Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard traveled out of state using public money nearly every month this year. His trips aren’t lavish, but he was gone on city business a total of 79 days, raising questions about both the hard and soft costs.
IU Health effectively started its own ambulance service in December by adding two ambulances to its long-standing LifeLine critical-care service and opening a call center to help other health care providers figure out what level of transport services a particular patient needs.
It was another busy year in the North of 96th region—the population growth hasn’t stopped, new housing developments continue to take root and each community is trying to identify exactly what kinds of new businesses it wants to attract.
Southfield, Michigan-based Diversified Restaurant Holdings Inc. said it shut down eight of its 26 Bagger Dave’s restaurants in all, including seven in Indiana. It said the restaurants were losing money.
2015 has ups and downs for area firms, local governments and their leaders, including American Senior Communities, High Alpha, the Pacers, Blue Indy and more.
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard defeated Republican challenger Rick Sharp with 62 percent of the vote, even though the race had been expected to be much closer. Also in the primary, Westfield Mayor Andy Cook held off GOP challenger Jeff Harpe with 61 percent of the vote, despite fielding criticism for the city’s spending on the Grand Park Sports Campus.
Cincinnati-based Kroger announced it will spend $464 million to beef up its operations in Central Indiana, as competition in the region heats up from Fresh Market, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, Trader Joe’s and Earth Fare, as well as the addition of several Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets.
The Broken Beaker micro-distillery is set to open in mid-January on Mass Ave, while Mimi Blue Meatballs is expanding from its lone location, on the Avenue, into Hamilton County.
The list of projects slated over three years includes about 30 more roundabouts, other street improvements, and land acquisition. It would lead to property tax increases for most residents.
Carmel-based Nightingale Home Healthcare Inc., which serves nearly 900 Hoosier patients, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and won court approval to borrow $350,000 from its parent company to make payroll.
The $350 million project included upgrading 13 miles to interstate standards from Interstate 465 to State Road 38 with 49 new bridges and 12 new interchanges through Carmel and Westfield.
Two Indianapolis-area accounting firms are fusing with Cincinnati-based firms in the coming weeks, deals that participants said are just a sampling of the sizzling merger-and-acquisition activity across the industry.
Carmel City Council President Rick Sharp said he was under the impression that the city only needed to borrow $2.9 million to fix a budget shortfall, and wasn’t told the actual amount until after the council voted to approve the deal.
