By Sam Elliott
At the February Fishers City Council meeting, Mayor Scott Fadness recognized a trio of individuals who have reached employment tenure milestones with the city.
“We often talk about police chief (George) Kehl as the longest tenured employee here at the city, but there are a few people knocking on the door right behind him,” Fadness said.
Public Works director Eric Pethtel and assistant police chief and chief-to-be Mitch Thompson were honored for 25 years of service with the city while facilities manager Kyle Marks has reached 30 years of working for Fishers.
Marks has worked for the City of Fishers in several different capacities in his 30 years, including as the superintendent of buildings and now handles logistics of the Public Works Dept. as facilities manager.
“He helped Fishers through that tremendous growth spurt we had,” Fadness said. “Kyle is a one-of-a-kind guy, just a really great individual and was actually working at Conner Prairie as a blacksmith before coming to the city.”
On Pethtel’s first day of work with the Public Works Dept., he reported to Marks.
As director of the department, he’s responsible for overseeing winter operations, parks and grounds maintenance, storm water utility, public right of way maintenance and water quality.
“In the last 10 years, we have taken on all snow removal for the schools, we’ve taken on all grounds maintenance for the schools, we’ve taken on grounds maintenance for the townships, we’ve taken on grounds maintenance for the libraries — Eric pioneered our snow removal in general for our city and improved it significantly… In my estimation, he has completely transformed and redefined what public works means to the City of Fishers and his employees are often the unsung heroes of what goes on on a daily basis here in terms of the quality of life our community has enjoyed.”
Thompson’s 25th year with the city will be his first as police chief following Kehl’s this September.
“In the time that Mitch has been here, he’s excelled through the ranks of the police department quickly because of his skill sets and his integrity,” Fadness said. “Mitch has led right beside chief Kehl for a number of years now in the assistant police chief role and basically runs the day-to-day operations of the police department from an operational perspective… He’s extraordinarily intelligent and an extraordinary administrator when it comes to dealing with one of the most progressive and professional law enforcement agencies in the state.”
