Ex-Greenfield mayor to run for Fishers council

Former Greenfield Mayor Brad DeReamer on Thursday announced his candidacy for Fishers City Council.

DeReamer, 66,  moved to Fishers last year to be close to his daughter and three grandchildren. He even experimented with retirement after more than 40 years as an entrepreneur.

“I promised my wife I’d try it for a year,” he said. That clock ran out last month.

Residents of the fast-growing suburb will elect their first mayor, city clerk and nine-member city council and city clerk next year after voting last November to turn the town of 80,000 into a second-class city.

DeReamer said Fishers officials supported him while he was Greenfield’s mayor from 2008 to 2011, and he wants to return the favor by helping to guide community growth.

He believes his experience with land surveying, civil engineering and real estate—just a sampling of the industries he has worked in as a business owner—will provide valuable insight.

“There’s still a lot I can contribute,” said DeReamer, who lost a bid for re-election in Greenfield.

So why not run for the city’s top job? DeReamer said he has been there and done that, though he might reconsider a mayoral run if a like-minded candidate doesn’t enter the race.

Longtime Town Council President Walt Kelly is the only mayoral candidate to throw his hat in the ring so far, kicking off his campaign last month.

Candidates cannot run for both mayor and council simulanteously. The official filing period begins in January.

Six of the new city council members will represent districts of roughly equal population; three will be elected at-large.