Voters will have a choice in all but one Fishers City Council seat

Fishers voters will have a choice in eight of the nine City Council districts in the Nov. 7 election. Only one district is uncontested compared with three in 2019.

All nine members of the council—seven Republicans and two Democrats—are running for reelection. The Hamilton County Democratic Party has seven candidates on the ballot, the most in the city’s history.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness is assured of a third term in office as he is running unopposed. Fadness, a Republican, first served as town manager before he became the Hamilton County suburb’s first mayor in 2015 when the community transitioned from a town to a city.

Few places in Indiana have changed more dramatically over the past 50 years than Fishers, with the population increasing from 628 in the 1970 U.S. Census to 98,977 in 2020. That number has since climbed above 102,000, according to the latest estimates.

In the past year, the Fishers City Council has approved projects such as an 8,500-seat arena that will be the home of the Indy Fuel hockey team at an expanded Fishers District and multiple new developments in the city’s downtown area.

The next group of city councilors will be the first to hold meetings at the $22.8 million Fishers Arts & Municipal Complex that is scheduled to open in spring 2023.

Winners in next month’s election will take office Jan. 1.

Here is a look at who is running for Fishers City Council:

South East District

Republican Pete Peterson is running unopposed next month for his fifth term on the council. Peterson works as director of business development for Fishers-based architecture and engineering firm RQAW Corp. Peterson is a member of the Fishers Plan Commission.

North West District

Republican Selina Stoller is running for her third term on the Fishers City Council. Stoller, also a member of the plan commission, works as director of business development for Maryland-based HFS Financial.

Stoller will be opposed by Democrat Bill McLellan, who is a solutions architect for Minneapolis-based phData Inc.

North Central District

Democrat Crystal Neumann, who has served on the council since 2021, is running for her first full term. Neumann succeeded fellow Democrat Samantha DeLong, who stepped down when she moved out of state. Neumann works as a higher education administrator for Indianapolis-based American College of Education.

She will be opposed by Republican John DeLucia, who previously served two terms on the Hamilton Southeastern Board of School Trustees. DeLucia is chief lending officer for Citizens State Bank.

South Central District

Republican John Weingardt, who serves as president of the Fishers City Council, is seeking his fourth term on the governing body. Weingardt also serves on the council’s Budget and Finance Committee and on the board of the Fishers Police Foundation and Launch Fishers. He works as a partner at Fishers-based accounting firm Peachin, Schwartz & Weingardt.

Weingardt will be opposed by Democrat Lane Skeeters, who unsuccessfully ran against Weingardt in 2019. Skeeters works as a design manager at Image360.

South West District

Republican David Giffel is seeking his first full term on the city council. Giffel replaced former Republican Councilor David George, who resigned in September 2021. Giffel works as an account manager for Luxembourg-based Klockner Pentraplast, which produces recyclable plastic films.

Giffel will be opposed by Democrat Bill Stuart, who serves on the Fishers City Council and the Fishers Fire Merit Board.

North East District

Republican Brad DeReamer, who initially announced he would not seek reelection, is looking to win his third term on the city council. DeReamer, who is retired, previously served as mayor of Greenfield before he moved to Fishers in 2012.

Democrat Samantha Chapman will oppose DeReamer on the ballot next month. Chapman is the state director of the Humane Society of the United States.

At-large

Five candidates are running for three at-large city council positions.

They include Republican incumbents Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman, and Democratic incumbent Jocelyn Vare.

Coble, who previously worked as a government relations representative for Bank One Consumer Lending Group, is seeking her third term on the council. Coble was the first Latina to be elected to the Fishers City Council and the first woman to serve as the council’s president.

Zimmerman, a commercial insurance advisor and a member of the plan commission, is looking to win his third term on the council.

Vare, founder and owner of Propeller Marketing LLC, is running for her second term on the city council. Vare remained on the Fishers City Council last year after she unsuccessfully challenged state Sen. Kyle Walker (R-Fishers) in the State Senate District 31 election.

Republican Tiffanie Ditlevson and Democrat Howard Stevenson are looking to win seats on the city council for the first time.

Ditlevson works as a real estate agent for FC Tucker and serves on the Hamilton East Public Library Board. Stevenson is an attorney who serves on the plan commission and as vice president of the Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals.