be the case with government, it can be confusing as to how the State comes up with your property tax amount and where that money goes. Between gross assessed value, deductions, net assessed value, tax rates and other variables like voter approved initiatives there is a lot that goes into your bill. She did share a site where you can see this all at work : https://gateway.ifionline.org/CalculatorsDLGF/TaxCalculator.aspx
I’ve always encouraged people to attend these meetings. You can currently attend in-person (limited capacity), through Zoom or watch anytime on YouTube. They aren’t always the most entertaining thing to do on a Monday morning or evening, but you can learn things about your local government and stakeholders as a result.
Josh Garrett
Town Council President – District 5 Representative
jgarrett@zionsville-in.gov